iOS 17 may be much more than a maintenance update

AppleInsider

Apple's introduction of iOS 17 may provide more features than previously expected, with some highly requested features apparently on the table for inclusion in the release.

The big feature change of iOS 16 involved the lock screen.

Apple's annual refresh of iOS mixes together new features and big changes alongside other smaller elements that fix bugs and improve overall performance. While it was previously thought that iOS 17 may lean more towards the latter half of the equation, it seems that Apple's widening focus a little bit.

Writing in his "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman says iOS 17 was planned to be a bug-fix and performance-improvement release. The intention was to avoid problems demonstrated in iOS 16's release, which was ambitious but hampered by "missed deadlines and a buggy start."

However, Gurman now says that, at a late stage of the development process, "the strategy changed," and that several "nice to have" features will be included in the release. These features, under the codename "Dawn," is an effort meant to check off "several of users' most requested features."

Gurman doesn't state what the features will be, but understands that iOS 17 won't have a "tentpole improvement" like the lock screen revamp of iOS 16.

So far, there have been relatively few feature rumors for iOS 17, and for a bug fix and performance improvement release, that's to be expected. However, one sketchy rumor from October 2022 put forward that updates to iMessage involving a "new home," chat rooms, and AR chat features are apparently on the way.

Read on AppleInsider

slprescott

I assumed iOS 17 tentpole features would be support for the AR/VR headset. But… so few people may buy this first product (if the price is $3K) that focusing the iOS upgrade primarily on that product may be a mistake.

japhey

They need to fix the way apps are downloaded. I want the ability to choose my download location down to the page, folder, and it’s position within. The way we’ve been doing this for the last 16 years, where the new download just occupies the first available empty space, is awkward, inefficient, and outdated. The option to download directly to the App Library and bypass the home screen is a very small bandaid to a much larger problem. The iPhone will be entering its third decade in a few short years (!!!!)…it’s way past time that Apple addressed this oddity in iOS. 

dutchlord

“Tentpole improvements”…? Hilarious…

skeptical

Sigh. Rumor has it iOS 17 will allow the phone to make calls. These rumors have not yet been confirmed. Stay tuned for the tent pole. 

m68000

Simple idea,  let’s have the option to set the phone keypad screen to go away after being on a call.  This could help reduce “butt dialing”.  I hate when somehow my phone make calls without me intentionally doing it

anilu_777

I’d *really* like to see who’s read my message in a group iMessage chat. So many other apps have this and since all are on iOS it can’t be hard. If someone has read receipts off at least you’d see a Delivered for them and be able to request they turn on read receipts for that chat. 

edited March 2023

sigur

iOS 16.4 has brought some really neat improvements even though I agree with some folks who say it was really only tinkering around the edges and didn’t add any new wow features. But since iOS 14 started being rolled out some new & very useful features have been added - I can’t really think of any iOS changes that I personally wish Apple hadn’t released since iOS 14… I’m really keen to see what starts to be added/changed when iOS 17 starts to see the light of day.

discountopinion

Apple devices really are the operating system of my life. I hope that the improvements move the needle even further on their existing offerings and include some jaw dropping surprises.

Personally I would love if AAPL could:

Substantially improved Siri functionality and integration into the broader app eco system. 
1st party generative pre-trained transformer functionality integrated into Siri.
Full and native unreal engine or 1st party competitive alternative.

Substantially improved HomeKit functionality and automation. Ensure HomeKit automation is fully integrated with shortcuts on steroids. Like IFFT and/or iCloud based runners for cloud based jobs but for the rest of us.

Health:
----
1) Further improve Apple Health by adding a 4th ring on mental/brain health to include brain feedback devices, meditation & mindfulness as formal "close your ring" goals.
2) First party skin lesion/mole tracker. Using computer vision, lidar etc to map and track changes. Unfortunately a rapidly increasing health issue for many people.

Security:
----
3) Prepare and later launch 1st party security keys in a similar format to AirTags. 
4) Refine FindMy alerts and include some system event alerting into the service to better understand why a device is not reachable.. i.e last seen it had X% battery or received a device airplane or shutdown event.
5) Augment Pin unlocking with another option to only unlock if Apple Watch is very proximate to avoid these Pin shoulder surfing and device theft.
6) Add behavioural biometrics to pin unlock so that screen tap cadence and other indicators influence the unlock decision or step up auth with Apple Watch.


