Apple both sets trends and chases them, and iOS 12, unveiled in June at WWDC, is no exception. With this release, Apple is focusing on performance improvements and enhancements, even for older devices. The company is also making important changes to augmented reality that will enable new experiences; improving Siri, FaceTime, and the Photos app to catch up to the competition; and adding new features like personalized Memoji and a Screen Time features to manage how you’re using your device.

iOS 12 is a free update for all users, and it’s supported by every device that runs iOS 11, all the way back to the iPhone 5s released in 2013. Here’s a rundown of the biggest improvements and most common questions about iOS 12.

When will iOS 12 be released?

iOS 12 is now available. Make sure you grab the Shortcuts app as well—it's not included as part of iOS 12, but it's one of the best features of this release.

Which devices support iOS 12?

If your device runs iOS 11, it will run iOS 12. Apple even promises better speed and performance on older devices. If you have an iPhone 6, for example, you can expect much faster app launch times, snappier multitasking, smoother scrolling, and the keyboard and share menu should both pop up a lot faster.

Supported iPhones

iPhone XS

iPhone XS Max

iPhone XR

iPhone X

iPhone 8

iPhone 8 Plus

iPhone 7

iPhone 7 Plus

iPhone 6s

iPhone 6s Plus

iPhone 6

iPhone 6 Plus

iPhone SE

iPhone 5s

Supported iPads

12.9-inch iPad Pro 2nd generation

12.9-inch iPad Pro 1st generation

10.5-inch iPad Pro

9.7-inch iPad Pro

9.7-inch iPad 6th generation (2018)

iPad 5th generation (2017)

iPad Air 2

iPad Air

iPad mini 4

iPad mini 3

iPad mini 2

In addition, iOS 12 is supported on the 6th generation iPod Touch.

How can I get iOS 12?

The easiest way to update is to simply do it on your device. You’ll get a notification when iOS 12 is available, but that sometimes takes a little while. If you’re impatient, you can check manually by going to Settings > General > Software Update. The update is typically available around 10:00am Pacific time on release day.

If you want to use iTunes, plug in your device, select it, then select Summary in the left pane and click the Check for Updates button. If an update is available, you’ll receive a prompt to download it, so press “Download and Update” to proceed.

Looking for a really fresh start? Back up your iPhone and then erase it. Our guide here will show you how.

What’s new in iOS 12?

Despite being what some have called a “maintenance release” due to all the work on performance and reliability for older devices, iOS 12 really does have a whole lot of new features. There are too many individual features to list them all here, but these are the big areas of improvement.

Greatly improved Apple Maps

Though not announced at WWDC with the rest of the iOS 12 features, Apple’s new mobile OS brings big improvements to Apple Maps. Apple has spent years working on a massive project to replace all its third-party map data with its own super high-resolution data, together with tools to make map changes much more quickly and features to incorporate completely anonymous data from millions of iPhone users.

TechCrunch The new maps in Apple Maps will be far more detailed than the current version.

These Maps changes will roll out first to the San Francisco Bay area with iOS 12 beta 3, and expand to Northern California this fall and then other regions over the following year. Therefore, many of you won’t see these dramatic improvements right when you update to iOS 12, but you’ll eventually see a sudden and massive improvement to your local Maps experience.

Augmented reality and the Measure app

IDG A new file format called USDZ will allow easier sharing of AR objects.

Apple created a brand-new file format with Pixar called USDZ that will enable easier sharing of the 3D graphics and animations used in augmented reality apps. Developers and users can share these USDZ files like any other files: Store them in the Files app, send them in Messages and Mail. When you receive a USDZ file, you can open it and place the 3D object in the real world.

For example, if a publisher places a USDZ image into an article in the News app, readers can tap it to open it in a fully interactive AR view, right inside News.

IDG Measure objects with Measure.

Users can also try the all-new Measure app to measure the dimensions of physical objects using AR. You just trace the sides of an object to find out how long they are. It can also detect rectangles automatically and tell you the dimensions and area.

For developers, ARKit 2.0 will enable improved face tracking, more realistic rendering, as well as shared experiences, which means AR games can now support multiplayer modes. Both players can see the same objects on their own devices, and those objects can have persistence so they reappear in the same place the next time you use the same app.

Read more: ARKit 2 extends Apple’s lead in mobile augmented reality

Improvements to the Photos app

Apple The Photos app looks a lot more like Apple Music, with proactive suggestions in the For You tab.

Apple’s Photos app gets a refresh in iOS 12, matching the design language of Apple Music and the App Store. Search in Photos will be improved, letting you use multiple search terms and search your photo library quicker using Siri.

The Photos app has a new For You tab, which is a feed that shows featured photos, like images you took on the same day in previous years. It suggests loops and bounce effects for Live Photos that could use them, or portrait effects to add to Portrait Mode photos. It also highlights shared iCloud album activity. All these features are in the Google Photos app already, so they’re welcome additions to iOS 12, but nothing that has us shocked.

Photos already recognized other people in your images, and in iOS 12, it will suggest you share those photos with those people. Images you share arrive in full resolution. When your friend gets them, her phone will suggest sharing photos taken at the same event right back to you, which will help you gather more photos from the same party without having to set up a shared album, or email or text images back and forth. The sharing is private with end-to-end encryption, and all the machine learning to determine who’s in your photos is done on your device, not in the cloud.

Siri Shortcuts and Suggestions

Apple Siri can suggest tasks based on your normal patterns, like reordering the same Philz coffee you get every morning.

