iOS 17: Transforming the iPhone into a personalized and intuitive device

With enhanced features in Phone, FaceTime, and Messages, as well as new additions like Journal and StandBy, and more, iOS 17 aims to make the iPhone more personal and intuitive than ever before.

The Phone app received a major update with the introduction of personalized Contact Posters. Users now have the ability to customize their appearance for incoming calls, including choosing a beautiful photo or Memoji and selecting attractive style and font colors. Contact posters will also be available for third-party call apps to create a unique and distinctive call experience.

Live Voicemail is another notable addition that offers real-time transcription when callers leave messages. Users can even answer the call while the caller continues to record voicemail. Spam calls identified by carriers will be instantly rejected, ensuring a seamless and confidential voicemail experience.

FaceTime now supports audio and video messages, enabling users to share messages with their contacts who are currently unavailable. Additionally, FaceTime calls become more engaging with the introduction of Reactions, allowing users to express themselves with animated effects such as hearts, balloons, and fireworks. Third-party video calling apps can also integrate these new effects into their services.

Messages undergoes significant updates in iOS 17, including an enhanced stickers experience with new emoji stickers and the ability to create Live Stickers using subjects from photos. Users can add effects to these Live Stickers, bringing them to life, and a new keyboard space makes it easier to access all of a user's stickers in one place.

Another significant addition is Check In, a feature that allows users to notify their loved ones when they arrive safely at a destination. The selected contact is automatically notified, and if progress is not made toward the destination, relevant information such as location, battery level, and cell service status is temporarily shared. All shared information is end-to-end encrypted, ensuring privacy and security.

AirDrop has a new NameDrop feature that allows you to share a phone number, email address, or photo by holding your iPhone up to another.

iOS 17 also introduces StandBy, a full-screen experience designed to be viewed from a distance when the iPhone is charging on its side. StandBy offers a range of customizable clock styles, favorite photos, and widgets.

StandBy is particularly useful on nightstands, kitchen counters, and desks, providing users with glanceable information and quick access to Siri, incoming calls, and notifications.

Apple introduces also Journal, a powerful app designed to help iPhone users embrace gratitude and reflection through journaling. Using advanced on-device machine learning, Journal provides personalized suggestions to inspire users' journal entries. These suggestions are intelligently curated from various aspects of their daily lives, such as recent activities, photos, people, places, workouts, and more.

Apple is expanding the capabilities of Journal with the introduction of the Journaling Suggestions API. This API enables developers to integrate journaling suggestions into their own apps.

Among additional features: there is the Health app, and other features from iOS - predictive input, offline maps, animated stickers, and so on. Read on the official website.