I could go on.

kmarei

Skeptical said:

Sigh. Rumor has it iOS 17 will allow the phone to make calls. These rumors have not yet been confirmed. Stay tuned for the tent pole. 

this would be new to AT&T users

chutzpah

Japhey said:

They need to fix the way apps are downloaded. I want the ability to choose my download location down to the page, folder, and it’s position within. The way we’ve been doing this for the last 16 years, where the new download just occupies the first available empty space, is awkward, inefficient, and outdated. The option to download directly to the App Library and bypass the home screen is a very small bandaid to a much larger problem. The iPhone will be entering its third decade in a few short years (!!!!)…it’s way past time that Apple addressed this oddity in iOS. 

That's about as far away from a "need to have" feature as I can imagine.

japhey

discountopinion said:

Apple devices really are the operating system of my life. I hope that the improvements move the needle even further on their existing offerings and include some jaw dropping surprises.

Personally I would love if AAPL could:

Substantially improved Siri functionality and integration into the broader app eco system. 
1st party generative pre-trained transformer functionality integrated into Siri.
Full and native unreal engine or 1st party competitive alternative.

Substantially improved HomeKit functionality and automation. Ensure HomeKit automation is fully integrated with shortcuts on steroids. Like IFFT and/or iCloud based runners for cloud based jobs but for the rest of us.

Health:
----
1) Further improve Apple Health by adding a 4th ring on mental/brain health to include brain feedback devices, meditation & mindfulness as formal "close your ring" goals.
2) First party skin lesion/mole tracker. Using computer vision, lidar etc to map and track changes. Unfortunately a rapidly increasing health issue for many people.

Security:
----
3) Prepare and later launch 1st party security keys in a similar format to AirTags. 
4) Refine FindMy alerts and include some system event alerting into the service to better understand why a device is not reachable.. i.e last seen it had X% battery or received a device airplane or shutdown event.
5) Augment Pin unlocking with another option to only unlock if Apple Watch is very proximate to avoid these Pin shoulder surfing and device theft.
6) Add behavioural biometrics to pin unlock so that screen tap cadence and other indicators influence the unlock decision or step up auth with Apple Watch.


I could go on.

Unreal engine? Seriously?

japhey

chutzpah said:

Japhey said:

They need to fix the way apps are downloaded. I want the ability to choose my download location down to the page, folder, and it’s position within. The way we’ve been doing this for the last 16 years, where the new download just occupies the first available empty space, is awkward, inefficient, and outdated. The option to download directly to the App Library and bypass the home screen is a very small bandaid to a much larger problem. The iPhone will be entering its third decade in a few short years (!!!!)…it’s way past time that Apple addressed this oddity in iOS. 

That's about as far away from a "need to have" feature as I can imagine.

I’m happy that you find the current way to be adequate enough for you. I have higher standards though, and the current method is clumsy and unintuitive. Better ways exist. 

Also…what exactly do you imagine is a “need to have” feature?

edited March 2023

discountopinion

Japhey said:

discountopinion said:

Apple devices really are the operating system of my life. I hope that the improvements move the needle even further on their existing offerings and include some jaw dropping surprises.

Personally I would love if AAPL could:

Substantially improved Siri functionality and integration into the broader app eco system. 
1st party generative pre-trained transformer functionality integrated into Siri.
Full and native unreal engine or 1st party competitive alternative.

Substantially improved HomeKit functionality and automation. Ensure HomeKit automation is fully integrated with shortcuts on steroids. Like IFFT and/or iCloud based runners for cloud based jobs but for the rest of us.

Health:
----
1) Further improve Apple Health by adding a 4th ring on mental/brain health to include brain feedback devices, meditation & mindfulness as formal "close your ring" goals.
2) First party skin lesion/mole tracker. Using computer vision, lidar etc to map and track changes. Unfortunately a rapidly increasing health issue for many people.

Security:
----
3) Prepare and later launch 1st party security keys in a similar format to AirTags. 
4) Refine FindMy alerts and include some system event alerting into the service to better understand why a device is not reachable.. i.e last seen it had X% battery or received a device airplane or shutdown event.
5) Augment Pin unlocking with another option to only unlock if Apple Watch is very proximate to avoid these Pin shoulder surfing and device theft.
6) Add behavioural biometrics to pin unlock so that screen tap cadence and other indicators influence the unlock decision or step up auth with Apple Watch.


I could go on.

Unreal engine? Seriously?

yes or a 1st party tech of similar quality.

Unreal engine 5.2 and Epic’s other tech is being heavily used in meta verse/digital twin and cinematic applications. It’s not a game engine per se anymore. Check out meta human tech, the nanites tech etc.

