Personalize Your Contact Information

Set up your Contact Poster

Transforming the way you present yourself digitally, iOS 17 introduces a feature called Contact Poster, a visually customizable calling card that shows up when you call, FaceTime, or text someone. To initiate this customized experience, you can begin in the Contacts app, within the Phone app, or through Settings. Adjust the visual aesthetics of your Contact Poster by choosing a Portrait mode photo which best represents you. This photo works excellently if it's taken in Portrait mode, ensuring a compelling emphasis on your likeness.

Use a Portrait mode photo for your Contact Poster

Capture your essence by selecting a striking Portrait mode photo, which you can position perfectly below your name by sliding the image with two fingers. To make your Contact Poster stand out, iOS lets you apply various color effects or opt for hiding the background altogether. This customizability ensures that your Contact Poster is both unique and captivating.

Customize with color effects and fonts

Going beyond the basics, you have the creative freedom to tweak the font style and apply color effects to match your personal aesthetic. Tapping 'Done' allows you to fine-tune your corresponding contact photo—either selecting a different image or adjusting the cropping of the original picture to your liking.

Create multiple Posters and choose a matching contact photo

The flexibility of iOS 17 enables you to craft multiple Contact Posters, each matching with a distinct ordinary contact photo. This allows for diverse visual identities depending on the context or the impression you want to make.

Utilize Memoji for Contact Posters

Memojis offer an animated twist to your Contact Poster. Whether you create a Memoji that mirrors your features or select from an array of pre-made ones, these avatars can be customized further.

Choose from different poses and backgrounds

Select your preferred Memoji and decide the statement it makes by picking from various poses that include whimsical floating heads or expressive upper bodies. Match your Memoji Contact Poster with a background color that complements your personalized avatar.

Add custom fonts and colors

Detail your Memoji with text customizations, where you can choose an appropriate font and color to accompany your digital persona, making your Contact Poster as expressive and authentic as you are.

Monogram Option

For those who prefer a minimalist approach, the Monogram option in Contact Posters provides a simple yet significant way to mark your digital presence. Enter your initials, choose a sophisticated or fun font, and select a color that speaks to you. This option may appeal to users looking for elegance and simplicity in their communications.

Utilize the StandBy Mode

Activate StandBy on a charging, horizontally placed iPhone

StandBy Mode is a dynamic feature in iOS 17 that transforms your charging iPhone into a versatile display with accessible information and controls. To utilize this function, place your iPhone in a horizontal position while it's charging. StandBy Mode automatically activates, presenting you with a range of easy-to-navigate options to enrich your experience.

Customize StandBy modes for different locations

One of the standout aspects of StandBy is the ability to create custom modes that are remembered based on location. When paired with different MagSafe chargers in separate rooms, your iPhone can automatically switch to your preferred StandBy setting. For instance, it could become a music controller in the kitchen or transform into a digital picture frame in the living room, enhancing your environment with a personal touch.

Use as a digital picture frame or clock

StandBy allows your iPhone to serve as a delightful digital picture frame by showcasing your cherished photos from the Photos library. Alternatively, you can choose from a selection of fullscreen clock designs. This mode is not merely static; it adapts to the time of the day, shifting to a red hue at night to minimize disruptions during your rest.

Access Live Activities like music or timers

Live Activities become more engaging through StandBy Mode. Whether it's keeping track of music playing or staying on top of cooking timers, StandBy provides a central hub for actively running tasks. This integration makes multitasking and staying informed a seamless part of your day.

Set up view with customizable widgets

Customization is key in StandBy Mode, and you have the ability to configure widget views that suit your preferences. Each iPhone supports two widget stacks on the standby screen, allowing for a personalized experience. You can add or remove widgets with ease, ensuring that the information displayed is relevant to you and your current situation, whether you're at work or relaxing at home.

Photos and Reminders Improvements

Name pets in Photos

With iOS 17's expansion of the Photos app capabilities, the recognition technology extends beyond people to our beloved pets. Within the revamped People & Pets album, you have the delightful new feature of naming your dogs, cats, or any pets recognized by the app, which simplifies the organization and retrieval of their photos. After naming your pets in the album, the Photos app groups all snapshots of each named pet, making it a breeze to enjoy all their memories in one place.

Add pets to People & Pets album and enter names

To start the naming process, launch the Photos app and navigate to the People & Pets album. By tapping on the image of your pet, you can input their name, essentially creating a personal album for them. This feature fosters a more personalized and organized photo library.

Review and correct any misidentification

The Photos app's machine learning might mix up similar-looking animals every now and then. You're equipped with tools to correct these errors. By selecting 'Review Photos,' you can verify the app's accuracy. If you spot a mistake, simply long-press on the incorrect picture and choose the prompt to remove it from that pet's collection, ensuring that only true matches remain.

