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Apple today announced the new iOS version coming to eligible iPhones, iOS 17. The new operating system includes brand new features, including new iMessage features, new lockscreen features, a new StandBy, Check In, Live Voicemail, Improved Autocorrect, Journal, NameDrop, and many more.
Phone Experience
iOS 17 will come with a new personalized Phone app. The app will now feature personalized Contact Posters, providing a new way for users to express themselves. Users will be able to customize how they appear, bringing an entirely new look to incoming calls. Users will be able to use Memojis and eye-catching typographies and font colors to personalize their screens.
Additionally, users will be able to use Live Voicemail to see a real-time transcription of voicemails, giving them an opportunity to see and listen to missed messages. Identified spam messages by carriers won’t appear, and will be instantly declined.
FaceTime
FaceTime now supports audio and video message, and when a user isn’t available to take a call, they’ll be able to leave a message that can be viewed later. FaceTime is also receiving reactions, such as heart, balloons, fireworks, laser beams, rain, and more. These effects can be activated with gestures, and third-party video calling apps will also be able to use these.
Messages
Messages will receive new stickers, and the ability to create Live Stickers by lifting subjects from photos. Users will be able to add effects and bring them to life. The Messages app will also have a new look, and users will be able to use search filters to find exactly the things they’re searching for.
Messages also adds Check In, a new way for users to notify family members and friends about their whereabouts, letting them know when the person arrived home. When a user arrives at a safe location, it will automatically send a message and notify family and friends.
NameDrop
There’s a new and convenient way to share contacts with friends, and family. Users can now bring their devices together and share a person’s contact card between devices. NameDrop also lets users select different numbers, email addresses, and other important information to share in just a single tap.
StandBy
Users can finally put their devices on their dock, and wireless charging devices and enable the iPhone to act as a clock, and show the time, calendar, and supported widgets to show important information at a glance. This can essentially replace bedside clocks, and make the iPhone far more usable while it’s on a dock.
Siri
Apple has finally made it easier to trigger Siri, and it no longer requires the “Hey” at the beginning, and users can say “Siri [query]…” to ask questions. In addition, users no longer have to shout “Siri” to talk to the voice assistant, and Siri can hold conversations back to back.
Other iOS 17 features
- Safari adds greater protection for Private Browsing, both from trackers as a user browses, and from people who might have access to a user’s device. Advanced tracking and fingerprinting protections go even further to help prevent websites from tracking or identifying a user’s device. Private Browsing now locks when not in use, allowing a user to keep tabs open even when stepping away from the device.
- For easier and more secure password and passkeys sharing, users can share passwords with a group of trusted contacts. Everyone in the group can add and edit passwords to keep them up to date. Since sharing is through iCloud Keychain, it’s end-to-end encrypted.
- The Health app offers new mental health features. Users can log their daily moods and momentary emotions; see what might be contributing to their state of mind; and easily access depression and anxiety assessments often used in clinics, plus resources available in their region. Additionally, increasing the distance the device is viewed from can help children lower their risk of myopia and gives adult users the opportunity to reduce digital eyestrain. Screen Distance in Screen Time uses the TrueDepth camera to encourage users to move their device farther away after holding it closer than 12 inches from their face for an extended period of time.
- Maps adds offline maps, so users can download a specific area and access turn-by-turn navigation, see their estimated time of arrival, find places in Maps, and more while offline. Maps also makes it easier than ever to discover thousands of trails in parks across the United States, and supports electric vehicle drivers with real-time charging availability information.
- AirTag can be shared with up to five other people, allowing friends and family to keep track of an item in Find My. Everyone in a group will be able to see an item’s location, play a sound, and use Precision Finding to help pinpoint the location of a shared AirTag when nearby. This also works with all other Find My network accessories.
- Apple Music introduces Collaborative Playlists that make listening to music with friends easier than ever before, and SharePlay in the car allows all passengers to easily contribute to what’s playing.3 Listeners can control the music from their own devices, even if they don’t have an Apple Music subscription.
- Sharing content using AirPlay is even easier with on-device intelligence now learning a user’s preferences. AirPlay will also work with supported televisions in hotels, allowing users to easily enjoy their favorite content on the TV when traveling. Built with a foundation of privacy and security, this capability will be available before the end of the year in select hotels, starting with brands from IHG Hotels & Resorts.
- AirPods receive powerful new features, including Adaptive Audio, Personalized Volume, and Conversation Awareness, that redefine the personal audio experience. Plus, improvements to Automatic Switching and call controls make AirPods even easier to use.
- The Home app adds the ability for users to view up to 30 days of activity history across door locks, garage doors, alarm systems, and contact sensors. Additionally, two popular HomeKit lock features — tap to unlock and PIN codes — are now available for Matter-compatible locks, providing even more ways to connect the home.
- Reminders features a grocery list that automatically groups added items into categories to make shopping easier. Users can change how the items are grouped and the list remembers their preferences.
- Visual Look Up is now available in paused video frames. Now users can identify food, storefronts, signs, and symbols, and lift individual subjects from photos and videos.
- Siri can be activated by simply saying “Siri.” Once activated, users can issue multiple commands in succession without needing to reactivate the assistant.
- In Photos, the People album uses on-device machine learning to recognize more photos of a user’s favorite people, as well as cats and dogs.
- Privacy updates include the expansion of Communication Safety beyond Messages to help keep kids safe when sending and receiving content via AirDrop, Contact Posters, a FaceTime message, and when using the Photos picker to choose content to send. It also expands to cover video content in addition to still images. A new feature, Sensitive Content Warning, helps adult users avoid seeing unwanted nude images and videos. As with Communication Safety, all image and video processing for Sensitive Content Warning occurs on-device, so Apple does not get access to the content.
- Accessibility updates include Assistive Access, a customizable interface that helps users with cognitive disabilities use iPhone with greater ease and independence; Live Speech, which gives nonspeaking users the option to type and have their words spoken in person, or on phone and FaceTime calls; Personal Voice, which gives users at risk of speech loss the option to create a voice that sounds like theirs; and Point and Speak, which helps users who are blind or have low vision read text on physical objects by pointing.
iOS 17: Availability & Supported Devices
The iOS 17 developer beta is available to eligible users in the Apple Developer Program. A public beta will be available to iOS 17 users in July at beta.apple.com, and the new operating system will arrive this fall as a free software update for iPhone Xs and later.
Supported Devices
- iPhone 14
- iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone XS
- iPhone XS Max
- iPhone XR
- iPhone SE (2nd generation or later)
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