This is Technology Bytes, episode 17 for July 2nd, 2023.
Technology Bytes is a microcast where I share my brief insights on an interesting technology.
My name is Joel.
Enjoy.
And here we go.
In the continuing theme of WWDC 2023, today I want to talk about iOS 17.
Now it’s just a little bit of a coincidence that my 17th episode is actually talking about iOS 17.
That’ll probably never happen again.
So just a little fun note to start.
So as I look at iOS 17 and I put the developer beta on pretty early, so I’ve been using it now for at least at least two weeks, maybe a little bit more.
Didn’t put it on right after the developers conference because I was a little bit nervous, but probably at the end of that week, I added it.
Um, or I put all of my devices on the beta, um, developer beta.
And so far so good.
Um, when I look at iOS 17, I think that the changes are a little bit smaller and then as I wrote that first note and I filled out the rest of what I wanted to talk about, it’s like, wow, this is a long list.
So there have been some changes.
Um, many of them that I’ve, that I talked about in the common changes for all operating systems, um, on one of the earlier episodes a couple of weeks back, but still quite a few changes for the iPhone itself and iOS 17.
So I don’t have these items in any particular order, and I will give you my thoughts on the ones that I actually use, but, and I don’t cover everything that’s been changed, but these are some of the, I don’t know, bigger ones, whatever, but it’s still a fairly long list.
And one that I played with right away was contact posters.
So I use a lot of home screens because I use focus modes and, and I use a lot of work focus modes and that came into be, uh, I don’t know, a couple of years back, I think.
And so when I am in my work focus mode, my home screen looks different than when I’m in personal or when I’m in church or others that I have.
And so contact posters are very similar to that.
You can make a number of different posters.
You can make them of actual pictures of you.
You can do, you know, anime stuff, whatever it is that you can create, you can turn into a contact poster.
And that is what the person you are calling will see when their phone rings.
Um, I’ve made a couple and I set them up and tested it out.
My wife is not on iOS 17 on the beta.
She’s on 16.
I haven’t yet seen it work.
When my call goes to her, that does either the same little icon circle that it did before, or just does nothing.
Now she says it just shows my number and doesn’t tell her who’s calling by name, even though I’m in her contact list.
So it’s kind of strange and I don’t know, I haven’t seen it work.
I don’t know if it has to work with everything being on iOS 17, but that one is still to be determined.
Another one is live voicemail.
I actually got a voicemail the other day because some random person called me and left a voicemail.
You know, those calls that you don’t want to get.
I don’t let those calls come through to my phone when I’m at work.
So the only people that can contact me there are a small list of people.
Um, at least on my personal phone number, my work phone number, everybody can call.
So I actually got a live voicemail and I missed it because the call doesn’t come through.
So another one I haven’t tested, but I am looking forward to, it kind of goes back to the old call screening where you used to wait and let your answering machine pick up, listen, and then go, Oh, I’d like to talk to that person.
Good, bad.
I don’t know, but it’s there.
Um, they actually made quite a bit of changes to iMessage and how your apps work, it’s fine, I don’t know, they’re kind of out of your way, but I didn’t mind the old way where your list of apps was underneath the, the text entry box at the bottom of your screen, but now you can hit the plus and see the apps mostly used and then get a bigger view.
So they kind of stay out of your way, but I don’t know.
I don’t think they were in my way before.
Um, they’ve improved search.
Um, I don’t usually leave people iMessage, spoken iMessage, but I know my daughter does that a lot.
And so having that transcription, so now Apple will transcribe that message so that if you want to know what was said, but you’re not in a spot where you can actually listen and have your phone make noise, then that is a pretty cool feature.
Um, they’ve done some things with a search to make it better.
I haven’t really tested that much.
I don’t search my iMessages very often.
Um, they do have a new feature called check-in that allows you to, um, check in with maybe friends or family and you’re separating and going your opposite ways.
And then if you get home, you’ll say, I’ll text you when I get home.
And then you forget.
I often do.
Then the system, if you’re in that check-in mode, will actually send your family, friends, whoever is in the, in that group that you’ve set it up in and let them know that you arrived at your destination safely.
So that’s pretty cool.
Um, location sharing through iMessage now has a, uh, the map actually as a picture.
So you can actually see where the person is without having to open maps.
So that’s pretty neat.
And there’s a number of other things.
They have one called catch up.
So like you’re in a spot where you just can’t read all the messages in a group that’s coming through.
This happens to me on occasion when I’m at work and the rest of my family is conversing about something.
And while I know the messages are coming in, I don’t really, um, have the time at the moment to keep track of that.
And so when you enter into iMessage, you can, um, click on it and it will go to the beginning of that conversation.
