Tuesday's Apple event revealed a lot of new product features that will make their way into the hands of faithful Apple customers but the new iOS was set to be available almost immediately to users.
The iOS 12.1 operating system for Apple devices was expected to be released Tuesday afternoon EDT and morning for those on the West Coast. The update was expected to bring 70 new emojis to iPhone and iPad customers along with the ability to group FaceTime call with up to 32 people at once, Apple revealed Monday night.
The new group Facetime feature allows users to easily join an existing Facetime call, said Apple. The new iOS will also be able to highlight the key speakers in the call as well as the current speaker to bring them to the forefront of the screen or highlight them for the other people on the call.
The new emojis that'll be added with iOS 12.1 help make the current cast of characters in messages more customizable. Users will have more options for gray hair or curly hair, or people without hair entirely. There are also other object emojis that were added with 12.1 like a hiking boot, a softball and luggage.
Other additions in 12.1 included the ability to have dual SIMs for those who have the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max or the iPhone XR. That means users can activate another SIM from their device without using an actual physical nano-SIM, according to Apple.
Users with portrait mode will also be able to control the depth of the field in the photo.
People were anxiously awaiting the update on their devices Tuesday. Some were tweeting about the fact that they didn't have the new update available to them yet around noon EDT Tuesday.
is ios 12.1 going to drop or what
— yoncémilia stan. (@TARGCHONI) October 30, 2018
The new iOS started to roll out to users a little after 1 p.m. EDT. Some tweeted that they were excited about the idea of a new update for their devices.
Yes !!! @apple has pushed IOS 12.1 update ! I love updates 😍 and half of the new feature I never get to use them but there is just something about downloading an update 😀
— Babájídé Dúróshọlá (@Babajiide) October 30, 2018
The update was rolling out to users at slightly different times through Tuesday. Users should open settings on their device and then select general and then "software update." If they have the update already, the option to download and install it will appear there.
The description of the update will appear under in software updates when it's available. For 12.1 the descriptions says, "iOS 12.1 introduces Group Facetime, adds over 70 new emoji, and includes support for Dual SIM with eSIM for iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR. This update also includes bug fixes and improvements."
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