The iOS 12 is an operating system that was designed and developed especially for iPhone and iPad by Apple in 2018. The system has been released on September 17, 2018, and was preinstalled on the iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max, iPhone Xr, iPad Pro 11-inch, iPad Pro 12.9-inch 3rd Generation, iPad Air 3rd Generation, and iPod touch 7th Generation. This software gets the last update (12.5.7) on January 23, 2023, and later has been replaced by a newer version of iOS 13 for iPhones and iPadOS 13 for iPads.
The new iOS 12 features performance and battery life improvements, and security updates. Performance optimizations were made in order to speed up common tasks across all supported iOS devices. Tests are done by Apple on an iPhone 6 Plus showed apps launching 40% faster, the system keyboard activating 50% faster, and the camera opening 70% faster.
Screen Time is a new feature in iOS 12 that records the amount of time a user spent on the device. The feature also displays the amount of time the user used particular apps, the amount of time the user used particular categories of apps (such as games), and the number of notifications the user received.
Messages in iOS 12 introduced a new type of customizable Animoji called “Memoji” which allows a user to create a 3D character of themselves. Apple also introduced Koala, Tiger, Ghost, and T-Rex Animojis.
Safari receives an update to Intelligent Tracking Prevention. This includes a feature that allows the user to disable social media “like” and “share” buttons.
Apple Maps has been “rebuilt” by relying on first-party map data instead of using map data provided by third parties.
A dedicated application in iOS 12 allows users to set up Shortcuts, automated actions that the user can ask Siri to perform. Using the Shortcuts app, a user can create a phrase and type in the action they want Siri to do for them. Once they tell the phrase to Siri, Siri will automatically do the task they set for it in the Shortcuts app.
iOS 12.1, released on October 30, 2018, adds the ability to include up to 32 people in a FaceTime conversation.
Almost a year after releasing iOS 12.5.5 Apple released a critical update for users with iOS 12 marked as 12.5.6 on August 31, 2022. iOS 12.5.6 update fixes a bug where processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution.
Today iOS 12 is 5 years old!
iOS 12 General Information
Versions
| Versions | Build | Release Date |
| iOS 12.0 | 16A366 16A367 | September 17, 2018 |
| iOS 12.0.1 | 16A404 16A405 | October 8, 2018 |
| iOS 12.1 | 16B92 16B93 16B94 | October 30, 2018 |
| iOS 12.1.1 | 16C50 | December 5, 2018 |
| iOS 12.1.2 | 16C101 16C104 | December 17, 2018 |
| iOS 12.1.3 | 16D39 16D40 | January 22, 2019 |
| iOS 12.1.4 | 16D57 | February 7, 2019 |
| iOS 12.2 | 16E227 | March 25, 2019 |
| iOS 12.3 | 16F156 16F8155 | May 13, 2019 |
| iOS 12.3.1 | 16F203 16F8202 | May 24, 2019 |
| iOS 12.3.2 | 16F250 | June 10, 2019 |
| iOS 12.4 | 16G77 | July 22, 2019 |
| iOS 12.4.1 | 16G102 | August 26, 2019 |
| iOS 12.4.2 | 16G114 | September 26, 2019 |
| iOS 12.4.3 | 16G130 | October 28, 2019 |
| iOS 12.4.4 | 16G140 | December 10, 2019 |
| iOS 12.4.5 | 16G161 | January 28, 2020 |
| iOS 12.4.6 | 16G183 | March 24, 2020 |
| iOS 12.4.7 | 16G192 | May 20, 2020 |
| iOS 12.4.8 | 16G201 | July 15, 2020 |
| iOS 12.4.9 | 16H5 | November 5, 2020 |
| iOS 12.5 | 16H20 | December 14, 2020 |
| iOS 12.5.1 | 16H22 | January 11, 2021 |
| iOS 12.5.2 | 16H30 | March 26, 2021 |
| iOS 12.5.3 | 16H41 | May 3, 2021 |
| iOS 12.5.4 | 16H50 | June 14, 2021 |
| iOS 12.5.5 | 16H62 | September 23, 2021 |
| iOS 12.5.6 | 16H71 | August 31, 2022 |
| iOS 12.5.7 | 16H81 | January 23, 2023 |