25% of You Still Haven’t Updated to iOS 12.1 (Here Are the Benefits You’re Missing)
Credit: iPhoneKSA
It’s highly recommended that you update to the latest iOS software whenever it’s available. But apparently, not everyone has taken that recommendation very seriously.
Apple’s latest update, iOS 12.1, is seeing a fairly healthy adopting rate by most metrics. But there are still about 25 percent of iDrop News readers who haven't updated to 12.1, according to our web traffic statistics.
That’s a shame, because iOS 12.1 has several notable features that many users probably want. Here’s what you’re missing. Continue reading to learn about all of the iOS 12.1 benefits you're missing.
7 Group FaceTime
Group FaceTime has been a long-awaited and highly requested feature among iOS users. And while it was largely rumored to debut in iOS 12, Apple delayed that launch until a point update to that operating system. That point update in iOS 12.1.
With Group FaceTime, you can participate in audio or video calls with up to 32 people. It also packs some clever features, like automatic speaker detection that highlights whoever is talking at any given moment.
6 New Emoji
Every year, the Unicode Consortium develops a set of new emoji characters. These standardized emojis are then adopted by the various device manufacturers and operating system makers. Not every iOS update sports new emoji, but iOS 12.1 does.
All in all, there are about 70 new characters. That includes new red-haired, gray-haired and bald emoji; new expression and symbol emoji; and a variety of animals, food products, sports characters, and others.
5 Real-Time Depth Control
Apple’s latest suite of iPhones sport a new feature called Depth Control, which leverages computational photography technology to let users edit the depth-of-field on Portrait Mode photos after the picture is taken.
But in iOS 12.1, Apple had added the ability to actually edit the depth-of-field while taking a picture. That’s obviously handy for knowing exactly how a picture will turn out while it’s being composed and shot.
4 Better-Looking Selfies
There was no “beauty” filter in iOS 12, despite what angry internet commenters may have told you during the “Beautygate” controversy. On the other hand, Apple’s Smart HDR algorithm did feature some aggressive noise reduction.
That wasn’t a bug or a cover beauty filter, but it was something that was readily changeable if enough people weren’t happy with the results. Apple obviously took the outcry to heart, since it tweaked its Smart HDR algorithm in iOS 12.1 to lessen the effects of that noise reduction.
3 eSIM Support
The iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR all sport two SIM cards — an actual physical SIM card tray and Apple’s proprietary eSIM technology. iOS 12.1 basically enables the embedded eSIM in newer iPhones.
Of course, you can’t use Dual SIM, Dual Standby quite yet. You’ll need to wait for your particular carrier to introduce support on their end. But that’s likely to happen in the near future, and you won’t be able to take advantage of the various benefits of DSDS without iOS 12.1 installed.
2 Protection Against Shutdowns
You probably remember Batterygate. While that fiasco was controversial among users because of the company’s lack of transparency, the underlying power management system that Apple implemented was a generally good idea.
Put simply, it protects against random shutdowns during times of peak load when your battery is aged or degraded. In iOS 12.1, Apple has added the power management mechanism to its iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X handsets from 2017.
1 Squash Wi-Fi and Charging Bugs
As with all of its software updates, Apple has also introduced a number of bug fixes, performance improvements and other under-the-hood changes to iOS 12.1. In other words, the update will make your iPhone simply run better.
In fact, if you haven’t even upgraded to iOS 12.0.1, then there are still a number of significant bugs that could affect your iPhone — inclined problems with Wi-Fi, LTE connectivity, and charging via Lightning cable.