An Apple phone is on the list for every cell phone junkie. (except for die-hard Samsung or Android users of course).
Apple annually launches a new model, with it’s admirers quick to upgrade to the new offering by their favorite phone maker.
Today, we look at not the phone, but the operating system 17 of iphone and what it offers. Some of the still running models of i Phone – The 11,12, and 13 and their Pro versions come shipped with it.
Our phones have many exciting features, but we often don’t know about all of them and therefore they do not come in use, which is sub optimal use of the hefty price tag we’re paying for these phones, especially iPhone.
The idea behind this post is to educate the iPhone user about all features on their operating system, so that best use of the phone can be made.
In iOS 17, there are a slew of amazing features for Phone, FaceTime, and Messages, interactive widgets, StandBy mode, updates for Safari, along with small improvements for other apps which this post will take you through.
If you did’nt know about these features before this post, you can now understand and start using them.
Some updates were primarily bug fixes & security – which we shall be skipping & stick to the ones which had new features incorporated.
Key features of the iOS 17 & how to use them are as below:
1. Contact Posters
You can create customized Contact Posters that people see when you call them. A screen will appear when you call someone or exchange your contact information.
You can get on to designing for it – eg. changing fonts & colors.
How do you do it?
In the phone app – type contacts – then your name at the top – then tap edit in the upper right – then edit again under your photo – customise to edit your current one – you pick a main photo or emoji as your background & then you can also checge the size, font, color of your name
2. Name drop
This is for sharing contact information.
This is a new facet of AirDrop, that lets you bring your iPhone near another iPhone to exchange contact information.
Do away with texting & start bumping your phones together.
When 2 phones, both running ios17 are brought near each other, you’ll see a trippy effect – tap share & your contact gets shared.
Similar to air drop, name drop needs bluetooth enabled.
You can also use the features to wirelessly share photos or websites.
This works with Apple Watch as well.
Bringing two iPhones together can initiate SharePlay so you can listen to music, watch a movie, or play a game with another person who has an iPhone, and it also works for transferring content.
AirDrop also allows large file transfers to be initiated by two phones in close proximity, with the transfer finishing over iCloud.
3. Facetime video messages
Sometimes when your friend or alter ago does’nt pick up, you just wanna leave a facetime message.
After ringing for a while, you’ll see the record video button.
Press it & you’ll get a countdown timer before which you have to record your message for the person you’re calling.
When you’re done recording, you can hit the re-take button to re-record or hit the green arrow to send it off. The receiver can play the message in the facetime app.
FaceTime supports both audio and video messages, so if you don’t pick up a call, the person on the other end can leave a video recording for you or an audio message.
FaceTime also supports a range of Reactions like hearts, balloons, fireworks, laser beams, and rain. Effects are activated through gestures, and will also work in third-party apps.
An iPhone or iPad can now link to the Apple TV 4K for FaceTime on the TV.
Using Continuity Camera, an iOS device serves as the camera for a FaceTime call, but the video is displayed on the larger screen of the TV.
It supports Center Stage framing and all other FaceTime features, including Handoff, for transferring calls between an iOS device and the TV.
4. Messages App
There’s a cleaner interface with access to apps, photos, and the camera tucked away behind a “+” button that’s next to the compose bar.
Tapping on the button gives quick access to the Camera, Photos, Apple Cash, Audio Messages, your Messages apps, and an updated Stickers experience.
All emoji characters are now stickers and are in the Stickers section of the Messages app.
Emoji can be used as normal, but can also be placed over images and messages like a sticker.
You can create your own stickers from your photos using the Remove Subject from Background feature that was introduced in iOS 16.
If you use a Live Photo, you’ll end up with an animated sticker that you can share in the Messages app.
Stickers can have special effects like a hand drawn look, glitter, or a different color, and they can also be used across iOS, essentially wherever you can use an emoji.
Search in Messages supports search filters for finding exactly what you’re looking for. You can start with a broad search and narrow down the results by entering additional search terms.
If you have trouble keeping up in group chats or with a person who sends a lot of messages, the catch-up arrow lets you know exactly where you left off so you can see what’s unread.
You can reply right inline by swiping on a text bubble, and if you send an audio message, it’s now transcribed automatically so it can be read right then.
One-time verification codes delivered by the Messages app can be deleted automatically.
