What’s New in iOS 17.1
Written by: Daniel Carmo, Sr Agile Software Engineer, TribalScale
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With the release of iOS 17, Apple devices gained a wide range of new features. Some of these features include Live Voicemail, iMessage improvements, FaceTime improvements, Widget enhancements, and more. Check out our last post for more details. iOS 17.1 launched on Oct 25th, so let’s dive in and take a look at what new features and improvements this version brought us.
iPhone 12 Radio Frequency Concerns Addressed
This update comes as a response to France’s National Frequency Agency stating on Sept. 12 that the iPhone 12 exceeds European-specific absorption rate limits.
“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,” Apple posted on Oct. 10. “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.”
New Standby Mode Settings
I’ve been using standby mode since iOS 17 launched and it’s been very useful for information at a glance while my phone is at rest. Apple has added a new option to have Standby mode turn off after 20 seconds, never, or “Automatically”. Apple describes Automatically as when the iPhone is not in use and in a dark room, such as when you are sleeping. This new setting is exclusive to devices with the always on display only.
Apple Music Upgrades
iOS 17.1 improves Apple Music with the ability to quickly find favorited songs. The song title now includes a star outline near it for quick favoriting. All Favorited songs, playlists, and albums can now be found by accessing their corresponding category in Apple Music and navigating to the Favorites menu in the top right corner of the screen. Lastly, Song Suggestions can now be seen by going into your Playlists and navigating to the bottom with a section called Song Suggestions.
Airdrop Using Cellular
AirDrop has been improved with the use of cellular to perform AirDrops. When devices are out of range of each other while an AirDrop is in progress, it will now continue over their Cellular networks to ensure fewer failures and requirements for devices to be close to each other.
iOS 17.1.1
In the meantime, iOS 17.1.1 was also released on Nov 7th. It addresses these patches to improve your iOS experience. This update addresses an issue that after wirelessly charging in some vehicles, some iPhone 15 features, like Apple Pay, stop working. The update also fixes an issue where the snow symbol wasn’t displaying correctly on the Weather lock screen widget.
Conclusion
iOS 17.1 comes with some nice new features to enhance your iPhone experience. It makes improvements to Standby mode, Apple Music, and AirDrop. It also addresses concerns over the radio frequency issues found by the National Frequency Agency in France. This update is a nice touch to the already amazing iOS 17.
Daniel is a Senior Agile Software Engineer with experience on a variety of platforms in both development and design. He also enjoys collaborative projects with clients, leading developer projects, and mentoring junior and intermediate developers on everything from code quality to programming knowledge. When he’s not coding, his hobbies include baking, running agility with his dog, raising chickens, and gaming.
TribalScale is a global innovation firm that helps enterprises adapt and thrive in the digital era. We transform teams and processes, build best-in-class digital products, and create disruptive startups. Learn more about us on our website. Connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook!
