Apple had plenty of great things to show off when it unveiled iOS 17 at WWDC. We’re psyched about vastly improved autocorrect, StandBy, Live Voicemail transcriptions, custom contact posters, and all that other good stuff.

But sometimes it’s the little things that have the biggest impact. A small interface change or tiny unsung feature might change the way you use your iPhone day-to-day more than all the fancy AI-powered gimmicks ever will. Here are some of the little things in iOS 17 that you didn’t hear about in the keynote, but are sure to have an impact on your iPhone.

Ping your Apple Watch

One of our favorite features of the Apple Watch is that you can open Control Center and ping your iPhone, causing it to make a brief loud sound so you can find it quickly.

With iOS 17, it goes the other way as well! There’s now a “ping Apple Watch” button in Control Center on your iPhone.

Linking Notes

You’ve got one note with your itinerary for your trip to Tokyo, and another with a list of restaurants you want to go to. Wouldn’t it be nice to quickly jump between them?

With iOS 17 links aren’t just for websites, you can link directly from one note to another. Just long-press somewhere in your note, choose Add Link, then you can type either a URL or, now, the title of another note.

News+ daily crossword

A mainstay of many newspapers, Apple News+ subscribers will get daily crossword puzzles in the News app. This doesn’t appear to be live in the first beta so we don’t know what it will look like or how hard it will be, but it’s one more reason to subscribe to Apple News+ or the Apple One bundle.

Better Spotlight search

An underused feature for many, Spotlight search (just drag down from anywhere on your iPhone home screen) lets you very quickly find apps, search the web, do simple calculations and conversions, and even find content in Mail or Messages.

In iOS 17 it gets smarter and more capable. Search for a setting like “Wi-Fi” and the top Siri Suggestion will have a toggle to turn it on or off right there, without diving into the Settings app. When you don’t type in anything in Spotlight, Siri Suggestions will contain some new more intelligent items like starting a timer or going right to a particular album in Photos.

For many, swiping down to enter Spotlight / Siri Suggestions is already the first thing they do when picking up their iPhone. These changes in iOS 17 make it even more useful for more people.

Fitness+ Custom Plans

Want to build your own custom workout plan for your Fitness+ workouts? Open the Fitness app, tap the Fitness+ tab, and select Custom Plans. You can choose days of the week, how long your plan is for (2-8 weeks), workout length, and which type of activities you want to use–and even include which equipment you have like dumbbells or yoga mats.

Note that this isn’t a freeform fitness plan creation tool–it’s for Fitness+ and is limited to the types of activities and equipment you’ll find in the Fitness+ workouts.

Quickly listen to web pages

The Speak Screen feature has been able to read web pages in Safari for a long time now, but Apple seems to have realized that it can be really useful for everyone. So, in iOS 17, there’s a “Listen to Page” feature right in the aA menu on your address bar. Tap it again to pause or resume reading.

Lock white balance when recording video

In Settings > Camera > Record Video you’ll find a new option to lock the white balance when recording video. Helpful for those shots where the ambient light changes and you want to capture that effect.

Weather Averages

The Weather app has a new Averages tile that shows temperature deviation from the historical average for that day. Tapping the tile for more detail shows normal temperature ranges and precipitation amounts for your location, both throughout the day and monthly averages.

There’s a new Moon tile too!

Apple Music Crossfade

We heard a lot about new Music SharePlay features, but there’s another feature Apple didn’t mention: Crossfade, which smoothly fades out one song and fades in the next so there’s no gap between music. Ever since Apple Music replaced iTunes users have been begging for this, and it’s been available on the Mac for a long time but not iPhone.

Open Settings > Music and look for the Crossfade setting.

Follow Up medication reminders

The Health app can optionally send a second notification 30 minutes after the first notification about taking your medication.

In the Health app, tap the Browse tab, then Medications. Scroll down to the Options at the bottom and tap that. You’ll find the toggle for Follow Up Reminders there.

Multiple timers

This was mentioned in the iPadOS section of the keynote, but it bears elaboration: multiple timers will be a feature across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. No, we don’t know why it took this long, either.

Insert Contacts or Passwords into almost any field

In almost any text field in iOS 17, including Messages, Mail, Notes, and so on, you can long-press, select Insert, and in addition to the existing Scan Text option you’ll see options to add Contacts or Passwords. Choosing one will open up your contacts or passwords (you’ll have to authenticate before your passwords open) where you can quickly select the one you want to add.

Recover deleted passwords

Deleted passwords are kept in a “Deleted Passwords” section of Settings > Passwords for up to 30 days and can be recovered if you deleted something by mistake.

