iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 Now Available With New Features and Accessibility Enhancements

By AppleVis, 18 September, 2023

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Apple has today released iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, introducing new communication features in Phone, Messages, and FaceTime for greater self-expression, while StandBy offers a full-screen Charging view and AirDrop improves contact sharing. The updates also enhance text input, Widgets, Safari, Music, AirPlay and more.

For users of accessibility features, iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 introduce several noteworthy new features and enhancements. The most significant of these updates are:

  • Assistive Access. A cognitive accessibility feature with large text, visual alternatives to text, and focused choices for Phone and FaceTime, Messages, Camera, Photos, and Music.
  • Personal Voice. A speech accessibility tool for people who are at risk of losing their voice to create a voice that sounds like them privately and securely on iPhone, and use it with Live Speech in phone and FaceTime calls.
  • Live Speech. Type what you want to say and have it spoken out loud in phone calls, FaceTime calls, or for in-person conversations.
  • Point and Speak in Magnifier Detection Mode. Read out only the text you point toward, for example, when you are punching in an entry code on a keypad.
  • Text Detection in Magnifier Detection Mode. Read out all the text that is visible in the field of view of your camera.
  • Voice Control guide. Learn to use Voice Control using step-by-step tutorials, for example, for text editing and navigation.
  • Phonetic corrections for text editing in Voice Control. Use phonetic corrections to choose the right word out of several that might sound alike, such as "do," "due," and "dew," while editing text using Voice Control.
  • Improvement to Siri voices for VoiceOver. Siri voices sound even better at high rates of speech feedback in VoiceOver.
  • Siri speaking rate. Customize the rate at which Siri speaks to you, with options ranging from 0.8x to 2x.
  • Automatically pause animated images. Pause animated images by default, such as GIFs in Messages and Safari for your visual comfort.
  • Settings for Built-in Voices. Adjust settings such as pitch range for each of your preferred built-in voices for VoiceOver and Spoken Content.
  • Virtual game controller with Switch Control. Turn your favorite set of switches—for example, sound actions, head movements, or back taps— into a virtual game controller.

For a personal insight on iOS 17's new accessibility features for blind and deaf-blind users, be sure to read Scott Davert's in-depth guide.

We also recommend that you read our summary of VoiceOver, Braille, and low vision issues and improvements in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17.

In terms of mainstream changes, iOS 17 introduces interactive widgets that allow basic in-widget controls without needing to launch the full app. For example, the Reminders and Home widgets can now be used to tick off to-dos and control smart home devices directly from the widget. Playback can also be controlled from the widgets of supported apps like Music, Podcasts, Books and News. Other widgets like Safari and Contacts offer limited interactivity as well. The Safari widget lets users jump to reading list articles and the Contacts widget provides expanded info when tapping a contact. While interactive widgets are currently limited, they allow quick actions without opening apps.

Also new in iOS 17 is contact posters, which are like customizable business cards that pop up when receiving a call from someone already in your contacts. You can include a photo, Memoji, custom fonts, and colors.

Other communication updates include live voicemail transcriptions, so you can see voicemails converting to text in real-time and answer important calls right away. Messages and FaceTime are both getting upgrades like automatic transcription of audio messages, better organization of iMessage apps, automatic deletion of 2FA text messages, easier following of group chats, new FaceTime reaction effects like hearts, balloons, and laser beams, and the ability to leave FaceTime video or audio messages.

The new Check-in feature in Messages lets family and friends automatically know when you've arrived somewhere safely and notify them if delays occur, providing details like battery level and route taken. There's also a higher profile for stickers coming to the emoji keyboard with custom stickers from images and Live Photos.

Siri will no longer need the "Hey" wake word in iOS 17, and can handle back-to-back voice commands without repeating the cue. Apple Maps now supports offline downloads as well, allowing navigation without an internet connection. AirDrop is upgraded with a new feature called NameDrop that enables easier sharing by simply bumping two iPhones together. This can be used to share information, files and kickstart SharePlay experiences.

The new iPhone StandBy feature turns your iPhone into a customizable display for notifications, widgets, and more when charging in landscape mode. Autocorrect is getting better through a transformer language model, and new communication safety features expand protections against nude images.

There are several other noteworthy changes, including iCloud Keychain being able to share passwords with friends and family, adaptive audio for AirPods Pro, Reminders app automatically categorizing grocery list items, Hotel AirPlay through QR codes, updates to the Health app, Family sharing for AirTags, and recognition of pets in the People and Pets album.

As for iPadOS 17, the customizable lock screen can now include live activities and widgets. The Health app comes to iPad designed for the larger display. Freeform, the collaborative whiteboard app, gains new creative tools and a Follow Along feature. AutoFill for PDFs is improved, and Stage Manager sees refinements for better window control.

