APPLE

iOS 12.4 Brings iPhone Migration, Walkie Talkie Functionality Is Back

While the most engaging thing about iOS in recent times is the upcoming iOS 13, one should not forget that iOS 12 is still around. Till its release in the coming fall, users have to be on iOS 12, unless they want to tamper with the public beta or the regular beta versions of iOS 13.
One should applaud the developers at Apple for their iOS lineup. Not only are they working on developing iOS 13 but also taking time to perfect new release of iOS 12. This 12.4 update carries along a couple of new features to its name as well. While not quite major, they are significant ones. Not to mention, Apple has finally brought back the Apple Walkie Talkie feature with this update but more on that later.
iOS 12.4
As one of the last major updates to iOS 12, iOS 12.4 came out hours ago, four whole months after the release fo iOS 12.3. It should be noted that for Apple, iOS versions “YX.X” are major updates while “YX.x.x” ones are minor ones, usually adhering to certain bug fixes and security flaws. This time around, Apple has introduced Apple Migration to the software. They have made tweaks to the News App and have finally fixed the Walkie Talkie App.
Going over the two former ones first, Apple has included a good feature with the first one. With iPhone Migration, users will be able to transfer data directly from an old iPhone to a new one during setup. This would eliminate the process of having to back up the data first and then retrieving it off of a computer or the iCloud. This would make setting up a new phone quite simple and easy. The details of how the new system works are still not fully tapped into but rest assured, Apple would have reserved certain permissions from the users. Something that would not come off as a surprise.
For the news App, iOS 12.4 introduced some minor changes to the App and its accessibility and or functionality. The major change comes with the arrangement for the News+ catalogs. In this new update, all the literature from News+ would be stacked up in the top catalogue on the News+ feed. Apple introduced the Walkie Talkie feature with the release of WatchOS 5. It was one of the most hyped features and something that was quite convenient and, let us just be honest, quite fun as well. As the name and its meaning imply, the App allowed users to converse with their friends on the Apple Watch with just a push of a button. This made use of iPhone connectivity to be the middle agent in the process. A couple of weeks ago though, Apple pulled the plug on the app, disabling it temporarily. The trillion-dollar company claimed that they had found a bug in the app that could allow people to eavesdrop and invade the users’ privacy.
Today though, Apple reintroduced the App, fixing the bug that gave away private conversations, apparently. the app was previously not functioning on the watches but with the update, it should be working and opening just fine. These communications have often had issues with bugs that may cause an invasion in privacy. It has become quite common, looking over Apple’s issue with the group facetime which was under bugs as well.
For now, these were the features introduced to the latest update of the platform. There were other bug improvements to the system too, not that many people care about that. For now, though, everyone is just preparing for iOS 13. Some people may have the patience required to wait for the final release, many like me are running their phones, full of glitches on the developer edition of iOS 13. Alap Desai