Apple’s “fall event,” which takes place each year in the late summer, is set to happen next week on Wednesday, September 12th. Apple will unveil a slew of exciting new products including the Apple Watch Series 4, new iPad Pro models, new MacBook laptops, and of course three new iPhone models: the iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max, and a third new iPhone with a 6.1-inch LCD screen and a lower starting price. But new device announcements and launches aren’t the only things to get excited about when it comes to Apple events. The beauty of it is that there’s something new coming for literally every single Apple fan, because the company also announces the final details of its big new software updates.
This time around the stars of the show are macOS Mojave and of course iOS 12, which is Apple’s most hotly anticipated software release in years. After a rocky road caused by all sorts of problems with iOS 11, Apple’s new iOS 12 update is a breath of fresh air that irons out all sorts of kinks and makes old devices feel like new again. But with the release of iOS 12 still nearly two weeks away, we feel like it’s the right time to give our readers an important reminder: You don’t need to wait another minute to get your hands on all of the awesome new features Apple is introducing in iOS 12.
This past summer, we did something we almost never do: we recommended that every Apple user install the iOS 12 public beta on his or her iPhone. Even one short year earlier, advice like this would have been terrible. Beta software is typically unstable and riddled with bugs, so installing it on the iPhone or iPad you intended to use daily leads to tons of frustration.
But iOS 12 is something different. It’s not really a new release like the ones we’re accustomed to from Apple. Those releases often have tons of new features and it takes some time to get them all working properly. It’s true that iOS 12 does have some new features, but for the most it focuses on fixing all of the bugs and other problems that have plagued users in iOS 11. It’s 10% innovation and 90% renovation. And right from day 1, it was obvious that the iOS 12 beta cycle would be far more stable than other recent betas from Apple.
What’s interesting is that Apple has released tons of beta versions of iOS 12 over the course of the summer. Some have even come in rapid succession, which is an indication that important bugs had to be squashed. This is true, but they’ve almost always been very specific issues that don’t impact the overall user experience. What’s more, we’re currently on the twelfth version of the iOS 12 developer beta and the eleventh version of the public beta. Long story short, all of the important issues have been taken care of at this point.
If you’d like, you’re welcome to wait until September 18th or September 18th when Apple releases the public version of iOS 12. But my advice is simple: don’t wait. Register with the public beta on Apple’s website and install iOS 12 on your iPhone right now. You’ll be shocked at how significant the performance improvements are. After everything reindexes over the course of a day or so, you’ll also likely experience better battery life. It really is a win/win.
Check out this post to read about some of the best new features in iOS 12.