Some computer vision synthetic data for model training is done this way as an example for self driving cars.

Apple needs to be a leader in this.

fastasleep

M68000 said:

Simple idea,  let’s have the option to set the phone keypad screen to go away after being on a call.  This could help reduce “butt dialing”.  I hate when somehow my phone make calls without me intentionally doing it

As if it's the keypad that's making calls. ¯\(°_o)/¯ 

fastasleep

discountopinion said:

Japhey said:

discountopinion said:

Apple devices really are the operating system of my life. I hope that the improvements move the needle even further on their existing offerings and include some jaw dropping surprises.

Personally I would love if AAPL could:

Substantially improved Siri functionality and integration into the broader app eco system. 
1st party generative pre-trained transformer functionality integrated into Siri.
Full and native unreal engine or 1st party competitive alternative.

Substantially improved HomeKit functionality and automation. Ensure HomeKit automation is fully integrated with shortcuts on steroids. Like IFFT and/or iCloud based runners for cloud based jobs but for the rest of us.

Health:
----
1) Further improve Apple Health by adding a 4th ring on mental/brain health to include brain feedback devices, meditation & mindfulness as formal "close your ring" goals.
2) First party skin lesion/mole tracker. Using computer vision, lidar etc to map and track changes. Unfortunately a rapidly increasing health issue for many people.

Security:
----
3) Prepare and later launch 1st party security keys in a similar format to AirTags. 
4) Refine FindMy alerts and include some system event alerting into the service to better understand why a device is not reachable.. i.e last seen it had X% battery or received a device airplane or shutdown event.
5) Augment Pin unlocking with another option to only unlock if Apple Watch is very proximate to avoid these Pin shoulder surfing and device theft.
6) Add behavioural biometrics to pin unlock so that screen tap cadence and other indicators influence the unlock decision or step up auth with Apple Watch.


I could go on.

Unreal engine? Seriously?

yes or a 1st party tech of similar quality.

Unreal engine 5.2 and Epic’s other tech is being heavily used in meta verse/digital twin and cinematic applications. It’s not a game engine per se anymore. Check out meta human tech, the nanites tech etc.

Some computer vision synthetic data for model training is done this way as an example for self driving cars.

Apple needs to be a leader in this.

What on earth are you talking about? Unreal Engine exists for macOS. 

chutzpah

fastasleep said:

discountopinion said:

Japhey said:

discountopinion said:

Apple devices really are the operating system of my life. I hope that the improvements move the needle even further on their existing offerings and include some jaw dropping surprises.

Personally I would love if AAPL could:

Substantially improved Siri functionality and integration into the broader app eco system. 
1st party generative pre-trained transformer functionality integrated into Siri.
Full and native unreal engine or 1st party competitive alternative.

Substantially improved HomeKit functionality and automation. Ensure HomeKit automation is fully integrated with shortcuts on steroids. Like IFFT and/or iCloud based runners for cloud based jobs but for the rest of us.

Health:
----
1) Further improve Apple Health by adding a 4th ring on mental/brain health to include brain feedback devices, meditation & mindfulness as formal "close your ring" goals.
2) First party skin lesion/mole tracker. Using computer vision, lidar etc to map and track changes. Unfortunately a rapidly increasing health issue for many people.

Security:
----
3) Prepare and later launch 1st party security keys in a similar format to AirTags. 
4) Refine FindMy alerts and include some system event alerting into the service to better understand why a device is not reachable.. i.e last seen it had X% battery or received a device airplane or shutdown event.
5) Augment Pin unlocking with another option to only unlock if Apple Watch is very proximate to avoid these Pin shoulder surfing and device theft.
6) Add behavioural biometrics to pin unlock so that screen tap cadence and other indicators influence the unlock decision or step up auth with Apple Watch.


I could go on.

Unreal engine? Seriously?

yes or a 1st party tech of similar quality.

Unreal engine 5.2 and Epic’s other tech is being heavily used in meta verse/digital twin and cinematic applications. It’s not a game engine per se anymore. Check out meta human tech, the nanites tech etc.

Some computer vision synthetic data for model training is done this way as an example for self driving cars.

Apple needs to be a leader in this.

What on earth are you talking about? Unreal Engine exists for macOS. 

This is an iOS thread.  Though Unreal Engine is supported on iOS so heaven knows what they're talking about, or how they think Fortnite exists on iOS without Unreal Engine.

discountopinion

chutzpah said:

fastasleep said:

discountopinion said:

Japhey said:

discountopinion said:

Apple devices really are the operating system of my life. I hope that the improvements move the needle even further on their existing offerings and include some jaw dropping surprises.