For an in-depth review of everything that's new in iOS 17,, we highly recommend the one by FEDERICO VITICCI on MacStories.

iOS 17 Release Notes

iOS 17 brings big updates to Phone, Messages, and FaceTime that give you new ways to express yourself as you communicate. StandBy delivers a new full-screen experience with glanceable information designed to view from a distance when you turn iPhone on its side while charging. AirDrop makes it easier to share and connect with those around you and adds NameDrop for contact sharing. Enhancements to the keyboard make entering text faster and easier than ever before. iOS 17 also includes updates to Widgets, Safari, Music, AirPlay, and more.

Phone

  • Contact Posters let you customize how you appear on other people's devices when you call them with a customized poster
  • Live Voicemail displays a live transcription as someone leaves a message and allows you to pick up the call

Messages

  • Stickers iMessage app brings all your stickers into one place including Live Stickers, Memoji, Animoji, emoji stickers, and your third party sticker packs
  • Live Stickers can be created by lifting the subject from photos or videos and stylizing them with effects like Shiny, Puffy, Comic, and Outline
  • Check In automatically notifies a family member or friend when you arrive at a destination safely and can share helpful information with them in case of a delay
  • Audio message transcription is available for audio messages you receive so you can read them in the moment and listen later
  • Search improvements help you find messages faster by allowing you to combine search filters such as people, keywords, and content types like photos or links to find exactly what you are looking for
  • Swipe to reply to a message inline by swiping to the right on any bubble
  • One-time verification code cleanup automatically deletes verification codes from the Messages app after using them with AutoFill in other apps

FaceTime

  • Leave a video or audio message to capture exactly what you want to say when someone does not pick up your FaceTime call
  • Enjoy FaceTime calls on Apple TV by using your iPhone as a camera (Apple TV 4K 2nd generation and later)
  • Reactions layer 3D effects like hearts, balloons, confetti, and more around you in video calls and can be triggered with gestures
  • Video effects allow you to adjust the intensity of Studio Lighting and Portrait mode

StandBy

  • Full-screen experience with glanceable information like clocks, photos, and widgets designed to view from a distance when iPhone is on its side and charging in places such as your nightstand, kitchen counter, or desk
  • Clocks are available in a variety of styles including Digital, Analog, Solar, Float, and World Clock, with elements you can personalize like the accent color
  • Photos automatically shuffle through your best shots or showcase a specific album you choose
  • Widgets give you access to information at a distance and appear in Smart Stacks that deliver the right information at the right time
  • Night Mode lets clocks, photos, and widgets take on a red tone in low light
  • Preferred view per MagSafe charger remembers your preference for each place you charge with MagSafe, whether that's a clock, photos, or widgets

Widgets

  • Interactive widgets let you take actions, like mark a reminder as complete, directly from the widget by tapping it on the Home Screen, Lock Screen, or in StandBy
  • iPhone widgets on Mac enable you to add widgets from your iPhone to your Mac desktop

AirDrop

  • NameDrop lets you exchange contact information with someone new by bringing your iPhones close together
  • New way to initiate AirDrop allows you to share content or start a SharePlay session over AirDrop by bringing your iPhones close together

Keyboard

  • Improved autocorrect accuracy makes typing even easier by leveraging a powerful transformer-based language model (iPhone 12 and later)
  • Easier autocorrect editing temporarily underlines corrected words and lets you revert back to what you originally typed with just a tap
  • Enhanced sentence corrections can correct more types of grammatical mistakes when you finish sentences (iPhone 12 and later)
  • Inline predictive text shows single and multi-word predictions as you type that can be added by tapping space bar (iPhone 12 and later)

Safari and Passwords

  • Profiles keep your browsing separate for topics like work and personal, separating your history, cookies, extensions, Tab Groups, and favorites
  • Private Browsing enhancements include locking your private browsing windows when you're not using them, blocking known trackers from loading, and removing identifying tracking from URLs
  • Password and passkey sharing lets you create a group of passwords to share with trusted contacts that stays up to date as members of the group make changes
  • One-time verification code AutoFill from Mail autofill in Safari so you can log in without leaving the browser

Music

  • SharePlay makes it easy for everyone to control and play Apple Music in the car
  • Crossfade smoothly transitions between songs by fading out the currently playing song while fading in the next so the music never stops

AirPlay

  • Intelligent AirPlay device list makes finding the right AirPlay-compatible TV or speaker even easier by showing your devices in order of relevance, based on your preferences
  • Suggested AirPlay device connections are proactively shown to you as a notification to make it even more seamless to connect to your preferred AirPlay devices
  • Automatic AirPlay device connections are made between your iPhone and the most relevant AirPlay-compatible device so all you have to do is tap "Play" to begin enjoying your content

