Ready to check out everything new with iOS 17? From the new smart display mode to health features, interactive widgets to a new Messages experience, Live Voicemail to offline Apple Maps, and more, here are the top 10 iOS 17 features you should try out.
After beta testing from June to September, Apple officially launched iOS 17 for everyone on September 18, the week after its iPhone 15 event.
While there are many more than 10 changes and new features with iOS 17, here’s a look at the ones that are likely to be the most interesting and useful.
Top 10 features to try out with iOS 17
- StandBy mode
- Contact Posters
- Live Voicemail
- Personal Voice
- Offline Apple Maps
- Share Passwords with friends, family, and colleagues
- Automatically delete iPhone 2FA codes
- Interactive widgets
- Messages new UI and stickers
- Screen Distance for eye health
- Bonus: AirPods Adaptive Audio
iPhone StandBy mode
Apple enhances the Lock Screen experience this year in iOS 17 with the new landscape StandBy mode for iPhone.
Some of the available options include dual-view, customizable setups while others have different clock faces that take up the whole screen. You can use third-party widgets with StandBy too.
Check out all the details in our full walkthrough:
Contact Posters
Another neat way iOS 17 gets more customization is Contact Posters. There are lots of options to create different designs and you can make them for yourself as well as others.
Live Voicemail
Live Voicemail makes it easy to know if you’d like to pick up a call while someone is leaving a message without having to call them back.
Personal Voice
Personal Voice is an impressive capability that lets users bank their voice in the event they lose it in the future. Whether for those with a degenerative disease or if you just like to be prepared, Personal Voice makes it easy to create and securely store a replica of your voice.
Offline Apple Maps
Want to save battery or won’t have a connection where you’re going? With iOS 17 you can download Apple Maps for offline use.
Shared passwords
Password sharing with anyone or any group is seamless with the ability to create shared iCloud Keychain vaults.
Automatically delete 2FA codes
Simple and very useful, iOS 17 can automatically delete 2FA code texts after you’ve used them.
Interactive widgets
Widgets get a nice upgrade with functionality right on your Home or Lock Screen. Here’s a look at them in action with the Home app widget.
Messages stickers and new UI
Instead of emoji responses being limited to the six tapback choices, with iOS 17 you can respond to any text or image with an emoji or custom sticker.
Along with that, there’s a new UI for iMessage apps.
Screen Distance
This is a new eye health feature that helps prevent eye strain for all ages and helps reduce the likelihood of myopia for children.
Top comment by Ofer
I have two issues that I’m experiencing with my new iOS 17 install (on an iPhone 12 Pro Max). Curious if anyone else has run across these issues and found a fix?
1. Apple Maps isn’t letting rotate and zoom in when I’m navigating to a location. Actually, to be more precise, sometimes it’s letting me and sometimes it isn’t. This is particularly frustrating when I’m getting to head out and am trying to reorient the map so that I can figure out which street it’s asking me to go down.
2. There should be a new People, Pets, & Places smart album option where you can tag your pets on the Photos app. I’m still seeing the old People & Places album. When I scroll down to the bottom of this album the Add People button is greyed out with a message saying “Lock your phone and connect it to power to complete”. Locking my phone and connecting it to power doesn’t seem to do anything.
It’s easy to set up and very effective.
AirPods Pro 2 Adaptive Audio
Ok, one bonus feature if you have AirPods Pro 2. Coming with iOS 17 are a range of new capabilities that really feel like magic. Check out a closer look at Adaptive Audio with AirPods Pro 2.
What do you think? What are your favorite features of iOS 17? Did I miss any that you love? Share your thoughts in the comments!
For a deep dive into everything that’s new, check our my colleague Jeff’s comprehensive video!
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