Apple has released iOS 17, offering users a slew of innovative features and upgrades that promise to make your iPhone experience more personal and intuitive.Â
The most important changes that come with this latest software update include:
Incoming Calls Get a Major Upgrade
The Phone app receives a significant update that transforms how you interact with incoming calls. Personalized Contact Posters allow you to express yourself by customizing your appearance when calling known contacts.Â
These posters can be adorned with captivating treatments for photos, Memojis, and eye-catching typography. Live Voicemail takes it a step further by providing real-time transcriptions of voicemails, letting you pick up during the message. With Silence Unknown Callers enabled, unknown numbers go straight to Live Voicemail, and spam calls get instantly declined.
New Ways to Enjoy FaceTime
FaceTime gets a creative boost with video and audio messages, allowing you to leave a heartfelt message when your contact is unavailable. Expressive Reactions, like hearts, balloons, and fireworks, add fun to your FaceTime calls.Â
These reactions are also supported in third-party video conferencing apps such as Zoom and Webex. Apple TV 4K integration enhances your FaceTime experience, enabling you to connect with friends and family on the big screen.
More Ways to Stay Connected with Messages
Messages become even more user-friendly with powerful search filters, automatic transcription of audio messages, and an expandable menu for easy access to iMessage apps. An exciting addition is the ability to create Live Stickers by extracting subjects from photos, allowing for fun and creative customization. Check-In, a new feature, lets you notify a contact when you’ve safely reached your destination.
StandBy Makes iPhone Even More Useful While Charging
StandBy is a game-changer, offering a full-screen experience with glanceable information when your iPhone is charging on its side. It’s highly customizable, displaying clock styles, favorite photos, widgets, and more. With an Always-On display and Night Mode, StandBy adapts to low light conditions for a seamless experience.
Easier Sharing with AirDrop and NameDrop
AirDrop simplifies sharing, and NameDrop makes it effortless to exchange contact information, and content, or even start SharePlay sessions. Soon, AirDrop will allow you to continue transfers over the internet when stepping out of range.
Comprehensive Updates to Autocorrect and Dictation
iOS 17 introduces a powerful transformer language model for autocorrect, improving word prediction and sentence-level corrections. Dictation benefits from enhanced speech recognition for improved accuracy.
Reflecting on Life’s Moments with Journal
Journal, a new iPhone app, encourages reflection on everyday moments and special events. It offers personalized suggestions based on your activities, ensuring a meaningful journaling experience with privacy in mind.
Additional Features in iOS 17
iOS 17 brings numerous other enhancements, such as Safari profile separation, improved password sharing, mental health features in the Health app, offline Maps, AirTag sharing, Reminders improvements, Visual Look Up, Siri enhancements, and privacy updates.
Security Features
iOS 17 comes with several security features aimed at safeguarding your personal data and ensuring a secure user experience. Here are some of the key security enhancements in iOS 17:
- Communication Safety: This feature extends beyond Messages to help keep kids safe when sending and receiving content via AirDrop, Contact Posters, FaceTime messages, and when using the Photos picker to select content to send. It also covers video content in addition to still images. All image and video processing for Communication Safety occurs on-device, ensuring privacy.
- Sensitive Content Warning: This new feature helps adult users avoid seeing unwanted nude images and videos. Similar to Communication Safety, all processing for Sensitive Content Warning happens on-device, ensuring that Apple does not access the content.
- End-to-End Encryption: Several features, such as Live Voicemail transcription and sharing passwords with trusted contacts, are emphasized as being end-to-end encrypted. This means that your sensitive data remains private and secure, with Apple unable to access or decrypt it.
- On-Device Processing: Features like Journal, which helps you reflect on life’s moments, utilize on-device processing and end-to-end encryption to protect your privacy. Your journal entries are safe from prying eyes, including Apple’s.
- Privacy Updates: iOS 17 continues to prioritize user privacy by implementing features like Sensitive Content Warning and Communication Safety, ensuring that your personal information and communication are well-protected.
With iOS 17, Apple continues to prioritize user experience, offering an array of features that enhance communication, customization, and privacy. Update your iPhone today to enjoy these exciting improvements!