AirPods

  • Adaptive Audio delivers a new listening mode that dynamically blends Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency to tailor the noise control experience based on the conditions of your environment (AirPods Pro (2nd generation) with firmware version 6A300 or later)
  • Personalized Volume adjusts the volume of your media in response to your environment and listening preferences over time (AirPods Pro (2nd generation) with firmware version 6A300 or later)
  • Conversation Awareness lowers your media volume and enhances the voices of the people in front of the user, all while reducing background noise (AirPods Pro (2nd generation) with firmware version 6A300 or later)
  • Press to mute and unmute your microphone by pressing the AirPods stem or the Digital Crown on AirPods Max when on a call (AirPods (3rd generation), AirPods Pro (1st and 2nd generation), or AirPods Max with firmware version 6A300 or later)

Maps

  • Offline Maps allow you to select an area you want to access, search, and explore rich information for places to download for use when your iPhone doesn't have a Wi-Fi or cellular signal
  • EV routing improvements give you routes based on real-time EV charger availability for supported chargers

Siri

  • Option to say "Siri" in addition to "Hey Siri" for an even more natural way to make requests
  • Back-to-back requests can be issued without needing to reactivate Siri in between commands (iPhone 11 and later)

Visual Look Up

  • Expanded domains in Visual Look Up help you discover similar recipes from photos of food, Maps information from photos of storefronts, and the meaning of signs and symbols on things like laundry tags
  • Multiple or single subjects can be lifted from the background of photos and videos and placed into apps like Messages
  • Visual Look Up in Video helps you learn about objects that appear in paused video frames
  • Visual Look Up for subjects in photos enables you to look up information about objects you lift from photos directly from the callout bar

Health

  • State of Mind reflection allows you to log your momentary emotion and daily mood, choose what factors are having the biggest impact on you, and describe your feelings
  • Interactive charts give you insights into your state of mind, how it has changed over time, and what factors may have influence such as exercise, sleep, and mindful minutes
  • Mental health assessments help you understand your current risk for depression and anxiety and if you might benefit from getting support
  • Screen Distance leverages the TrueDepth camera that powers Face ID to encourage you to increase the distance you view your device to reduce digital eye strain and can help reduce the risk of myopia in children

Privacy

  • Sensitive Content Warnings can be enabled to prevent users from unexpectedly being shown images containing nudity in Messages, AirDrop, Contact Posters in the Phone app, and FaceTime messages
  • Expanded Communication Safety protections for children now detect videos containing nudity in addition to photos that children may receive or attempt to send in Messages, AirDrop, Contact Posters in the Phone app, FaceTime messages, and the system Photo picker
  • Improved sharing permissions give you even more control over what you share with apps, with an embedded photo picker and an add-only Calendar permission
  • Link tracking protection removes extra information from links shared in Messages, Mail, and Safari Private Browsing that some websites use in their URLs to track you across other websites, and links still work as expected

Accessibility

  • Assistive Access distills apps and experiences to their essential features in Phone and FaceTime, Messages, Camera, Photos, and Music, including large text, visual alternatives, and focused choices to lighten cognitive load
  • Live Speech lets you type what you want to say and have it be spoken out loud in phone calls, FaceTime calls, and for in-person conversations
  • Personal Voice enables users who are at risk of losing their voice to privately and securely create a voice that sounds like them on iPhone, and use it with Live Speech in phone and FaceTime calls
  • Point and Speak in Magnifier Detection Mode uses iPhone to read text out loud on physical objects with small text labels, such as keypads on doors and buttons on appliances

This release also includes other features and improvements:

  • Roadside Assistance via satellite lets you contact AAA to help you with vehicle issues when out of Wi-Fi or cellular range (iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max)
  • Pets in the People album in Photos surfaces individual pets in the album just like friends or family members
  • Photos Album widget lets you select a specific album from the Photos app to appear in the widget
  • Item sharing in Find My allows you to share an AirTag or Find My network accessory with up to five other people
  • Activity History in Home displays a recent history of events for door locks, garage doors, security systems, and contact sensors
  • Grid Forecast in Home shows when your electrical grid has cleaner energy sources available (Contiguous US only)
  • Grocery Lists in Reminders automatically group related items into sections as you add them
  • Inline PDFs and document scans in Notes are presented full-width, making them easy to view and mark them up
  • New Memoji stickers in Keyboard include Halo, Smirk, and Peekaboo
  • App Shortcuts in Spotlight Top Hit offer you app shortcuts to your next action when you search for an app
  • Redesigned Sharing tab in Fitness provides highlights of your friends' activity like workout streaks and awards
  • Email or phone number sign-in lets you sign into your iPhone with any email address or phone number listed in your Apple ID account
  • New drawing tools in Freeform include a fountain pen, watercolor brush, ruler and more to create expressive boards
  • Crash Detection optimizations (iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max)

Some features may not be available for all regions or on all Apple devices. For more information, please visit this website: https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-17

Some features may not be available for all regions or on all iPhone models. For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

iPadOS 17 Release Notes

iPadOS 17 brings a redesigned Lock Screen with new ways to customize, showcase your photos, and add widgets for information at a glance. Messages includes a new Stickers experience which brings all of your stickers together. The Health app comes to iPad designed for the larger display. Productivity improvements make it easier to work with full-width PDFs and document scans in Notes and Stage Manager adds more flexibility to the positioning of windows and adds external display camera support. iPadOS 17 also includes updates to Safari, Keyboard, Music, AirPlay, and more.

