iOS 12
How To: Start Calls & FaceTimes from iOS 12's Messages App on Your iPhone
Front and center for iOS 12 this year is Group FaceTime, which allows users to chat with up to 31 additional people at once. While that ambitious feature is sadly delayed, don't cast away FaceTime just yet — you can always pick up your iPhone and start a call with any single contact directly from the Messages app.
How To: Quickly Turn on 'Do Not Disturb' in iOS 12 for 1 Hour Only
With the arrival of iOS 12, Do Not Disturb has received long-overdue enhancements to make the feature more user-friendly. Among these changes is a subtle but incredibly convenient feature that helps ensure you remain undisturbed for short periods of time to more focus on your task at hand — without having to worry about turning it off manually or messing with complicated settings.
How To: Quickly Turn on 'Do Not Disturb' in iOS 12 Until the Evening or Morning
Included with iOS 12 is an easier-to-use Do Not Disturb mode. Not only is there a new Bedtime Mode that makes waking up less annoying, but also new ways to quickly launch the DND temporarily. One example is having the ability to set Do Not Disturb based on a time of day — specifically, morning or evening.
How To: Quickly Turn on 'Do Not Disturb' in iOS 12 Until You Change Locations
One of the new iOS 12 features for iPhones is an enhanced version of Do Not Disturb mode. Instead of being limited to times you manually input, Apple added new ways to manage the feature, including activating it based on location. For those on the go, this can be done pretty quickly.
News: 6 Reasons Why iPhone Notifications Are Finally Up to Snuff in iOS 12
While iOS 11 was famous for its instability, performance issues weren't the only factor holding it back. The OS overhauled the notification system on iPhone, but not necessarily for the better. iOS 12, however, improves upon these changes, bringing critical features that make viewing and interacting with notifications on your iPhone on par with Android.
News: The Top 10 New Features in iOS 12's Messages App for iPhone
Sometimes incorrectly referred to as "iMessage," the Messages app is where iPhone owners go to chat with iOS users across the world. Apple has made some significant improvements to the messaging app with its iOS 12 update for iPhone. If you're interested to see how your Messages experience has changed since installing the new firmware, check out the features below.
News: Group FaceTime Isn't Coming with iOS 12 After All
One of iOS 12's biggest attractions is Group FaceTime, which would allow up to 32 people to video chat together at the same time. It's quite the pitch, and many iOS users are excited to see in action. Unfortunately, Apple has confirmed that Group FaceTime won't be included with iOS 12 when it launches, leaving everyone to chat one-on-one just a little bit longer.
News: Top 9 New Safari Features in iOS 12 for iPhone
If there's one strength of Apple's that iOS and Android fans can agree on, it's the company's dedication to user privacy. With each new iteration of iOS, Apple builds upon these foundations, enhancing and increasing each iPhone's ability to protect its user's data. In iOS 12, Apple has added many new features to Safari, most of which have their own unique way of keeping you safe online.
How To: Make Siri Show Your Account Passwords to You Quickly in iOS 12
With iOS 12, Apple is offering users more options than ever to create, store, and manage their saved passwords. Not only can iOS 12 make you new passwords via the AutoFill feature, you can quickly and efficiently access your entire iCloud Keychain using Siri. Why go hunting for the passwords yourself when you can ask your iOS assistant to find them for you?
How To: Enable Downtime on Your iPhone to Help Stay Distraction-Free
Excessive cell phone use was issue that Apple decided to tackle with iOS 12. Starting with the iPhone's 2018 update, a new "Screen Time" feature give you the ability to set App Limits to encourage more balanced usage, and there's another setting that gives you control over when certain apps can be accessed.
How To: Create, AutoFill & Store Strong Passwords Automatically for Websites & Apps in iOS 12
Apple's dedication to iPhone security is one of the company's biggest selling points. It's no surprise then that iOS 12 offers users a simple yet powerful way to make, save, and auto-fill strong passwords to your iCloud Keychain when creating accounts in both Safari and in apps. The best part? You hardly need to do a thing.
How To: Find & Change Weak Reused Passwords to Stronger Ones More Easily in iOS 12
The option to auto-fill passwords on your iPhone has been around a while now, but iOS 12 improves on it by suggesting strong passwords when first creating an account online in Safari or within apps. Apple has also added "password reuse auditing" for your iCloud Keychain, where all your logins are housed, which will find and change your weak passwords to strong ones.
How To: Everything You Need to Know About iOS 12's New Battery Stats for Your iPhone
With iOS 12, Apple is making up for mistakes from the past, with iPhone batteries being no exception. The new update builds upon both battery health and performance throttling tools introduced in iOS 11.3 by offering users more information about your iPhone's battery usage than ever before.
News: iOS 12's Shortcuts App Will Replace Apple's Workflow for Good
Apple's testing a new app for iOS 12 called Shortcuts, and it has a lot of overlap with their existing Workflow app. So much overlap, in fact, that Workflow won't be sticking around for much longer.
How To: Fix the 'Software Update Is Required to Connect to Your iPhone' Warning on Your Mac
If you're currently running macOS 10.11 or higher on your Mac and connect your iPhone to sync with iTunes, you may get an alert saying that "a software update is required to connect to your iPhone." Here's everything you need to know about what that means, how to update your system, and what to do if updating doesn't work.
How To: Use the Shortcuts App on Your iPhone in iOS 12 for Custom Siri Actions & More
One of the most exciting additions to iOS 12 for iPhones is called Shortcuts, a tool integrated with Siri to help you get things done faster. While there are a few recommended shortcuts available to you in Siri's settings in iOS 12, the Shortcuts app brings the functionality of Workflow to Siri so you can build your own custom actions or select from the gallery of available shortcuts.
How To: Send Animated Activity Stickers (That You Didn't Earn) in iMessages
If you have an Apple Watch, you might know that the activity awards you earn can be shared with your friends as iMessage stickers on your iPhone. However, you first have to earn achievements in order to use them as stickers. That changes somewhat with iOS 12, as Apple added animated activity stickers for all Apple Watch users, whether they've earned award badges or not.
How To: Use the Hidden Thesaurus on Your iPhone in iOS 12 for Fast Synonym Searches in 'Look Up'
One gem that Apple added with iOS 12 is the perfect companion for the dictionary that's already available with the "Look Up" tool. I say gem because it's taken a backseat to all of the other new iOS 12 features, but it shouldn't, because a thesaurus is like the phloem to a dictionary's xylem, making it hard to believe that Apple didn't include this synonym finder from the start.
How To: Take Better Fireworks Photos with Your iPhone
The default Camera app on your iPhone can take some pretty incredible photos during the day. Newer iPhone models can even make nighttime shots look good. But you can't just point and shoot if you want to capture some pretty spectacular fireworks photos on July 4th, New Year's Eve, or another pyrotechnic celebration.
How To: Turn Your iPhone's Keyboard into a Trackpad for Easier Cursor Placement
Ever since 3D Touch's introduction in iOS 9 for the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, a little-known trick for moving the cursor around and selecting text was built into Apple's stock keyboard. On iOS 12 or later, it works for all iPhone models with or without 3D Touch or Haptic Touch baked in.