Apple introduced iOS 12 at and at WWDC showed us many of the novelties that the new operating system will bring of our iOS devices.
Among the most outstanding novelties were the new notifications, which were jointly submitted to the new Do Not Disturb Now Screen Time.
Do not bother
Do Not Disturb has been around for a long time, but it just keeps getting better. With iOS 12 «Do not disturb» has a new mode called "Sleep mode". We must activate it from the Settings, in the "Do not disturb" menu. Thanks to him, we will not see notifications on the lock screen of our iPhone. It simply shows the time on a darkened background so that it doesn't distract us and make us lose sleep if we wake up.
In addition, "Do not disturb" can now be configured from the control center - using 3D touch - so that do not disturb us until we leave the site we are in or until the current event ends of our calendar. Two ways to quickly set up "Do Not Disturb" that I am already using routinely.
Screen time
Undoubtedly, one of the great novelties of iOS 12. It is a new menu in Settings that will help us control the use of our iPhone in the best possible way, knowing how we use it.
Screen time shows us how we have used our device. The time we have dedicated to each application and each category (social networks, entertainment, ...).
This information is already good per se. But with iOS 12 they want us to know everything about the way we use our iPhone and, in addition, they will show us the number of times we pick up our iPhone (I take it every 6 minutes), when do we take it more times and what is the longest session of use of our iPhone.
Another interesting piece of information they offer us is the amount of notifications we receive and which apps they are from.
This data will allow us to know in which apps time is running out, from which apps we receive more notifications than necessary. and to know when we use our iPhone more, especially, when we should not and we do.
Together with all this information, Apple offers us help to change our habits:
- "Downtime": Will allow us schedule a time in which only the applications we allow will be available. In addition, "Downtime" is synchronized through iCloud with the other devices to avoid "cheating". The apps that we configure as "always allowed" will be the ones that will be available.
- Limits in apps: We can configure the maximum time of use per day that we will allow each application. As we get closer to the limit, Apple will send us notifications advising us of the time left. And, if we spend time, instead a screenshot will appear saying that the app is over for today. The negative part is that we can raise the limit when we want, but, at least, it will help us to know that we have already been using an app for longer than we want.
I have not found any need to control the use I give my iPhone, but Apple has already advised that The really useful thing about this new menu is to be able to control all this on our children's iPhone or iPad.
"Screen time" will also be available for children's accounts and, in addition, parents will receive the same information and the same options. This will allow parents to understand how their children use the devices and act accordingly..
Through "Family" they can set time limits for apps, block apps according to a schedule, as well as block or allow different content and privacy options.
Every year iOS becomes more powerful. Definitely, These new features of iOS 12 will be the kind that we quickly get used to leaving us unable to go back. I myself continue to wonder whether to return to iOS 11 -despite its greater stability at the moment-, for all the information and comforts that I have in iOS 12.
And the facilities that Apple puts to control the use of children's devices in the hands of parents is balanced and simple, so it is a clear claim to those parents who, in iOS 11, are not clear about how to manage this parental dilemma (and paternal).
