Gurman: iOS 17 to Provide Several 'Most Requested Features'

Apple changed the strategy for iOS 17 later in its development process to add several new features, suggesting that the update may be more significant than previously thought, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.

iOS 17 on Phone Feature
In January, Gurman said that ‌iOS 17‌ could be a less significant update than iPhone updates in previous years due to the company's intense focus on its long-awaited mixed-reality headset. Writing in his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman explained that a change of strategy during the update's development process has added several new features:

When Apple set out to develop iOS 17, the initial thinking was to call it a tuneup release — one focused more on fixing bugs and improving performance than adding new features (not unlike the approach the company took with Snow Leopard on Mac OS X back in 2009). The hope was to avoid the problems of iOS 16, an ambitious update that suffered from missed deadlines and a buggy start. But later in the development process, the strategy changed. The iOS 17 release is now expected to boast several "nice to have" features, even if it lacks a tentpole improvement like last year's revamped lock screen. The goal of the software, codenamed "Dawn," is to check off several of users' most requested features.

As with previous ‌iPhone‌ software updates, ‌iOS 17‌ is expected to be previewed at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June ahead of launching in the fall. The update could offer a range of enhancements and new features, such as a next-generation CarPlay experience, changes to Siri, support for sideloading and alternate app stores, support for Apple's mixed-reality headset, and more.

Related Roundups: iOS 17, iPadOS 17
Related Forums: iOS 17, iPadOS 17

Top Rated Comments

jent Avatar
14 months ago
The Snow Leopard bug-fixing and fine-tuning Mac OS X upgrade was incredible. I would always welcome another type of release like that.
Score: 61 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jimmyolson Avatar
14 months ago

When Apple set out to develop iOS 17, the initial thinking was to call it a tuneup release — one focused more on fixing bugs … But later in the development process, the strategy changed. The iOS 17 release is now expected to boast several "nice to have" features
My feature request: less bugs
Score: 51 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
14 months ago
All I want is stability and performance upgrades. ✔️
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JippaLippa Avatar
14 months ago
I mean...I'd prefer bug fixes, but I'll still take user requests being addressed.
Whag I don't want is 500 superfluous features I'll never use...
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
14 months ago

Great. More promised features delayed and more endless bugs.
Agreed! Apple also needs to focus on Dynamic Island with iOS 17. I feel like it can offer so much more.



Attachment Image
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
contacos Avatar
14 months ago
All I want is a DELETE ALL / SELECT ALL button for iMessage attachments (photos) ?
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
iPad And Calculator App Feature

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
iOS 17 All New Features Thumb

iOS 17.5 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Sunday April 21, 2024 3:00 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 17.5 update for the iPhone includes only a few new user-facing features, but hidden code changes reveal some additional possibilities. Below, we have recapped everything new in the iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5 beta so far. Web Distribution Starting with the second beta of iOS 17.5, eligible developers are able to distribute their iOS apps to iPhone users located in the EU...