02 Nov iOS 12.1 Ready to Download
Just a month after iOS 12 hit handsets across the globe, Apple has now introduced iOS 12.1, and as of the 1st November 2018, this is the latest release. If you have yet to upgrade to iOS 12, you will now skip straight onto iOS 12.1, and if you already had iOS 12, you will need to upgrade once more. However, you will then have the latest version, with iOS 12.1 being a bug fix patch that brings the same great functionality on an even more stable platform. iOS 12 has been widely lauded as being one of the best upgrades ever seen so what does it offer?
Stacking Notifications
One of the first things you will notice is your lock screen notifications are different. In iOS 11 it was hard to follow what was going on and to be honest a little chaotic. iOS 12 aims to tackle this with virtual stacking. Let’s say you get three Facebook notifications and six news updates. The screen will flash them up in order, but stack like with like, so your newest Facebook notification will sit on top of the previous one, and so on. This means you can check what you might have missed in a more organised fashion.
More to Do Not Disturb
Obviously Do Not Disturb has been a feature for a long time; however, it has been given an overhaul to make things even better. You can trigger automatic Do Not Disturb for individual appointments or locations when you create an event and, iOS 12 will also turn off when the meeting is over (so be sure to set yourself enough time if you don’t want to be the one everyone turns to look at for having a noisy phone!)
Clever Siri Shortcuts
Now, we know that Siri is a marmite feature, some users hate him and will not bother to interact with him, others are simply exhausted by the number of voice assistants they have around them, and other love the functionally he offers and cannot get enough. For those in the latter category or those wanting to give him another chance, Siri can now help you generate and run shortcuts for tasks. This means you can trigger them when something happens when you arrive at a particular location or at a specific time of day.
Better Safari Privacy
Staying safe on the internet is something that iOS users have always enjoyed with far less virus targeting than Windows users; however, more security never hurts. In terms of privacy, it can seem like the whole world gets to know your internet history, so these new features are very welcomed. iOS 12 will block lots of unauthorised tracking by removing share buttons and comment widgets, and it will stop advertisers from being able to follow you as you go about your business. If you get sick of targets adverts popping up everywhere just because you once looked at dining room chairs, then this really is excellent news.