Location sharing in Messages is simpler and when a user shares a location, it’s updated in real time in the conversation.
It works in tandem with Check In, a safety feature that tells a friend or family member that you’ve arrived safely at your destination when traveling.
5. Live voicemail
When someone leaves you a voicemail, you can see a live transcription of the caller’s message.
Based on what’s being said, you can choose to pick up the phone in the middle.
Live voicemail is on by default in ios17.
If you so wish, you can deactivate it by going to settings – phone – live voicemail & turn it off.
Calls marked as spam by carriers will be instantly declined and won’t appear as Live Voicemail.
6. Standby mode
When you’re not using your iPhone, you can put it horizontally on a charger to activate StandBy mode, a full-screen display with information you can see at a glance.
StandBy mode works best with an always-on display, but you can see it with a tap, too.
It is similar to Nightstand mode on Apple Watch, offering different clock styles, photos, calendar, weather, a view of Live Activities, or customizable widgets through Smart Stack.
This one can turn your phone into basically a fancy alarm clock.
This is best if u have a safe charging stand (like the Belkin Boost Charge Pro). But really you just have to make sure your i phone is locked horizontal, not laying on a flat surface & charging.
Swipe horizontally to choose between a widget screen, a photo screen & a clock screen.In each of those 3 modes, you can swipe vertically to pick other options & you can hold down on the screen for even more customisation.
There’s also this cool night mode where you display auto adapts to low light.
7. Auto correct
Apple improved autocorrect across iOS, adding a new machine learning model that can better predict what you want to say.
It can offer to autofill entire sentences with inline predictions when typing, so finishing a word or a sentence is as simple as pressing the spacebar.
Correcting mistakes is easier because it can be done with a tap.
There’s also a new speech recognition model for dictation that makes it more accurate.
When auto correct changes a word, a bluish gray line will show underneath.
Tap it & it will show the original word you typed if you wanna choose that instead. As you’re typing some word suggestions may top up in gray. Tap on the space bar to insert them.
This is straight off gmail’s auto complete feature.
8. Screen distance
Holding the screen too close to your face can be bad for the eyes.
Apple suggests keeping the screen at least 12 inches away.
You can enable screen distance, which warns you if the phone is too close.
It won’t let you use the phone until you’ve backed it up to the right distance.
To enable it go to settings – screen time – screen distance & turn it on.
9. Personal Voice
With Personal Voice, users in danger of losing their ability to speak can create a voice that sounds like theirs, and the Live Speech accessibility feature lets typed words be spoken in person, on the phone, or through FaceTime.
To create a synthesized version of your voice, go to settings – Accessibility – then personal voice – you’ll be asked to record your voice by reading 150 randomised text prompts.
After that the phone needs to be plugged in & locked, so it can process the information.
When it’s done, enable live speech in settings – triple click the side button & type in whatever you’d like to be said aloud & it reads it out in your voice. Worried about someone stealing your voice?
Apple has built in some important privacy features here. It uses on-device machine learning, so it is’nt sent to Apple’s servers.
Plus you need to use face ID to create this feature or log in to access it.
10. Custom Stickers
Hold down on the subject in a photo – watch for the shimmering outline then select add sticker – it will automatically save to your stickers section – then you can select add effect to add some different styles to it.
And is it’s a live photo, it does a little animation. Now, when you’re in a message you can send that sticker.
11. Check In Messages
iOS can now automatically text someone when you get to a destination.
So people don’t worry if you forget to do it yourself.
Both phones have to be running ios17 & you can adjust how much location & other information you share with your contact.
When Check In is turned on, the person you’re communicating with is notified when you arrive where you’re going, and if you don’t make it in time or progress stalls, your contact can see your iPhone’s location, battery level, and cellular status to determine whether you need help.
12. Two factor verification
Texts & emails can automatically be deleted by going to settings – passwords – password options – clean up automatically.
13. Maps
You can also now download maps in Apple maps, so you can access them offline.
You can access turn-by-turn navigation, estimated time of arrival, and nearby locations even with no signal.
Apple updated maps to provide more information on trails in parks across the United States, and there is real-time charging availability information for electric vehicles.
14. Message Reply
You can right swipe on a specific message to reply to it.
15. Find My App
In the Find My App, you can now share the location of an air tag with another person, so friends and family members who live together can both track an item with an AirTag in the Find My app.