Lock Screen

  • Redesigned Lock Screen gives you all new ways to personalize your Lock Screen by showcasing favorite photos, customizing font styles, displaying widgets, and more
  • A multilayered depth effect places the subject of the photo in front of the time
  • Multiple Lock Screens can be created and you can easily switch between them
  • Lock Screen gallery offers personalized suggestions as well as Apple curated collections, with new wallpapers like Kaleidoscope, Hello, and Lake
  • Motion effect for Live Photo wallpaper makes your Lock Screen feel more dynamic with Live Photos which settle into your Home Screen when unlocked
  • Live Activities make it easier to stay on top of things that are happening in real time, right from the Lock Screen
  • Notifications appear at the bottom of your Lock Screen and can be displayed in an expanded list view, stacked view, or count view

Widgets

  • Widgets on the Lock Screen let you glance at information like the weather, time, battery levels, calendar events, alarms and third party widgets
  • Interactive widgets let you take actions, like mark a reminder as complete, directly from the widget by tapping it on the Home Screen or Lock Screen
  • Undo on Home Screen lets you undo where you placed a widget by shaking iPad or using a three-finger tap

Messages

  • Stickers iMessage app brings all your stickers into one place including Live Stickers, Memoji, Animoji, emoji stickers, and your third party sticker packs
  • Live Stickers can be created by lifting the subject from photos or videos and stylizing them with effects like Shiny, Puffy, Comic, and Outline
  • Audio message transcription is available for audio messages you receive so you can read them in the moment and listen later
  • Search improvements help you find messages faster by allowing you to combine search filters such as people, keywords, and content types like photos or links to find exactly what you are looking for
  • Swipe to reply to a message inline by swiping to the right on any bubble
  • One-time verification code cleanup automatically deletes verification codes from the Messages app after using them with AutoFill in other apps

FaceTime

  • Leave a video or audio message to capture exactly what you want to say when someone does not pick up your FaceTime call
  • Enjoy FaceTime calls on Apple TV by using your iPad as a camera (Apple TV 4K 2nd generation and later)
  • Reactions layer 3D effects like hearts, balloons, confetti, and more around you in video calls and can be triggered with gestures
  • Video effects allow you to adjust the intensity of Studio Lighting and Portrait mode

Health

  • Health app on iPad is designed for the larger display, including the sidebar for quick navigation, rich details in Favorites, and interactive charts
  • Health and fitness data seamlessly syncs across your devices from your iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch, as well as compatible third-party apps and devices
  • Health Sharing lets you choose health data to share with those closest to you and receive important notifications about your loved ones' health and view things like their activity, mobility data, heart rate data, and trends
  • State of Mind reflection allows you to log your momentary emotion and daily mood, choose what factors are having the biggest impact on you, and describe your feelings
  • Interactive charts give you insights into your state of mind, how it has changed over time, and what factors may have influence such as exercise, sleep, and mindful minutes
  • Mental health assessments help you understand your current risk for depression and anxiety and if you might benefit from getting support
  • Screen Distance leverages the TrueDepth camera that powers Face ID to encourage you to increase the distance you view your device to reduce digital eye strain and can help reduce the risk of myopia in children

Notes

  • Inline PDFs and document scans are presented full-width in your note, making it easy to view and mark-up a document you're reviewing
  • Linked notes allow you to create hyperlinks to other notes to connect ideas, content, or any information
  • Block quote formatting makes it easy to visually offset a section of writing with a quote bar
  • Monostyled text formatting features monospace text inset with a distinct background
  • Open in Pages lets you create a Pages document from your note from the share menu

Safari and Passwords

  • Profiles keep your browsing separate for topics like work and personal, separating your history, cookies, extensions, Tab Groups, and favorites
  • Private Browsing enhancements include locking your private browsing windows when you're not using them, blocking known trackers from loading, and removing identifying tracking from URLs
  • Password and passkey sharing lets you create a group of passwords to share with trusted contacts that stays up to date as members of the group make changes
  • One-time verification code AutoFill from Mail autofill in Safari so you can log in without leaving the browser

Keyboard

  • Improved autocorrect accuracy makes typing even easier by leveraging a powerful transformer-based language model (iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation and later), iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation and later), iPad (10th generation), iPad Air (4th generation and later), and iPad mini (6th generation))
  • Easier autocorrect editing temporarily underlines corrected words and lets you revert back to what you originally typed with just a tap
  • Enhanced sentence corrections can correct more types of grammatical mistakes when you finish sentences (iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation and later), iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation and later), iPad (10th generation), iPad Air (4th generation and later), and iPad mini (6th generation))
  • Inline predictive text shows single and multi-word predictions as you type that can be added by tapping space bar (iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation and later), iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation and later), iPad (10th generation), iPad Air (4th generation and later), and iPad mini (6th generation))

