iOS 17 is now feature complete in all practical respects. I thought it would be interesting to do a retrospective on the tentpole (major) features of iOS 17 and see how well they played out, at least for me.
Interesting side note: I generated the first two columns of the table using ChatGPT with the following prompt:
If iOS 18 can do stuff like this, this will be a total gamechanger!
Feel free to weigh in!
Interesting side note: I generated the first two columns of the table using ChatGPT with the following prompt:
If iOS 18 can do stuff like this, this will be a total gamechanger!
Feel free to weigh in!
BEST VIEWED ON THE WEB VERSION OF MACRUMORS FORUMS
Feature | Description | The Gwhizkids Score (Letter Grade on First Line) |
| Contact Posters | Customize how you appear to others with Contact Posters, including photos, Memoji, and custom fonts. | B Solid addition, But not one many people seem to use so its been low impact for me |
| Live Voicemail | See a live transcript of a voicemail as it’s being left and decide whether to answer the call. | A- This has been very useful at times, but it is inconsistent and it was not well implemented at first |
| FaceTime Messages | Leave video or audio messages when someone doesn’t answer your FaceTime call. | Incomplete (Inc) (for me) I don’t use FaceTime enough to have needed to use this. Could be useful though. |
| StandBy | A new full-screen experience with glanceable information designed to be viewed from a distance while iPhone is on its side and charging. | A+ This was the sleeper hit of iOS 17, especially for those with Always On Displays. I use this every day at my desk and every night on my Nightstand. It still needs work but even in its present form its a must have. |
| AirDrop | Improved AirDrop functionality with a new gesture to share content and NameDrop to easily exchange contact information. | Inc I don’t use AirDrop enough to this a grade. |
| Messages | Various enhancements including improved search filters, transcription for audio messages, and a new check-in feature for safety. | C The new search filters don’t seem to me to be much better than the old ones (i.e., not particularly good). Have used Check In once. I guess it was ok. |
| Stickers | New emoji stickers, live stickers, and a dedicated stickers drawer accessible across iOS. | B+ For an old guy 😂 i use stickers much more than I expected. I love the Live Stickers which are tons of fun. They do need to improve the search feature for creating emoji stickers, as now you have to scroll all the way through them. |
| Keyboard | Enhanced autocorrect, in-line predictive text, and improvements to dictation. | D- The autocorrect is simply awful. Awful, awful, awful. They had better fix this with iOS 18. The only thing that keeps this from being a failing grade is the improvement to the dictation recognition. But those improvements have already been eclipsed by Whisper-based transcription services, so Apple needs to get even better. |
| Safari | Profiles for separating work and personal browsing, improved Private Browsing, and enhanced search functionality. | C- I don’t use any of the Profile features. But they really need to add a feature to the Profiles/Tab Groups to allow you to open the same set of tabs when you set up for your browsing session. Right now, you can set up Tab Groups, but they will open to whatever pages you had open on a given tab when you shut down. On the Mac, I had to create a Keyboard Maestro workflow to open the same set of tabs to the same set of pages. That seems like table stakes for Apple and easy to implement. |
| Passwords and Passkeys | Shared passwords and passkeys with trusted contacts. | B+ Passkeys are a big big improvement. Just need more developers to implement them (which was why i gave this is a B+ rather than an A). The Password settings panel needs to be its own app, but its now nearly good enough to replace dedicated password manager apps like 1Password. |
| Health | New mental health features to log mood and momentary emotions | Inc I want to like this one but I just don’t feel like logging how i feel. They make it relatively easy but its just not a “me’ thing. |
| Health | Screen Distance feature to encourage holding devices at a safe distance. | Inc Despite having this turned on, I have never had it warn me. I guess that’s a good thing! |
| Maps | Offline maps support, enabling access to maps without an internet connection. | A This is well done. I did this for the area near home and it comes up automatically whenever I don’t have a cell signal. Sure beats the old “graph paper” screens that used to appear in such cases. i’ll be going to Alaska later this summer and we’ll see how it works there. |
| Music | Collaborative playlists to invite friends to add and edit music, and SharePlay integration in the car. | Inc Don’t use this. |
| AirPlay | Intelligent AirPlay suggestions and easy device connections. | Inc Don’t use this. |
| Home | New activity history in the Home app for locks, garage doors, and security systems. | C- Took a long time to show up (17.2?) and it was not clear immediately how this was to be operated. It’s spotty now for the devices it works for and needs to be expanded across other device types (i.e., lights). |
| Journal | A new app designed to help users reflect and practice gratitude through journaling. | B Another one I want to love but just don’t. Maybe it will be good to capture memories from my upcoming Alaska trip. But I really don’t want any more suggestions about “My Afternoon Trip to McDonalds”. |
| Visual Look Up | Extended capabilities to recognize pets, food, and landmarks in photos. | Inc Thought I’d use this one more. But mostly I use it to identify dogs. |
| Siri | Improved responsiveness and the ability to activate Siri by simply saying “Siri” instead of “Hey Siri”. | C This one was probably more to set things up for iOS 18 (and perhaps the Vocal Shortcuts accessibility feature announced last week). I find myself still saying “Hey Siri” from years of long practice. So kind of ”meh” |
| Privacy and Security,Enhanced privacy settings | new communication safety measures, and improved tracking prevention. | Inc It’s good to keep AirTags from stalking people. But so far that hasn’t impacted me so I’m giving this one an incomplete. |
| Accessibility | Assistive Access, Personal Voice for creating a synthesized voice, and Point and Speak for easier text interaction. | A I set this up and have never used it. Nevertheless, I am giving Apple an “A” for this one. No one ever expects to lose their ability to speak and this may soften the blow for some (and their families). It’s definitely an improvem over the creepy (though quite effective) SynthVoice Stephen Hawking had in his last years. |
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