Best features coming to the iPhone in iOS 12 this fall

The next version of Apple’s iPhone software — iOS 12 — is currently in beta, but we are already able to test out some of the new features coming this fall. Memoji will allow you to create your own Animoji, notifications will finally be grouped by app, and Apple is introducing several features to help you take control of how often you are using your phone. Following is a transcript of the video.

Narrator: The latest iPhone software will be released this fall, and Apple has already shown off a bunch of really cool new features. Here are the top nine.

Narrator: Group Notifications. You’ll finally be able to group notifications by app. You can interact with them one at a time, or the entire group at once. Goodbye overwhelming home screens.

Craig Federighi: With a single swipe, you can triage a whole group of notifications away.

Narrator: AR Measure. Ever find yourself needing to know the exact measurements of something? Your phone will be able to tell you. The new Measure app uses augmented reality to measure real-world objects. It’s still too soon to tell how accurate it is, so don’t toss your tape measure just yet.

Memoji. This one is only for the iPhone X, and possibly some unannounced phones coming this September. Apple has taken the Animoji it introduced in iOS 11 and made it possible for users to create their own. They can be controlled and animated with your own face.

Messages is becoming more social. The messages camera will have filters and other features commonly found on the Instagram and Snapchat cameras, and you’ll be able to send stickers via third-party sticker packs.

Screen Time. Feel like you’re on your phone all the time? This new feature will show you how often you look at your phone, and how much time you’re spending in each app. There’s even a feature called Downtime to lock you out of certain apps.

Craig Federighi: Screen Time empowers you with both insight and control over how you spend your time.

Narrator: Do Not Disturb at bedtime. This feature will keep notifications off your lock screen while you sleep. Say goodbye to waking up to a bombardment of news, email, and other notifications.

More privacy features in Safari. Safari will prevent share, like, and comment widgets from tracking you across the web, meaning sites like Facebook will have a harder time gathering data about you and your browsing habits.

Craig Federighi: And it will be dramatically more difficult for data companies to uniquely identify your device and track you.

Narrator: Thesaurus. The “Look up” feature used to only pull up the dictionary. Soon, you’ll be able to bring up the Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus. Use your phone to add some new words to your vocabulary.

Performance enhancements. iOS 12 won’t have that many noticeable new features. Instead, it’s designed to speed up your phone. Apple is promising things like 40% faster app launches with the new OS, and early beta testers are noticing a difference.

Apple should reveal the fully developed iOS 12 early September, and will probably make it available to all users later that month.

Craig Federighi: And this is iOS 12. I hope you like it. And now, when you look at the competition, it’s hard to say they really have a software update model.