After over a month of beta testing, iOS 17.2 is finally available to iPhone users. With that, people can experience improvements with the Message app, Weather, the long-awaited Journal app, and more. Here’s everything new with it.
Starting with the Journal app, it is available to all iPhone users who can run iOS 17. This app lets you write about the small moments and big events in your life to practice gratitude and improve your well-being. It offers journaling suggestions, filter bookmarked entries, schedule notifications, lock with Touch ID/Face ID, and syncs with iCloud to keep your entries safe and encrypted. There are at least three main reasons why you should start journaling with iOS 17.2.
Besides that, iOS 17.2 also brings exclusive features to iPhone 15 Pro users, such as:
- Translate option for the Action button on the iPhone 15 Pro series to quickly translate phrases or have a conversation with someone in another language
- Spatial Video lets you capture videos with the iPhone 15 Pro series and then relive them on Apple Vision Pro
- Improved telephoto camera focusing speed when capturing small, faraway objects on iPhone 15 Pro models
For iPhone users in general, iOS 17.2 brings several improvements for Messages and Weather:
- Removed from the iOS 17 beta period, the catch-up arrow lets you easily jump to your first unread message in a conversation
- Add Sticker option in the context menu lets you add a sticker directly to a bubble
- Memoji update includes the ability to adjust the body shape of any Memoji
- Contact Key Verification provides automatic alerts and Contact Verification Codes to help verify people facing extraordinary digital threats are messaging only with the people they intend
- Precipitation amount helps you stay on top of rain and snow conditions for a given day over the next 10 days
- New widgets let you choose from next-hour precipitation, daily forecast, sunrise and sunset times, and current conditions such as Air Quality, Feels Like, and wind speed
- Wind map snapshot helps you quickly assess wind patterns and access the animated wind map overlay to prepare for forecasted wind conditions for the next 24 hours
- Interactive moon calendar lets you easily visualize the phase of the moon on any day for the next month
Finally, iOS 17.2 brings other improvements and bugs, including some hidden features:
- Siri support for privately accessing and logging Health app data using your voice
- AirDrop adds expanded contact-sharing options and the ability to share boarding passes, movie tickets, and other eligible passes by bringing two iPhones together
- Favorite Songs Playlist in Apple Music lets you quickly get back to the songs you mark as favorites
- Use Listening History in Apple Music can be disabled in Focus so the music you listen to does not appear in Recently Played or influence your recommendations
- A new Digital Clock Widget lets you quickly catch a glimpse of the time on your Home Screen and while in StandBy
- Enhanced AutoFill identifies fields in PDFs and other forms
Unfortunately, iOS 17.2 doesn’t bring the long-awaited Apple Music Collaborative Playlist function. It was being tested, but Apple most likely decided to give it a few more weeks of beta testing before releasing it to all users. Expect this feature to arrive with iOS 17.3 beta testing.
iOS 17.2 iPhone compatibility
iOS 17.2 is compatible with the following devices:
- iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max
- iPhone SE (2nd gen)
- iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 13 mini and iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone SE (3rd gen)
- iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max
