Just a week after releasing iOS 17, Apple has seeded the first beta of iOS 17.1 to developers. iOS 17.1 adds some features that Apple promised were coming to ‌iOS 17‌ in the future, plus it refines and improves some existing features.
This guide covers everything new in the first iOS 17.1 beta.
Apple Music Favorites
You can favorite songs, albums, playlists, and artists in the iOS 17.1 Music app. Favorited music is added to the Library and improves recommendations. Favoriting replaces the prior “Love” system and favoriting can be done from the Lock Screen’s Now Playing widget.
A star next to a track in an album means that it’s a favorite, while a dot is next to the most played track. With the favorites system, the Music app is suggesting songs to add to playlists.
Eventually, Apple plans to provide a Favorite Songs playlist and offer collaborative playlists, but these features do not appear to be implemented as of yet.
AirDrop
AirDrop transfers can now be completed over a cellular connection or Wi-Fi if you walk out of the range of the person you’re sharing with. That means you will not have to stay close to someone if you are transferring a large number of files.
There is a new “Out of Range” toggle in the AirDrop section of the Settings menu that you can toggle to allow or disallow transfers over cellular.
NameDrop on Apple Watch
With watchOS 10.1 and iOS 17.1, an Apple Watch and an iPhone can now be used to exchange contact information through the NameDrop feature.
Ringtones and Text Tones
The more than 20 new ringtones and text tones that were added in the launch version of ‌iOS 17‌ have disappeared in the first beta of iOS 17.1, but Apple will likely re-add them in a later update.
Custom tones for Mail and Messages have been re-added.
UK Bank Balances in the Wallet App
UK users can add their UK bank accounts to the Wallet app in iOS 17.1, allowing them to see their account balances, payments, purchases, and deposits.
Books App
The “Reading Now” section in the Apple Books app has been renamed to “Read Now.”
Journal App
There is no sign of the promised Journal app in iOS 17.1, but there are mentions of Journaling Suggestions in the code, which indicates that it could be coming before too long.
More iOS 17.1 Beta 1 Features
Know of a feature that we left out in this list? Let us know in the comments below.Related Roundups: iOS 17, iPadOS 17Related Forums: iOS 17, iPadOS 17
This article, “Everything New in iOS 17.1 Beta 1” first appeared on MacRumors.com
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