It’s been lower than a month since Apple launched iOS 17.0 to the general public, and in that point, we’ve already seen two sub-point-release patch updates, with one other 17.0.3 launch probably on the way in which quickly, plus the primary developer and public betas of iOS 17.1.
Now, lower than per week later, Apple is following that up with a second iOS 17.1 beta, transferring quickly towards what we anticipate will probably be a public launch by the top of this month.
There are clearly fairly a number of issues in iOS 17.0 that must be addressed, and the excellent news is that the primary iOS 17.1 beta has already addressed a number of of them. We will hope among the extra annoying points, reminiscent of overheating iPhone 15 Professional fashions and USB-C energy financial institution charging issues may also be addressed sooner or later.
Nevertheless, iOS 17.1 isn’t nearly bug fixes. There are a number of promised iOS 17 options that haven’t but arrived, and it seems to be working towards delivering not less than a number of of these. To this point, we’ve gotten AirDrop transfers over the Web and Favorites in Apple Music, and though the Collaborative Playlists are nonetheless lacking, there’s an opportunity that iOS 17.1 might be laying the groundwork for Apple to change that on behind the scenes at some later date.
The primary beta of iOS 17.1 additionally delivered some welcome however sudden tweaks to the Picture Shuffle Lock Display, and now the second beta, launched to builders yesterday and popping out as a public beta any time now, has a number of different methods up its sleeve.
New Show Choices for StandBy
The brand new StandBy mode is likely one of the most enjoyable options in iOS 17, particularly you probably have an iPhone 14 Professional or iPhone 15 Professional with an always-on show to benefit from it and some MagSafe charging stands round the home.
Nevertheless, of us with an always-on show (AOD) rapidly discovered that StandBy doesn’t provide any solution to really maintain your show “all the time on” in each circumstance. In iOS 17, there’s merely an At all times On toggle in Settings > StandBy that gives the selection to make use of the always-on show or have your iPhone flip off the display screen the identical manner that StandBy works on different, non-AOD-equipped iPhone fashions work
When enabled, StandBy will maintain an iPhone 14 or iPhone 15 Professional Show on more often than not, however it’s going to nonetheless intelligently shut off when not in use. This consists of eventualities reminiscent of strolling out of vary together with your Apple Watch or when it goes into evening mode and no movement has been detected for some time.
With the second iOS 17.1 beta, Apple has expanded your StandBy choices, changing the At all times On toggle with a Show part that now provides three choices: Mechanically, After 20 Seconds, and By no means.
The primary two of those are the identical because the on-off toggle in iOS 17.0, whereas the third is new and can consequence within the iPhone’s StandBy show remaining on always. The Night time Mode and Movement to Wake settings have additionally been moved right here and will probably be affected by the primary choice; Movement to Wake is simply accessible in automated mode, and Night time Mode is compelled on when By no means is chosen.
Whereas these mixtures might change by the point iOS 17.1 is launched to the general public, for now, it implies that you received’t be capable of maintain the always-on show on with full brightness in low-light conditions — Night time Mode means it’s going to all the time go to a dim crimson view, which isn’t nice for taking a look at your pictures. Likewise, for those who choose to have the show mechanically flip off at 20 seconds, you’ll solely be capable of wake it up once more by tapping it.
It’s additionally price mentioning that, as with iOS 17.0, Night time Mode engages any time of the day when the ambient gentle is under a sure stage, not solely at evening.
Customized Ringtones and Textual content Tones
It’s been a little bit of a rollercoaster experience in iOS 17 for individuals who like to alter up their ringtones and alerts. First, iOS 17.0 launched a quieter notification sound for third-party app alerts and likewise eliminated entry to any customized textual content tones you had added.
Nevertheless, it additionally launched a set of over 20 new ringtones, which subsequently disappeared for individuals who up to date to the primary iOS 17.1 beta. Fortunately, iOS 17.1 beta 1 returned the checklist of your customized ringtones to make use of as textual content tones, and now iOS 17.1 beta 2 brings again Apple’s new ringtone assortment.
From what we’ve heard, their sudden disappearance within the first beta wasn’t a lot a deliberate act by Apple; iOS 17.1 was beneath energetic growth and inner testing earlier than the ultimate iOS 17.0 launch candidate was pushed out. These new tones have been added to iOS 17.0 on the eleventh hour, and Apple forgot to roll them into the primary iOS 17.1 developer beta.
Reflection remains to be the default ringtone choice, however now you can select from a broad vary of others: Arpeggio, Breaking, Cover, Chalet, Chirp, Dawn, Departure, Dollop, Journey, Kettle, Mercury, Milky Means, Quad, Radial, Scavenger, Seedling, Shelter, Sprinkles, Steps, Storytime, Tease, Tilt, Unfold, and Valley. The prior ringtones from iOS 16 be part of the sooner set accessible within the “Basic” part.
Double Faucet
Whereas it’s not particularly an iOS 17 function, the second watchOS 10.1 beta unlocks the brand new Double Faucet gesture for the Apple Watch Collection 9 and Apple Watch Extremely 2.
Nevertheless, iOS 17.1 beta 2 does introduce an vital a part of this, which is the flexibility to toggle this function on and configure it utilizing the iPhone Watch app. Along with enabling it, there are alternatives for configuring among the features a Double Faucet gesture performs, reminiscent of play/pause or skip observe when listening to music or scrolling the Good Stack versus choosing a person widget.