Interactive Widgets

Apple promoted this as an iPadOS feature, but it’s present on iOS 17 as well as macOS Sierra. You can now check off Reminders items, toggle smart home switches, and so much more from your widgets without opening the app.

Auto-sort Groceries list

The Reminders app will automatically sort any list set as a “Groceries” list type into sections: Produce; Beverages; Dairy, Eggs & Cheese; Breads & Cereals; and so on. You can add and reorder the categories as you wish.

You can create custom categories for any other Reminders list, too, though they won’t be automatically sorted. Other Reminders improvements include a Column View, early reminders notifications, and live widgets so you can check off items right from the widget.

Hiding sensitive images

The Communication Safety safety feature that can hide sensitive images sent to a child account through Messages has been expanded. It now works for AirDrop, the systemwide photo picker, FaceTime messages, Contact Posters in the Phone app, and third‑party apps. You’ll find that in Screen Time when settings up a Child account.

For everyone, not just children, you’ll have the option to blur sensitive photos and videos before you view them. You’ll see a grey box with the words “This may be sensitive.” in it, which you can tap to show the image.

Dark AirPods cards

It sure is distracting to have that bright white card pop up when you open your AirPods case near your iPhone when using dark mode. We’re not sure why it took so long, but iOS 17 now respects your dark mode preferences when showing these popup cards.

New quick Crop interface in Photos

When you’re viewing a photo in iOS 17 and you pinch-to-zoom into it, you’ll see a new “Crop” button in the upper right.

Tapping that will open the usual edit interface in crop mode, with the crop edges set to exactly what was showing on your screen when zoomed in. You can still drag the borders to adjust the crop, but this is a fast and easy way to get a crop that fits exactly right for making an iPhone wallpaper or new Profile Poster, for example.

Clean up verification codes automatically

We love the feature that automatically fills in verification codes sent to you via text message, and iOS 17 extends that to codes you receive in email.

But even better is the way it can keep those old codes from piling up. Open Settings > Passwords > Password Options and you’ll see a new toggle Clean Up Automatically that will delete these texts or emails after inserting them with AutoFill.

Find My Item sharing

In iOS 16, once you assign an AirTag or other trackers to an Apple ID, it’s tied to that ID only. That’s a great security feature that alerts you when someone has surreptitiously planted an AirTag on you, but it’s also a pain for shared items like luggage and keys. In iOS 17, you’ll be able to share AirTags in Find My with other people so you’ll know when somethings’s actually lost—and not just being used by someone else.

iOS

Apple had plenty of great things to show off when it unveiled iOS 17 at WWDC. We’re psyched about vastly improved autocorrect, StandBy, Live Voicemail transcriptions, custom contact posters, and all that other good stuff.

But sometimes it’s the little things that have the biggest impact. A small interface change or tiny unsung feature might change the way you use your iPhone day-to-day more than all the fancy AI-powered gimmicks ever will. Here are some of the little things in iOS 17 that you didn’t hear about in the keynote, but are sure to have an impact on your iPhone.

Ping your Apple Watch

One of our favorite features of the Apple Watch is that you can open Control Center and ping your iPhone, causing it to make a brief loud sound so you can find it quickly.

With iOS 17, it goes the other way as well! There’s now a “ping Apple Watch” button in Control Center on your iPhone.

Linking Notes

You’ve got one note with your itinerary for your trip to Tokyo, and another with a list of restaurants you want to go to. Wouldn’t it be nice to quickly jump between them?

With iOS 17 links aren’t just for websites, you can link directly from one note to another. Just long-press somewhere in your note, choose Add Link, then you can type either a URL or, now, the title of another note.

News+ daily crossword

A mainstay of many newspapers, Apple News+ subscribers will get daily crossword puzzles in the News app. This doesn’t appear to be live in the first beta so we don’t know what it will look like or how hard it will be, but it’s one more reason to subscribe to Apple News+ or the Apple One bundle.

Better Spotlight search

An underused feature for many, Spotlight search (just drag down from anywhere on your iPhone home screen) lets you very quickly find apps, search the web, do simple calculations and conversions, and even find content in Mail or Messages.

In iOS 17 it gets smarter and more capable. Search for a setting like “Wi-Fi” and the top Siri Suggestion will have a toggle to turn it on or off right there, without diving into the Settings app. When you don’t type in anything in Spotlight, Siri Suggestions will contain some new more intelligent items like starting a timer or going right to a particular album in Photos.

For many, swiping down to enter Spotlight / Siri Suggestions is already the first thing they do when picking up their iPhone. These changes in iOS 17 make it even more useful for more people.

