Ensuring your phone remains relevant are software updates, which comes in heaps if you are using the iPhone. Apple has put out the first public beta of iOS 17, which, unlike the developer beta, should be stable for most users. The final version of iOS 17 is expected in fall but this gives Apple an opportunity to fix as many bugs as possible. If you are in the mood to experience iOS 17, back up your device on iCloud and sign up to Apple betas on Apple’s website. Next, in the Settings app, choose ‘Software Update’ and then ‘Beta Updates’. Here are some of the features that have got us excited.
Standby mode
One of the most useful features that’s coming with iOS 17. Once enabled in settings, you simply need to put the phone in landscape mode and leave it to charge. It will become sort of a smart display, showing time, widgets, Live Activities and more in this mode. For example, I love listening to music while cooking and that also means, it’s an opportunity for me to charge my phone. I do this wirelessly and having standby mode helps. At the moment, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max can use this feature because these models have always-on display. Earlier iOS 17-compatible iPhones can use Standby mode but the screen will turn off after a certain period. It’s also a win for companies selling sideways charging stand; sales may gather steam.
Bi-lingual Siri experience
For Apple, every market is important, so there are developments that will help users in India. iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 will also offer a convenient bilingual Siri experience, so users can interact with Siri using a mix of English and Hindi for activities throughout the day Users can also combine English with Telugu, Punjabi, Kannada, or Marathi. The experience includes asking Siri for help with setting an alarm or timer, sending messages, making calls, playing music, checking the weather, and looking up directions.
72-hour grace period
You may think it’s a small feature but it’s probably one of the big additions. After changing the phone’s passcode, there is a chance you may forget the new code. With iOS 17, you have 72 hours to use your old passcode after you change to a new one, helping you change the passcode again if you remember the original passcode. But what if you want the old passcode to be forgotten as soon as you select a new one? In the Settings section under “Face ID and Passcode” menu there is an option to ‘Expire Previous Passcode Now’.
More transliteration keyboards for major Indian languages
iOS 17 brings new transliteration keyboards across major Indian languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Such keyboards can be great for bilingual users who move between English and another language and they come close at the heels of transliteration keyboards for Urdu, Punjabi, and Gujarati introduced in iOS 16.4, Bengali and Marathi introduced in iOS 16, and Hindi. With this addition, iOS now supports transliteration keyboards for the top 10 languages in India
Better autocorrect
The iPhone keyboard is receiving a major boost. The keyboard is using a transformer model to offer better prediction of what you’ll type next and it will also help with grammar. And in case you are in a foul mood, you won’t have to worry about the word “duck” making its way to the recipient of a message instead of… you know what!
Better dual-sim experience
Indian users love dual SIM card options. With iOS 17, users can see Messages sorted by their primary as well as secondary SIM. For example, easily sort personal messages from work messages. You can also set different ringtones for each SIM to understand if iPhone is ringing because someone is calling a work phone number or personal phone number. Further, if a user misses a call from a number that is not yet saved to their device, like a new doctor’s office, they can choose to call this number back from either SIM card.
NameDrop is da boss!
I wish the feature was introduced earlier but here you go. We have stopped sharing business cards and find it easier to key in the contact of the person we meet directly into our phones. No longer if you have an iPhone. Create your contact card with all the information you want to share. When you want to exchange the info, hover the top of your phone over another device and they will have your information. It uses the phone’s near-field communication capabilities and it also works with Apple Watches.
Contact Poster is going to catch on
Choose the image and name people will see on their screen you call them. You can create your own “contact poster” in the same way you’d customise your own lock screen. Contact Posters allow you customise contacts with emoji pictures, editing the colour and font of contacts and more.
Offline Maps
Another feature that has been on the request list for long. It will allow users to download and use maps offline and Maps can be downloaded for entire regions.
Pet power
Apple has had the ability to recognise animals for a few years but now it can identify individual pets. For example, if you have two dogs, Photos will be able to tell the difference between them in search and other applications.
The Standby Mode on iOS 17 may become a trend this year
Phone too close to the face
Apple now has a built in a detector called Screen Distance, which can warn users if their face is too close to the phone for extended periods of time. It will help reduce eye strain and the risk of myopia in children.
Streamlining Messages
Messages is one of the most used apps and over the years features have been streamlined to a large extent. What we are seeing thing year is search, that is, easier ways to find a message. In Mail, you can filter your search using different criteria, like finding a link from a particular person. Equally interesting is the way Apple has gone about dealing with audio messages, which is something young users love. You can now leave the app and continue listening to an audio message or view a transcription of the message, which helps if you want to zero in on a specific part of a long message.
Built-in dictionary in Punjabi
Users can easily get definitions of words and phrases from a variety of sources (iOS, iPadOS, macOS).
Some this and that
Here’s another helpful update though you may not have been thinking about actively. You can sign into Apple ID with phone number instead of an email address (iOS, iPadOS, and macOS).
There is an extended call history in Recents within the Phone app, including phone and FaceTime calls, as well as calls received on WhatsApp (iOS, iPadOS).
Next, when taking a screenshot of a full page in Safari, Mail, or Notes, users can choose whether to save it to iPhone and iPad as an image or a PDF (iOS, iPadOS).
Something we couldn’t try but….
Later this year, there will be an app called Journal with iOS 17 and it will help you achieve exactly what journaling allows you. Apple will use on-device machine learning to create personalised prompts to help you out. You’ll also be able to schedule notifications to remind yourself to write.