Apple to Release iOS 12.1 Tomorrow With Group FaceTime, New Emoji, Dual-SIM and Real-Time Depth Control

[WannaGoMac]

Group Facetime FINALLY!!! One of two killer iOS 12 features for me!

 

[HMFIC03]

Will it fix the dreadful usability of flipping the camera with FT? I now just flip the whole phone as the camera-flip option is simply a pain..

OMG, I hate the new way to flip the camera..way too difficult to do now

 

[old-wiz]

How do people ever keep track of all of the emojis?

 

[bayelrey80]

Is battery drain fixed in this update?

My wife and I have iOS 12.1 Beta 5 (Max and 7 Plus) and battery life has been great. We've been playing with the new emojis and enjoying the improved selfie photos too.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

Living languages evolve. Originally people only thought emotions would be conveyed through them. Then people started conveying things other than were originally intended through them. They realized they could represent some people but not others pretty well through them. So those other people appeared excluded. So now they're getting included in the evolving language of emojis.

===

What happened to FaceTime being an open standard? Didn't Jobs promise that 8 years ago? What happened? Did he die and then some new guy focused more on profits than having stuff just work replace him?

It kind of kills the idea of group FaceTime that it won't be on Android. With every person you want to include in your group chat, its increasingly likely someone will be using Android and you'll be forced to use something that's actually cross platform instead.

The idea of FaceTime being and Open Standard was actually just Jobs speaking off-the-cuff.

As it turned out, Apple got SUED by a Patent Troll (VirnetX) for the CODEC used in FaceTime (and maybe some other stuff in FaceTime, too). Of course they eventually settled (VirnetX being a patent troll and all...), but that kinda dashed the idea of FaceTime being an Open Standard.

And most people think this was ancient history; but the final judgment wasn't entered until almost exactly a YEAR ago today, October 16, 2017!!!

https://www.macrumors.com/2017/10/16/apple-439m-virnetx-final-judgement/


YAY Patent Trolls! (sarcasm)

 

[ebika]

My parents, sister, and I live in three different states. Group facetime will be a welcome option.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

How do people ever keep track of all of the emojis?

There is a convenient list under that keyboard icon on iOS devices...

 

[bayelrey80]

We can all wish maybe 12.1.1

So far on iOS 12.1 Beta 5, my Max (Verizon) performance has been improved (I've received two modem updates between betas 1-5). I don't think it's all the way there, but it went from meh to decent

 

[old-school]

Does this mean we will also get WatchOS 5.1 tomorrow as well?!

Hoping they will fix the lack of system complications on the Watch

 

[VictorTango777]

Is the Depth Control feature mechanical, as in varying the camera aperture or is it digital as in altering the background pixels?

If the feature is purely mechanical, then it would be like the Aperture Priority mode on most digital cameras made in the past decade. So it would be reasonable to expect this to be available on all iPhones capable of running iOS 12.

 

[raghu8912]

can't say i would ever use group facetime

Face Time Audio Conference would be useful.

 

[DotCom2]

Hoping for some Carrier updates and possible LTE issues fix so many are having.

 

[koruki]

Am I the only one who has used FaceTime maybe twice in the past 5 years?

Are you Jason Bourne? no family no kids who want to see grand parents that live far away?

 

[aappl]

Hoping for LTE fixes as well for XS devices on Verizon!!

I have an X and I keep losing cellular data. It says I have LTE AND I don’t.

 

[noraa]

Is the Depth Control feature mechanical, as in varying the camera aperture or is it digital as in altering the background pixels?

If the feature is purely mechanical, then it would be like the Aperture Priority mode on most digital cameras made in the past decade. So it would be reasonable to expect this to be available on all iPhones capable of running iOS 12.

It's digital as the iPhone has a fixed f stop (f1.8 for the wife angle camera and f2.2 for the telephoto camera).

 

[tooloud10]

How do people ever keep track of all of the emojis?

Oh, that's easy--every time they add more, I just ignore them the same way I've ignored them since the last update, and all of the ones before that.

 

[ovo6]

Hope this fix the Apple Music pop up bug , I’m tired of that message appearing even music I’ve transferred from a cd

 

[ThunderSkunk]

How about adding the ability to split-screen multitask by dragging apps from the app switcher screen to the sidebar? How about playback controls that aren’t hidden on some other invisible pop up gui? How about fixing audiobook sorting that’s been screwed up for 18 updates now?

But hey I’m glad the emoji guy has been showing up for work.
Perhaps he should be running the place, seems to be the most productive guy there.

 

[peelage]

Hoping for LTE fixes as well for XS devices on Verizon!!

There is a fix: get off of Verizon

 

[ovo6]

In tired of this **** dog so annoying to 3D Touch albums to be able to play it

 

[yocko]

I’m praying that the operators will start supporting e-sim tomorrow too. I solely bought the Xs for this feature...

 

[m4mario]

Anyone knows why aperture/depth control is photos app is only available on this year's phones and not on iPhone X, 8 plus, 7 plus... other phones with dual camera?

 

[akosnitzky]

Hoping they will fix the lack of system complications on the Watch

It is a bug fix. We shall see.

 

[zorinlynx]

I'm not really that surprised! The last beta really feels like a GM; I've had zero issues with it and the performance is great.

Granted, I'm on a 7+ and most of the changes in iOS 12.1 seem geared to fixing issues with this year's new phones, but it still feels like a GM compared to the previous betas.

 

[macduke]

I use it roughly 4-6 hours daily, to conference my wife.

Are you newlywed or is this a joke? Even when I was dating my wife and she lived a state away we would only talk for an hour or two each day on the phone on nights and weekends minutes because that's all we could do. FaceTime didn't exist in 2008 and 2009. It was more like a shaky Skype call from her crappy Dell webcam that was prone to dropping her neighbor's WiFi.

Now my wife and I text maybe 10-20 times during the day and talk for maybe 15-30 minutes total in the evening. Not because we aren't good at communicating, but there's just not that much to say at this point and we're pretty organized with our calendars. We're both happy in the relationship. I just can't imagine what I would talk with my wife about for 4-6 hours per day—and on FaceTime no less! Any time I use FT to see my grandparents it chews through my battery too, and I always have the newest iPhone.