Personally I would love if AAPL could:

Substantially improved Siri functionality and integration into the broader app eco system. 
1st party generative pre-trained transformer functionality integrated into Siri.
Full and native unreal engine or 1st party competitive alternative.

Substantially improved HomeKit functionality and automation. Ensure HomeKit automation is fully integrated with shortcuts on steroids. Like IFFT and/or iCloud based runners for cloud based jobs but for the rest of us.

Health:
----
1) Further improve Apple Health by adding a 4th ring on mental/brain health to include brain feedback devices, meditation & mindfulness as formal "close your ring" goals.
2) First party skin lesion/mole tracker. Using computer vision, lidar etc to map and track changes. Unfortunately a rapidly increasing health issue for many people.

Security:
----
3) Prepare and later launch 1st party security keys in a similar format to AirTags. 
4) Refine FindMy alerts and include some system event alerting into the service to better understand why a device is not reachable.. i.e last seen it had X% battery or received a device airplane or shutdown event.
5) Augment Pin unlocking with another option to only unlock if Apple Watch is very proximate to avoid these Pin shoulder surfing and device theft.
6) Add behavioural biometrics to pin unlock so that screen tap cadence and other indicators influence the unlock decision or step up auth with Apple Watch.


I could go on.

Unreal engine? Seriously?

yes or a 1st party tech of similar quality.

Unreal engine 5.2 and Epic’s other tech is being heavily used in meta verse/digital twin and cinematic applications. It’s not a game engine per se anymore. Check out meta human tech, the nanites tech etc.

Some computer vision synthetic data for model training is done this way as an example for self driving cars.

Apple needs to be a leader in this.

What on earth are you talking about? Unreal Engine exists for macOS. 

This is an iOS thread.  Though Unreal Engine is supported on iOS so heaven knows what they're talking about, or how they think Fortnite exists on iOS without Unreal Engine.

Implicit communication is sometimes dangerous I have to admit. Unreal engine is there as a statement of capability and I do mention 1st party engine in the same sentence.

To make it crystal clear then - Apple to include 1st party engine of similar or better capability to the offerings from Epic (maker of Unreal tech). 

Epic games is openly hostile to Apple and thus is not a reliable partner long term while Epic's core technologies is progressively becoming a corner stone of many workflows in both creative industries and wider industry (manufacturing, Pharma etc) and also in key machine learning workflows. Epic's founder mentioned in his recent keynote that Apple is a threat to his metaverse strategy.

The tech is simply becoming too mass transformational and strategic for industry to ignore. Apple is missing from the field here and thus I am hoping there will be a monumental announcement of a 1st party push for ios17. (and if in iOS then of course also a 1st party push into macOS)..

edited March 2023

fastasleep

discountopinion said:

chutzpah said:

fastasleep said:

discountopinion said:

Japhey said:

discountopinion said:

Apple devices really are the operating system of my life. I hope that the improvements move the needle even further on their existing offerings and include some jaw dropping surprises.

Personally I would love if AAPL could:

Substantially improved Siri functionality and integration into the broader app eco system. 
1st party generative pre-trained transformer functionality integrated into Siri.
Full and native unreal engine or 1st party competitive alternative.

Substantially improved HomeKit functionality and automation. Ensure HomeKit automation is fully integrated with shortcuts on steroids. Like IFFT and/or iCloud based runners for cloud based jobs but for the rest of us.

Health:
----
1) Further improve Apple Health by adding a 4th ring on mental/brain health to include brain feedback devices, meditation & mindfulness as formal "close your ring" goals.
2) First party skin lesion/mole tracker. Using computer vision, lidar etc to map and track changes. Unfortunately a rapidly increasing health issue for many people.

Security:
----
3) Prepare and later launch 1st party security keys in a similar format to AirTags. 
4) Refine FindMy alerts and include some system event alerting into the service to better understand why a device is not reachable.. i.e last seen it had X% battery or received a device airplane or shutdown event.
5) Augment Pin unlocking with another option to only unlock if Apple Watch is very proximate to avoid these Pin shoulder surfing and device theft.
6) Add behavioural biometrics to pin unlock so that screen tap cadence and other indicators influence the unlock decision or step up auth with Apple Watch.


I could go on.

Unreal engine? Seriously?

yes or a 1st party tech of similar quality.

Unreal engine 5.2 and Epic’s other tech is being heavily used in meta verse/digital twin and cinematic applications. It’s not a game engine per se anymore. Check out meta human tech, the nanites tech etc.

