With WWDC 2023 now less than two months away, a new leak may shed a lot of light on some upcoming iOS 17 features iPhone users can look forward to. While iOS 17 will reportedly lack a singular killer feature, what we’ve gleaned so far suggests that it’s still going to be a more compelling update than initially anticipated.
Apple’s original plan with iOS 17 was to focus on overall system enhancements and performance improvements. This is similar to the strategy Apple took with Snow Leopard for macOS back in the day. More recently, however, Bloomberg notes that Apple’s planned feature set with iOS 17 has expanded to include several highly requested features.
To this end, a new leak from Twitter user @analyst941 provides us with more precise details surrounding Apple’s impending software update, if his leak is accurate.
For starters, iOS 17 will run on all iPhone models that support iOS 16. If you’re using an old iPhone and running iOS 16, you don’t need to worry about being left behind. More specifically, iOS 17 will run on the iPhone 8 and all subsequent devices.
Echoing the Bloomberg report, the Twitter leak relays that “performance, efficiency, stability, and long-term support for older devices are the main features of this update.”
Rumored iOS 17 features
As far as forward-facing features are concerned, the leak relays that Dynamic Island will incorporate more functionality. This is particularly exciting and intriguing. Especially because, in my opinion, the current incarnation of the Dynamic Island is more intrusive than helpful.
iOS 17 will also introduce much-improved search functionality, which given the current state of search on iOS, is long overdue. Also intriguing is a rumor that iOS 17 will incorporate some changes to the Camera app UI. Admittedly, specific details in this regard are scarce. But given how often people use the Camera app, it will be interesting to see what Apple has planned.
Some other potential iOS 17 features in the works include dynamic widgets, new emojis, support for third-party app stores, a redesigned Control Center, a new UI for the Health app, enhanced settings options when calibrating Focus Mode and the Always-On display, and most intriguingly, “an absolute behemoth of ARKit API’s/frameworks.”
WWDC 2023 will kick off on June 5, which is to say we won’t have to wait long to see what iOS 17 brings to the table.
