Apple’s major software update for the iPhone and iPad brings many big changes, but at least as many small improvements. These are the 11 best little iOS 12 features you probably didn’t know about. Also watch our video!
These are the minor iOS 12 features
iOS 12 gives our iPhone and iPad all kinds of new features to get started. Yesterday on iPhoned we already discussed the biggest changes in our iOS 12 review, but there are at least as many small functions that are worth mentioning. Do you want to know more about bigger new features such as ARKit 2.0 and Screen Time? Then take a look at our review:
Read: iOS 12 review: Apple’s best update in years mainly refines what was already there
1. Siri helps with password searching and autofill
Once your iPhone is unlocked, Siri can help you find passwords. Handy if you want to have quick access to an account and do not want to scroll through your growing list of accounts. In addition, password apps such as 1Password and LastPass now support autofill, making it very easy to quickly enter your passwords safely when you log in to a website.
2. iOS warns about reused passwords
Apple will do its best to make security more accessible. For example, your iPhone will warn if you use the same password for different accounts, which is a common mistake by users. In this way, Apple encourages you to use a different password for each service, which makes your security a lot stronger. In addition, Apple does four other things to protect your privacy on your iPhone and iPad, which you can read more about in the article below.
Also read: 4 ways iOS 12 protects your privacy better than ever
3. iPhone X-like navigation on the iPad
Apple prepares the iPad for a life without a home button and adds iPhone X-like animations. For example, you can quickly return to the home screen by swiping up from the bottom and the Control Panel appears by swiping down in the top right corner. In addition, a developer discovered that iOS 12 prepares the iPad for Face ID. A nice indication that the iPad Pro 2018 will be equipped with Apple’s face scanner this fall.
Also read: Overview: When we expect the new iPad Pro, MacBook Air and more
4. Easily rescan your face with Face ID
You unlock the iPhone X, XS, XS Max and XR with Face ID, but sometimes it happens that the scanner does not recognize you. At first there was nothing else to do than lock and unlock your iPhone again, but fortunately iOS 12 makes this a bit easier. Once Face ID doesn’t return, you can swipe the screen from bottom to top to reactivate the scanner.
5. Smoother animations
iOS 12 primarily focuses on improving stability and increasing speed. That is noticeable, because several animations have become a lot faster. This way, the Control Panel appears faster on the screen and you can multitask faster. That should make the way you operate your iPhone and iPad just a little faster.
6. Close apps more easily on the iPhone X
If you now want to force close an app on the iPhone X, you have to press and hold it in the multitasking window. Red circles then appear with which you can force an app to close. Apple thought that was a lot of steps to take, so from now on you can just open the multitasking window and swipe an app up to close it. Exactly as this always worked on older iPhones.
7. Extensive battery information
With iOS 11.3, Apple introduced the Battery Management function, which gives you more insight into the use of your iPhone battery. iOS 12 takes the next step by providing more detailed statistics about the consumption of your battery. In a graph you can see exactly at which moments your battery was heavily loaded, and which apps were responsible for this. Handy to quickly discover an app that is secretly eating your precious battery percentages in the background.
8. Safari Favicons
A small improvement that will sound like music to avid Safari users is the introduction of Favicons. These little icons replace the name of a website when you open multiple tabs in Apple’s browser, making it easier to see which websites you have open. These icons have been in browsers such as Chrome and Firefox for years, but are now finally making the switch to iOS and macOS Mojave.
9. Scan QR codes faster
In iOS 11, Apple added the option to scan QR codes directly from the Camera app. iOS 12 makes it even easier by adding a button for this to the Control Center. This option is optional, so you can turn it on and off according to your own taste.
10. Siri knows more about celebrities, sports and food
Siri is getting a lot smarter this fall thanks to the introduction of shortcuts. These make it possible to link apps to Siri commands, allowing for more complex options. In addition, the assistant has learned a bit about celebrities, sports competitions and food. Handy if you need cooking inspiration or can no longer come to the name of that famous actor from the latest cinema film.
11. RAW support in the Camera app
A big improvement for iPhone photographers: the iPhone will make RAW photos easier to import on your iPhone and iPad. This should make it easier to distinguish the RAW photos from your camera roll from the JPG variant. Although we are still waiting for Apple to add RAW photos to the Camera app. Maybe an idea for iOS 13?
Also read: Photographing in RAW format on the iPhone: you should know this