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iOS 17 RC now available to developers after two months of beta testing

Published Sep 12th, 2023 2:53PM EDT
First iOS 17 beta rC
Image: José Adorno for BGR

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After the iPhone 15 event, Apple is releasing iOS 17 RC to developers. The Release Candidate version of this operating system update means this will likely be the possible version Apple will ship to users when it makes iOS 17 available to everyone on September 18.

Over iOS 17 beta testing, Apple tweaked several times the end call button, the new iMessage menu, and its State of Mind feature that lets you log how you’re feeling over the day – and how you felt throughout the day. This last function will be key for the upcoming Journaling app, expected to arrive with iOS 17.1.

In general, the iOS 17 beta introduces a revamped Phone app. It brings personalized Contact Posters, which provide a new way for users to express themselves by customizing how they appear, bringing a new look to incoming calls. They can choose treatments for photos or Memoji and eye-catching typography and font colors. With beta 2, Apple enabled NameDrop, which lets you share your contact by just approaching two iPhones.

iOS 17 NameDropImage source: The Apple Hub

For FaceTime, when users call someone unavailable, they can share a message in audio or video that can be enjoyed later. In addition, the app adds Reactions such as hearts, balloons, fireworks, and more.

With iOS 17 RC, Apple says Autocorrect received a comprehensive update with a transformer language model for word prediction. It also received a refreshed design to better support typing, and sentence-level autocorrections can fix more types of grammatical mistakes.

Users can receive predictive text recommendations inline as they type, so adding entire words or completing sentences is as easy as tapping the space bar, making text entry faster than ever. Dictation also has a new speech recognition model to make it even more accurate.

How to download iOS 17 RC

  • On your iPhone, open the Settings app
  • Tap on General and Software Update
  • Tap on Beta Updates and enable iOS 17 Developer Beta once it’s available

Make sure your added Apple ID is registered as a developer. From there, you can download the iOS 17 RC, as it will prompt on your device’s screen.

The same is worth it for the Mac, iPad, Apple TV, and Apple Watch. Note that using a different Apple ID for the beta update won’t impact your iCloud settings. Apple explains: “You can sign in with a different Apple ID enrolled in the Apple Beta Software Program or Apple Developer Program.”

In addition, users running any iOS 16 developer beta can tap on Beta Updates and enable the new iOS 17 Developer Beta.

This update will be available later this fall on iPhone models, as long as they are an iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or newer. Apple dropped support for the iPhone 8 and iPhone X versions.

BGR will update this article with new features if we find any. A new public beta build should be available soon.

José Adorno Tech News Reporter

José is a Tech News Reporter at BGR. He has previously covered Apple and iPhone news for 9to5Mac, and was a producer and web editor for Latin America broadcaster TV Globo. He is based out of Brazil.

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