Fitness+ Custom Plans

Want to build your own custom workout plan for your Fitness+ workouts? Open the Fitness app, tap the Fitness+ tab, and select Custom Plans. You can choose days of the week, how long your plan is for (2-8 weeks), workout length, and which type of activities you want to use–and even include which equipment you have like dumbbells or yoga mats.

Note that this isn’t a freeform fitness plan creation tool–it’s for Fitness+ and is limited to the types of activities and equipment you’ll find in the Fitness+ workouts.

Quickly listen to web pages

The Speak Screen feature has been able to read web pages in Safari for a long time now, but Apple seems to have realized that it can be really useful for everyone. So, in iOS 17, there’s a “Listen to Page” feature right in the aA menu on your address bar. Tap it again to pause or resume reading.

Apple Music Crossfade

We heard a lot about new Music SharePlay features, but there’s another feature Apple didn’t mention: Crossfade, which smoothly fades out one song and fades in the next so there’s no gap between music. Ever since Apple Music replaced iTunes users have been begging for this, and it’s been available on the Mac for a long time but not iPhone.

Open Settings > Music and look for the Crossfade setting.

Follow Up medication reminders

The Health app can optionally send a second notification 30 minutes after the first notification about taking your medication.

In the Health app, tap the Browse tab, then Medications. Scroll down to the Options at the bottom and tap that. You’ll find the toggle for Follow Up Reminders there.

Multiple timers

This was mentioned in the iPadOS section of the keynote, but it bears elaboration: multiple timers will be a feature across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. No, we don’t know why it took this long, either.

Insert Contacts or Passwords into almost any field

In almost any text field in iOS 17, including Messages, Mail, Notes, and so on, you can long-press, select Insert, and in addition to the existing Scan Text option you’ll see options to add Contacts or Passwords. Choosing one will open up your contacts or passwords (you’ll have to authenticate before your passwords open) where you can quickly select the one you want to add.

Interactive Widgets

Apple promoted this as an iPadOS feature, but it’s present on iOS 17 as well as macOS Sierra. You can now check off Reminders items, toggle smart home switches, and so much more from your widgets without opening the app.

Dark AirPods cards

It sure is distracting to have that bright white card pop up when you open your AirPods case near your iPhone when using dark mode. We’re not sure why it took so long, but iOS 17 now respects your dark mode preferences when showing these popup cards.

New quick Crop interface in Photos

When you’re viewing a photo in iOS 17 and you pinch-to-zoom into it, you’ll see a new “Crop” button in the upper right.

Tapping that will open the usual edit interface in crop mode, with the crop edges set to exactly what was showing on your screen when zoomed in. You can still drag the borders to adjust the crop, but this is a fast and easy way to get a crop that fits exactly right for making an iPhone wallpaper or new Profile Poster, for example.

Clean up verification codes automatically

We love the feature that automatically fills in verification codes sent to you via text message, and iOS 17 extends that to codes you receive in email.

But even better is the way it can keep those old codes from piling up. Open Settings > Passwords > Password Options and you’ll see a new toggle Clean Up Automatically that will delete these texts or emails after inserting them with AutoFill.

Find My Item sharing

In iOS 16, once you assign an AirTag or other trackers to an Apple ID, it’s tied to that ID only. That’s a great security feature that alerts you when someone has surreptitiously planted an AirTag on you, but it’s also a pain for shared items like luggage and keys. In iOS 17, you’ll be able to share AirTags in Find My with other people so you’ll know when somethings’s actually lost—and not just being used by someone else.

iOS

Apple had plenty of great things to show off when it unveiled iOS 17 at WWDC. We’re psyched about vastly improved autocorrect, StandBy, Live Voicemail transcriptions, custom contact posters, and all that other good stuff.

But sometimes it’s the little things that have the biggest impact. A small interface change or tiny unsung feature might change the way you use your iPhone day-to-day more than all the fancy AI-powered gimmicks ever will.

Here are some of the little things in iOS 17 that you didn’t hear about in the keynote, but are sure to have an impact on your iPhone.

Ping your Apple Watch

One of our favorite features of the Apple Watch is that you can open Control Center and ping your iPhone, causing it to make a brief loud sound so you can find it quickly.

With iOS 17, it goes the other way as well! There’s now a “ping Apple Watch” button in Control Center on your iPhone.

Linking Notes

You’ve got one note with your itinerary for your trip to Tokyo, and another with a list of restaurants you want to go to. Wouldn’t it be nice to quickly jump between them?

With iOS 17 links aren’t just for websites, you can link directly from one note to another. Just long-press somewhere in your note, choose Add Link, then you can type either a URL or, now, the title of another note.

