iOS 17 announced with Journal app, nightstand mode, and more: features, compatible iPhones

iOS 17 was officially announced by Apple at WWDC 2023 on Monday. The new OS brings major updates to communication apps like Phone, FaceTime, and iMessage. Furthermore, AirDrop has been improved, allowing users to share contact details by simply bringing their iPhones together. iOS 17 also introduces new Siri prompts, offline maps, Stickers, and a new Journal app. The latter displays daily phone activities and provides writing prompts to encourage users to reflect on and document their experiences.

iOS 17 update features

Here are all the iOS 17 update features, which will be coming to iPhones later this year:

Phone app: It is getting a new feature called Poster, which will let you personalise your contact information with an image that will show up on your recipient’s iPhone when you call them. The app will also get a live voicemail feature, which will serve you live transcription of the message from the caller in case you can’t answer calls.

FaceTime: With iOS 17, FaceTime will support audio and video messages which can be shared with contacts.

iMessage: The messaging app on iPhone will get a new search filter for narrow results, a new catch-up icon to jump to the most recent messages, and a transcription of voice messages, along with Check-In that shares your live location and status with someone else. Check-in will also send a message to your contact when you have reached home and an update if your phone’s battery is running low or when there is no reception.

Stickers: Apple is also adding the ability to add any emoji or photo cutout on the device as a “sticker”. Users will also be able to turn Live Photos into animated stickers, add effects, and use them to chat with others using iMessage or other third-party apps.

AirDrop: AirDrop is getting NameDrop, which will allow users to share their selected email ID, contact number, and posters wirelessly, just by bringing the two iPhones near each other. The feature also works between an iPhone and Apple Watch. Apart from this, AirDrop will work even if the device gets out of range.

Keyboard: iPhone keyboard updates include inline predictive predictions and sentence-level autocorrections. The keyboard now learns and adapts to your usage of cuss words as well. Additionally, a more convenient shortcut tool has been introduced, making it easier to revert back to the original word you initially typed.

Journal: This is a new app that will help iPhone users reflect and practice gratitude through journaling, claims Apple. The app is said to use on-device machine learning to personalise suggestions and help inspire a user’s journal entry. The suggestions will be curated based on recent activity, using photos, people, places, workouts, and more. The app will be end-to-end encrypted to keep things private.

StandBy Display: This will provide glanceable information to be viewed from a distance when iPhone is charging. The display can be personalised with a range of beautiful clock styles, favourite photos, or widgets, including Smart Stacks, which surface the right widgets at the right time. It will also have support for Live Activities, Siri, Incoming calls, and Large notifications, which per Apple, makes iPhone even more useful when viewed at a distance.

Siri without Hey: iPhone’s AI voice assistant Siri can be activated simply by saying “Siri” instead of “Hey Siri” on iOS 17. Once activated, users can issue multiple commands in succession without needing to reactivate the assistant, added Apple.