8 New and Improved iOS 12 Settings You Should Know About
Credit: iPhone Hacks
iOS 12 will officially debut to the public this week, bringing with it a whole new group of features and settings to help improve the iPhone user experience. Some of the most anticipated features include Screen Time, Memoji, Siri Shortcuts, and more. In this post, we'll cover some of the tweaks and adjustments you should be aware of in iOS 12 to help make for a better iOS experience. Continue reading to learn all of the new iOS 12 settings and tweaks you should know about!
8 Enhanced Email Notifications
In previous iterations of iOS, working with different mailboxes could be a bit cumbersome because you could only toggle notifications on and off for all mailboxes. But with iOS 12, you can customize notifications for each email account.
You can access these permissions through Settings > Notifications > Mail, and then customize how you would like to receive email notifications for each inbox you have added. This way, it's easier keep business separate from personal.
7 Grouped Notifications
To prevent your home screen from amassing notifications, iOS 12 groups notifications from the same apps together to keep your lock screen from becoming overwhelmed. You will notice if your notifications are grouped because they will have a stacked effect, and will also display the total number of notifications as in the image above.
You can interact with these notifications in a few ways. Tapping the grouped notification will expand it, and you can choose to minimize this by tapping 'Show Less,' or you can click the X to clear all of the app notifications.
You could also swipe left on the app notification to clear it from your Lock Screen.
To access and adjust these settings, visit Settings > Notifications and select the app to adjust the 'Notification Grouping' settings.
6 Instant Tuning
Similar to managing your notifications, Instant Tuning allows you to decide how you want your notifications delivered: Delivered Prominently, Delivered Quietly, or Turned Off.
Swipe left on any notification and click 'Manage' in order to adjust these settings.
You can also access Settings > Notifications and choose a specific app to alter its notification settings (Lock Screen, Notification Center, Badges).
5 Screen Time Limits
One of the more exciting features of iOS 12, Screen Time was designed by Apple to help you kick your smartphone addiction — or at least curb it a bit.
In iOS 12, you can access Screen Time via the Settings app to view all of your usage statistics for time on your iPhone, time with specific app categories, and even time spent on individual apps.
Plus, Screen Time lets you see these metrics across all of your Apple devices running iOS 12.
It is here that you can also make a few tweaks so you can make the most out of Screen Time. You can manually set a time limit for a particular app via App Limits, or you can schedule Downtime for regular breaks from your device.
4 Siri Shortcuts
One of the new improvements in iOS 12 is the option to add Siri Shortcuts. The iOS voice assistant now gets an upgrade because you can add personalized shortcuts for Siri. Turning on a smart appliance or texting someone an ETA can be easily accomplished by going to Settings > Siri & Search and setting your own, personalized shortcuts.
Siri voice commands aren't limited to your iPhone, either: Any Apple device with Siri (iPad, MacBook, etc.) can use these voice command shortcuts in iOS 12.
3 Critical Alerts
Now in iOS 12, your device will receive critical alerts even if you have 'Do Not Disturb' mode turned on. Critical alerts were put into place by Apple for individuals who rely on their iPhone for critical health updates. No change or update is necessary. Rather, critical alerts will override 'Do Not Disturb' mode if it is turned on.
2 Do Not Disturb Scheduling
Do Not Disturb is a popular feature that allows you to silence your calls and notifications on your iPhone without turning the device off. It is often useful for when you are driving (via 'Do Not Disturb While Driving') or even during night time hours.
iOS 12 will give you the option to enable Bedtime Mode, where all notifications will be silenced and the screen will dim to only reveal the date and time along with the Do Not Disturb notification.
Also, Do Not Disturb now gets a Force Touch option right from the Control Panel, which allows you to turn on the feature for 1 Hour, Until This Evening, or Until I Leave This Location.
With Do Not Disturb, you can also manually schedule a time for this feature to enable itself. This option can be accessed by going through Settings > Do Not Disturb and clicking on Scheduling.
1 More Control Center Customizations
With the debut of iOS 11, Apple introduced a new way to interact with your iPhone: By customizing the Control Center. By accessing Settings > Control Center > Customize Control Center, you can add a number of new features for quick access: Do Not Disturb While Driving, Alarms, Screen Recording, Apple TV, and more.
You may want to consider tweaking and customizing the Control Center for better shortcuts to frequently used apps (if you have not done so already) or even check out the new Scan QR Code shortcut.