iOS 12 will go live on 17th September. The 12th iteration of iOS for iPhone and iPad is very much an evolutionary update. Apple has taken the time this year to go back and fix some of the fundamental issues in iOS. On paper, iOS 12 is totally worth upgrading. I mean, just take a look at all the awesome new features! But, as always, there’s a gray area.
If you find yourself asking the question; should you update to iOS 12? (especially on your iPad)? Check out our reasons below.
Top Reasons To Install iOS 12 Right Away
1. Your Old Device Will Actually Get Faster
One of the biggest features in iOS 12 is the performance upgrade. iOS 12 supports iPhones all the way back to iPhone 5s. That’s a 5-year-old device. And tests using iOS 12 beta have already shown that there’s a noticeable performance increase even on iPhone 5s running iOS 12.
Apple has specifically worked to make common operations like launching the camera, the keyboard, and opening apps, faster. This means that iOS 12 might just breath new life into your old iPhone. If you’ve got an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6s, you might be able to use it for a couple of months, or a year more!
2. Better Notifications
The new features for managing notifications and Do Not Disturb might be enough to make you hit the update button on day one. iOS 12 now lets you group notifications, based on contexts and threads. You can disable notifications for an app right from the Lock screen now! And Do Not Disturb is way more advanced.
3. All The Awesome New Features
A seemingly small update, iOS 12 is still packed with features.
- iOS 12 brings Memoji. You can create your own Animoji character
- Later in the year, FaceTime video call with 32 people will also be introduced.
- Screen Time feature tells you exactly how much time you’re spending on your iPhone or iPad.
- Using App limits and Downtime, you can reduce the time you spend on social media apps and your phone in general.
4. Power Users Will Love Siri Shortcuts
If you’re a power user (and if you’re reading this website, there’s a high probability that you are), you’ll love the new Siri Shortcuts app in iOS 12. For geeks, this is the highlight. Apple bought the Workflow app, rebranded it and integrated it directly with Siri.
So you can use the Shortcuts app to create complex workflows (including variables, loops and more), and initiate the actions simply by speaking a keyword phrase to Siri. Oh, and it works from Apple Watch too. Using the new Raise to Speak feature in Siri, you can just bring your Apple Watch close to your face and just say the magic phrase and watch iOS initiate the action for you. Congratulations Mr. Bond. Welcome to MI6.
5. New Gestures for iPad
iOS 12 brings a new set of gestures for iPad. They’re similar to the ones on iPhone X. You swipe down from the right edge of the status bar to get to the Control Center. And a swipe up from the bottom of the screen takes you to the Home screen.
Personally, I’m still not used to the new gestures and they can be a bit jarring. Now, to get to the dock, you need to swipe up a bit and pause. But this is clearly the direction Apple is taking. With the newly redesigned iPad with Face ID, it will make more sense. So there’s no point in delaying it. The sooner you get used to the new gestures, the better off you will be.
There’s a silver lining to this. One of my favorite iPhone X gestures, where you swipe horizontally at the bottom of the screen to switch between recent apps now on the iPad as well!
Top Reasons Not to Install iOS 12
1. Day 1 Bugs
There’s always a risk that iOS 12 will have some new day 1 bug. With previous versions of iOS, there have been bugs that disabled phone calls or kept crashing. So here’s our advice. Do update to iOS 12, just give yourself a week if you can.
2. No Jailbreak
There’s is no untethered or semi untethered jailbreak for iOS 12 that lets you install Cydia on iOS 12. If you’re running a jailbroken iPhone, stay away from the iOS 12 update until we get a working jailbreak.
Will You Update?
Are the new features and performance increase enough for you to make the switch to iOS 12? Will you update your old iPhone or iPad too? Take the poll below and let us know, and please feel free to share the reasons in the comments below.
Are You Planning to Install iOS 12 Update on Your iPhone or iPad?
— iPhone Hacks (@iPhoneHackx) September 17, 2018
