Apple iOS 12 At WWDC 2018: Rumored Features Of Next Update

Apple has already sent out press invites for its upcoming 2018 Worldwide Developers Conference early next month. Ahead of it, we have come up with a list of all the rumored features of iOS 12, the next mobile operating system update that’s expected to be unveiled at the event.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported in January that the Cupertino giant was working on a redesigned home screen app grid, a revamped CarPlay interface and new features like picture-taking, photo editing and photo-sharing. However, it has already been confirmed that these new features won’t make it to iOS 12. Instead, they’ll be debuting in 2019 with the new software update for that year.

So what can fans expect from Apple’s iOS 12 this year? Well, there are reports claiming some new features will debut with iOS 11’s successor. Some of them will improve the augmented reality experience on iOS devices. Others simply update existing features that were introduced last year.

Apple introduced a new feature that enabled consumers to come up with animated emojis using the iPhone X in 2017. To continue the hype over the augmented reality feature, Tim Cook’s company is believed to be introducing new characters at WWDC 2018. It’s very likely for Apple to also tweak the interface of Animoji and make it easier to navigate and enable the use of Animoji characters when making video calls, according to MacRumors.

Another new feature that was introduced alongside the iPhone X last fall was Face ID, Apple’s advanced facial recognition technology that is bound to replace Touch ID on all iPhones and iPad tablets starting this year. Earlier this month, Japanese blog Macotakara reported that Apple is adding support for horizontal orientation to the Face ID biometric system later this year. Given that iOS 12 is the next big update, it’s almost certain that it will be the one to bring the horizontal orientation support to Face ID.

Apple is also rumored to be updating parental controls when iOS 12 comes out. The company reportedly has a new Digital Health tool in the works, and it is intended to help parents monitor how much time their kids spend using their iOS devices. This way parents will be able to control the amount of time that their children should spend on their phones and tablets.

The biggest change that’s rumored to come with iOS 12 is cross-platform functionality. Such feature will allow developers to come up with a single app that will work on both iOS devices and Mac devices. This will unify the App Store offerings of both platforms. However, Daring Fireball’s John Gruber noted late last month that it’s unlikely for the cross-platform functionality to arrive this year. He believes that it will be introduced as part of iOS 13 and macOS 10.15 in 2019. Whether he speaks the truth or not will be answered next month.

Other rumored iOS 12 features and changes include a redesigned Stocks app, a revamped iBooks app with a new “Today” section, a modified interface for importing photos into iPads, an enhanced version of the Do Not Disturb feature, deeper Siri integration in Photos and support for multi-person augmented reality games.

Apple is kicking off its WWDC event on June 4 at 10 a.m. PT. Aside from unveiling iOS 12, the tech giant is also expected to introduce the next-generation versions of macOS, tvOS and watchOS as well as launch new hardware products at the event.