The full release of iOS 12 is right around the corner. If you just can’t wait, it turns out you don’t have to. The last beta version Apple introduced is extremely stable. And it’s available now.
You could be among the first to play around with all the new iOS 12 features. You could be the first to send a Meemoji message to your friends. There’re some nice benefits to not waiting, though admittedly it’s mostly bragging rights.
Before now, you probably held off from installing any of the iOS 12 betas because they might muck up your iPhone. But the last beta is almost certainly indistinguishable from the final version. We here at Cult of Mac have been testing it since it was released 10 days ago and have had no problems.
And joining the Apple beta program is a snap. We wrote a handy how-to guide, but there are only about 4 or 5 steps to go through. If you can make a sandwich, you can join the beta program. And unlike the sandwich, it’s free!
All that said, Apple’s iPhone event is on Wednesday, and the first non-beta version should be out a few days after that. You could just wait. But by doing so you lose out on the opportunity to be first.
What you get with iOS 12
All too often, it’s just the newer devices that get the best features. Not this time. Apple has worked hard to make iOS 12 perform faster than its predecessors, and the older your device is, the better the speed increase.
Most iPhones will be able to use Siri Shortcuts that enable the iPhone or iPad to perform all kinds of complex actions when you utter simple commands.
And there’s Memoji, personalized and animated versions of emoji. This feature is one that’s only available to users of the iPhone X.
These are just a couple of the highlights. We discuss more in our video overview:
There’s a caveat. Since that was created, Apple decided to delay the release of Group FaceTime.
