While the internet might be abuzz about Apple’s expensive Vision Pro VR headset, there was plenty of other news to come out of WWDC 2023. For those of us with an iPhone, the biggest story might just be iOS 17. While the update won’t be the most revolutionary one Apple has ever issued, it adds plenty of few new features to try, so long as your iPhone is compatible.
A new Phone app
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The Phone app might be the last app you expect Apple to try to upgrade, but upgrade they have. With iOS 17, Apple is introducing “Contact Posters,” a custom caller ID you make for your contact card. It works like iOS 16’s Lock Screen editor: You choose a great photo of yourself (or your Memoji), add dramatic effects, and include dynamic text to make the card stand out. Any time you call someone with an iPhone, they’ll see your Contact Poster fill up their screen.
The other big phone feature is “Live Voicemail.” When let you a call go to voicemail, you can view a live transcript of the voice message the caller is leaving. It’s a great way to screen calls and know whether it’s something you want to pick up now or get around to later. If your son calls you while you’re in a meeting, for example, you’ll be able to read about how he found a family of raccoons living in the basement and that he’d like to give them a bath in your tub, which might be reason enough to exit the meeting and pick up the call. (No, really, that’s the example Apple used during this part of the presentation.)
Apple notes if you have “Silence Unknown Callers” enabled, iOS will send the call immediately to Live Voicemail, while any call deemed spam will be declined instead.
New updates to iMessages
Since iOS 11, Apple has kept your iMessage apps in an app drawer below the text field. It’s…fine, but it’s never been a great experience. You could hide these apps by tapping the “A” app icon, but even that wouldn’t hide the camera. Now, all of these apps live in a new (+) icon next to your text field. If you want to access any, tap the (+) and choose which app you want to use. It starts with the standard options like Camera, photos, audio messages, and location, but you can swipe down to see the rest.
Apple is also emphasizing safety in its latest update, introducing a featuring called “Check In,” which lets a friend know when you’ve made it to your destination. If your iPhone detects you aren’t making progress or that you’ve detoured considerably, that friend can see your location, iPhone battery level, and cell service to make sure you’re okay. It’s perfect for those of us that use features like location sharing to make sure our friends and family get home safe.
Speaking of locations, you can now see shared locations directly in messages. You can also refine your message searches with addition filters and terms, and read transcripts of audio messages, so you can catch up without needing to listen to them.
When you open a busy chat thread you’ve missed, a new “catch-up” appears to bring you to the first unread message. Plus, you can swipe right on any message to send an in-line reply rather than long-pressing it first.
Anything can be a sticker now
Apple is giving stickers a big update this year, in that anything can be a sticker. It works through last year’s feature that lets you lift the subject out of any photo. Those subjects can be a sticker now, which you can add to any message on your iPhone—even in third-party apps. You can apply effects to those stickers and even make “Live Stickers” from a Live Photo.
Leave an audio or video message on FaceTime
One of the iOS 17 feature I’m most looking forward to is this: When you call someone on FaceTime and they don’t answer, you can now leave an audio or video message for them. It’s like voicemail, but with your face! Plus, they can watch your message on their Apple Watch, which is fun.
Also new to FaceTime are 3D reactions, which you might be used to in your video conferencing app of choice. Like some of those apps, you can initialize these reactions with gestures (e.g. give the cameras thumbs-up to activate the thumbs-up reaction). You can also start a FaceTime call from your Apple TV using your iPhone’s camera.
StandBy mode
StandBy turns your iPhone into a smart display anytime its on its side and charging. You can customize large widgets to display useful or fun information, such as the time, your calendar, or the weather. You can even use large Live Activities to keep tabs on things like your food delivery or the score in a game you’re tracking. If you use it at night, the screen shifts red, so you can check the time in the middle of the night without burning your eyes.
Big improvements to interactive widgets
Finally. Home screen widgets were a fun addition to iOS, but they weren’t particularly useful: While they display relevant information, tapping on one leads you into the app itself, which seems like an unnecessary extra step. Now we can avoid that step altogether: You can interact with widgets directly from the home screen, including actions like checking off a to-do list, playing music, or turning on a light in the Home widget.
AirDrop gets a big update with “NameDrop”
With iOS 17, AirDrop gets it biggest update yet. Now you can share data just by bringing your devices close together. That’s great for everything you use AirDrop for, obviously, including SharePlay, but one thing Apple is highlighting this year is exchanging contact information with a new feature it called “NameDrop.” Bring your iPhone up to someone else’s, and you’ll be able to share your contact information, including your Contact Poster.
And, while it won’t be ready upon launch, you’ll be able to finish an AirDrop transfer over the internet. That way, you can start a transfer, then leave AirDrop range before it’s done, and the transfer will continue via wifi.