Everyone can see the item’s location, play a sound, and use Precision Finding, plus it works with Find My network accessories.
16. Multiple Timers
You can finally set multiple timers in the clock app or by asking Siri.
17. Interactivity
On the Home Screen, widgets are now interactive so you can use them to do things like control music, activate a light, mark off a reminder, and more.
Spotlight Search is also more interactive so you can do things like change settings without opening an app.
18. Health App
The Health app has a mood tracking feature that lets you log your daily emotions to track your state of mind over time.
It will offer up options for recording your mood along with what’s causing that mood, so you can make useful connections.
Apple is also offering depression and anxiety assessments used in clinics to help you determine if you might be at risk.
19. Safari
In Safari, private browsing is locked with Face ID, and it also blocks trackers from identifying your device and following your browsing traffic across websites.
An option for Profiles separates your work browsing from your personal browsing with different histories, extensions, Tab Groups, favorites, and cookies.
20. Passwords
Passwords and passkeys can be shared with other people through a Family Sharing feature available in the Passwords app.
Everyone in the group can add and edit passwords that are shared safely through iCloud Keychain.
This feature is useful for passwords that need to be accessed by more than one person, such as for streaming services.
21. Apple Music
Apple Music supports Collaborative Playlists for listening to music with friends, and thanks to SharePlay in the car, passengers can add songs to what’s playing through CarPlay even without an Apple Music subscription.
With crossfade, songs will fade into one another so there’s never a pause.
22. AirPlay
AirPlay is smarter and can learn your device sharing preferences, plus later this year, select hotels will support AirPlay on TVs for easier access to your content when you’re traveling.
It’s now easier to sign into an iPhone with your Apple ID using a nearby device or an email address or phone number listed in your account.
23. AirPods
There are new features for AirPods. An Adaptive Audio option for AirPods Pro 2 combines Active Noise Cancellation with Transparency so you can be more aware of your surroundings while also cutting down on unwanted noise.
Conversation Awareness turns down your music when someone is talking to you so you can hear them, and Personalized Volume adjusts sound to your preferences.
With improvements to Automatic Switching, swapping between devices is faster and more reliable, and you can mute and unmute sound by holding on the AirPods stem.
24. Home app
The Home app lets you see activity history for up to 30 days for door locks, garage doors, contact sensors, and alarm systems, and PIN codes and tap to unlock work with Matter-based smart locks.
25. Reminders
In Reminders, there’s a built-in grocery list that groups items you add into categories, and in Notes, you’re able to create links between notes so related notes can be interlinked.
The Notes app also has deeper support for PDFs so you can view and mark up PDFs and scans.
26. Siri
You no longer need to say Hey Siri to activate Siri, and can instead just say “Siri.” Multiple commands can be issued in succession without needing to reactivate Siri.
Note that activating Siri without the Hey is limited to newer devices.
27. Mail app
The Mail app supports automatic filling of verification codes just like Messages.
28. Notification sounds
You can now change alert sounds for your default notifications to go with the one you want.
29. Apple News
In Apple News, subscribers can access daily crossword puzzles and listen to Apple News+ Audio Stories in the Podcasts app.
30. Fitness app
In the Fitness app you can see highlights of friends’ workout activities and create custom workout and meditation schedules with Apple Fitness+ Custom Plans.
31. Freeform
Features new drawing tools like a watercolor brush, highlighter, and ruler.
Post launching iOs 17, Apple came up with iOs 17.1.1 & 17.1.2 – both of which primarily focused on fixing bug & security issues.
iOS 17.2 - Features and Updates
Introduction of the Journal App
- Journal is an all-new way to reflect on life’s moments and preserve your memories. It lets you write about the small moments and big events in your life so you can practice gratitude and improve your well-being
- Journaling suggestions make it easy to remember your experiences by intelligently grouping your outings, photos, workouts and more into moments you can add to your journal
- Filters let you quickly find bookmarked entries or show entries with attachments so you can revisit and reflect on key moments in your life
- Scheduled notifications help you keep a consistent journaling practice by reminding you to write on the days and time you choose
- Option to lock your journal using Touch ID or Face ID
- iCloud sync keeps your journal entries safe and encrypted on iCloud
Action Button
Translate option for the Action button on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max to quickly translate phrases or have a conversation with someone in another language.
