10 Incredible New iOS 17 Features You'll Want To Use On Your iPhone

The 2023 Apple Worldwide Developers' Conference unleashed a flood of new information for the company's fans. Updates for nearly every device Apple produces, including Apple TV and HomePod, were revealed alongside announcements of the Apple Vision Pro Headset (and its price tag), MacOS Sonoma, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 10.

iOS 17 was also discussed, and a slew of features have been added to the iPhone and its suite of apps. Beta testing will be starting soon for many of these updates, and app and software developers are already hard at work to update or enhance their existing work or produce entirely new apps based on some of the announced new tech included in iOS 17.

If you're on the fence about signing up for July's public beta testing period, read on for a list of some of the incredible new features of iOS17 that you'll want to try out on your iPhone.

While the iPhone's Phone app is increasingly less of a priority for many users, the introduction of Contact Posters promises to inject some personality into one's incoming calls. iPhone users can customize the image that will appear on the other end of the call, using any combination of photos, custom fonts and colors, and Memoji. Even those who aren't part of the Apple tribe can partake, as the company promises to support third-party calling apps as well.

The examples provided by Apple show the range of customization in Contact Poster images. The Contact Posters fill the screen, with text appearing in front of, next to, or even behind the main image selected by the creator. The typical iPhone buttons for Message, Voicemail, and the sliding bar for answering a call remain in their normal positions. 

These new Contact Posters should make it much easier to quickly recognize a caller — even if it's someone you'd rather not speak with.

Perhaps that Contact Poster shows one's ex-partner or the call comes just as a user is walking into a theater. Allowing the call to go to voicemail has been an option for years, but that typically results in waiting for the caller to record a message, then waiting for your carrier to send a voicemail notification when that message is ready to be heard. The wait for that chirp or icon to pop up can seem interminable if you are waiting for an important call but don't know the caller's number or if you are screening a call that may have critical information.

Apple has found a way around that wait time with Live Voicemail, a new addition to the suite of the Phone app's abilities that will transcribe a voicemail as it's being recorded. iPhone users can answer the call at any time during the voicemail recording, allowing for more efficient call screening. The real-time transcription service will also allow users to check voicemails in environments where listening to a recorded message isn't feasible, like a concert venue or sporting event.

Apple boasts that transcription is performed on the device for privacy using the iPhone's Neural Engine. The company also assures users that calls identified as spam will not be sent to Live Voicemail and will instead be declined outright.

While we're on the subject of recorded messages, Apple announced some significant additions to FaceTime. In the past, a missed FaceTime attempt was just that -– a notification was sent, the attempt was missed, and nothing else happened until another FaceTime was attempted.

FaceTime now supports audio and video messages, allowing the video chat service its own version of a voicemail to be left. A short video can be recorded and sent if a FaceTime is missed, reducing the stress of not being able to contact someone on the sender's side. The video message can also let the user who missed the FaceTime know if it's urgent to respond soon or if the call was just a buddy trying to catch up.

FaceTime calls are also getting an update with iOS 17 through a new Reactions feature, which allows users to use effects like balloons, rain, or hearts. Reactions will be available through third-party apps, too.

Another update to FaceTime is the further integration and improvement of Continuity Camera, a feature added in iOS 16. Using Apple TV 4K, FaceTime can now be initiated directly from Apple TV. The option to start a FaceTime call on a user's iPhone and then toss it over to the TV is also available, which is great for those times a one-on-one conversation over FaceTime becomes a family affair.

Center Stage, a feature that's accessible through the iPhone's Control Center, can be enabled to allow users to wander around a room and remain centered in the frame. This feature might seem limited, but anyone who maintains a long-distance relationship with family or friends around the holidays can appreciate the ability to keep a lot of people on the screen at once or to remain on the screen while chatting with abuela and attempting to cook an entire dinner for 12 at the same time.

Apple makes a point of adding features that don't make a lot of noise but do improve quality of life for users. Some upgrades to AirDrop, specifically NameDrop, fall under that category. AirDrop is a quick, easy way to share files or images, and it's been upgraded with a creative new way to share data.

