WWDC 2018
Hands down one of my favourite events, every year. And since every system has so much to offer, I’ll break this post up into parts.
For those unfamiliar with what the WWDC 2018 is: The World Wide Developer’s Conference is an annual Apple event where the company’s employees talk about a new iOS, a new macOS, a watchOS, and a tvOS.
I was going to make some sort of “OS” related joke but this is serious – please focus.
iOS 12 – More power to you
It’s literally impossible for you to be any more excited about the release of a new operating system for the iPhone (+iPad), than me.
I’ll skip the generic “it’s better!”, “it’s faster!” claims because it’s always the same things, but here are a few of the best features.
1. It’s faster
I’m sorry, but the iOS 12 really is faster.
There are these mundane – day to day things we do on our phone that tend to get slow over time. We get used to it and we expect it and we hate it but we live with it.
Not anymore.
Swiping right to access our camera, opening apps, the amount of time it takes for your keyboard to pop up, to open apps, scroll up your Control Center, pull down your notification bar; everything is going to feel smoother.
2. FaceTime’s biggest and baddest update…
Not one soul can deny that FaceTime has been beyond amazing… with one major flaw.
Whenever we’ve needed to have group calls or anything of the sort, we’ve had to recur to Skype.
No more!
FaceTime allows audio and video with up to 32 people now! And to make things more entertaining, whoever’s talking at the moment, their tile will enlarge! P.S. You can even use filters while you FaceTime now.
3. Does your iPhone X do this?
Sorry guys, this one’s an iPhone X exclusive.
Snapchat lets you look like other people, and other characters. iPhone X took Animoji to a new level.
Create a Memoji and make it look just like you (kinda like the Nintendo Mii?) (kinda like the bitmoji?). Also yes, there’s more Animoji’s for you to try out too.
4. AR gets real
Shoot videos with added effects. Self explanatory, really.
This one is a whole topic of its own, but basically, Apple is taking AR to a whole new level. Stay woke for that.
5. Notification Center is way better
You know how when you get 30 iMessage texts, 10 twitter notifications, and basically your notification center is an endless scrolling of .. well, notifications?
Apple groups your notifications. FINALLY. You’ll see it eventually, but there’s a “show less” option now and basically, don’t be overwhelmed anymore!
6. Do Not Disturb. Please.
Not sure about you, but I use this feature a lot. When I’m at work, when I’m sleeping, basically please never disturb me.
Sometimes, unfortunately, we tend to forget to turn it on. Which makes it unfortunate when you’re taking an exam, or in an important meeting. Apple now lets you program your disturb-free environment according to a specific location, or even a time-range!
iOS 12 has way too many features to even get into all of them, so I’ll leave you with a few bullet points of other things that are pretty exciting to look forward to.
- Password sharing between your iDevices will become much easier.
- Siri is smarter and knows a lot more about… everything.
- Screentime: A new iOS 12 feature where you’ll get weekly reports about how often you use your device, and what all you use more often. This is Apple’s way of guilt tripping you into using your phone less, basically.
Now, there is good news and bad news.
Good news: Every device that could support iOS 11, will support iOS 12! (so iPhone 5s and SE onwards, iPad Mini 2 onwards, and iTough 6th gen.)
Bad news: You won’t get to download it till August at least…
Worse news: iOS 12 won’t have a redesign, which is a bit disappointing.
GREAT news: There’s a way around that. Apple has a beta program that not many people know about. I’ve linked it there for you to read up on it, but if you don’t understand, feel free to shoot me a message.
Be warned, although enrolling in the beta program does let you use the iOS 12 before anyone else (or most people, anyway), it does mean that your phone is susceptible to bugs and you might have to restart your phone more often. But hey, it’s worth it, right?
That’s all for this post! I’ll be back with other updates from the WWDC and I’ll definitely be downloading iOS 12 soon and letting you guys know what’s good.