Some computer vision synthetic data for model training is done this way as an example for self driving cars.

Apple needs to be a leader in this.

What on earth are you talking about? Unreal Engine exists for macOS. 

This is an iOS thread.  Though Unreal Engine is supported on iOS so heaven knows what they're talking about, or how they think Fortnite exists on iOS without Unreal Engine.

Implicit communication is sometimes dangerous I have to admit. Unreal engine is there as a statement of capability and I do mention 1st party engine in the same sentence.

To make it crystal clear then - Apple to include 1st party engine of similar or better capability to the offerings from Epic (maker of Unreal tech). 

Epic games is openly hostile to Apple and thus is not a reliable partner long term while Epic's core technologies is progressively becoming a corner stone of many workflows in both creative industries and wider industry (manufacturing, Pharma etc) and also in key machine learning workflows. Epic's founder mentioned in his recent keynote that Apple is a threat to his metaverse strategy.

The tech is simply becoming too mass transformational and strategic for industry to ignore. Apple is missing from the field here and thus I am hoping there will be a monumental announcement of a 1st party push for ios17. (and if in iOS then of course also a 1st party push into macOS)..

What do you mean, "Unreal engine is there as a statement of capability"? It's been used in probably hundreds of iOS apps by now. Remember Infinity Blade in 2010? Unreal Engine.

As far as Apple creating a bespoke engine for their own platform... that defeats the purpose of cross-platform engines that can publish to all the various targets, and even if they did want to offer their own on top of UE, Unity, etc — Epic has put *25 years* into Unreal Engine so far. That's not something Apple can beat much less match anytime soon in providing a new first party tool. There's zero reason to cut off third party engines from their ecosystem. Developers aren't going to develop a cross platform game/app and then go start over from scratch for Apple's platforms because they no longer allow game engine x. It's lose/lose across the board.

Tim Sweeney is full of shit. He just wants to get around the App Store. Epic is absolutely committed to Unreal Engine on the Mac. 5.2 which just released is native for Apple Silicon. You can bet they'll have a presence on realityOS as soon as they can integrate that target into UE.

Apple will of course keep expanding on RealityKIt, Metal, and all the other frameworks/APIs that go into creating experiences on their platforms. Third party game engines will continue to integrate with those things, as they have been.

edited March 2023

japhey

discountopinion said:

Japhey said:

discountopinion said:

Apple devices really are the operating system of my life. I hope that the improvements move the needle even further on their existing offerings and include some jaw dropping surprises.

Personally I would love if AAPL could:

Substantially improved Siri functionality and integration into the broader app eco system. 
1st party generative pre-trained transformer functionality integrated into Siri.
Full and native unreal engine or 1st party competitive alternative.

Substantially improved HomeKit functionality and automation. Ensure HomeKit automation is fully integrated with shortcuts on steroids. Like IFFT and/or iCloud based runners for cloud based jobs but for the rest of us.

Health:
----
1) Further improve Apple Health by adding a 4th ring on mental/brain health to include brain feedback devices, meditation & mindfulness as formal "close your ring" goals.
2) First party skin lesion/mole tracker. Using computer vision, lidar etc to map and track changes. Unfortunately a rapidly increasing health issue for many people.

Security:
----
3) Prepare and later launch 1st party security keys in a similar format to AirTags. 
4) Refine FindMy alerts and include some system event alerting into the service to better understand why a device is not reachable.. i.e last seen it had X% battery or received a device airplane or shutdown event.
5) Augment Pin unlocking with another option to only unlock if Apple Watch is very proximate to avoid these Pin shoulder surfing and device theft.
6) Add behavioural biometrics to pin unlock so that screen tap cadence and other indicators influence the unlock decision or step up auth with Apple Watch.


I could go on.

Unreal engine? Seriously?

yes or a 1st party tech of similar quality.

Unreal engine 5.2 and Epic’s other tech is being heavily used in meta verse/digital twin and cinematic applications. It’s not a game engine per se anymore. Check out meta human tech, the nanites tech etc.

Some computer vision synthetic data for model training is done this way as an example for self driving cars.

Apple needs to be a leader in this.

I agree that Apple needs to be a leader in this area. And I’m aware of the growing influence of Unreal and the importance of it in a wide variety of industries. But you had it right when you said “1st party competitive alternative”. There should be no “or” anywhere in that sentence. If Apple wants to be a leader here, there can be no other option than to do it their own way. Plus, fuck Epic.