Camera
Spatial video lets you capture video on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max so you can relive your memories in three dimensions on Apple Vision Pro
Improved Telephoto camera focusing speed when capturing small, faraway objects on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max
Messages
Catch-up arrow lets you easily jump to your first unread message in a conversation by tapping the arrow visible in the top-right corner
Add sticker option in the context menu lets you add a sticker directly to a bubble
Memoji updates include the ability to adjust the body shape of any Memoji
Contact Key Verification provides automatic alerts and Contact Verification Codes to help verify that people facing extraordinary digital threats are messaging only with the people they intend to
Weather
Precipitation amounts help you stay on top of rain and snow conditions for a given day over the next 10 days
New widgets let you choose from next-hour precipitation, daily forecast, sunrise and sunset times, and current conditions such as Air Quality, Feels Like and wind speed
Wind map snapshot helps you quickly assess wind patterns and access the animated wind map overlay to prepare for forecast wind conditions for the next 24 hours
Interactive moon calendar lets you easily visualise the phase of the moon on any day for the next month
Air Drop
Improvements including expanded contact sharing options and the ability to share boarding passes, cinema tickets and other eligible passes by bringing two iPhones together
Favourite Songs Playlist
Favourite Songs Playlist in Apple Music lets you quickly get back to the songs you mark as favourites
Listening History
Use Listening History in Apple Music can be disabled in a Focus so music you listen to does not appear in Recently Played or influence your recommendations
Digital Clock Widget
Lets you quickly catch a glimpse of the time on your Home Screen and while in StandBy
Enhanced Auto Fill
Enhanced AutoFill identifies fields in PDFs and other forms, enabling you to populate them with information such as names and addresses from your contacts
Language Support
New keyboard layouts provide support for 8 Sámi languages
Sensitive Content
Sensitive Content Warning for stickers in Messages prevents you from being unexpectedly shown a sticker containing nudity
Qi 2 Charger Support
Qi2 charger support for all iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 models
The next update 17.2.1 was only bug fixes
iOS 17.3 - Features & Updates
Introduced Stolen Device Protection
Stolen Device Protection increases security of iPhone and Apple ID by requiring Face ID or Touch ID with no passcode fallback to perform certain actions
Security Delay requires Face ID or Touch ID, an hour’s wait, and an additional successful biometric authentication before sensitive operations like changing device passcode or Apple ID password can be performed
Lock Screen
New Unity wallpaper honours Black history and culture in celebration of Black History Month in the US
Music
Collaborative playlists allow you to invite friends to join your playlist, and everyone can add, reorder and remove songs
Emoji reactions can be added to any track in a collaborative playlist
Air Play Hotel Support
Lets you stream content directly to the TV in your room in selected hotels
Apple Care & Warranty
Shows your coverage for all devices signed in with your Apple ID
iOS 17.3.1 was primarily about improving bug fixes
iOS 17.4 - New Features & Updates
Emoji
New mushroom, phoenix, lime, broken chain and shaking heads emoji are available in the emoji keyboard
18 people and body emoji add the option to face them in either direction
Apple Podcasts
Transcripts let you follow an episode with text that highlights in sync with the audio in English, Spanish, French and German
Episode text can be read in full, searched for a word or phrase, tapped to play from a specific point, and used with accessibility features such as Text Size, Increase Contrast and VoiceOver
Music Recognition
Lets you add songs you have identified to your Apple Music Playlists and Library, as well as Apple Music Classical
Siri
Has a new option to announce messages you receive in any supported language
Stolen Device Protection
Supports the option for increased security in all locations
Battery Health
Shows battery cycle count, manufacture date and first use on iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models
Dual SIM
Fixes an issue for Dual SIM users where the phone number changes from primary to secondary and is visible to a group they have messaged
iOS 17.4.1 was primarily about bug fixes & security
iOS 17.5 - Features & Updates
Apple News
Offline mode in Apple News+ gives you access to the Today feed and News+ tab, even when you don’t have an internet connection
Tracking Notifications
Cross-Platform Tracking Detection delivers notifications to users if a compatible Bluetooth tracker they do not own is moving with them, regardless of what operating system the device is paired with
The latest update iOS 17.5.1 was primarily about bug fixes.
That was an in depth look at the features of iOS 17. Hope after reading the post, you will start using some of these and enjoy time with your phone more!