A new way to keep a digital journal
There are likely some third-party developers unhappy about this update, as Apple is making its own journaling app dubbed, appropriately, Journal. Unlike traditional journaling apps, Journal is deeply integrated with your daily iPhone habits. It takes the things you did that day, including photos you took, music you listened to, and workouts, and generates journal entries from those events. Then it offers you a writing prompt, so you can fill in the gaps with your experiences.
Autocorrect won’t turn “fuck” into “duck” anymore
Apple is done ducking around. Autocorrect is getting better, and that means it’ll learn when you actually want to say “fuck” instead of “duck.” It also will give you the option to tap on a correction and revert it back to what you originally wrote, which also goes towards its learning.
You’ll also see Google-like predictive text options. iOS will guess what you’re trying to say, and, if you want to use it, you can tap the text to insert it into your message.
Profiles in Safari
Safari is the default browser on any Apple device, but it’s always felt a bit behind other browsers in a variety of ways. Apple is looking to fix some of those gaps this year: For the first time, we’ll finally have profiles in Safari, even on iPhone, so you can separate personal use from work.
Private browsing is improved as well: Your private browsing windows can be locked when you exit them, so only you can access what you’re browsing. Private browsing now blocks trackers by default, and even removes them from URLs.
2FA codes will also work via email
Everyone loves the iOS feature that AutoFills your 2FA passcode when you receive it from in a text. Now, the same applies to 2FA codes from emails. Plus, you can easily share your passwords and passkeys with friends and family.
Music will let you SharePlay with CarPlay
Apple didn’t announce many changes to the Music app, but there are two key new features: Now, anyone can SharePlay their music with CarPlay, as if you were passing the wireless aux around. In addition, you now have the ability to collaborate on playlists, which is so useful for friend groups constantly sharing music with each other.
AirPlay is getting better
Apple learns your AirPlay habits overtime and shows you the most relevant devices you’re likely to stream to first. Plus, there’s soon to be support for AirPlay in hotel rooms, so you can stream directly to the hotel TV without needing to plug in or pay for anything.
AirPods
AirPods are having a moment with iOS 17. There’s Adaptive Audio, which blends Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency to boost conversations and dim loud noises at the same time; you can mute or unmute yourself in a call with the AirPods Pro stem; and you can switch devices on AirPods faster than ever. We’ve covered these new details, including which AirPods models are compatible, in our guide here.
Apple Maps can go offline
Apple Maps now supports offline maps, perfect for those times when you don’t have internet access while out and about. If you have an electric vehicle, you’ll also find real-time charging station availability along a current journey.
Siri doesn’t need “hey” anymore
“Hey Siri,” is dead. Long live “Siri.” Apple is dropping the “hey,” allowing us to boot up with assistant just by saying her name. I can imagine this may bring up more accidental triggers than before, but it might also be more convenient. Speaking of convenience, you can also issue questions back-to-back to follow up with Siri without needing to formally trigger the assistant again.
Spotlight includes App Shortcuts
In updates to Spotlight, Apple adds App Shortcuts to a search. For example, if you search “Photos,” iOS might suggest you go to your Favorites album if that’s the one you frequent the most. There’s also a small visual makeover here.
Visual Look Up
Apple never said the word “AI” once, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t adding more AI features to iOS 17. Now you can point your camera at a dish and look up a recipe for it. It’ll be interesting to try this on dishes you order at a restaurant, so you can try to make it at home. You can also use visual look up on any subject you lift out of a photo, as well as any frame of video.
The Health app adds a mental health feature
The Health app now has a mental health feature: You can tell the app how you’re feeling, with visual feedback, and use the feature to monitor your mental health overtime.
Privacy and Security will help blur sensitive photos
Apple upgraded Communication Safety, its parental feature for Messages, to monitor for sensitive videos and photos sent or received. But the feature extends beyond Messages now to other parts of iOS. You can also blur photos and videos containing sensitive content rather than open them.
You can also choose specific photos to share within an app without revealing any other photos in your library, and you can add an event to Calendar from an app without that app seeing your info. Finally, Apple expanded Lockdown Mode to be more powerful against attack.
Accessibility
Apple announced these features before WWDC and didn’t mention them on stage, but there are some cool new Accessibility changes coming to iOS 17. Chief among these is Personal Voice: iOS will ask you to read specific prompts out loud, then will create an artificial voice that sounds like you from those examples. You can use this Personal Voice to read anything on your iPhone out loud in your voice, another example of Apple’s work with AI.
PDFs in Notes
Apple made a big deal about PDFs during its iPad presentation, but some of those features are coming to iPhone, too. Namely, you can view and edit PDFs in Notes, and you can use AutoFill to automatically enter details into a document.
Photos is better at recognizing people
You’ll notice Photos is better at recognizing your friends and family in the People album, and can even recognize specific dogs and cats now, too.
Apple didn’t announce everything
As per usual, Apple didn’t focus on every new feature in its keynote. When you do finally get iOS 17 on your phone later this year, you’ll no doubt run into small features and changes, a rite of passage for any new software. However, we do know about many of these features already, and we have a roundup of the best of those changes here.