SMARTPHONE SPECIAL......... iOS 12 is coming to combat your smartphone addiction

iOS 12 is coming to combat your smartphone addiction

The tools will allow you to set limits on how much you are using certain apps, will group your notifications, and enable ‘Do Not Disturb’ feature

After Google, Apple now wants to help cure your smartphone addiction. At the recently concluded annual developer conference, Craig Federighi, vice-president of software engineering at Apple, unveiled new tools to help you cut back on your screen time, along with new controls for parents. 

Here’s what the tech giant announced:

Do Not Disturb during bedtime

Turn on the feature before heading to bed and you won’t see notifications until the next morning. When you pick up your phone during the night, it will only show the time. In the morning, you will be ‘gently eased into your day’ — when you’re ready to see all your notifications, tap the screen.

Set an end time for Do Not Disturb

By force touching on the Do Not Disturb button in your control centre, you’ll see the option to set a specific end time.

Turn off notifications for apps you’re no longer using

Your phone will alert you to apps you haven’t used in a while and will allow you to shut off notifications entirely.

Support for grouped notifications

This is a big one. Now, your notifications will be grouped by the app they are sent from. You can now ‘triage’ a whole group of notifications by swiping them away.

Screen time

This feature will provide insight into how much time you are spending on your phone and where you are spending it, including which apps you are using, how many times you pick up the phone, what’s drawing you in, and what’s sending you most notifications.

App limits

You’ll be able to set time limits for individual apps. When you spend a lot of time on an app like Instagram, your phone will send you an alert saying ‘5 minutes left on Instagram today’. Once you’ve reached your limit, you’ll see a notification telling you to move on.

New parental controls

Parents will now be able to get notifications about their kids’ smartphone use. They’ll be able to set limits for how long their kids are using certain apps, and cut off access to ones that aren’t age appropriate.

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