Freeform

  • Improved drawing with new tools, like fountain pen, ruler and watercolor as well as shape recognition
  • Follow Along allows you to guide collaborators around your board so that they can see what you see as you move around the canvas
  • Better diagraming helps you quickly build diagrams and flowcharts by dragging connector handles to connect objects
  • Share to Freeform lets you add content from other apps to your Freeform boards using the share sheet
  • PDF markup allows you to annotate directly on PDFs in your board
  • 3D interaction lets you preview 3D objects on your canvas with Quick Look

Stage Manager

  • More flexible window positioning lets you create your ideal window layout with larger draggable areas for precise selection and positioning of apps
  • External display cameras can be used for FaceTime and video calls

Visual Look Up

  • Expanded domains in Visual Look Up help you discover similar recipes from photos of food, Maps information from photos of storefronts, and the meaning of signs and symbols on things like laundry tags
  • Multiple or single subjects can be lifted from the background of photos and videos and placed into apps like Messages
  • Visual Look Up in Video helps you learn about objects that appear in paused video frames
  • Visual Look Up for subjects in photos enables you to look up information about objects you lift from photos directly from the callout bar

Siri

  • Option to say "Siri" in addition to "Hey Siri" for an even more natural way to make requests
  • Back-to-back requests can be issued without needing to reactivate Siri in between commands (iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later), iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), and iPad (8th generation and later))

AirPlay

  • Intelligent AirPlay device list makes finding the right AirPlay-compatible TV or speaker even easier by showing your devices in order of relevance, based on your preferences
  • Suggested AirPlay device connections are proactively shown to you as a notification to make it even more seamless to connect to your preferred AirPlay devices
  • Automatic AirPlay device connections are made between your iPad and the most relevant AirPlay-compatible device so all you have to do is tap "Play" to begin enjoying your content

AirPods

  • Adaptive Audio delivers a new listening mode that dynamically blends Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency to tailor the noise control experience based on the conditions of your environment (AirPods Pro (2nd generation) with firmware version 6A300 or later)
  • Personalized Volume adjusts the volume of your media in response to your environment and listening preferences over time (AirPods Pro (2nd generation) with firmware version 6A300 or later)
  • Conversation Awareness lowers your media volume and enhances the voices of the people in front of the user, all while reducing background noise (AirPods Pro (2nd generation) with firmware version 6A300 or later)
  • Press to mute and unmute your microphone by pressing the AirPods stem or the Digital Crown on AirPods Max when on a call (AirPods (3rd generation), AirPods Pro (1st and 2nd generation), or AirPods Max with firmware version 6A300 or later)

Privacy

  • Sensitive Content Warnings can be enabled to prevent users from unexpectedly being shown images containing nudity in Messages, AirDrop, Contact Posters in the Phone app, and FaceTime messages
  • Expanded Communication Safety protections for children now detect videos containing nudity in addition to photos that children may receive or attempt to send in Messages, AirDrop, Contact Posters in the Phone app, FaceTime messages, and the system Photo picker
  • Improved sharing permissions give you even more control over what you share with apps, with an embedded photo picker and an add-only Calendar permission
  • Link tracking protection removes extra information from links shared in Messages, Mail, and Safari Private Browsing that some websites use in their URLs to track you across other websites, and links still work as expected

Accessibility

  • Assistive Access distills apps and experiences to their essential features in Phone and FaceTime, Messages, Camera, Photos, and Music, including large text, visual alternatives, and focused choices for users with cognitive disabilities
  • Live Speech lets you type what you want to say and have it be spoken out loud in phone calls, FaceTime calls, or for in-person conversations
  • Personal Voice enables users who are at risk of losing their speech function to privately and securely create a voice that sounds like them on iPad, and use it with Live Speech in phone and FaceTime calls
  • Point and Speak in Magnifier Detection Mode uses iPad to read text out loud on physical objects with small text labels, such as keypads on doors and buttons on appliances

This release also includes other features and improvements:

  • Pets in the People album in Photos surfaces individual pets in the album just like friends or family members
  • Photos Album widget lets you select a specific album from the Photos app to appear in the widget
  • Item sharing in Find My allows you to share an AirTag or Find My network accessory with up to five other people
  • Activity History in Home displays a recent history of events for door locks, garage doors, security systems, and contact sensors
  • Grid Forecast in Home shows when your electrical grid has cleaner energy sources available (Contiguous US only)
  • Grocery Lists in Reminders automatically group related items into sections as you add them
  • New Memoji stickers in Keyboard include Halo, Smirk, and Peekaboo
  • App Shortcuts in Spotlight Top Hit offer you app shortcuts to your next action when you search for an app
  • Email or phone number sign-in lets you sign into your iPad with any email address or phone number listed in your Apple ID account

This release includes even more features and improvements. For more information, please visit this website: https://www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-17

Some features may not be available for all regions or on all Apple devices. For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

How to Update

iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 are available via Over-the-Air Update (Settings > General > Software Update) via Finder on a Mac with macOS Catalina or later, or via iTunes on a PC or Mac with macOS Mojave or earlier.

