From live voicemail to live stickers, here’s what to expect in Apple’s iOS 17 update
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The iOS 17 is available to developers currently and will come in a public beta in July.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Wary of picking up a call from an unknown number on your iPhone?
A new live audio transcription feature in Apple’s iOS 17 update may help you decide better, should the caller leave a voicemail.
Apple announced its major annual software update for its iPhones at the Worldwide Developers Conference in California on Monday
The iOS 17 is available to developers now and come in a public beta in July. It will likely be released in September to coincide with the launch of the latest iPhone.
The Straits Times looks at some of the new features in iOS 17.
Live voicemail
iPhone users will be able to see voicemail being transcribed in real time with this new feature. The transcription will show up in real time on the phone screen as the caller is leaving a voicemail message.
This allows users to choose whether to pick up the call depending on what they see in the transcript.
Calls that have been identified as spam would not appear as live voicemail but will be instantly declined, said Apple.
Leave video messages on FaceTime
With the new update, users can also leave video voice messages if their FaceTime calls are not answered.
A notification will be sent to the recipient, who can replay the video at his or her own time.
New journal app
Users can reflect and practice gratitude through a new Journal app, which Apple says have been shown to improve wellbeing.
The app will create personalised suggestions to inspire a user to write. The suggestions are based on information available on a user’s iPhone. This includes music, photos, location and places.
The app can be locked to protect the user’s privacy.
Live stickers
iPhone users can soon express their emotions in more ways with the new emoji stickers and “live stickers”.
Live stickers can be created when users turn photos of their friends, pets and family into stickers easily. Users can also customise stickers with various effects including comic, puffy and shiny.
Check in feature
This feature will allow users to notify their loved ones or friends that they have made it to their destinations safe and sound.
Users just have to enable the feature on their iPhone’s message app.
If the user is not making progress towards his or her destination, some information like the device’s location and battery level will be temporarily shared with the selected contact.
Contact poster
In time to come, users can “dress up” how they appear in calls and their contact cards, with their own choices of photos, memojis, fonts and colours.
StandBy display
The new feature will turn the iPhone into a smart display. The feature will kick in automatically when the phone is docked on its side.
This feature is designed to be seen from a distance and will be able to display the weather and time with customisable clock faces.
Autocorrect function
Apple is updating its autocorrect function
With the updated feature, users will be able to tap the corrected words and see what they originally typed and go back.
This will help to correct one of the most common expletives, “ducking”.
“In those moments where you just want to type a ducking word, well, the keyboard will learn it, too,” said Mr Craig Federighi, Apple’s software chief.
Is your iPhone compatible with the iOS update?
These are the iPhone models which will have access to the iOS 17 update: iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max,
iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone SE (second generation and later), iPhone 14 (including Plus) and iPhone 14 Pro.
