iOS 17 from Apple planning to repair Messages app, bringing some of the best features we’ve already seen on WhatsApp, Signal, Google Messages, and other competitors to iMessage. And, in a move that moves the Messages app forward, Apple is also introducing a new check-in feature — to help alert friends or family when you get home — which could be the next feature we see copied again by other texting apps.
Even if some of these new messaging features are already familiar to someone who has dealt with many texting apps and group chats, widespread adoption will only make communication on phones better, regardless of your favorite chat app. What’s more, some of the new iOS 17 features will help you indirectly when you’re sending text messages in a non-Apple chat app — like updates to auto-correct keyboards that will contextually tell if swearing is a regular part of how you speak.
It’s worth noting that while these iOS 17 improvements are certainly welcome, there are certainly a few areas that Apple can still improve for a better global chat experience. The main one is notorious The struggles of the green bubble the blue bubble. Apple has yet to announce any improvements in SMS conversations, but there are features also found on other messaging services and apps that are worth taking a closer look at.
iOS 17 comes with a new location sharing tool called Check In.
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Check In is the new messaging feature to copy
Apple’s upcoming Check In feature takes a very popular request and makes it easier to fulfill. There have been many times after a meeting with friends or family when we have asked each other to text after coming home. It’s so common in my life, it’s practically part of my farewell ritual, just to make sure everyone arrived safely by subway or car. Despite this, it is also common to forget to send that text.
Apple’s Check In can fix this problem. While CNET hasn’t tested this feature yet, in theory it could be triggered correctly when friends or family request a “make it home” message. Then it can automatically send a ping when I walk through my door. That way, if you’re an hour late or too tired from a flight, the status update will stay out.
Check In builds on the location-sharing tool for friends and family members that Apple has had in Messages for years, and the new feature makes that tool more automated. Check In takes things a step further by allowing notifications when a delay might be holding someone back. For friends and family who want this type of security check, it can be an additional tool that helps loved ones look out for each other.
Currently there are other ways to set up a similar ping using navigation apps such as Google Mapss, but the version Apple previewed during WWDC shows an easy way to get these notifications directly in the Messages app. Hopefully, other chat apps will find their own ways to imitate this idea, whether that be through integration with the Maps service or through improvements to the already existing location sharing feature.
The catch-up arrow in iOS 17 shows where you left off in a group chat.
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Catch Up will make group conversations much easier to follow
Apple’s Catch Up feature for group chats caught my eye when it was unveiled. The arrow indicates where you left off in a busy group conversation that continued while you were away from your phone.
This is a very common feature in other chat apps, and I didn’t realize Apple lacked it until the company pointed it out. The unread label in WhatsApp helps me, for example, when I’m checking in with the neighborhood chat group I’m in for an apartment building within that app. This is a group chat that I’m not actively participating in — and often muted — but on days when I want to check, labeling unread messages helps me find the last part of the conversation I looked at.
There is currently an unread filter in the iPhone’s Messages app, but the Catch Up arrow should show you which messages you’ve missed. The adoption of Catch Up in iOS 17 may be an indirect sign that Apple is bridging the gap between iMessage group conversations and SMS/MMS chat that includes other types of phones. Although we’ll have to wait for the release of iOS 17 this fall to confirm, the simple indicator that helps organize any conversation only serves when chatting with friends or family.
You’ll see transcripts of voice messages in iOS 17.
apple; Screenshot from CNET
Transcription of voice messages brings a great Pixel feature to the iPhone
Google’s Pixel phones have included several voice transcription features for years, with Pixel 7 series Added the ability to transcribe any audio message received within the Google Messages app. Apple is now planning to bring the feature across its iPhone line with iOS 17.
New voice messages received in the Messages app will be automatically transcribed, which is a boon for accessibility. For someone who prefers to do voice messages, the gist will be immediately available to the receiver, and sometimes that transcription can be more than enough.
Until transcription is adopted by more services, anyone who frequently sends voice messages should remember to be patient while they wait for others to get a chance to listen.
Apple is adding the swipe-to-reply feature to its Messages app.
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Scrolling to respond fits right (or left) in
I’m using Signal a lot latelyAnd, like Telegram, it offers the ability to quickly reply to messages with a swipe. It’s faster than pressing and holding on a message, then tapping the corresponding option.
Swiping to reply can simplify the list of options that appear when you press and hold on a message. Apple’s Messages app already includes shortcuts for emoji reactions, reply, copy, translate, and a “More…” option for selecting multiple texts. By moving this into the swipe-up action, Apple could eventually decide to bring additional features into this list, or simplify the list down to the basics.
In an unrelated regulatory move, Apple has moved iMessage apps from a row above the keyboard in the Messages app to a menu that pops up when you tap the plus icon. It shows that Apple is trying to eliminate clutter where it can, and make responses faster.
Apple says voice typing is getting better in iOS 17.
apple; Screenshot from CNET
iMessage improvements (hopefully) are still to come
While we wait for the final version of iOS 17, which will be released this fall, there is a possibility that more Messages features will be added as Apple continues to develop. For example, file XDA Developers The website says that the iOS 17 developer beta retains a number of iMessage features available for group chats with Android phones. If this is indeed a public release, that could be a relief for iPhone users who still want to use threaded replies and message edits. However, the XDA report notes that non-iPhone participants may not see any of these changes in Messages.
We’ll ultimately have to wait for the official iOS 17 release to see if all of the iMessage features announced at WWDC work, or if some are pushed to a later version. For example, SharePlay in iOS 15 It missed that year’s OS launch in September but arrived a month later. But the fact that these improvements in Messages are in the pipeline shows that substantial improvements in text messaging on the iPhone are on the way.
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