Apple is reportedly bringing a new “Digital Health” tool with the iOS 12 software update that the company plans to release this fall, to combat iPhone and iPad addiction in children, along with a few new features.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reveals that Apple's iOS 12 mobile operating system will introduce a brand new tool called Digital Health, which promises to allow parents to monitor how much time their children spend on their iPhone and iPad devices.
Earlier this year, Apple responded to an open letter sent to two of its largest investors, who urged the company to combat iPhone addiction in children, by saying it would implement new parental control features in an upcoming iOS upgrade.
The report says that while Apple will put some major features on ice for the next two years, it will try to fix current issues in the iPhone and iPad operating system by adding some substantial changes according to people familiar with the matter.
These include the aforementioned Digital Health tool, improvements for Animojis for iPhone X customers, as well as the ability to run certain iOS apps, including the Home app, on Macs running the upcoming macOS 10.14 operating system.
The report also reveals the fact that Apple has a new strategy for improving its iOS and macOS, no longer forcing Apple engineers to focus their efforts only on new features that don't work well, resulting in bugs.
To address this general problem of bugs that we have recently seen in Apple's operating systems, software chief Craig Federighi told Apple engineers that he outlined the new strategy that includes focusing on improvements and new features simultaneously.
This will give engineers more time to refine existing features and carefully test new ones, which the company plans to implement in the upcoming updates to iOS 12, macOS 10.14, tvOS 12, and watchOS 5 that will be unveiled this summer during WWDC 2018.
Of course, that means some major features, like tabs for some iPad apps, a revamped home screen for iPhone and iPad devices, a redesigned CarPlay interface, and a revamped Photos app for iOS and macOS that could suggest which photos users should view, are likely to arrive in 2019.
