Apple iOS 17 Review | PCMag

Apple’s iOS 17 is a feature-packed update to the popular mobile operating system, but don’t expect revolutionary changes to your iPhone. Instead, iOS 17 offers numerous convenient changes, big and small. Significant additions, like a new Standby mode landscape display and customizable Contact Posters, steal the show. However, AirDrop, Messages, Notes, Safari, voicemail, and many other features get notable enhancements that result in an impressively polished, useful, and entertaining iPhone experience. For its many improvements, iOS 17 earns our Editors’ Choice award for mobile operating systems.

What iPhones Can Run Apple iOS 17?

As with previous iOS releases, some older iPhones are incompatible with the latest version of the operating system. With iOS 17, iPhone X and older devices are left out in the cold (though they’ll still receive iOS 16 updates). If you want to download iOS 17, you must own an iPhone XR, XS, SE (second generation or later), or newer handset. Check out our story on how to get iOS 17 for download instructions.

Major New Features in iOS 17

iOS 17 has many substantial features that offer fresh ways to customize and use your iPhone. We’ll explore the biggest new additions here, starting with Standby.

Standby is a cool new mode that your iPhone enters when you place it horizontally on a dock or stand. Think of it as a “nightstand mode.” In Standby, the screen displays several useful widgets, including music, weather, stocks, and multiple clock and calendar displays. Swiping left on the display launches Photos.

Standby’s soft red color scheme in the dark (Credit: Apple, PCMag)

Standby also detects light in your room, adjusting the iPhone’s screen. If it’s dark, Standby’s usually white widgets adopt a soft, red color scheme. The glowing red font and dark screen make for a fantastic bedside display. In addition, you can set your iPhone to detect motion and automatically activate the display. You can disable Standby in Settings, but it’s such a convenient new feature that you likely won’t want to go without it.

With the arrival of iOS 17.1, Standby now lets you adjust when the display turns off—a feature available on iPhone 14 and iPhone 15. You can set the display to turn off automatically, after 20 seconds, or never. In Automatic mode, the display powers down when your room is dark and the iPhone isn’t in use. It’s a useful option, especially if you find your iPhone’s glowing clock face distracting.

Customize your contact card with Contact Posters (Credit: Apple, PCMag)

Contact Posters is a new feature that lets you customize your contact card. This lets you tweak the contact photo, color scheme, and font style you want to appear when calling other people. Although relatively simple, customizing a contact card is extremely satisfying. You can never have too much personalization.

Widgets are now dynamic, so you can interact with apps without opening them. Widgets have been a core feature on Android phones for years, so it’s nice to see Apple competing in the same field. With iOS 17’s widgets, you can finally play and pause Apple Music or other media straight from the home screen.

If you have a favorite contact saved as a widget, you can call or message that person from there instead of opening the Contacts or Phone apps. These are great additions, but not all widgets have this level of interactivity; Contacts, Home, Music, News, Podcasts, and Safari are the current handful that offer this level of functionality. That said, we can expect more first and third-party widgets to follow suit now that iOS 17 is widely available.

Overall, customization in iOS 17 has improved this year, though there are still a few shortcomings we would like to see addressed. For instance, the unique multilayered Lock Screen photo effect introduced in iOS 16 is still somewhat finicky and doesn’t work with as many photos as we would like. Likewise, the dynamic Widgets are an awesome new addition, but they’re only usable on the home screen. This limitation keeps your iPhone’s presentation slick and stylish, but at the cost of some functionality.

Sharing Is Caring

With iOS 17, you can share files, contacts, or photos via AirDrop by bringing your iPhone near another iPhone. Previously, you had to select the media you wanted to share, and then the device you wanted to share it to (Android 14 has similar functionality with Nearby Share). The functionality is much improved in iOS 17, as it doesn’t require you to open a menu to search for devices. You simply tap your iPhone with another iPhone—or lay them on top of one another—to initiate a file transfer. Note that the image or video must be displayed on your handset’s screen to use AirDrop.

This same functionality applies to exchanging contact information. Called NameDrop, it lets you share contact info with another person by tapping iPhones. Of course, you must confirm that you want to send and receive the information, so you can’t stealthily snatch it from someone. You can also set your iPhone to strictly receive information, so you don’t have to worry about accidentally sharing personal info.

With the 17.1 update, AirDrop now supports Wi-Fi data transfers whenever you step out of Bluetooth range. We tested this feature by initiating a transfer of a one-minute-long video between an iPhone 14 Pro Max and an iPhone 11 placed 100 feet away. This considerably slowed the AirDrop transfer. When within Bluetooth range, the video transferred in roughly five seconds; when in Wi-Fi range, the video transferred in roughly a minute.

AirDrop and NameDrop are surprisingly intuitive to use in practice. The classic AirDrop ping sound effect now has a humming crescendo that signifies that the phones are connecting, and there is even a neat graphical effect that glides over your screen to represent the data being scanned. The process is a bit finicky at times; you can potentially interrupt the exchange and need to start over if you pull your device away too quickly. Apple is in the process of refining how these features work, so if you move the phones out of range after the initiating tap, or if the file is particularly large, the data transfer continues over Wi-Fi. With the release of iOS 17.1, this feature is now live, so you can continue sharing files while on the move.

