What the Tech? iOS 17 in beta
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(ABC 6 News) – Anytime Apple releases a new version of its iOS for iPhone people are ready to download and start using the new features. And why not? iOS 17 has some excellent features for some things you use every day.
Live transcription of incoming voicemails. If someone calls and you either can’t (or don’t want to) answer the phone, when they begin leaving a voicemail you’ll be able to see a live transcription of what they’re saying on your screen. This allows you to see a preview of what they want to say before you decide if you want to answer the call or let it stay in voicemail. Facetime video messages. When you attempt to contact someone over
Facetime and they don’t answer, you can record a video message they can view later and send you a video message reply.
There are new emoji in iOS 17 including the shaking face, a variety of hearts in pink, grey, and light blue, a donkey, moose, goose, hair pick, and jellyfish.
One of my favorite new features is Nightstand Mode. Plug your phone into a charger and turn it horizontally and the phone screen automatically turns into a full-screen clock and calendar. This may cause a lot of bedside alarm clocks to be discarded. It’s a beautiful screen that you can customize with widgets and a variety of styles of clock faces. It also displays the battery as it charges and when the lights turn off, Nightstand Mode dims the screen so it doesn’t light up the room and keep you awake.
Apple users there's a new operating system that will change many things you do with your phone. Facetime voicemail, full-color contact posters, new emoji, and many other things. Apple just released a beta version of iOS 17 that anyone can download. But should you?
Why not rush to download the public beta version of iOS 17? It isn’t ready.
Beta versions are for people who are willing to put up with a few glitches and report those to help Apple learn about bugs that need to be fixed before it releases iOS 17 for everyone later this fall.
With iOS 17 beta some apps may not work well, apps may not open as quickly, and the battery will probably drain faster.
Developers have been testing iOS 17 with their apps for the past month or so and many of the bugs have already been worked out but you’ll probably notice a few things aren’t quite right.
If you just can’t wait to try the new features, you can download the beta version of iOS 17 by going to the website beta.apple.com on the device you want to install it on and sign up for the program. This requires you to acknowledge there are some risks involved and accept the usual Apple terms of service. Once you enroll the beta version that’s available will show in settings/about/updates. This will also enroll you in the program to install future beta versions of Apple’s operating systems.
Apple has also released beta versions of macOS Sonoma, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 10. You’ll find the enrollment for all of these at beta.apple.com
Before installing a beta version of any operating system, you should back up your device to iCloud or a computer in case something goes wrong.