Before updating, we strongly recommend making a full and complete backup of your device (either locally or in iCloud, depending on personal preference). This will ensure that, in the unlikely event that something goes wrong during the update process, you will have a current backup on hand in case a device restore becomes necessary. Also, if using OTA update, we recommend plugging your device into a power source for the duration of the download/installation process, so as to prevent the unlikely event of your battery going dead during the update.

More information on how to update the software on your device is available on this Apple Support page.

We'd love to hear your thoughts after you've had a chance to install the updates. What new features do you find most useful? Are there any changes you don't like? Please share your feedback in the comments below. Let us know what Apple got right with each release and where you think there's still room for improvement.

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Comments

By sockhopsinger on Thursday, September 21, 2023 - 16:41

First, thanks to the entire crew of Applevis for doing such an amazing job of highlighting all of the changes in each new iteration of Apple software.

Second, will it be possible to turn off automatic transcription? I, for one, am uncomfortable with this feature. Thanks.

By Dominic on Thursday, September 21, 2023 - 16:41

I downloaded the iPadOS update around 4 am, it’s like 430/4:45 in the morning now. Is it supposed to take this long? i’m doing checks on it it’s like five minutes by pressing the home button and see if was a rat, but I’m getting nothing. Even with headphones connected so I have no clue what doing or if there’s a problem I just checked again and there’s still no feedback
Should I be concerned

By Dominic on Thursday, September 21, 2023 - 16:41

So I have two problems, the messages app won’t open on my iPad and somehow elocwence disappeared completely

By Andy Lane on Thursday, September 21, 2023 - 16:41

I think you should be asleep. Trust me big man. There’s many things I wish I could change but listening to people who told me I need my sleep is one of them. As for your update, just go back into settings, General, Software Update and it will tell you how far through downloading and decompressing the update it is. If it’s stuck, try a restart but only if it’s stuck. Don’t just do it for the sake of it. Remember, sleep isn’t something it’s a good idea to miss and good luck with the update. Don’t worry, theres nothing in there that you can’t live without. Sleep is far more important than a silly update.

By Dominic on Thursday, September 21, 2023 - 16:41

LOL I found eloquence.

By Dominic on Thursday, September 21, 2023 - 16:41

One of the text times in iOS, kind of sound like one of the text times from the Google pixel sound library just more compressed, If you have a Google pixel phone please go to the text times on your Google pixel and come and play around them whilst playing around the text times on iOS, you’ll see one of the times he sounds the same

By Dominic on Thursday, September 21, 2023 - 16:41

Has anyone noticed the weight eloquence says system, like assistive touch, assistive, access etc it’s so funny

By wiljames on Thursday, September 21, 2023 - 16:41

Even though the phone or iPad reboots during the update, I would reboot again. Sometimes, iOS needs a swift kick in the pants to get all features working correctly.

By John Lipsey on Thursday, September 21, 2023 - 16:41

Hi friends,
I just updated to iOS 17 on my iPhone 14. After the update, the haptic feedback that used to exist when my phone was unlocked, whether by face ID or passcode, seems to have vanished. I looked in sounds and haptics, as well as face ID and passcode, and can't see a way to bring it back. I liked having that tactile feedback that my phone was actually unlocked.
If anybody has a way to fix this, I would be most appreciative. If it's a bug, I'll file a report.
Thanks in advance!

By Troy on Thursday, September 21, 2023 - 16:41

I found an issue with Siri. I have both uber and uber eats. When I ask siri to open uber she asks me which app uber or uber eats? I say uber, her response? "Sorry something went wrong, please try again." Can anyone else who have 2 apps with the same name try this and see what happens?

By TamagotchiTune on Thursday, September 21, 2023 - 16:41

Havent seen this anywhere but is there a bug going to notification center or controll center? I swipe up or down from the status bar like I normally do and it does nothing.
Also. Custom ringtones and text tones work fine for me so far. I was worried with that bug.

By Carter Wu on Thursday, September 21, 2023 - 16:41

Hi all,

I'm currently using an iPhone 13 Pro. After upgrading to iOS17, I found several issues that led me to revert back to iOS16 within half a day. Here are the main problems I encountered:

Firstly, my iPhone began overheating. Even when I left it idle on the table, the heat radiating from the device was noticeable. This occurred with only light usage, such as browsing Safari, which shouldn't have caused the phone to heat up as it did.

Secondly, I noticed significant battery life decay. This might be due to the aforementioned heating problem. When I upgraded to iOS17, my battery health percentage was 88%. However, after just half a day of use post-upgrade, it plummeted to 86%.

