3 min read

Apple released the next major iOS update, iOS 12.2 beta 1 to developers on January 24, 2019. This update boasts of features like custom downtime scheduling, as well as major updates to PWA.

Custom screen time scheduling

According to a report by 9to5Mac, iOS users will be offered a custom downtime scheduler in the latest iOS update. Users will now be able to adjust the Screen Time feature per the days of the week.

Although previous iOS versions had a similar downtime scheduler, it was limited to be applied every day. With iOS 12.2 beta 1, users can either choose to use the same schedule everyday, or customize it depending on which day of that week it is.

You can use it by navigating to Settings > Screen Time > Downtime.

PWA improvements

Apple has made major improvements to Progressive web apps by introducing new features for developers. Mike Hartington, developer advocate for Ionic framework gives us a glimpse of new improvements in a tweet.

  • New experimental features include Web Auth, Web Animations, WebMeta, pointer events, intersection observer etc. Service workers are removed from the experiments list and are enabled by default.
  • External sites are loaded via SFViewController. This means authentication flows and still work without leaving the PWA.
  • The current state of any app is maintained, even if the app goes in the background.
  • You can view the native app as well as the PWA of the same app in the search.

Users are generally excited for Apple making improvements to its PWA. A comment on Hacker news reads, “This is great for user rights and moves the needle more towards a decentralized and open ecosystem, while maintaining strong security guarantees to the end-user.” However, users also want Apple to consider supporting Push Notifications for PWAs.

Other UI features

9to5Mac notes the following new UI updates made to Apple iOS 12.2 beta 1.

  • New Screen Mirroring icon in Control Center
  • New full screen Apple TV Remote Control Center interface
  • New “Speakers & TVS” in Home app settings
  • More detailed Apple Wallet UI for Recent Transactions
  • Updated details button in Wallet card UI
  • Tap a transaction for more detail
  • Card details feature bubbly inset rectangles rows
  • Motion & Orientation Data is new Safari toggle in iOS Settings
  • Air Quality Index reading in Maps
  • Safari warns about websites not supporting HTTPS
  • Fill in a search suggestion without submitting the search
  • Keyboard color picker
  • Inline Safari music playback
  • Album name full song search results in Music app
  • iOS 12.2 will bring Apple News to Canada

Developers can head to Settings > General > Software Updates to start downloading iOS 12.2 beta 1, if they have a previous iOS 12 beta installed. Non-developers can enter the public beta program by visiting beta.apple.com on the device they wish to enroll in the beta.  Currently, there is no public beta release.

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Content Marketing Editor at Packt Hub. I blog about new and upcoming tech trends ranging from Data science, Web development, Programming, Cloud & Networking, IoT, Security and Game development.