Apple unveils its operating system iOS 12 at WWDC 2018: Brings Improvements in Group FaceTime, Memoji, and Much More

Apple unveils its operating system iOS 12 at WWDC 2018: Brings Improvements in Group FaceTime, Memoji, and Much More

Apple Inc. is a US multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California. The Company designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services. Apple Loop is here to update you on various discussions that have happened around Apple over the last week in Cupertino.

Apple on Monday unveils its operating system iOS at WWDC 2018. With more and more applications customized and improved with use of AI, this is going to have a significant effect on its performance and stability of the applications. It announced the next iteration of its iPhone and iPad operating system, in the form of iOS 12. While Apple was expected to bring improvements to performance and software stability with iOS 12, the company had a lot of new features to announce, from Group FaceTime to Siri and new features to reduce screen time. Apple at the WWDC keynote in San Jose also announced that the entire range of devices that support iOS 11 will be eligible for the iOS 12 update – implying it would not be phasing out support for any devices this year. iOS 12 developer preview is available on Apple’s developer portal, with the public beta out later this month. iOS 12 stable release will be released with the latest iPhone variants in the Fall of this year. Eligible devices are iPhone 5s and later models, all iPad Air and iPad Pro models, iPad 5th generation and later models, iPad 6th generation and later models, iPad mini 2 and later models, and the iPod touch 6th generation.

Group FaceTime

One of the much-awaited feature, Apple’s native video calling app FaceTime will get support for group calls on iOS 12. Group FaceTime will offer support for up to 32 simultaneous participants with the option of audio or video. There are plenty of nifty features, like enlarging the video window of the person currently talking. Participants can be added at any time, join later if the conversation is still active, or choose to join using video or audio from an iPhone, iPad, or Mac device.

App Updates

Apple News has been updated with iOS 12. The new Apple News app gets a new Browse tab helping users discover new topics and publications. The iPad app gets a new sidebar to increase screen real estate for readers.Stocks app on iOS 12 has been redesigned to offer a new look as well. Apple News is now supported on Stocks, with relevant business news sorted by the Apple News editorial team. Additionally, there is now a Stocks app on iPad. The Stocks app on iPad gets a sidebar that shows your stocks portfolio while the main menu shows relevant news stories.

Privacy and security
On the privacy front, the Safari browser on iOS 12 will get enhanced Intelligent Tracking Prevention preventing social media buttons from accessing personal user information. Other Safari additions include a simplified system information when users browse the web,again preventing sites from tracking. The browser now also automatically creates, autofill, and stores strong passwords when users create new online accounts and flags reused passwords so users can change them.

Siri Shortcuts

Apple’s popular digital assistant, Siri is also getting upgraded. With Siri Shortcuts, the assistant is aimed to be smarter than before, suggesting actions based on factors like time, location, and even your calendar. For instance, Siri can scan your emails and messages for upcoming meetings and remind you to inform your teammates if you are detected to be running late. Actions can be customized, and with the new Shortcuts app, users even be able to create a series of actions from different apps that can be carried out by the press of a button or a voice command. A new Shortcuts API will allow developers to ensure their apps can take advantage of the feature. Siri can also allow on-demand ordering and fitness apps to send notifications based on your location as well as your usage patterns.

For earlier updates on this post read here.