Make a grocery list with Reminders

iOS 17 breathes new life into the Reminders app by integrating a feature that's tailored for grocery shopping convenience. The app now offers a specialized format for grocery lists, which categorizes your items according to common store sections, such as bakery, produce, and frozen foods. This thoughtful categorization mimics the shopping experience, facilitating a smoother and more efficient visit to the store.

Mark a list as a grocery list for auto-categorization

Within the Reminders app, when creating or editing a list, you can define it as a grocery list. The app then automatically sorts items into familiar store categories. It's designed to adapt to individual shopping habits and store layouts, providing a tailored user experience that learns from your interaction.

Manually correct categories for proper sorting

Though automatic categorization works well, there may be times when adjustments are needed. If the app misplaces an item, you can manually reassign it to the correct category. Such corrections feed into the app's learning algorithm, refining its future categorization for your specific lists.

Share and Organize

Set up shared passwords for convenient access

In iOS 17, the ability to share passwords seamlessly with friends or family is integrated into the system, creating a user-friendly experience for managing access to various accounts. This feature can be vital for household utilities, streaming services, and even when gifting services that require account access.

Create a Shared Group for passwords in Settings

To begin setting up a shared password repository, navigate to Settings and select Passwords. From here, you have the option to establish a New Shared Group. Customize this group by assigning it a name and then proceed to add individuals with whom you will be sharing the passwords.

Add people and share relevant passwords

After creating the shared group, choose which passwords to move to this shared space. These will then sync automatically across the devices of all added group members. It’s a streamlined way to ensure that everyone who needs access to a shared account has it without compromising security.

Share your AirTags for easy tracking

AirTags utilize the Find My network to keep track of personal belongings, but sharing ownership can be equally useful, particularly within a family or among friends who might borrow items tagged with AirTags. This eliminates unnecessary alerts about an unknown AirTag moving with them.

Add trusted individuals through Find My app

To share access to an AirTag, open the Find My app and select the Items tab. Choose an AirTag or item and initiate the sharing process by selecting Add Person. Then, you can send an invitation to a contact of your choice, granting them the ability to track the AirTag's location.

Create a separate Safari profile for work or school

iOS 17 enables users to maintain distinct Safari profiles for different aspects of their lives, like work, school, or personal browsing. This added layer of customization ensures that your web experience is organized and tailored to the context in which you’re browsing.

Customize and switch profiles for tailored browsing

Each profile can be customized with its bookmarks, extensions, and browsing history, keeping them separate and accessible as needed. To switch profiles, simply navigate to Safari's profile settings and choose the appropriate profile, streamlining your browsing experience catered to your current focus.

Edit Apple Watch widgets for personalized quick access

Personalizing the Apple Watch experience is further enhanced in iOS 17 with the capability to edit the widgets displayed on the watch face. These widgets, also known as complications, can provide immediate access to information from apps at a glance.

Customize the smart stack and app shortcuts on the watch face

Customizing the smart stack on your Apple Watch allows you to have a dynamic selection of widgets, making the most relevant ones available depending on the time of day or your current location. Add or remove app shortcuts that provide quick access to frequently used functionalities, ensuring that your Apple Watch is as efficient and relevant to your lifestyle as possible.

Health and Communication Features

Log your mental health with the Health app

IOS 17 extends the functionality of the Health app by introducing a mood-tracking feature that can potentially play a pivotal role in managing emotional well-being. This feature empowers users to log, monitor, and analyze their moods over time, providing valuable insights into their mental health patterns.

Utilize the mood-tracking feature for insights

To take advantage of the mood-tracking utility, access the Health app, and navigate to the Mental Wellbeing section. Here, you'll find the option to 'Log' your current emotional state or reflect on the day as a whole. Alongside selecting moods, the app encourages you to denote contributing factors, connecting your emotions with specific areas of life such as personal relationships, work, and fitness.

Set reminders for regular emotional check-ins

To maintain a consistent log of your emotional trends, the app offers the ability to set up reminders for daily entries. By regular monitoring, you become better equipped to identify patterns and triggers that affect your mental health, allowing for proactive and preventative care.

Make stickers from photos for messaging apps

Communicating with friends and family is now more personalized and fun with the ability to turn any subject in your photos into stickers. These stickers can be seamlessly integrated into a plethora of messaging apps, enriching conversations with a unique and creative touch.

Turn photo subjects into stickers

With a simple tap and hold on any entity within a photo, you can swiftly 'Add Sticker' and later access them through the emoji keyboard in any app. This dynamic feature enables you to transform everyday images into a vibrant tapestry of digital expressions.

Add effects to created stickers for variety

Beyond the initial creation, you can stylize your stickers by adding a variety of effects. Whether opting for a classic paper sticker appearance with a white outline or a three-dimensional puffy effect, these customizations elevate your digital creations and infuse life into your digital conversations.