In June 2018, Apple announced iOS 12, the latest version of the mobile operating system that powers iPhones and iPads. It contains tweaks that will make the whole OS faster, as well as fun features for personal use.
But don’t write it off as unimportant. iOS 12 contains new productivity features that will come in handy for many business users. Here are a few of them.
Improved Do Not Disturb
iOS has included a Do Not Disturb (DND) feature for some time. Turning it on manually or on a schedule lets you silence notifications so they don’t bother you. But until now, there hasn’t been a good way to use DND during the day and have it turn off automatically.
That’s changing in iOS 12. Now, you can quickly turn on DND for an hour, until general times like “this evening”, or even until you leave your current location. This allows you to block notifications when they’ll get in your way, like a meeting or at a particular site, but get them again later without having to remember to turn DND off.
Do Not Disturb Bedtime
A further improvement to Do Not Disturb is Bedtime Mode.
Previously, DND prevented notifications from making sounds or vibrations, but still showed them on your lock screen. This meant that if you keep our phone in your bedroom (which isn’t a great idea) and use it to check the time at night, you could be overwhelmed by notifications.
BedTime mode dims the screen and prevents notifications from showing on your lock screen when you have DND enabled. Even better, in the morning, it puts all the notifications from the night into a new History tab. This lets you focus on what you need to do instead of immediately having your attention pulled into reacting to notifications.
Grouped Notifications
When you receive a lot of notifications, it’s hard to manage them all. iOS 12 will feature improved notification grouping by app. This means everything from Messages appears in one group, with separate groups for your email, news, and more.
This makes it easier to review them quickly. You can even dismiss all notifications from an app at once.
Usage Metrics
With the widespread popularity of smartphones, you probably use yours more than you realize. iOS 12 is adding new metric features that allow you to see just how often you look at your phone.
This includes Screen Time, which shows you how much time you spend in each app on your phone. You’ll also be able to see which apps send you the most notifications, plus how often you pick up your phone and the apps that trigger you to do so.
iOS will also let you set time limits so you don’t accidentally spend too much time in certain apps. Altogether, these features will help you make sure you’re spending your time in a productive manner.
Parental Controls
While not a business feature, improved parental controls are part of iOS 12’s Screen Time features. If you have children, this allows you to see how often they use their devices.
You can also set app time limits for them, and block them from using specific apps after bedtime. This also allows you to choose certain apps they can use all the time, like educational apps.
iOS 12 Is a Solid Upgrade
iOS 12 will introduce great productivity features that help you stay in control of your device usage.
It’s also worth mentioning the new Group FaceTime, which lets you make FaceTime calls with up to 32 people. While this is handy for quick conversations, you’ll likely want to use something that’s compatible with more platforms, like Microsoft Teams, for conference calls.
We don’t know exactly when iOS 12 will launch, but it will likely be sometime in September 2018 after Apple’s event announcing new devices. Once it becomes available, you’ll see an upgrade prompt on your device.
You may want to give it a few weeks before you update and confirm it’s been stable for others. New versions of iOS sometimes have bugs at launch that could cause performance issues. But once you know it’s ready for use, you can give integrate these great productivity features into your workflow.