So then you can read through, um, all of the messages that, um, happened in that period of time.
So pretty cool.
Um, again, I might use it, not sure, but, um, it is something that’s new.
So a couple of things that I do use, and I think I talked about, um, a couple of these in the things that are common between operating systems, but, um, one is the interactive widgets.
And I know I talked about that one, but it’s really neat on the phone.
I use a lot of widgets on my phone screen with to-do lists and things and being able to, to check those off without having to open the app is a very cool thing to do.
Um, auto-fill verification.
I use that regularly and now they do that through mail.
And so when it, it says you’re going to get an email with a code because you’re logging into Microsoft 365 or whatever it is that you’re doing, then that code would always automatically fill if it was a text that was sent to you.
But if it was an email, you’d have to go look at your email and then type it in and now that auto-fills.
And the cool thing is that iOS 17 will actually automatically delete those texts and emails once they’ve given you the code.
So that way you don’t have to worry about them messing up your inbox or your text messages, and it will just clean that right up for you.
So that’s a pretty cool thing.
Um, the other thing I use a lot is, is what they call standby.
It’s almost like a nightstand mode for the iPhone, like you had for your watch.
And so I’ve been using that and it is pretty cool.
I don’t use it during the day where it can show you the time and, um, your upcoming appointments, almost like a status screen for your day.
If you wanted to use that at your desk while you’re working on your computer, I feel like the computer screen has enough of that information for me, but I have listened to people who really like that, but I like using it at night.
Um, it’s not on all the time, so it doesn’t bother you, but when you move and it’s pretty sensitive to that, and so it’s almost like when I look, because I want to see what time it is, it senses the movement of my head and then the.
Clock comes on for just a little bit.
It tells me what the weather is.
It tells me what my alarm is set for.
So I really liked that standby mode in the new iOS 17.
So another thing that I use a lot is the mental health aspects of the, of the phone.
Um, and Apple’s ecosystem, I use the health part a lot as well.
Um, I do Apple fitness plus and workouts and I use my watch to record walks and, and, and, uh, I use my watch to track calories and, and I use the breathe app for calming myself.
And, um, I use a water app to.
You know, measure my, or to take account of, of the liquids that I drink throughout the day, so I’m into health and mental health is something that has, has been become more important to me over the last years because I have struggled some with that.
And so the additional things of being able to log how you’re feeling at a moment.
So if you’re stressed at a given moment, you can just go through the phone and, and log how you’re feeling and why you’re feeling that way.
And kind of keep that history.
It’s almost like a journal, but it’s very quick.
Um, and then you can also log, uh, at the end of the day or a couple of times through the day, how you have felt that entire day.
And I think that for me, I really liked that feature and I will be using it a lot.
And as soon as that journal app comes out, because I do journal as well to help me with those things and to, to just remember things that happened throughout my life.
I will definitely be using that app as well when it’s released.
So those are just a couple of, of things that I use a lot, um, in the health and mental health aspects of iOS 17.
Just a quick few more.
One is a collaborative playlist, um, that is coming in iOS 17, but it’s not in the beta yet.
Um, I’m kind of looking forward to that.
Um, when I travel with my wife in the car, we’re listening to someone’s music, you know, either hers or mine, often the similar playlists.
Um, but when my daughter’s with us, or if we’re in the car with my son or maybe my granddaughter, um, then we can add to that playlist from our own devices.
And I think that will be fun.
Um, there’s a offline maps that you can use.
I don’t travel all that much, but, um, if you are going to a place that doesn’t have very good cell service and you know that you can download the map with directions as before you even go.
So I think that is very useful.
Obviously it’s not Apple invented.
That’s been available through Google maps for a long time, but I haven’t ever used it.
Um, haven’t really had the need.
The other thing is visual lookups.
So you can look up plants and you can look up other things and the, the phone will tell you what they are.
And now they’ve added that to video.
So if you have a video of something and want to know what’s in the video, you can see that.
And one that I haven’t used yet, but I really need to use.
And, um, my wife and I go out to eat enough that I think it would be fun to try.
And that’s to take a picture of your food and the device will then give you a video and it will then give you a recipe for that meal.
I’ve got to try it.
And I apologize for not having tried it before I did this, uh, microcast, but that’s one that I know I have to do.
And when I do, I will come back and fill you in on how that went.
So, as I said, this wasn’t an exhaustive list of what’s new in iOS 17, but it, it is, um, the things that I kind of picked out as highlights for me and the things that I’ve enjoyed using.
And I think that you might enjoy using as well.
So you have been listening to the Technology Bites microcast.
Until next time, continue enjoying your technology.
