Everything New in iOS 17.1 Beta 1

[MacRumors]

Just a week after releasing iOS 17, Apple has seeded the first beta of iOS 17.1 to developers. iOS 17.1 adds some features that Apple promised were coming to iOS 17 in the future, plus it refines and improves some existing features.

This guide covers everything new in the first iOS 17.1 beta.

Apple Music Favorites

You can favorite songs, albums, playlists, and artists in the iOS 17.1 Music app. Favorited music is added to the Library and improves recommendations. Favoriting replaces the prior "Love" system and favoriting can be done from the Lock Screen's Now Playing widget.

A star next to a track in an album means that it's a favorite, while a dot is next to the most played track. With the favorites system, the Music app is suggesting songs to add to playlists.

Eventually, Apple plans to provide a Favorite Songs playlist and offer collaborative playlists, but these features do not appear to be implemented as of yet.

Apple Music Playlists

iOS 17 provides color-matched playlist artwork options that can be selected as a new customization option for your playlists. There are eight artwork styles that feature geometric shapes and gradients, with the colors featured pulled from the album artwork of the first song in the playlist.

AirDrop

AirDrop transfers can now be completed over a cellular connection or Wi-Fi if you walk out of the range of the person you're sharing with. That means you will not have to stay close to someone if you are transferring a large number of files.

There is a new "Out of Range" toggle in the AirDrop section of the Settings menu that you can toggle to allow or disallow transfers over cellular.

NameDrop on Apple Watch

With watchOS 10.1 and iOS 17.1, an Apple Watch and an iPhone can now be used to exchange contact information through the NameDrop feature.

Ringtones and Text Tones

The more than 20 new ringtones and text tones that were added in the launch version of iOS 17 have disappeared in the first beta of iOS 17.1, but Apple will likely re-add them in a later update.

Custom tones for Mail and Messages have been re-added.

UK Bank Balances in the Wallet App

UK users can add their UK bank accounts to the Wallet app in iOS 17.1, allowing them to see their account balances, payments, purchases, and deposits.

Books App

The "Reading Now" section in the Apple Books app has been renamed to "Read Now."

Journal App

There is no sign of the promised Journal app in iOS 17.1, but there are mentions of Journaling Suggestions in the code, which indicates that it could be coming before too long.

Dynamic Island Flashlight Indicator

When the flashlight is activated on an iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 15, or iPhone 15 Plus, there is now a flashlight icon in the Dynamic Island that lets you know that It is on. The flashlight icon for the Dynamic Island was previously limited to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Controller Support

iOS 17.1 includes support for the Nintendo Switch N64 Controller.

Extend Wallpaper

When you are setting up a new wallpaper, Apple has added an "Extend" option that can be used if the image does not fit the display.

Photo Shuffle

When you add a Photo Shuffle Lock Screen in iOS 17, you can select a specific album of photos that will be shown on the Lock Screen rather than having to rely on Apple's pre-selected options like People, Pets, or Nature.

When selecting any of the main Photo Shuffle images, you're brought into a customization screen where you can choose your Favorites album or opt for any other album you have created, giving you complete control over the images that show up on the Lock Screen. There was previously a tool for manually selecting photos, but being able to choose an entire album is quicker.

Photo Shuffle frequency remains the same at on tap, on lock, hourly, or daily.

Reachability

On iPhones with a Dynamic Island, you'll now see a black background when you use the Reachability feature. In prior versions of iOS 17, a blurred version of the device's wallpaper was shown. The change to a black background prevents the Dynamic Island from being displayed twice when Reachability is used.

More iOS 17.1 Beta 1 Features

Know of a feature that we left out in this list? Let us know in the comments below.

Article Link: Everything New in iOS 17.1 Beta 1

 

[Ashton07]

I just want side loading to come

 

[DotCom2]

I just want the
Journal app

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

I just want side loading to come

march

 

[tomtad]

There is no sign of the promised Journal app in iOS 17.1

A bit like AirPower I think the Journal app will be quietly forgotten

 

[dontwalkhand]

Can we get that bank balance thing to Chase in the US? That would be awesome!

 

[sjsharksfan12]

I don't want to add favorites to the library. It should have been in a different playlist. Now when I download 17.1 it sounds like I have to clean up the entire Library and start over. What was apple thinking there.

 

[hch720]

Does anybody know how to set the Lock Screen media player or dynamic island with 10 second rewind/forward buttons instead of previous/next track buttons?

 

[ApostolisApo]

I held my breath for any mention of Spatial Video but there was none.
The twist here is that I don't want Spatial Video to be released even in beta before I get my own Pro Max

 

[mrfunnypenguin]

Finally! When I switched from Spotify to Apple Music almost 2 years ago I really did miss the playlist suggestions. Apple really is taking a cue from Spotify!

 

[ohthehorror]

How about letting me create my own ringing tones.

 

[ios3]

I swear that list of songs came from my iPhone 😂

 

[RLRabb]

I swear that list of songs came from my iPhone 😂

I was thinking the same, but, you know, my phone.

 

[A_A]

About time Apple Music gets a feature that Pandora had since day 1. Maybe in another 7 years, they will add the dislike feature that will automatically skip the song that was disliked.

 

[now i see it]

I just want the
Journal app

When you discover the painful reality of a diary tied to iOS- you’ll change your mind.

 

[bbfc]

The UK bank balances feature is cool. Seems to work with banks that support Open Banking only?

 

[antnythr]

How about letting me create my own ringing tones.

But how will Apple make money off that? Have you not thought about this?

 

[Jt69yupper]

I like the new tones better. The old notification is so jarring. The new tones are less obnoxious.Please bring them back Apple.

 

[JippaLippa]

I like the music updates, however I hope I'll still be able to avoid liked songs to be added to the library.
I only like loving songs to organize my library and provide better suggestions.

 

[AppleInLVX]

Let me guess, I'l *still* get endless recommendations on the front screen for artists that Apple should have learned ages ago I'm simply not interested in. You can keep the whole genre of Rap, and yet here come the recommendations.

 

[akac]

But how will Apple make money off that? Have you not thought about this?

You’ve been able to create your own tones for years. Apple doesn’t provide the app to do it on the phone, that’s all.

 

[H_D]

I just want the
Journal app

How about DayOne or Stoic. Both subscription based, but both really well worth it.

 

[akac]

For the record, I installed 17.1 dev beta and I still have all the new ring tones.

 

[youknownow]

Annoyingly, this didn’t fix the dictation sound still playing when on silent mode (15 PM)

 

[sjsharksfan12]

I like the music updates, however I hope I'll still be able to avoid liked songs to be added to the library.
I only like loving songs to organize my library and provide better suggestions.

Now I'm kind of confused about this. I just watched Zollotech's video and he showed the whole filtering thing that is now part of the library. I like that. What is giving me pause is if I like a song from the "New Music Mix" playlist, I don't necessarily want that song added to my personal library. I'm trying to keep some semblance of songs and albums in my library. It's one thing I didn't like about Spotify. On one hand, I want albums in my library. On the other I don't want single songs from 50 different albums clogging up my library. I don't have to like every song on said album. There's actually a lot of albums where there is a song I might not like, but I keep it because it's part of the album.

I hope that makes some sense because it may come across as a bit rambling.