Apple is widely expected to unveil iOS 12, the next major update for iOS that runs on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch at the WWDC 2018 keynote on June 4, 2018. It is internally codenamed ‘Peace’.

We don’t know a lot about the update, but we’ve heard some interesting rumors that have provided some details about some of the new features and changes that we can expect to see in iOS 12.

According to Bloomberg, Apple was planning some exciting new features such as redesigned Home screen, a multiplayer mode in augmented reality games, and a revamped Photos app but has delayed most of these iOS 12 features to iOS 13 to focus on performance and stability after the company has received criticism for the quality issues in iOS 12.

iOS 12 Features

But nonetheless, iOS 12 will include some new features and changes such as:

Cross-Platform Functionality

There have been rumors that iOS 12 could include support for cross-platform apps,  which will allow a developer to develop a single app that works on iPhone, iPad and Mac. However, it is not clear if the support for cross-platform apps will be introduced in iOS 12 or iOS 13 as well known Apple blogger, John Gruber, of Daring Fireball recently said that he doesn’t expect the feature to be introduced in iOS 12 and macOS 10.14.

Digital Health Dashboard

iOS 12 may come with improved parental controls with a new Digital Health dashboard which will give parents visibility on how much time children are spending on their iOS devices. It sounds similar to the Digital Wellbeing feature introduced by Google in Android P.

Animoji in FaceTime

Apple may integrate the Animoji feature that is currently available exclusively on iPhone X with FaceTime. So iPhone X users will be able to make FaceTime calls with their Animoji.

New Animoji

A major update would be incomplete with new Animoji characters. So it is not surprising to know that according to some reports iOS 12 will feature new Animoji characters.

Face ID with Horizontal Support

One of the drawbacks of Face ID is that one can unlock iPhone X when it is in portrait mode. So it is good to know that iOS 12 will offer horizontal support for Face ID.

In addition to these features, iOS 12 will also include the following changes and improvements:

• Improved ARKit framework
• Improved Health app
• Revamped Stocks app
• Multi-party FaceTime video calls, though the feature might get pushed
• Siri integration in the Search view and across the OS
• Improved Do Not Disturb mode with more granular controls
• Redesigned interface for importing photos on iPad

iOS 12 Release Date

Apple will preview the major new iOS 12 features at the WWDC 2018 Keynote on June 4. It should also seed the first iOS 12 beta version to Developers on the same day. We expect Apple to release iOS 12 in September just before the launch of the new iPhones.

Find our latest iOS 12 coverage below.