This is a special year for Apple. In Cupertino all efforts are concentrated in the preparation of the most anticipated and (at least for Apple) most innovative product: the augmented reality viewer Vision Pro. Most of Cupertino’s engineers worked (e.g according to what Italian Tech understands, he is continuing to work) to the creation of the most ambitious product of the time Tim Cook. However, the company has followed the traditional cycle to which it has accustomed us in recent years by developing new versions of its operating systems: phone, tablet, television, watch. Each presents interesting innovations, which we were able to test starting from the preliminary version, the public beta released immediately after the one for developers this summer, following the presentation at the usual July developers conference, WWDC.
The advantages of iOS 17
The new version of the iPhone operating system, i.e. iOS 17, is a de rigueur update for all phones that support it, i.e. all those of the previous version (except iPhone 8 and X) plus the new iPhone 15 and 15 Pro. This new version of the operating system is above all an update and improvement of the functions previously created (this aspect, however, is much more noticeable with iPadOS, which fortunately solves the main shortcomings of Stage Manager introduced a year ago) but also an exercise in listening on the part of Apple.
In fact, the company is not only continuing to develop artificial intelligence functions, now truly pervasive in its operating systems (but Apple prefers to publicly call it “machine learning”), but also in fulfilling the main requests of users. Here there were many requests in the forums and in the feedback provided to the company: change the message setting of FaceTime (Apple’s video call) and also the part for phone calls.
Machine learning
Thus, the telephony part has now become “smart” and transcribes the messages recorded on the answering machine in real timeautomatically rejecting calls from those who spam your phone and allowing you to intervene on calls in Live Voicemail.
Facetime, the video calling system, becomes even more flexible and connects from the phone not only to the Mac (and vice versa) but also to Apple TV, allowing you to make video calls on your home TV with Continuity. Furthermore, you can now leave voice and video messages if the person you are looking for is not available. Finally, thanks to machine learning and the Reactions functionjust make gestures in front of the camera to activate special effects such as fireworks, laser beams, balloons, hearts, during calls (with unforeseen and sometimes even involuntary effects, especially for us Italians who are used to gesticulating when we speak) .
The Messages appwhich unlike what happens on Android integrates both SMS and Apple multimedia messages (such as WhatsApp) changes and opens up the possibility of creating new stickers directly from photos (machine learning isolates and allows you to copy only the image of a person within an image with the simple pressure of a finger) and add “live” effects.
The function arrives Everything OK to receive a notification when a user has arrived at their home or destination. Furthermore, it is now possible to have voice messages transcribedregardless of the length: we have tested the system and it is accurate even if there are often punctuation problems, but this depends on the “speech” of the person recording the vowels.
What changes in practice
There are also many other “minor” changes, as we said, which They are used to add small functions and shortcuts as well as integrations with other Apple devices, for those who are an integral part of the Cupertino company’s ecosystem.
Yes they can share information between two users simply by bringing the iPhone, or iPhone and Apple Watch, you can share content (music or videos or games) with AirDrop data transfers can be completed even over long distances as long as they are connected to the Internet (and no longer just using the local Bluetooth network).
Additionally, new and improved features arrive for the Dynamic Island, present on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max and on all phones in the 15 line (normal and Pro). It is a function that transforms into practice the iPhone charging in a kind of small home display: allows you to view the time in large format and many widgets of the user’s choice. Apple thought of this function when you put the phone to charge in the evening on the bedside table in a horizontal position, turning it into a kind of small home smart display, in a manner not dissimilar to the “bedside mode” already present on the Apple Watch. Widgets among other things have become even more interactive, and allow users to do many operations without having to open compatible apps.
Safari just got better and to allow you to organize web cards, share them between devices of the same user and export them. Private browsing is improved and third-party trackers are blockedand leave even more efficiently. Furthermore, and this is the most interesting news, Safari on iOS 17 now allows you to create different completely separate profiles and excellent if, for example, you use the same phone for work and private life.
The functions have also been improved of the Health app regarding both the view (with suggestions on the distance of the screen in Usage time which use the front camera to “understand” from what distance the user looks at the screen and for how long), for mental well-being, alarms to remind us if we have forgotten to take a medicine and, finally, thanks to the Apple Watch sensorsan indication of the time spent in daylight (to rest your eyesight and reduce the risk of myopia).
Apple then offers filters for content unsuitable for minors (activated if the identity of the minor is declared in the phone configuration) and based on local machine learning, which allows you to recognize, for example, inappropriate images automatically and without data being transferred from the phone.
Finally, there are accessibility features such as the new form of speech synthesis which allows those who have difficulty speaking to use samples of their voice to have messages read as if it were them, even in telephone calls and on FaceTime.
What’s new around iOS 17
For those who have remained a lover of ringtones, Apple has always offered many in addition to the standard one used by most users. As if we were back in the nineties, Apple has decided to increase those availableadding another 24. It is the first time since 2013, when the iPhone
Wallet, Apple’s digital wallet, has been improved with a number of new features (tracking orders paid with a card with Apple Pay). Music in the car can now also be controlled by passengers thanks to CarPlay (SharePlay) while it can be used AirPlay even with compatible hotel TVsthere is the new sharing of password e passphraseimproved the auto-correction of texts and the functioning of translations as well as of autocompilation of PDFs. You can fill out PDFs more easily and you can share AirTags with five other people.
Finally, and this is very interesting news for those who use Apple’s maps app now it is possible to download data for a specific areauseful for when you travel abroad to places where it is not convenient to use your data connection.
Last note: Hey Siri. Apple now allows you to call its digital assistant by name without needing to say “Hey”, but only for the English language. Italian and other supported languages will arrive later.