These iOS 17 Features Won’t be Available Until Later This Year

Apple’s new iOS 17 mobile operating system will be available to the public on Monday, September 18, and is compatible with the iPhone XS and newer. While the update includes several impressive new features, not all of them will be available on the 18th.

First of all, we’ll take a look at three new iOS 17 features that Apple’s website says are “coming later this year,” likely in an iOS 17.1 or iOS 17.2 update. Then, we’ll take a look at several other iOS 17 features that Apple has also marked as “coming later this year” in a PDF that it shared earlier this week.

Journal App

Apple’s all-new Journal app “lets you write about your experiences, find meaningful insights, and let journaling suggestions and writing prompts help you get started.” The app provides notifications when there are new suggestions for journals, allows you to add music and podcasts into your journal, and much more.

Collaborative Apple Music Playlists

The new Collaborative Playlists feature for Apple Music will allow multiple people to add, reorder, and edit a shared playlist.

AirDrop Transfers via the Internet

This feature allows AirDrop transfers to continue over the internet if and when you leave the traditional AirDrop range. This feature does require both you and the recipient to be signed in to an iCloud account.

Additional Features “Coming Later This Year”

• This feature provides the ability to react to a message with any sticker through the plus button or directly through the Tapback menu.
• The catch-up arrow – Allows users to easily jump to their first unread message in a group conversation by tapping the arrow visible in the top-right corner.
• Sync additional settings with Messages in iCloud, such as Text Message Forwarding, Send and Receive accounts, and SMS filters across devices.
• Play or pause a podcast or Apple News+ audio story from the Apple News widget.
• Favorite Songs playlist in Music app.
• Intelligent form detection and enhanced AutoFill for PDFs.
• Audio Focus feature for Apple Fitness+ prioritizing the volume of either the music or the trainers’ voices.
• Apple ID proximity sign-in allows users to bring an existing signed-in and trusted iPhone or iPad into
  proximity, pair the devices by scanning a particle cloud, and be signed in automatically.

Apple is reportedly now internally testing both iOS 17.1 and iOS 17.2. Based on Apple’s software cycle release history, iOS 17.1 will likely be released sometime in October, while iOS 17.2 should hit devices sometime in December.