With Apple focusing a lot of its development efforts on its long-rumored AR/VR headset, expected to be revealed at today’s WWDC 2023 keynote, iOS 17 won’t arrive with as many major feature introductions as iOS 16 did, but will still bring plenty of welcome upgrades and, in addition to new ways to use iOS 16's lock screen improvements.
Although it’s the least used app for many of us, the iOS 17 Phone app will be upgraded with a feature Apple is calling “Personalized Contact Posters” so instead of just your name and number showing up on the iPhone of someone you’re calling, they’ll see a customized image and text of your choosing which could help persuade them into answering your call.
Screening your calls? Although cellphones killed the answering machine, one feature that’s been sorely missing from modern voicemail is the ability to hear a message that’s being left for you if you intentionally ignore a call. With iOS 17, if you ignore a call and the person decides to leave a voicemail, you’ll be able to see a live text transcription of what they’re saying, with the option to then answer the call if it seems especially important.
In previous versions of iOS, a missed FaceTime call simply left the person you were calling with a notification that they had missed your video call. With iOS 17, FaceTime users will be able to leave a custom video message for the person they’re calling that can be watched at any time after the fact.
Forgetting to check in when you get home after visiting friends or family can sometimes lead to panicked calls or messages asking where you are. With iOS 17, iMessage is getting an automated check in feature so that as soon as you get home, it will automatic notify friends or family on your behalf, reducing stress for all involved.
iMessage is also getting search improvements, and the ability to create custom stickers using iOS’ AI-powered image extraction tricks.
There’s now a good reason to bring your smartphone when you head off into the wilderness, even if you can’t make calls or surf the web. Apple’s Map app will allow users to download a section of maps to the phone locally, so even if there’s no data connection, users will still be able to pinpoint their location and continue to navigate using their iPhone.
The best reason to upgrade to iOS 16 last year was Apple’s major overhaul of the iPhone’s lock screen, which was made completely customizable with various font and color choices for the clock, wallpaper that could appear to interact with text on-screen, and widgets that provided far more information than just missed notifications. With iOS 17, the iPhone’s lock screen will soon go one step further and turn the device into a sort of smart hub when used horizontally and connected to a charger, similar to Google’s Nest Hub devices, providing at-a-glance information like calendars and access to widgets using a new StandBy view feature.
Having to say both “Hey” and “Siri” isn’t really the reason why many iOS users stopped calling on Apple’s virtual assistant. But with iOS 17, activating Siri will now be twice as fast as users can simply say “Siri” and leave out the “Hey” altogether. Just think how much more efficient you’ll be, unless you’re relying on Siri for something important.
All of the journalling apps already available for the iPhone can now officially consider themselves ‘Sherlocked’ as Apple is officially introducing its own journalling app as part of the iOS 17 update. Users will be able to document their thoughts and their daily activities in the app, with the iPhone making suggestions about what to talk about based on how the device has been used throughout the day, like listening to music or podcasts, photos that have been taken, or where the person travelled. Was that restaurant worth revisiting?
Source: Gizmodo