Apple Seeds Second Beta of iOS 12.1 to Developers With Group FaceTime, eSIM Support, Real-Time Depth Control and New Emoji [Update: Public Beta Available]

Tuesday October 2, 2018 11:00 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming iOS 12.1 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the first beta and a little over two weeks after releasing iOS 12, a major new version of the iOS software.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 12.1 beta from Apple's Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.


iOS 12.1 introduces several new features that Apple promised would come to the new iPhone XS and XS Max devices. The beta introduces support for the eSIM, which is a digital SIM that lets you activate a cellular plan from a carrier without the need to use a physical SIM card.

Carriers will need to implement support for eSIM, which is likely to happen after iOS 12.1 launches. In the U.S., AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile will support eSIM.


The iOS 12.1 update brings a new real-time Depth Control feature, which lets you adjust the depth of field of your Portrait Mode photos before you capture them. Right now, in iOS 12, Depth Control is only available for post-capture editing.

If you tap on the "F" icon at the top of the screen while capturing a photo you use Depth Control to adjust the amount of background blur in an image.


In addition to these iPhone XS and XS Max features, iOS 12.1 reintroduces the Group FaceTime feature that was removed from iOS 12 during the beta testing period. Group FaceTime was present in many early betas but was ultimately removed because Apple needed more time to test it.

Group FaceTime is designed to let iPhone and Mac users conduct video and audio chats with up to 32 participants at one time, with new camera effects features included.

Apple today announced that new emoji are coming in the iOS 12.1 beta, with options to include red hair, gray hair, curly hair, and no hair, along with smiley faces that include cold face, party face, pleading face, face with hearts, and tons more.

If any additional new features are found in the second iOS 12.1 beta, we'll update this post with details. Apple today also released a second beta version of Xcode 10.1.

Update: Apple has also seeded the second beta of iOS 12.1 to public beta testers.

[ 53 comments ]

Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Avatar
blancoBronco
17 months ago

People (over 30) actually uses these emoji?
[doublepost=1538499965][/doublepost]

Yes. Release notes.


Yes, don't act so high and mighty over people who like to have a little fun with their texts
Rating: 12 Votes
Avatar
maka344
17 months ago

The million dollar question.... does it fix the charging bug?

And the LTE/WiFi issues.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
Love Divine
17 months ago
FaceTime is trash is in iOS12.

No more screenshots. Extremely confusing, unintuitive and difficult to navigate interface.
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
Pockeht
17 months ago

And the LTE/WiFi issues.


I started testing this morning at home and at work. On 12 I wasn't able to connect to the 5GHz band at home or at work, but that seems to be resolved after updating to 12.1. I can connect to that frequency in both locations now, and I haven't observed any issues while connected yet. I'm on Verizon, and had not observed the LTE issues others were reporting so I can't speak from experience on that.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
ryanwarsaw
17 months ago
The million dollar question.... does it fix the charging bug?
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
Lvmyiphone
17 months ago
OK what about the Wi-Fi and connectivity issues??????? along with the phone rebooting itself twice A day and a battery issue that people been complaining about
[doublepost=1538500109][/doublepost]Lots of bugs like WiFi an connectivity issues, an so on.... that should be focused on 1ST!!!!
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
newtestleper
17 months ago

FaceTime is trash is in iOS12.

No more screenshots. Extremely confusing, unintuitive and difficult to navigate interface.

If that means old farts can’t work out how to do it when they’re sat at a restaurant table, sounds like a win to me.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
C DM
17 months ago

When are they implementing Workflow as part of the OS?

Isn't that essentially Siri Shortcuts?
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
justperry
17 months ago

Same question I have. I can't wait for this feature. Will be great for traveling. I hate having to switch SIMs.


And then there are people who think that changing sims is more convenient, even after I explain to them eSim would be so much easier.

Example:
You travel to some country in Asia, you look on the internet for a provider, you can register right away, as soon as you arrive in the country your Phone will work, it can't be more convenient.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
AppleMark
17 months ago
Did we not used to be able to this years ago on our Mac [group video calling]?

EDIT: e.g. iChat
Rating: 1 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]