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Apple announces iOS 12 with new AR features, Photos improvements, and more

Apple announces iOS 12 with new AR features, Photos improvements, and more

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iOS 12’s newest features are about sharing, AR, and more

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Apple just took the wraps off of its new iOS 12 feature list at its Worldwide Developers Conference. Augmented reality, ARKit 2, sharing, and Shortcuts are some of the breakout features of iOS 12. The former two features will add new AR experiences to Apple’s iPhone and iPad product lines.

The Measure app is one of the new iOS 12 additions revolving around AR for iOS 12, which allows you to measure 3D objects in the real world. Users can tap an object to measure them in 3D. Photos app is also seeing an update, now with access to sharing suggestions for people detected in the shot. It’s a lot of what we’ve seen before on Google Photos, but now native to iOS 12.

The Shortcuts app is another new iOS 12 addition, including home screen shortcuts for Siri’s actions or suggestions for things you do on a daily basis, like ordering coffee via the Starbucks app.

The Apple News app is also getting updated alongside the Stocks app, so stock-related news and updates will be more visible.

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The CarPlay app will be improved with third-party maps support, including Google Maps and Waze. In this case, users of CarPlay are finally getting what they may have been waiting for.

Apple is also paying attention to users’ health, specifically their digital health with a new digital health app. The app allows you to limit usage and screen time, and gives more configurability to Do Not Disturb and family monitoring for parents concerned about their children’s device usage.

Apple seems to be pushing its AR skills heavily in iOS 12, with a new update to Animoji that will be everywhere, called Memoji. It allows iOS users to create their own personalized Animoji, complete with props, effects, and even tongue-licking animations.

FaceTime is seeing one of the biggest feature additions of the apps in iOS 12 — get ready for Group FaceTime, with support for up to 32 people. It will also be integrated into the Messages app, with support for sticker packs, Animoji, and Screen Time.

Some of iOS 12’s other important additions revolve around performance, like apps launching 40 percent faster, keyboards coming up 50 percent faster, and the camera app opening 70 percent faster on older devices.

The free iOS 12 update will begin its rollout as an over-the-air upgrade or via iTunes to iPads and iPhones.

Check out our Apple WWDC storystream for the latest updates!