Introduction

Let’s be honest, iOS 11 wasn’t great. Sure, it brought some great new features, but many of them were delayed for months—Messages in the Cloud was delayed nearly a year.

Feature delays are frustrating, but even worse was slow performance. Over the years, iOS had apparently picked up some cruft, and it really showed in its 11th iteration.

Thankfully, Apple was aware of this, because the primary focus of iOS 12 isn’t new features but performance. If you’re used to iOS 11, you’ll notice it the instant you fire up your device with iOS 12. Some actions are as much as 50% faster than they were in iOS 11!

But that’s not to say iOS 12 is devoid of new features. If iOS 12 has a central theme, it’s this: making you feel less compelled to spend time on your devices by reducing distractions and speeding up workflows.

One example of this is the new Screen Time feature, which seeks to help you monitor and regulate your screen usage for yourself and your entire family. This feature is undoubtedly in response to claims of addiction to smartphones and social media.

An example on the other end of this formula is Shortcuts, a new app that lets you create and install automations to extend iOS’s capabilities and speed up common actions.

In this book, I’ll show you not only how to use iOS 12’s new features, but also the basics of using iOS, managing your data, using the most-used built-in apps, and solving common problems. If you’re new to iOS, this is a great time to jump on board, because at this point in iOS’s life cycle, it’s a mature piece of software.