Lastly, the image description feature would not work at all. Initially, I wasn't concerned because this issue had occurred occasionaly in the past. Usually, turning off the image description function, restarting the iPhone, and then re-enabling the function would fix the problem by prompting the device to download the required data package. However, this fix didn't work this time. Either the image description switch showed "0KB used", or the data package simply wouldn't download. VoiceOver would only prompt "Downloading", but nothing else would occur.

Besides these major issues, there were other minor annoyances that ultimately led me to temporarily abandon iOS17. I hope sharing my experience can offer some insights for those considering the upgrade.

By Jonathan Candler on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

The haptic feedback you get when you unlock your phone is there, but it's different and it's a bit softer. But yeah, still there.

By Andy Lane on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

Firstly the haptic, I really like the new boing haptic instead of all sharp taps. It feels really nice to me. Carter, What may have been happening is that your phone will run caching, photo analysis and other house keeping tasks when you first update your phone. That will cause the phone to heat up more than normal. The battery percentage drop is very unlikely to be anything to do with the update but sometimes when your phone gets a completely empty and or completely full charge it allows it to recalibrate the battery health. I wonder if thats what caused the drop, the lower percentage was always there but it recalibrated. The image description not working has been a problem for quite a while in 17 beta cycle. Very occasionally it works but mostly it doesn’t. Maybe you can update again after 17.1 but remember the phone getting warm is pretty normal after a major update while it’s getting everything in order.

By Holger Fiallo on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

The times my phone overheated, I restarted phone and no issues. 13 pro.

By Andy Lane on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

It could have just got itself in a loop and needed a restart. Mine does always get a little warm after a major firmware update though while its getting everything indexed, cached and organised.

By Carter Wu on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

I have tried many solutions to the problem of my iPhone overheating, such as restarting the device and leaving it idle for a while, among other things. If the overheating situation doesn’t improve after most of the day, there’s definitely something wrong. It’s worth noting that this issue didn’t occur when I upgraded from iOS15 to iOS16 last year.

As for the battery health percentage, while it might be unclear whether this is related to the system, I have reasons to doubt it. I have been using iOS16 for two days now after a restore, and the battery health percentage has continued to drop. So, this started happening only after upgrading to iOS17.

Finally, what I want to say is that everyone should be considerate and take into account the views of each commenter. I have been using iPhones for more than ten years and have encountered many unusual issues. Don’t think that problems that haven’t happened to you don’t actually exist.

By Andy Lane on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

I was just trying to provide rational explanations for your experience. For example, another potential rational explanation for the battery percentage dropping is that your phone heated up so much that it damaged the battery. I just started with the most likely explanations. It’s always a good place to start because the most likely explanations are also the most likely to be the problem. Problem solving starts with the most common and easiest to fix, its most definitely not meant to make anyone feel unseen. The most common reason for battery health dropping is the phone calibrating the number of MMAh it can put into the battery and that happens when the phone hits 0% and 100% full. It can also be because the phone got so hot it damaged the battery but thats far less likely as the phone has protection against getting too hot. It will shut itself down.

By Bruce Harrell on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

Hi All,

The IOS 17 speech rate in the rotor doesn't change the rate of speech. I can move it way down, but the speech keeps on speaking at the same high rate.

Is there a way to unlock this?

Thank you,

Bruce

By Andy Lane on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

Have you tried switching to a different voice to see if this still happens? I’ve seen others have the same problem but haven’t noticed a solution yet. A couple of other things to try are resetting your settings, if you would like help doing that I can let you know how but remember you’ll need to go through your settings and get everything how you like it again which might take a while. The other option would be to call Apple accessibility. How are you doing with your new phone?

By Bruce Harrell on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

Hi andy,

Interesting you should ask about other voices. The answer is that the speech rate rotor disfunction occurs when Alex is the voice in the activity I'm using but not when I switch activities to use Evan. Given my hearing problems, unfortunately, Evan isn't as easy for me to hear, and these two voices are the best of the bunch for me. Still, I'll do some playing around and see what happens.

Another interesting point you made is about having to go back through settings to make all the changes to get it back to where it used to be. What's interesting is that nearly all of those settings are exactly where I left them -- no change -- but a few settings are not the same. Yes, I am slowly making my way through settings to be sure.

One example of a setting that had been changed as a result of the IOS 17. upgrade, made a few days before my new phone, was the time delay setting for entering touch gestures. Forgive me, I don't remember the exact name of the feature. Anyway, the new setting was 0.25 seconds, which is way too short a time for me, so I changed it back to 0.45, and all has been well.

As an aside, when the one finger double tap problem began, I quickly redefine the two finger swipe left and two finger swipe right gesture to be home and activate, respectively. Afterward, I discovered that swiping right with two fingers is faster than repeatedly double tapping, when I am deleting letters o numbers, for example.

You mentioned calling Apple Accessibility. I have a love hate relationship with them, unfortunately, largely stemming from times I've called about problems with my phone or Mac, and the person asks me to connect them to see what's happening on my screen.

