iOS 12 download: New update arrives for users around the world

The new update brings small improvements and important foundations

Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi demonstrates group FaceTime as he speaks during the 2018 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) at the San Jose Convention Center (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

iOS 12, Apple's new iPhone software, has finally arrived.

It can be easily downloaded by heading to the Settings app, clicking general, and choosing the software update option.

But users who aren't too excited about the new features might be best to wait for at least a couple of hours, as Apple's servers cope with the interest and the sheer number of people downloading the new update. Waiting until later in the day or even until tomorrow will mean the software will download more quickly and easily.]

iOS 12 brings mostly performance improvements, which speed up performance of the phone radically, particularly on older models. But there are other important features too, including changes to some of the iPhone's core functions.

Apple unveiled the new update in June, at its WWDC event, where it also showed off updates to all of its other products too.

Those updates – for the Apple Watch and the Apple TV primarily – arrive at the same time as iOS. They can be downloaded in the same way.

Only missing is the new version of MacOS, named Mojave, which won't arrive until next month.

Once the new software has arrived, have a go on our first six things to try to get a good idea of everything you're going to be getting with the new update.