Apple announces release date for iOS 12

Get ready for some updates. 

The big annual Apple event is currently underway at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, and while you may have tuned in solely to decide which of the three new iPhones perfectly fits your smartphone needs, there’s more to Wednesday’s show than just hardware. That’s right, we finally got the full skinny on iOS 12. Well, its release date, anyway.

According to Apple’s Phil Schiller, iOS 12 will be available for download starting September 17. Of course, some brave souls have already been playing around with the public beta, but we’re talking about the official real deal. The fully baked product. 

Now, should you go ahead and download it immediately? Maybe. But no one would blame you for waiting a week or so. After all, there’s no shame in letting everyone else be the iOS guinea pigs.

So, if you do download it now, what fun stuff will you be able to play with? Well, “iOS shortcuts” for one. They allow you to set up a chain of reactions that are engaged with a Siri command. 

Otherwise? Well, Wednesday’s event was pretty slim on iOS details. Want to know more? You can read all about iOS 12 from our coverage of the public beta. 

It’s clear Tim Cook and his fellow presenters were more concerned about the new iPhones than the operating system they’ll be running — making the iOS 12 news feel like an afterthought. 

Which, well, is maybe all the info you need when it comes to deciding whether or not to download it on day one.