iOS 17 launched with live voicemail, stickers, and a new Journal app

Apple introduced the latest iOS 17 operating system, giving the company’s hot-selling product iPhone the annual revamp to increase productivity. As rumours have suggested, the new iOS version does not bring any breakthrough features, but there are several new features and improvements that will make the iPhone software more polished.

The new iOS version brings several cosmetic updates, such as posters for contacts that give you the ability to customise the caller screen with flashy photos of contacts with their names superimposed in different fonts and colours. The style is very similar to how the iPhone lock screen looks but more customisable. There is also a brand-new feature called Live Voicemail, which is similar to Google’s Call Screen. Apple says the iPhone will show you a transcript of the message a caller may leave for you while calling. This may help you decide whether to pick up or reject the call.

The Messages app is getting refined search capability, enhanced in-line replies, location-sharing, and live transcription of voice messages. There is also a new Check In feature that lets you share your real-time status with the contact you may have a meeting with. The Messages app is also getting a new menu that can be opened by tapping the + sign next to the text field. Inside this menu, the Sticker option is getting a big overhaul. Apple says you can now add any emoji or photo to create stickers. You could also use Live Photos to create stickers and send them to your contacts. But to Google’s dismay, iMessage still does not support RCS even though Google continued with its jabs at this year’s Google I/O.

iOS 17 also makes your iPhone turn into a nightstand. With the new Standby feature, your iPhone screen will fade and work as a bedside display to show you time, important updates from select apps, and your calendar schedules. You also see updates from Live Activities, so you can check the scores of your favourite match without unlocking the iPhone. The Standby mode works only in landscape mode while your iPhone is connected to a charger. It is, however, not clear if it will work for both wired and wireless charging.

Apple also announced a new app called Journal. As its name suggests, the Journal app is your personal diary where you can write journals and make them rich by inserting photos and videos into them. You can even ask the app to remind you to begin writing. Apple says Journal entries are end-to-end encrypted, so whatever you jot down is visible only on the iPhone.

Typing is also getting better with iOS 17. Apple has introduced new enhancements to autocorrect, which now lets you quickly revert to the original spelling by tapping the word right above the autocorrected one. Apple says the new autocorrect functionality uses a new language model to offer better autocorrections. Voice dictation also uses a new AI model to identify words in supported languages better.

The new iPhone software also gets a new AirDrop feature, allowing you to drop contacts by bringing two iPhones closer. Apple is calling it NameDrop, so when you bring two iPhones closer, AirDrop can send selected contact information, including phone numbers, email addresses, and even the poster for that contact from one iPhone to another. You can also share photos of small sizes using that feature. However, if a file is too large, it is now possible to go out of range without disrupting the download progress of the file between two iPhone devices.

And finally, Apple’s voice assistant Siri is getting a continued conversation functionality, eliminating the need to say “Hey” every time you want to take to Siri after the initial hot word “Hey Siri.”

iOS 17 is now available in developer beta, which is meant for developers, while a public beta will be released next month. The stable version of iOS 17 is likely to roll out alongside the launch of the iPhone 15 series later in September.