iOS 17.1 update: New features and bug fixes — Should you update?
The iOS 17.1 RC (release candidate) is released to developers and public beta testers on October 17th. Public release expected on October 23rd. What’s new? Let’s find out.
Hello readers👨🏽💻,
Welcome to the latest issue of my newsletter✨,
Recently on the 17th of October Apple released some software updates to its products namely,
- iOS 17.1 RC (release candidate)
- iPadOS 17.1 RC
- macOS 14.1 RC
- watchOS 10.1 RC and more.
Today we are going to focus on the iOS 17.1 RC — What’s new? and When to expect the final public release? Let us start with What’s new?
What’s new?
There are a bunch of new and useful features that are introduced in this version of iOS.
Major new features
Favourite option in Apple Music
You can now favourite songs, albums, playlists and artists by tapping on the star icon and they will be added to into your library automatically. They are added to the favourites album which can be accessed inside of the library tab.
AirDrop over cellular connection
This feature was announced during the September event but was not released with iOS 17 for the iPhones. Now with iOS 17.1 this was released to all the eligible iPhones. Simply said what this does is it continues to transfer the files even when the devices are out of range, as long as the sender’s and the receiver’s devices are signed-in to iCloud services. The transfer still needs to be started over Wi-Fi.
Albums for Photo Shuffle on Lock Screen
Now you can set a specific album for photo shuffle rather than using the people, pets or the other pre set options.
(Author’s note: I think this is a very useful feature as I always tend to change my wallpaper at least every 2–3 days).😅
New Connected Cards
This new feature allows one to add their bank credit and debit cards from select banks into the Wallet app which also shows the transaction details. But currently this feature is available only in the United Kingdom. Supporting banks currently include Barclays, Monzo, Starling, HSBC, Lloyds, and RBS, with more banks likely to come on board when iOS 17.1 is released to the public.
New features in StandBy
There are new settings to further customise the new StandBy mode introduced with iOS17. Now you can choose to turn the screen off after 20 seconds, automatically turn it off, or never turn it off.
So these are some major new features that are introduced with iOS 17.1. Apple also fixed some major issues like the “image retaining” issue or the “screen burn in” issue as people called it on the new iPhone 15 Pro Max models through a software update.
This was not caused by any hardware issue which is a good news. Another fix was when the iPhones on iOS 17.0 consumed more battery when paired with an Apple watch on watchOS 10.1.
Apple also fixed some issues with the Wallet application, they are mentioned below 👇🏽
There was also an important fix for the iPhone 12 model in France. The device was banned because the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) values, which is the level of radio waves emitted by the device was above the permitted rate of the French government.
iOS 17.1 includes an update for iPhone 12 for users in France to accommodate this specific test protocol that requires reduced power when off-body on a static surface.
iPhone 12 will no longer increase the allowed power when the off-body state is detected, such as while it is sitting on a table. As such, in coverage areas where cellular signal is low, this change in antenna transmit power may result in slightly lower cellular performance in certain off-body use cases. The vast majority of users are not expected to notice any impact.
Now the concerned authorities of France Agence Nationale Des Fréquences (ANFR) informed that the iPhone 12 is likely to be unbanned after this fix.
There are more bug fixes in this version. For more details you can visit the Apple Developer site for the release notes of iOS 17.1.
Where’s the Journal app?
Apple, during their September event in 2023 announced their new Journal app, and everyone was very excited about its release. But Apple also said that it would not be released to the public until this fall. And as expected it was not released with iOS 17.1. Many experts believe that the Journal app is likely be released in iOS 17.2 and I expect it to be released with iOS 17.2 too since last year we saw the Freeform app being released with iOS 16.2.
(Author’s note: I am very excited about the Journal app too, since long I was searching for a proper and dedicated Journaling app. Once its released I will make sure to write a dedicated review about it).
When to expect?
We can expect the release of iOS 17.1 to the general public on the 23rd or 24th of October 2023. It is most likely going to be on the 23rd on Monday because Apple generally releases major software versions on Monday.
Also the French authority Agence Nationale Des Fréquences (ANFR) had confirmed this fact by saying that the iOS 17.1 update will be available “by October 24 at the latest.”
Apple has developed a software update and the ANFR has validated it since it effectively brings the localized “member” SAR into compliance with the regulatory limit of 4 W/kg. This update was distributed by Apple to certain voluntary customers over the past few days (“beta testers”). The company has committed to rolling out this software update to all French iPhone 12 users by October 24 at the latest.
Read more about it here on the official website.
Should you update?
And now coming to the most important question, Should you update to iOS 17.1? Yes. There are no major problems in iOS 17.1 which could impact the daily usage of the average user. So I think you should definitely update to iOS 17.1. If you are worried about your device’s performance or any other issue then you can watch videos on YouTube by searching your device model and adding the “performance in iOS 17.1” tag.
Google released a new software update to their operating system, Android 14. Read more about the new and exciting features by clicking on the link.
Poll
Guys I am thinking about writing a new series of newsletter for Tech News every weekend. I will be sharing all the Tech News of that week in that week’s weekend. So I need your input, if you guys want to read it then I’ll do it. You can vote it on my Substack newsletter from here, or comment your thoughts.
So guys these are some major and minor new features and bug fixes introduced with iOS 17.1 update. Make sure to subscribe to my newsletter to not miss any new updates and they’ll land directly into your inbox. Comment your favourite feature of this update and what new feature you would like to see. And share this with all of your iPhone friends so that you will all be informed.
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See you all in the next one. Have a great time!✌🏽
