If the instant comments on Twitter are to be believed, Apple’s iPhone 2023 software update is going to be quite disappointing.
In fact, I watched software boss Craig Federighi describe the new features with these keyboard warriors and I’m inclined to agree with them. Sure, there might be some nifty quality-of-life updates like NameDrop, but that and other new features — like Check In — surely only come in handy if you and the other person own iPhones.
Since the disappearance of business cards, the world needs a digital equivalent. Namedrop does just that, sharing your contact details – and your new avatar background – with a stranger when you switch from iPhone to iPhone.
It won’t work if the other person has an Android phone, and neither will Check In, which seems to be exclusive to iMessage and therefore unnecessary if you need to send notifications when you arrive (or don’t arrive) at an expected destination.
Apple
Cross-platform apps can already do a lot of what’s coming in iOS 17, if not as elegantly, and other updates like the ability to say “Siri” instead of “Hey Siri” and auto-assembled photo albums of your pets fall into the category of features you mistakenly assumed were Already in iOS but, in fact, were not.
There is, however, one quality of life update that I’m looking forward to getting in September when Apple releases iOS 17 to the public. It’s called Live Voicemail and shows a live transcription of the message the caller leaves when you don’t answer the phone.
This is useful in situations where the caller is not in your contacts and you are unsure whether to answer or not. The idea is that you can read the transcript and decide you want to answer after all, in which case you can hit the accept button and talk to the person before they hang up. And it saves you from having to wait for that moment and call them back.
It also means you know what the message is faster than having to wait a bit and then dial your voicemail, and allows you to safely ignore calls when you’re busy because you can see on the call screen that it’s not important enough to stop whatever you’re doing.
A somewhat related new feature is the useful ability to leave a video message if someone doesn’t answer a FaceTime call.
The only other highlight of iOS 17 is StandBy which displays the time and other information while your phone is charging. It’s kind of like the Apple Watch’s side nightstand mode, except with the ability to give you a lot more data.
Apple
Scrollable smart stack widgets are supported and you can customize the clock display with different styles. At least one takes on a deep red hue so you can use it as a bedside clock.
In fact, the entire feature seems to be designed exclusively for bedside use: it only works when your iPhone is charging and in landscape mode. It remains to be seen if it will require MagSafe charging support – as shown in Apple’s images for the StandBy demo – or if older iPhones without MagSafe will also get the feature.
You can learn more about iOS 17 on Apple’s website.