When Apple bought Workflow in 2017, we were hoping iOS would eventually get the kind of robust automations it enabled. And now it’s time: iOS 12 features big improvements for Siri that can speed up tasks in a single app, as well as let you build routines that use multiple apps, launched with a single Siri command. Siri’s third-party app support has been limited so far, so this should be huge for iOS users.

With Siri Shortcuts, any app can expose quick actions to Siri. As an example, consider the Tile app, which you have to launch when you want to locate your Tile tracker. Now the Tile app can suggest a Siri Shortcut to locate your tracker, and you can set a custom Siri command, like “I lost my keys.” Now when you tell Siri that phrase, a card launches with that screen in Tile, and you can see where the tracker is, and interact with the card, without even having to open the full app unless you want to. You could set an Instacart shortcut to “order my groceries” or say “help me relax” to launch your favorite meditation app.

Apple One Siri Shortcut can execute actions from a number of apps and iOS services.

Siri Suggestions are also improved in iOS 12 to anticipate your next actions based on your history. The suggestions can now appear on your lock screen and notifications screen, and you can tap one to take care of that action without having to launch an app. It can suggest you call relatives on their birthdays. If you’re late to a meeting, it can prewrite a text to the organizer to let them know, or call into the meeting if a call-in number was provided in the invite. If you order a coffee with the same app every morning, a Siri Suggestion might pop up to let you order your usual with one tap.

Apple The Shortcuts app lets you create your own multi-app workflows that you can run with a custom Siri command.

The new Shortcuts app also lets you combine actions from multiple apps into one routine, which you then trigger with a Siri command. For example, if you say, “I’m going surfing,” the routine can check the surf report with the Surfline app, read you the current weather, grab an ETA for your drive to the beach, and then make a note in Reminders to tell you to put on sunscreen when you get there.

The Shortcuts app has a gallery full of premade shortcuts, as well as a library you can search. Routines can combine services like texting, mapping, HomeKit, music, you name it. You can search for items to add, or the app can suggest them to you based on machine learning. In WWDC on-stage demo of setting up a “heading home” routine for an evening commute, the app suggested launching the KQED app to play some NPR, because that’s what the user usually did at that time of day.

Read more: Shortcuts looks like the killer Siri feature we’ve been waiting for

Improvements to News, Stocks, Voice Memos, and Apple Books

Apple News, Stocks, Voice Memos, and Apple Books all get redesigns in iOS 12.

A few Apple apps will be redesigned in iOS 12, some launching on the iPad for the first time.

In the News app, the Browse tab will make it easier to discover new channels and topics to follow. The For You tab makes it easier to jump to your favorite sources, especially on the iPad, which gets a handy new sidebar.

The Stocks app has a new design with spark lines next to each of your picks, showing their performance throughout the day. Stocks also has a news module along the bottom, with curated business stories chosen by the Apple News team. When you expand the news module, your stocks run horizontally along the top of the screen like a ticker. You can also tap any stock to see an interactive chart, new after-hours pricing, and relevant headlines curated by the editors. Full articles open without leaving the Stocks app. iOS 12 also brings Stocks to the iPad for the first time.

Voice Memos is coming to the iPad, with iCloud support to sync your voice recordings between devices.

iBooks has been rechristened Apple Books, with a new design to match the App Store and Apple Music. A Reading Now section shows a preview of your book right at the page you left off, tempting you to jump right back in. The store tabs for ebooks and audiobooks are redesigned too.

CarPlay improvements including 3rd party maps

Apple Honk if you’re excited to use Waze in CarPlay.

iOS 12 brings new features to CarPlay, Apple’s platform for interacting with your iPhone via your car stereo. For the first time, CarPlay will support third-party navigation apps like Waze and Google Maps.

That means you can get turn-by-turn directions from your preferred mapping app, but it won't just automatically become available as soon as you upgrade to iOS 12. The mapping apps need to update their apps to add support, too.

Screen Time and Digital Health features

Apple Apple’s new digital wellbeing initiative is a three-pronged effort

Apple’s improving the Do Not Disturb feature in iOS 12. If you go to check the time at night, for example, Bedtime Mode can just show you the time on a dark lock screen, saving the notifications for later. In the morning, it even eases you in, with a lock screen that says good morning and shows the time and temperature until you tap it again to indicate you’re ready for the full deluge of notifications.

Apple Screen Time makes it easy to monitor and manage phone and tablet usage, either for yourself or your kids.

iOS 12’s new Screen Time feature will send users weekly reports about how they’re using their devices, including how many times you looked at your phone throughout the day, which app pulled you in each time, and even which apps send you the most notifications. You’ll be able to see how often you use your apps, and at which times of day. If any of this data concerns you, you can set Time Limits for yourself.

Those limits apply across iPhones and iPads logged in with your iCloud account. Kids will get their own activity report, and a separate one is sent to their parents’ device. This uses Family Sharing, so parents can manage the reports, Time Limits, and new parental content controls remotely from their own devices.

Big improvements to Notifications

Apple iOS 12 smartly groups your notifications and gives you easier control over which ones appear, and how.

Finally, your extensive list of notifications will be more organized. iOS 12 supports grouping of notifications by type, topic, and thread. You can tap a group to expand it, or even swipe a group to dismiss the whole thing at once.

It’s much easier to tweak how an app notifies you in iOS 12, too. Until now, you’ve had to dig into the Notification section of the Settings app and then find the app you want to change in a huge list. It was frankly just easier to delete an app that sent annoying notifications than it was to go in and turn them off or edit their behavior.