Chronicle Your Life With the Journal App

Apple’s long-awaited Journal app launched with iOS 17.2 and gives iPhone users an excellent tool to record their daily activities. With Journal, you can jot down your thoughts; tag locations; or insert voice recordings, photographs, and video. The app is easy to use and offers various tools to keep the creative juices flowing. For instance, you can enable push notifications to create a schedule for consistent writing, allow microphone access to voice record your entries, and enable camera functionality to snap videos or photos. This media exists only within Journal, unless you enable sharing with your Photos library. If you have writer’s block, the app also offers suggestions for you to reflect and expound upon.

Journal helps you chronicle your daily activities (Credit: Apple, PCMag)

To get started, the Journal app asks whether you would like to enable location services and push notifications. After that, simply tap the plus button at the bottom of the screen and start typing. Naturally, your Journal entries are saved chronologically, letting you craft a convenient blog that you can peruse and edit whenever you wish.

Concerned about security? Your Journal’s entries are encrypted whenever your iPhone is locked with a passcode. For additional protection, you can enable a secondary passcode, Face ID, or Touch ID. As mentioned, photos and video saved in your Journal can only be viewed within the app, so your intimate thoughts and images remain truly private. However, you can choose to save these to your Photos library via Settings.

Messaging Made Easier

The Messages app receives several improvements, too. The most notable difference is the absence of icons on the iPhone keyboard. Apple moved them to a separate menu that you can access via the plus button. Likewise, audio messages no longer require you to hold the voice record button to save your message. In a nice touch, you can preview a message before sending it.

You can edit messages in iOS 17 (Credit: Apple, PCMag)

You can now swipe to reply to a specific message. Previously, you needed to press and hold a message, and then select reply before typing a response. iOS 17 lets you simply swipe the message, which causes your iPhone to open its keyboard. It’s a far less clumsy messaging experience. In addition, autocorrect is a little less obnoxious now. It still automatically readjusts misspelled words, but it also underlines the word. As a result, autocorrect lets you tap the underlined word to change it back to the original word or select a suggested word.

Photo Stickers are another addictive new feature in iOS 17. Click a photo’s subject to highlight it, then select Add Sticker to add the freshly cropped image to your sticker list. You can give these stickers unique graphical effects, like holographic reflections and outlines, and slap them into all of your conversations for extra fun. Keep in mind that these are iOS-specific graphics, so Android users cannot see them, unfortunately.

Spice up your messages with Stickers (Credit: Apple, PCMag)

More importantly, Messages lets you share your location with other people. Naturally, you only want to do this with someone you know and trust. You do so by selecting your recipient’s name or icon at the top of the window. From here, you can select Request Location or Share My Location. This is a fantastic option if you or a loved one is traveling. You can share your location with another person for one hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely. This feature works in conjunction with Maps for easy route sharing.

Both Share My Location and the Maps utility are impressively accurate. My partner was able to follow my progress around our neighborhood, as well as across town, with no hiccups or issues. It may not be a feature that you fire up daily, but it could be a godsend while traveling.

Other Notable iOS 17 Features

Beyond iOS 17’s most prominent features, Apple’s operating system comes with countless smaller tweaks, enhancements, and improvements. For example, animations are smoother, which makes transitioning between screens a cleaner experience. Beyond these flourishes, numerous apps and settings receive fresh iOS 17 touches. Here are just a handful of the changes we’ve noticed during testing:

• Maps receives offline options that let you download a map to use when not connected to the internet. Additionally, you can now call a person who shared their location with you.

• If a caller leaves a voicemail, your iPhone dictates the message on the phone screen in real time, making it easier to decide if you want to take the call or not. This works regardless of whether you are receiving a call from an iPhone or Android device.

• The Camera app has a level function you can toggle on and off in Settings. This makes aligning your shots a cinch. When recording video, you can now lock the white balance, so you don’t need to worry about the iPhone automatically adjusting it as you move the handset.

• The Photos app receives a few pleasant improvements, too. When you zoom, a Crop pill appears in the screen’s top-right corner. This lets you go straight into the editing window to make adjustments in a far more seamless fashion than before. Apple has also streamlined the editing tools.

• iOS 17 lets you recover recently deleted passwords. Deleted passwords are stored in their own Recently Deleted section, and can be recovered within a 30-day window.

• With the Health app, you can now set it to send a follow-up reminder for medications. This triggers if you fail to log your medication after 30 minutes. Physical Effort is a new feature that measures the effort you exert with tasks, making it a useful litmus test for activity.

• Safari now features a new trick: listening. By selecting the Reader View menu (represented by the AA icon in the address bar) and then Listen to Page from the pop-up menu, you can make your iPhone dictate the on-screen text.

• Safari lets you create browser profiles that you can customize with distinct icons, specific Favorites, and designated extensions.

• Privacy and Security has a new Sensitive Content Warning setting. This is off by default, but it automatically blurs nudity in photos and videos (you must tap the image to view the content within). This is a handy feature if you share your phone with children.

• Finally, Apple Music gets a few updates, including color-changing cover art, more visible song suggestions, and the ability to select favorite songs, albums, and playlists. It also adds more filtering options. The new favoriting options are great ways to organize your music, and the additional suggestions are wonderful for musical discovery. The dynamic cover art is harder to spot, since this feature only applies to select tracks and albums.

The Best iPhone Operating System Yet

Generally speaking, you should wait a bit before installing a new operating system so that developers have time to smooth out potentially serious launch-day bugs. However, iOS 17 is a fantastic update that arrives with considerable polish. There’s a lot to like about its new customization and Standby features, but it’s the numerous smaller refinements that truly make iOS 17 a top-tier mobile operating system—and it will only get better as new features are released next year. As such, it’s well worthy of our Editors’ Choice award.