CATEGORY: News

Top 5 IOS 17 Changes iPhone Users are getting excited about

There are 1.56 billion active iPhone users worldwide as of 2023. This means that an update of any size to the iPhone’s operating system “IOS”, is going to be instantly adopted by huge number of people.

In 2023 Apple are changing the way iPhone users interact with each other. Introducing tonnes of exciting iPhone only features that could only be made possible on a network of mobile phones as big as Apple. This post dives into the five coolest features that we have seen so far in the new IOS update.

The new update also introduces changes to how link tracking works. If you want to find out more about that, you can read our post on IOS 17's impact on link tracking.

So, here’s our introduction to the good stuff...

Contact Posters

Apple is redefining the way we use the phone app. Currently we have limited control over how we are presented and saved in other peoples' mobile phones. With this new update, everything changes. Apple users can now customise how they appear when they call another Apple user and how they appear in the saved contacts.

We no longer need to worry that the horrifying mug shot our friend took of us at 4am is going to be what they see each time a call is initiated. Also, when executed correctly, this adds a level of professionalism to each phone call. Instead of being displayed as a regular phone number, a contact poster appears when two Apple users call each other.

Namedrop

This upgrade works hand-in-hand with the contact posters. Since mobile phones were invented, whenever we wanted to exchange our phone numbers with new acquaintances, an awkward exchange of a string of numbers would happen. Often allowing for mistakes in typing the correct phone number. iPhone users can now tap the top of two iPhones together to pass their contact poster to the opposite phone, which is instantly and securely saved into their contact book, completely removing the need to verbally exchange numbers and making the process extremely fast.

Voicemail transcriptions

Imagine whilst you’re getting a voicemail, the transcription of what is being said live in the voicemail appears on your phone, giving you the ability to intercept the voicemail and pick up the call to the person leaving the message. This is now possible as a result of the update, as the iPhone now uses a neural engine to transcribe your voicemail live onto your device, automatically declining detected spam calls along the way.

Check-in

Let your friends and family know when you have arrived safely at your destination, or if you had some delays in your journey. Your chosen contacts can see your live location, battery life and signal (depending on the settings you configure). That way they can check the status of your journey and be proactively alerted if something doesn’t go to plan.

Standby Clock

Redefining how a phone is used seems to be the general theme of IOS 17. The standby clock display allows users to customise a horizontal lock screen which can display widgets and the time in customisable styles.

The iPhone must be in a horizontal position and on charge for the feature to be enabled. Time to re-decorate your desk?

Summary

Apple is changing how users use the iPhone, giving us more customisation and use cases for our phone whilst drastically improving the user experience; this update will further tighten Apple's grip on the phone market as most of the features introduced are restricted to iPhones only. Overall, this seems to be a positive change which will create waves in the phone market to introduce more change.