What to look forward to in iOS 12

It's been a little while, things got a little busy....Another update was made to iOS 11.... but that's not why we're here.  I'm here to make sure you guys know all the new features that are coming in iOS 12.   I can't be the only person who is annoyed with all the patches to iOS 11.  I mean I'm glad they are finding the issues and addressing them but still there have been alot of updates.  So I'm looking forward to iOS 12 and excited to share with you guys of course!

Group Facetime So the first feature that immediately jumps out...the ability to FaceTime more than one person...at the same time! The Group FaceTime feature will allow up to 32 people to be on the same FaceTime call.  You can even start a group FaceTime from a group message.  Sooo no more needing to have to download another app to video chat (well if they don't have iPhone this still applies).  If you start the group FaceTime from a group message, the other members can jump into the active FaceTime.  You can also incorporate stickers and Animojis into your FaceTime.

Get a better handle on your screen time Your phone is in your hand at least 40% of the day, and more than likely never out of arms reach right?  So in iOS 12 Apple has incorporated a Screen Time feature to help you get a better look at how much time you're spending on your iPhone.  It'll also show you how much time you're spending on various apps and websites.  Did I mention it also tells you how many times you pick your phone up?  It will even give you weekly reports (if you're really trying to get some perspective) But wait! This feature also let's you manager your kids screen time on their devices.  So you can set limits on the device itself and even specifically to certain apps and websites. So 1 hour on SnapChat, 2 hours on Safari, etc.  There's a feature that allows the kids to request more time too if you want to allow it.  The Downtime component of Screentime sets a specific time that all apps and notifications are blocked, but you can set the ones you wish to allow. This feature is managed by adding your kid's Apple ID's.

Speaking of Downtime..the Do not Disturb feature is getting a boost Now the Do Not Disturb feature isn't new, but it's getting some updates. My sister is a personal fan of this feature, and honestly mine goes into Do Not Disturb after 10:30 at night.  If it's an emergency they'll call more than once and it'll come through.  But now you can set it to end automatically in an hour (like if you're trying to focus on a deadline or just be a little less distracted) or if you've got a meeting happening. It can end when the meeting is over.

Got alot of photos? I always find myself taking forever to scroll through my photos because well I keep practically everything..probably should start moving some of these photos to my hard drive but...that's not why we're here lol.  There's a new search feature in iOS 12.  You can search by location, events, and other keywords (so birthdays, beach, etc).  Oh and for my photographers or those on the rise, iOS 12 will support RAW photos!

Siri is getting smarter, she's studying So I have a love/hate relationship with Siri, sometimes she works and sometimes she misses the mark. I use it more for fun, seriously you get some hilarious responses when you say random thing to Siri.  Siri's learning your routine in iOS 12 so it'll be able to make relevant suggestions to you, based on your location, or certain times of day.  The new Shortcuts app will allow you to run multiple actions at once. Sooo basically it's a script you can run on your phone (that was for my developers lol).  But you can add your shortcuts to Siri and allow it to help you get things.  Oh and if you're planning some international travel, Siri will also be able to translate into more languages. For my health conscious people, Siri will also be able to give you facts on your food. You can ask how many calories does this candy bar have. I'd never do that though lol, I'd just want to throw the whole thing away. I am currently doing Whole30, sooo following this I need to take advantage of this new food knowledge that Siri has These are just a few of the features coming, for the full preview you can read here. Still up in the air if I want to run the public beta on my phone, it's out now.  If you want to sign up for the public beta you can do that here. Always do a good backup before testing the beta version, remember you'll get the features but the bugs too.  The full, final public version will be released this fall, but generally in September around the time Apple has their next big event.  It will be available for iPhone 5s and up, all iPad Air and iPad Pro models, iPad 5th generation, iPad 6th generation, iPad mini 2 and later and iPod touch 6th generation.  But I'll keep you guys posted!