NameDrop will let two iPhone users share their contact information simply by putting their iPhones together. That same tech can be used with an iPhone and Apple Watch, allowing users to share info just by bringing the watch and iPhone together. That gesture isn't limited to sharing a name and number, either –- Apple says users will be able to share content or use SharePlay to enjoy music, movies, or games together as long as those devices remain close to one another. 

It's a subtle improvement but one that's sure to be appreciated whenever it comes in handy.

Texters, no matter the device they're using to type, have long expressed frustration with their devices' odd decisions when it comes to autocorrect. A spelling error may go unnoticed, but rarely is the user able to express themselves profanely without a puritanical device changing one's intended naughty words into a much lamer-sounding reference to waterfowl. As Apple's Craig Federighi cheekily put it during WWDC 2023, "In those moments where you just want to type a ducking word, well, the keyboard will learn it, too."

Apple (indirectly) predicts an end to that cuss-free era with on-device machine learning. Their transformer language model claims to better support typing, and autocorrections moving to sentence level may result in more grammar fixes instead of assumptions about intended word choices.

Dictation will also be upgraded with iOS 17, as a new speech recognition model should make that feature more precise.

StandBy is a great addition to the iOS suite of apps. It's a screen-filling display of information that's meant to be checked from a ways away while one's iPhone is charging and on its side. The display options Apple revealed are all very clean, stylish screens that make the iPhone look like a nice alarm clock face. Each features customizable options to be displayed, such as the time, calendar, photos, song information, music controls, and other widgets. Since the default for StandBy features larger notifications when it's active, the iPhone becomes more useful when charging as users can glance across a room to see who's calling rather than sprinting over to their phone.

Live Activities are also supported in StandBy. This feature, added in iOS 16, is a persistent info widget that can keep users up on information like sports scores, delivery progress, or transportation updates from apps like Uber or Flighty. These real-time updates will become part of StandBy's feature set, allowing users easy access to that information while their iPhone charges.

The use of journals and reflective writing has been around as long as people have been able to write, but it became more widespread as a method of therapy in the 1960s when a New York psychologist named Dr. Ira Progoff began hosting classes in his Intensive Journal method. Since then, thousands have adopted journaling as part of their routine. WebMD explains that the benefits of journaling include anxiety reduction, creating awareness of one's feelings and perceptions, as well as assisting in emotional regulation.

Apple's new Journal app will provide personalized suggestions to the user. It will formulate prompts using recent photos, locations, and activities to help ease new writers into the habit of regular journaling. Scheduled notifications will aid in turning occasional journal entries into a daily routine. Beyond that, Apple promises that on-device processing and end-to-end encryption mean that once the Journal is locked, no one — not even Apple themselves — can access Journal entries.

In addition to the new Journal app, Apple has added mental health tracking to the Health app. Moods for entire days and in-the-moment emotions can be logged and tracked to help users assess their overall mental and emotional health. Depression and anxiety assessments have been added to the app as well as links to local mental health resources. The app will also help users recognize the relationship between their mood and factors like exercise, sleep, and even time spent in daylight.

Physical health, specifically eye strain in young iPhone users, has also been addressed. Apple says that the Screen Time app can measure not only the amount of time younger users are looking at the screen but also can use the TrueDepth camera to measure the distance between the screen and users' eyes. The app will then encourage the user to move the device further from their face after a while to reduce eye strain.

Apple's Maps app will get some updates to improve functionality when a signal is unavailable. Offline maps will allow users to download an area that will include not just a map but will also feature any relevant time of arrival info, turn-by-turn directions, and location information -– all without WiFi or cell service. This is in addition to the app's current features, which include 3D flyovers, detailed information on the world's largest cities, and convenient travel information, like public transit info or cycling-specific directions, all of which can be sent to the Apple Watch.

For hikers and cyclists, Maps will be adding thousands of trails across the U.S. in addition to updates for the Apple Watch to make hiking safer. For those users who have adopted electric vehicles, Maps will also be adding information on charging availability.

An additional Maps and Messages related feature is Check In, which will remind users to let friends know that they have arrived home safe -– or share info like battery life, device location, and service status if they haven't.