iOS 17 is available today

New Ways to Enjoy FaceTime

• Profiles in Safari keep browsing — such as history, cookies, extensions, Tab Groups, and Favorites — separate for topics like work and personal. Private Browsing now locks when not in use and adds greater protection, both from trackers as a user browses, and from people who might have access to a user’s device.

• For easier and more secure password and passkeys sharing, users can share passwords with a group of trusted contacts. Since sharing is through iCloud Keychain, it is end-to-end encrypted.

• The Health app offers new mental health features. Users can log their daily moods and momentary emotions; see what might be contributing to their state of mind; and easily access depression and anxiety assessments often used in clinics, plus resources available in their region. Additionally, increasing the distance the device is viewed from can help children lower their risk of myopia and gives adult users the opportunity to reduce digital eyestrain. Screen Distance in Screen Time uses the TrueDepth camera to encourage users to move their device farther away after holding it closer than 12 inches from their face for an extended period of time.

• Apple Music adds SharePlay support in the car, making it possible for all passengers to easily control the music right from their own devices, even if they don’t have an Apple Music subscription. Crossfade smoothly transitions between songs, and later this year, users will be able to collaborate on playlists in Apple Music, making listening to music with friends easier than ever before.

• AirPlay gets even better with iPhone using on-device intelligence to learn a user’s preferences, and later this year, will add support for televisions in hotels, allowing users to easily enjoy their favorite content on the TV when traveling.

• AirPods receive powerful new features, including Adaptive Audio, Personalized Volume, and Conversation Awareness, that redefine the personal audio experience. Plus, improvements to Automatic Switching and call controls make AirPods even easier to use.

• The Home app adds the ability for users to view up to 30 days of activity history across door locks, garage doors, alarm systems, and contact sensors.¹ Additionally, two popular HomeKit lock features — tap to unlock and PIN codes — will become available for Matter-compatible locks, providing even more ways to connect the home.² Grid Forecast is a new tool in the Home app that shows when a customer’s electrical grid has cleaner energy sources available, so they can plan when to charge devices or run appliances.³

• Maps adds offline maps, so users can download a specific area and access turn-by-turn navigation, see their estimated time of arrival, find places in Maps, and more while offline. Maps also makes it easier than ever to discover thousands of trails in parks across the United States, and supports electric vehicle drivers with real-time charging availability information.

• AirTag can be shared with up to five other people, allowing friends and family to keep track of an item in Find My. Everyone in a group will be able to see an item’s location, play a sound, and use Precision Finding to help pinpoint the location of a shared AirTag when nearby. This also works with all other Find My network accessories.

• Grocery lists in Reminders automatically group added items into relevant categories to make shopping easier. Users can change how the items are grouped, and the list remembers their preferences.

• Visual Look Up is now available in paused video frames. Users can lift individual or multiple subjects from the background of photos and videos, and identify food, storefronts, signs, and symbols.

• Siri can be activated by simply saying “Siri.” Once activated, users can issue multiple commands in succession without needing to reactivate the assistant.

• Photos uses on-device machine learning to recognize individual cats and dogs in the People album, just like friends or family members.

• Privacy updates include Communication Safety expanding beyond Messages to help keep kids safe when sending and receiving content via AirDrop, Contact Posters, a FaceTime message, and when using the Photos picker to choose content to send. It also expands to cover video content in addition to still images. A new feature, Sensitive Content Warning, helps adult users avoid seeing unwanted nude images and videos. As with Communication Safety, all image and video processing for Sensitive Content Warning occurs on-device, so Apple does not get access to the content.

• The App Store’s Today tab gets updated to offer the most dynamic and personalized app discovery experience yet. Users can discover more great apps, games, and in-app events through new tailored recommendations and original stories based on their interests and preferences, as well as helpfully curated and easy-to-browse sections.

• Accessibility updates include Assistive Access, a customizable interface that helps users with cognitive disabilities use iPhone with greater ease and independence; Live Speech, which gives nonspeaking users the option to type and have their words spoken in person, or on phone and FaceTime calls; Personal Voice, which gives users at risk of speech loss the option to create a voice that sounds like theirs; and Point and Speak, which helps users who are blind or have low vision read text on physical objects by pointing.
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