iOS 17: 10 Features You Might Not Know About

[MacRumors]

iOS 17 has been available for a few months now, but there are so many new features in the update that some have gone under the radar. There are also hidden settings and little tweaks and changes that you might not know about, so we thought we'd round up some of the lesser-known iOS 17 features.

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• Messages - If you hold down the "+" button in the Messages app, you can get right to the photo picker to send an image. It's quicker than tapping "+" and then tapping on Photos to get to your images.
• Links in Mail - To add a link to text in the Mail app, copy a link, select the text, and then paste it to turn the text into a hyperlink.
• Add Text to Shapes - In the Photos app, if you've added a shape to an image using Markup, double tap it to be able to insert text.
• Laundry Symbols - You can use the Visual Look Up feature on the iPhone to figure out what a laundry symbol means. Just take a picture and tap on the Visual Look Up symbol in the Photos app to get symbol information.
• Apple Watch Ping - In the Control Center, there's a new option to ping your Apple Watch from your iPhone in case you misplace your Apple Watch.
• Focus Mode Silence Notifications - When setting up a Focus Mode, you can now choose to silence notifications always or only when the iPhone is locked.
• Journal App Lock - If you want to keep your journal entries secure, you can turn on the "Lock Journal" option in the Settings app to require Face ID to open up the Journal app.
• Journaling Schedule - Having trouble remembering to use the Journal app? Enable Journaling Schedule in the Journal section of the Settings app to get a reminder to add a journal entry at a specific day and time.
• Adjust Haptic Touch Speed - Under Accessibility > Touch > Haptic Touch you can adjust the time that it takes to activate content with a long press. Options include fast, default, and slow, and the fast setting makes haptic touch feel closer to the now-removed 3D Touch feature.
• Shake to Undo - If you've move a Home Screen app or a widget and then change your mind on the position, you can use a shake to undo gesture to put the apps and widgets back where they were before you made the adjustment.

Know of a hidden iOS 17 feature that we didn't mention here? Let us know in the comments below.

Article Link: iOS 17: 10 Features You Might Not Know About

 

[jz0309]

Thanks for posting, very helpful!

Amazing that you can lick the journal app via faceid but not the mail app ;(

 

[preetb]

The only useful feature is the + in messages.

 

[Makosuke]

I actually used the laundry one last week. Got a coat with a frustratingly wordless tag, vaguely remembered reading that was a new feature somewhere, so gave it a go. Worked as advertised!

 

[armhol]

Thanks for posting, very helpful!

Amazing that you can lick the journal app via faceid but not the mail app ;(

That’s because the Mail app tastes weird!

 

[klasma]

Amazing that you can lick the journal app via faceid

Pics, please!

 

[phenste]

so glad y’all said something about the Laundry Care feature. found out about that last night through, of all places, Instagram—was a lil peeved I didn’t know about it as someone who’s usually privy to all the little new features 😂

 

[Lloigorr]

Thank you! Changing the speed of Haptic Touch is great! Feels like my old iPhone 7 3D Touch again ❤️

 

[klasma]

Links in Mail

Finally! Does this also work in Notes?

 

[brijazz]

The only useful feature is the + in messages.

The Focus Mode one is pretty handy, I'd say!

 

[QuarterSwede]

Messages Photos shortcut is AMAZING. Worth the read alone. I don’t use Mail but that was a reason I don’t so it’s great to see it’s been added. Already knew about the haptic speed up but for those who didn’t it’s much closer to 3D Touch now.

 

[DigitalAR]

The only useful feature is the + in messages.

That was a cool tip, but also the penultimate one in regards to the Haptic Touch speed is pretty awesome as well.

 

[JoJoe2k]

So happy to learn about the links in Mail! Thanks!!!

 

[Chazak]

The only useful feature is the + in messages.

You are not jumping up and down with joy over the new journaling app?

 

[bn-7bc]

Well imho the 2 most useful features in ios 17 is yet to come Sideloafing ( at least for those of us locky enugh to live in the EU/EEA) and rcs ( well if it manages to sneak in before IOS 18 that is)

 

[ThomasJL]

More features, more bugs. Why not a Snow Leopard-style iOS focusing on fixing the numerous bugs that have existed for years? Tim Cook, being the mediocre MBA suit that he is, probably determined that wouldn't generate as much money, so that's probably why it's not happening.

 

[CPx]

• Focus Mode Silence Notifications - When setting up a Focus Mode, you can now choose to silence notifications always or only when the iPhone is locked.

Finally! It's back!

 

[I7guy]

Great summary! Thank you.

 

[sdf]

I actually used the laundry one last week. Got a coat with a frustratingly wordless tag, vaguely remembered reading that was a new feature somewhere, so gave it a go. Worked as advertised!

I downloaded an app for this already, and it sounds like it has a better workflow than the built-in functionality. But it's still good to know about.

 

[svish]

Long pressing + in Messages to open photo picker is really useful. Visual lookup has also improved in iOS 17

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Wow! Will these features be coming to iPhoneOS 17 and iPadOS 17?

 

[zpjet]

While we’re on the plus button in Messages… as expected, you can re-arrange items in the menu by long touch.

 

[ninecows]

That’s because the Mail app tastes weird!

PM me your email address and I will send you a sweet email 😂

 

[QuarterSwede]

While we’re on the plus button in Messages… as expected, you can re-arrange items in the menu by long touch.

Yes! I finally have #images up on the main (first) section. Thank you!

Don’t judge me!

 

[FlunkedFlank]

• Focus Mode Silence Notifications - When setting up a Focus Mode, you can now choose to silence notifications always or only when the iPhone is locked.

Finally! It's back!

Sigh. It's taken years to come back, but they didn't do it correctly. Before they broke this in iOS 15, if you were in DND mode you would see banner notifications while using the phone, but the notifications were always silent, including no vibration. But with this new switch the notifications will make a sound (if mute is off) and always vibrate. This totally defeats the purpose of the option, e.g. if lying in bed late at night and still using your phone. They really ought to just make it work like it used to, or at least add yet another option to disable sound and vibration on notifications while using the phone in a Focus Mode.