Surprising absolutely no one, Apple unveiled iOS 17 today at its annual developer conference. This is the latest version of its phone-oriented mobile operating system and it will be released this fall as usual. Expect the first developer preview in the next few hours, followed by a public beta next month.
iOS 17 comes with a lot of small improvements, though nothing really stands out as full functionality. Still, many of the additions have the potential to be very useful, and in true Apple fashion, many new features work seamlessly together across devices.
For starters, there is Live voicemail, which means you don’t have to answer when a number you don’t recognize is calling – the phone will do it for you and display live scrolling text of what the person calling is saying, so you can easily decide if it’s worth the call. talk with them. Calls identified as spam by the managers will not appear as live voicemail and will instead be rejected immediately. Transcription is handled entirely on the device.
Then we have the new customizable call screen, which Apple calls Contact posters. You can change the way they look and choose beautiful photo or Memoji treatments, adding “cool typography” and font colors. These also work in third party apps and are also used when you want to share contact details with someone via a new feature called NameDrop – it’s as easy as putting your phones together (or an iPhone and an Apple Watch) and contact cards are swapped. Also in relation to sharing, Share Play now you can share a simultaneous music/video stream on two devices. It would also allow you to stream music to play head units via the owner’s iPhone.
FaceTime now supports sending audio and video messages, for when you call someone and it’s not available. They also receive FaceTime calls Reaction videos: hearts, balloons, fireworks, laser beams, rain and more. These are activated with simple gestures and will also be supported in third-party apps. Perhaps the greatest news related to FaceTime is that you can make and receive calls on your Apple TV – or start a call on your iPhone and switch it to Apple TV.
THE Diary application it’s new in iOS 17 and, as the name suggests, is about journaling, which “has been shown to improve wellbeing” if you “reflect and practice gratitude” through it, Apple says. Suggestions for what to journal are curated from your recent activity, including photos, people, places, and workouts, making it easy to start an entry.
The keyboard gets new automatic correction powered by artificial intelligence, online predictions and a new speech recognition model. All of these are naturally meant to enhance the typing experience. iMessage has improved search capabilities with filters, a swipe-to-reply function, the ability to transcribe voice messages, support for in-app real-time location update, improved emoji stickers, and live stickers with subjects culled from photos.
To record is a new security feature that takes care of checking in with family members when you’re on the go. It works like this: once you start a Check In, a friend or family member will automatically be notified when you’ve arrived at your destination. If you don’t proceed to your destination, the selected contact will receive device location, battery level, and cellular service status.
Standby it’s what Apple calls its new full-screen experience that pops up when you want to use your iPhone on a nightstand or, say, the kitchen or desk in landscape mode. Showcase beautiful clocks, photos, or favorite widgets, including Smart Stacks, that pop out the right widgets at the right time. There’s also support for live activity, Siri, incoming calls, and larger notifications, for easier usability when viewed from a distance.
No more need to say “Hi Siri” to invoke Apple’s voice assistant, which a) still exists and b) somehow remains tragically unempowered by recent developments in large language models. In iOS 17, the Assistant’s callsign is just “Siri”. There’s also back-to-back command support, something Google Assistant has had for years, but look, Siri is trying to catch up now.
Apple Maps it gets offline map support, which is one of those “wait, wasn’t this already built in?!” characteristics. And no, it wasn’t. But now it is.
Finally, Safari adds more protection for private browsing, the Health application has a new set of features for mental health and Apple Music introduces collaborative playlists that you can enjoy with your friends.
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