iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, Apple’s next major updates for the iPhone and iPad, are now available to download.
With iOS 17, some of the biggest new features come to phone calls. Apple’s new Contact Posters let you pick a photo (or Memoji) and font that fill up the screen when you give someone a call. Live Voicemail will show you a real-time transcript as someone is leaving you a message. The end call button is also in a slightly new spot. Messages gets some improvements, too, including a new way to access iMessage apps, and thanks to iOS 17’s upgraded autocorrect, hopefully your texts will have fewer typos.
One particularly cool iOS 17 feature is StandBy. Turn your iPhone into landscape mode when it’s charging, and the screen can show things like a big clock, different widgets, and photos. My colleague David Pierce called it his “favorite new iPhone feature in years.”
There are a bunch of other features I didn’t get to here, but you can read a lot more about iOS 17 in Allison Johnson’s preview of the beta. Just know that if you’re still holding onto an iPhone X or iPhone 8, you won’t be able to get the update.
With iPadOS 17, perhaps the most noticeable change is that you’ll be able to personalize your lock screen in a way that’s similar to what Apple added to iPhones with iOS 16. The update adds interactive widgets — a feature that’s available in iOS 17, too. Stage Manager got some much-needed improvements, too.
Apple also released tvOS 17, and Chris Welch argues that the update marks a quietly big year for the Apple TV and tvOS.
Update September 18th, 1:29PM ET: Added details about tvOS 17.