The first important update of iOS 12, iOS 12.1 will be released on October 30th, as Apple stated prior to its Mac and iPad Pro event. Among the additions that iOS 12.1 will bring is Group FaceTime, as well as a dual-SIM support and a fix to the “beautygate” issue.
Group FaceTime will be brought to iOS after all
The feature that was supposed to be introduced on the initial version of iOS 12, Group FaceTime was withdrawn from it as it was deemed ‘not ready’ for its release. However, it will be finally added on iOS 12.1. With Group FaceTime we will be able to chat with up to 32 people at the same time. Moreover, this feature supports Animoji/Memoji, various video filters and stickers. The cool thing about Group FaceTime is that whenever someone speaks during the call, the video bubble that represents this person will get larger.
The chatting side of iOS 12.1 is going to be further improved by the addition of more than 70 new emojis, which will also become available for macOS and watchOS once these platforms get their software updates.
iOS 12.1 will support dual-SIM
Another addition that we are going to see on iOS 12.1 is the support for dual-SIM for iPhone XS and XR. Thanks to this, every user can have two separate lines on just one phone – a physical SIM card will constitute the first line, while the other will work through the eSIM technology.
The ”beautygate” bug will be fixed
The so-called “beautygate” issue, although not mentioned in the announcement, should be also fixed on iOS12.1. This bug, which affects users of iPhone XS and XR, causes a skin smoothing in the selfie photos. As explained by Apple, this happens because the camera uses the incorrect primary “smart HDR” frame while taking a photo.
The camera will see some other improvements, as it will now allow users of iPhone XS and XR to adjust the depth of field and bokeh even before the photo is taken.
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