Here's the hate part of the relationship.

the last few times the person has asked me to help them connect to see my screen, they have asked me to do things that are impossible for a totally blind person to do: 1) find a prompt on my screen that cannot be found; and, 2) to do so in a few seconds.

So, rubbing chin, Apple Accessibility is asking a blind person to do something inaccessible so they can help with accessibility? Uh, excuse me . . . hello?

Last, you ask, how am I doing with my new phone? Big happy smile. Great! Oh, the Alex speech rate is inconvenient, but that's all it is, and there really aren't any other bugs I can think of right now. Just having no other bugs is an immense relief, as I'm sure you can imagine, which reminds me.

How are you doing with your own phone? Are you still struggling with infuriating focus jumps? I absolutely hate that bug, and I'm still holding my breath, half expecting it will come back.

Thanks as always for your cheerful help, Andy! smile

Bruce

By Andy Lane on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

Have you tried deleting and redownloading Alex? That might not be possible as theres another thread about people not being able to delete Alex but it’s such an easy thing to give a go, it makes sense to try it. Thats an interesting use of the 2 finger swipe gestures. Mine are right activate, left escape and scrub home. It makes intuitive sense to me that one way is in and the other way is out. Teehee. That sounds incredibly frustrating. Were you speaking with accessibility? That seems like something Apple could address by allowing longer to accept. Might be worth suggesting. I am doing pretty well with my phone at the moment. It’s behaving most of the time. The focus bug is gone and now we’re just left with iOS not having good focus tracking and consistency which I’ll take any day of the week over the nightmare of the last year. What’s more, my 14 Pro Max is quicker and more responsive than I think it’s ever been.

By OldBear on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

The handwriting function, when it is activated, uses the two-finger swipe left to delete the last character, and there doesn't seem to be any way to change that. I don't know if anything uses the right-swipe. More for anyone considering using handwriting who has assigned the gestures to something like the next and last rotor item, or anything you might need while using handwriting.

By Mlth on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

@Bruce
Have you tried altering speech rate through Voiceovers quick settings instead of the rotor? Does that make a difference?

Best
Malthe

By Andy Lane on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

Thanks for the warning. I haven’t used handwriting in years because I found other ways of entering text were quicker but thats still great to know in case I ever try again. I can imagine it causing all kinds of chaos.

By OldBear on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

Ya, I stopped using the handwriting for a long, long time because they broke it a long, long time ago. I guess they fixed it at some point. I had the gestures assigned to the rotor, then started using handwriting for the unlock code for silence purposes. Not a big deal because the regular rotor gesture is still assigned to the rotor on mine. I've switched back to using the regular rotor gesture most of the time too.

By Bruce Harrell on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

Hi All,

About speech rate, I did try to delete Alex, and I did try changing speech rate in the settings accessibility voiceover area, but it occurred to me that since a different activity that uses Evan does change speech rate from the rotor, what I might try is substituting Alex for Evan in that activity, and if that also fails, then I might try deleting the original Alex activity and create a new one with Alex to see if that does any better. Unfortunately, I just haven't had the time to get to it today. Smile. Thanks for all the suggestions, though.

By Mlth on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

Hi Bruce
Sorry if I was unclear - I ment VoiceOver quick settings, which you get to by two-finger tripple tap, I think is the default gesture. For me that lets me change the speech rate on a per voice basis, which might be a workaround until the bug is fixed.

By Bruce Harrell on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

Hi MLTH,

No, you were clear. I was the fuzzy headed one. I've never used quick settings before and simply assumed the "quick" meant using my VoiceOver gesture to dive straight into VoiceOver settings. So, now having been enlightened, I gave your suggestion a try, but alas! No joy! I ran that baby down to 25 from 55, and there was no change.

I have some experimenting to do. I'll most definitely publish the results when they come in.

Thank you!

Bruce

By Holger Fiallo on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

Can not change the setting on the voice. This was address on Livingblindfully podcast 250. Apple does not allow it.

By Winter Roses on Saturday, October 21, 2023 - 16:41

Ever since updating to iOS 17, I've been having an issue on my iPhone. Whenever I copy or paste text into the search bar on Safari, or type in the text field, voiceover keeps reading everything back to me. It's completely annoying, and this only happens on Safari in the search bar. Whenever I'm trying to edit the text, voiceover keeps reading the previous information that I have entered in the text field. It's automatically reading the text as I'm typing in Safari, and once I paste information into the search bar, it keeps reading the information without me interacting with the device. Voiceover keeps announcing the information in the sentences. If I type a word, it tells me the word, and starts reading everything from the top. If I type a character, it announces the character. When I delete text, it reads everything from the top, again, even when I'm trying to edit something in the middle of the sentence. This is very distracting, it makes correcting mistakes, or typing in the search field on safari quite difficult. I have turned off speak selection, speak screen, and character preview in the keyboard settings on my device. Any idea on what could be happening here? I can always use another search engine, but if there's something I'm missing, I would still like to know.