Apple’s iOS12 news
June 11th, 2018The release of iOS12 due later this year brings new features to reduce interruptions and manage screen time.
At Apple’s recent press announcement in California, they announced new tools built into the new iOS 12 that will help customers understand and take control of the time they spend interacting with their iOS devices.
These new features, available later this month as part of the iOS 12 public beta, include Activity Reports, App Limits, new Do Not Disturb and Notifications controls designed to help customers reduce interruptions and manage screen time for themselves and their families.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, said “In iOS 12, we’re offering our users detailed information and tools to help them better understand and control the time they spend with apps and websites, how often they pick up their iPhone or iPad during the day and how they receive notifications,”
“We first introduced parental controls for iPhone in 2008, and our team has worked thoughtfully over the years to add features to help parents manage their children’s content. With Screen Time, these new tools are empowering users who want help managing their device time, and balancing the many things that are important to them.”
Do not disturb
(I already love this feature, my kids text me when I’m driving, they get the do not disturb message and know I won’t be texting them back anytime soon!)
iOS 12 brings enhancements to the Do Not Disturb feature, making it a powerful time management tool even better by helping people stay in the moment during times like studying, in a class, meeting or dinner. There is also a new Do Not Disturb during Bedtime mode to help people get a better night’s sleep by dimming the display and hiding all notifications on the lock screen until prompted in the morning. Do Not Disturb has new options from Control Centre where it can be set to automatically end based on a specified time or location.
Notifications
To help reduce interruptions, iOS 12 will give customers more options for controlling how notifications are delivered. Instantly manage notifications to be turned off completely or delivered directly to Notification Centre. Siri can also intelligently make suggestions for notifications settings, such as to quietly deliver or turn alerts off, based on which alerts are acted upon. iOS 12 also introduces Grouped Notifications, making it easier to view and manage multiple notifications at once.
Screen time
(this sounds worrying if you know you already spend too much time looking at your screen…)
New Screen Time creates detailed daily and weekly Activity Reports that show the total time a person spends in each app they use, their usage across categories of apps, how many notifications they receive and how often they pick up their iPhone or iPad.
Apparently once understanding how we are interacting with our iOS devices, we can then take control of how much time they spend in a particular app, website or category of apps?! The App Limits feature allow us to set a specific amount of time to be in an app, and a notification will display when a time limit is about to expire – excellent!
Screen Time will also give parents the ability to schedule a block of time to limit when their child’s iOS device can’t be used, such as study, homework or bed time. During Downtime, notifications from apps won’t be displayed, and a badge will appear on apps to indicate they are not allowed to be used. Parents can choose specific apps like Phone or Books that will always be available, even during downtime or after a limit is spent.
Screen Time is account-based and works across all of a child’s iOS devices, so settings, reports and allowances are based on their total usage. Screen Time works with Family Sharing and is quick and easy to set up. Parents can configure Screen Time settings remotely for their child within the same Family Sharing group or locally on a child’s device.
Screen Time and new Notifications and Do Not Disturb feature will be available with iOS12 in the Autumn.
Credit Apple UK website https://www.apple.com/uk/newsroom/