iOS 17 introduces a host of convenient and practical additions that users would really love.
The developer beta version of iOS17 was released on June 5. A public beta is scheduled for release sometime in July and can be accessed by members of the public beta program. The final public version of the iOS17 is expected to be officially released sometime in September along with the iPhone 15.
According to Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, the update is designed to make the iPhone more “personal and intuitive” by focusing on the most crucial features that users use every day.
Let’s take a look at some of the major updates available on the iOS17.
Enhanced Calling experience.
iOS17 focuses a lot on enhancing the communication experience on the iPhone. One major update in the phone app is the personalized Contact Posters. This update allows users to customize how they appear on the other person’s phone when they place a phone call.
Users have the freedom to showcase their best photos or express themselves with a personalized emoji. Contact Posters also include the option to select desired fonts for displaying your name on the recipient’s phone.
The Contact Posters can be used with third-party calling apps as well. This new feature enhances the overall look and feel of the communication interface, making it more visually appealing and engaging.
Another update to the phone is the addition of Live Voicemail which transcribes a voicemail to text in real-time, as the caller leaves the message. With this new feature, you can read voicemail messages to determine their urgency, allowing you to decide whether to answer the call while the caller is still leaving the message.
The Live Voicemail feature is especially useful when you enable Silence Unknown Callers. In that case, calls from unknown callers go straight to voicemail without ringing at all. You can then read their message to identify who it is and what they want.
Audio and video messages on FaceTime
FaceTime also receives an interesting update in the iOS17. It now supports audio and video messages. This feature allows you to record and leave a video or audio message for the person you’re trying to FaceTime if they’re unavailable at the moment.
This could be useful when trying to share special passing moments with family members.
Another update to Facetime is the addition of expressive reactions like hearts, balloons, fireworks, and many more. It also includes the ability to extend Facetime calls to appleTV to provide a larger screen and enhance the calling experience.
Safety Features and Improved Messaging Experience
Messaging was not left out in the iOS17. Apple includes a new safety feature that can be accessed in messages. The Check-In feature automatically informs a friend or family member that the user has reached their destination safely. It gets more interesting.
In addition to that, if the user stops making progress in their journey, the feature literally checks in with you and sends some vital information like current location, battery per cent, and cell service of your iPhone to the family member. This is a really impressive safety feature that could help to prevent or solve missing-person cases.
Apart from the Check-In feature, messaging also receives other interesting new updates. One of them is the Catch Up feature, which allows you to quickly jump to the first new message when you come back online. Also, iMessage now supports and the ability to reply to any message by swiping to the right, similar to popular messaging apps like WhatsApp or Telegram.
iOS 17 also introduces the Audio Transcription feature to iMessage, which transcribes audio messages to text, enabling you to read them first and listen later, making it convenient when you’re in a situation where you can’t listen to audio.
Seamless Sharing
Sharing things between iPhone users has always been easy with airdrop. However, the new updates to airdrop make it even more convenient. For example, the NameDrop feature allows users to effortlessly share contacts by simply bringing their phones close together.
It also works by bringing an iPhone close to an Apple Watch. You can also play games, share content, watch movies or listen to music with SharePlay with another user when your phones are in close proximity.
Offline Maps
iOS17 comes with an impressive update for maps which is support for offline maps. This allows users to download a particular area to get access to turn-by-turn navigation, find places on the map, and know their expected time of arrival without having to connect to the internet.
This feature can be useful when trying to get to a place that is notable for its erratic network, you can save the area before the trips so you can access it offline.
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Collaborative playlist in Apple Music
Apple Music also receives its share of the updates in iOS17. One noteworthy new feature in Apple Music is the Collaborative Playlist which allows Apple Music subscribers to create group playlists with other users. Individuals will be able to invite other users to modify a playlist by adding or removing songs.
They’ll also be able to add different emoji reactions to any song on the playlist.
One new feature that users would absolutely love is the introduction of SharePlay for car trips. With this feature, every person in the car can contribute to what songs are being played during car trips from their own devices and their playlist. The ability to control the music is available to even users that do not have an Apple Music subscription.
Other Updates
In addition to the mentioned updates, there are so many other exciting features to enhance the iPhone experience. Safari now offers enhanced security measures for private browsing to protect against tracking and unauthorized access.
The new Visual Look Up feature helps users to identify various objects and locations such as food, storefronts, signs, and symbol. Moreover, users can now extract information from photos or videos by using the lift feature for identification. The Health App also incorporates mental health features, allowing users to track their daily moods and current emotions, receive suggestions on possible contributing factors to their state of mind, and access standard assessments for depression and anxiety used in clinics.
These are just a few examples of the extensive updates and improvements available on iOS 17. There are many more exciting features iPhone users can look forward to. The iOS17 will exclusively support the iPhone X and newer models. Also, according to a disclaimer on the Apple blog, some updates are specific to certain regions and some features are subject to change.
While waiting for the final version to be available later this year, users can sign up to join the beta testing program to get access to the beta version of the upgrade as early as July and provide useful feedback to Apple. All you need is a valid Apple ID and of course, a supported iPhone device. You also need to accept the agreement during the sign-up process and of course, the required iPhone device. It’s a voluntary effort, but it’s free to participate.
Which features are you most excited about?
See you in my next post.
