iOS 17 Release Date
Apple’s iOS 17 is a much-anticipated operating system. It will be released on September 18. The new OS will bring new features to a variety of iPhones. (I’m quite excited about the Journal app).
Is Your iPhone Compatible with iOS 17?
If your iPhone is 5 years old or younger, then it will be compatible with the new iOS. Thus, your iPhone XS will work since it came out in 2018. However, if you own an iPhone X or iPhone 8, then you are out of luck.
Features to Look Forward to
StandBy
This is a full-screen view that gives you a piece of glanceable information that can be viewed from a distance. But the iPhone must be on its side and charging for it to work. The interface can show you a clock, a calendar, the weather forecast, or your favorite photos. If your iPhone supports an always-on display, then this feature will work.
Contact Posters
Use this feature to put your best face forward. When you call someone with an iPhone, you can customize how you show up on his/her iPhone using this feature. It lets you personalize how the receiver appears on your screen when that person reaches out to you.
The poster can be a monogram, a customized font, a background, or a Memoji. You can also share it with people in your contacts. In that way, they can get your new selfie. For now, it is available in the built-in phone app. But Apple promises that it will soon be available for third-party calling apps.
NameDrop
This feature lets you see contact details with others in a few taps. It can act like an e-business card that you can share digitally with people. Simply hold your iPhone close together. You can choose what information to share. However, it does not work with Android devices.
It uses AirDrop but with a focus on enhancing contact details. For it to work, the AirDrop must be enabled to create a P2P network. But you can’t use the NFC chip in your iPhone to share contact details with an Android device.
Autocorrect Improvement
If you are annoyed by the iPhone’s autocorrect feature, Apple promises that it will change. With iOS 17, the autocorrect will be more personalized. It will better learn your word choices. It can recognize acronyms, shortened words, etc.
Journal
Sadly, this will not be available immediately after the release of iOS 17. Rather, it will launch later this year (can’t wait). Journal is not just an ordinary diary. Although you can use the Notes app as your journal, it lacks the ability to aggregate content that you captured directly. It leverages on-device learning. This will give you personalized suggestions to write about your experience.
This is great for your mental health. It can curate stuff that you have done with your phone, like videos you have captured or places you have visited. The app will analyze those things to create a journal entry. The app will automatically suggest writing an entry for, say, moments you have captured while you’re in Bali.
iOS 17
When it becomes available, you should not update your iPhone to work on iOS 17 without first backing it up. You might also want to wait for a few days to see if other people experienced a bug.