News+ daily crossword

A mainstay of many newspapers, Apple News+ subscribers will get daily crossword puzzles in the News app. This doesn’t appear to be live in the first beta so we don’t know what it will look like or how hard it will be, but it’s one more reason to subscribe to Apple News+ or the Apple One bundle.

Better Spotlight search

An underused feature for many, Spotlight search (just drag down from anywhere on your iPhone home screen) lets you very quickly find apps, search the web, do simple calculations and conversions, and even find content in Mail or Messages.

In iOS 17 it gets smarter and more capable. Search for a setting like “Wi-Fi” and the top Siri Suggestion will have a toggle to turn it on or off right there, without diving into the Settings app. When you don’t type in anything in Spotlight, Siri Suggestions will contain some new more intelligent items like starting a timer or going right to a particular album in Photos.

For many, swiping down to enter Spotlight / Siri Suggestions is already the first thing they do when picking up their iPhone. These changes in iOS 17 make it even more useful for more people.

Fitness+ Custom Plans

Want to build your own custom workout plan for your Fitness+ workouts? Open the Fitness app, tap the Fitness+ tab, and select Custom Plans. You can choose days of the week, how long your plan is for (2-8 weeks), workout length, and which type of activities you want to use–and even include which equipment you have like dumbbells or yoga mats.

Note that this isn’t a freeform fitness plan creation tool–it’s for Fitness+ and is limited to the types of activities and equipment you’ll find in the Fitness+ workouts.

Quickly listen to web pages

The Speak Screen feature has been able to read web pages in Safari for a long time now, but Apple seems to have realized that it can be really useful for everyone. So, in iOS 17, there’s a “Listen to Page” feature right in the aA menu on your address bar. Tap it again to pause or resume reading.

Apple Music Crossfade

We heard a lot about new Music SharePlay features, but there’s another feature Apple didn’t mention: Crossfade, which smoothly fades out one song and fades in the next so there’s no gap between music. Ever since Apple Music replaced iTunes users have been begging for this, and it’s been available on the Mac for a long time but not iPhone.

Open Settings > Music and look for the Crossfade setting.

Follow Up medication reminders

The Health app can optionally send a second notification 30 minutes after the first notification about taking your medication.

In the Health app, tap the Browse tab, then Medications. Scroll down to the Options at the bottom and tap that. You’ll find the toggle for Follow Up Reminders there.

Multiple timers

This was mentioned in the iPadOS section of the keynote, but it bears elaboration: multiple timers will be a feature across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. No, we don’t know why it took this long, either.

Insert Contacts or Passwords into almost any field

In almost any text filed in iOS 17, including Messages, Mail, Notes, and so on, you can long-press, select Insert, and in addition to the existing Scan Text option you’ll see options to add Contacts or Passwords. Choosing one will open up your contacts or passwords (you’ll have to authenticate before your passwords open) where you can quickly select the one you want to add.

Interactive Widgets

Apple promoted this as an iPadOS feature, but it’s present on iOS 17 as well as macOS Sierra. You can now check off Reminders items, toggle smart home switches, and so much more from your widgets without opening the app.

Dark Mode AirPods cards

It sure is distracting to have that bright white card pop up when you open your AirPods case near your iPhone if you’re using dark mode. We’re not sure why it took so long, but iOS 17 now respects your dark mode preferences when showing these popup cards.

New quick Crop interface in Photos

When you’re viewing a photo in iOS 17 and you pinch-to-zoom into it, you’ll see a new “Crop” button in the upper right.

Tapping that will open the usual edit interface in crop mode, with the crop edges set to exactly what was showing on your screen when zoomed in. You can still drag the borders to adjust the crop, but this is a fast and easy way to get a crop that fits exactly right for making an iPhone wallpaper or new Profile Poster, for example.

Clean up verification codes automatically

We love the feature that automatically fills in verification codes sent to you via text message, and iOS 17 extends that to codes you receive in email.

But even better is the way it can keep those old codes from piling up. Open Settings > Passwords > Password Options and you’ll see a new toggle Clean Up Automatically that will delete these texts or emails after inserting them with AutoFill.

iOS

Starting on Friday, April 7, Apple TV+ will begin streaming the second season of Friday Night Baseball, a weekly doubleheader of Major League Baseball games. If you watched the first season, then you need to know about one major change for the upcoming season: an Apple TV+ subscription is required to watch the games. Here’s how to watch Friday Night Baseball.

We also run through all the ways you can get Apple TV+ for free in a separate article.

Updated 6/1/23: Added the schedule for July.

Apple TV+ Friday Night Baseball: How to watch

Friday Night Baseball requires an Apple TV+ subscription. An Apple TV+ subscription costs $6.99/£6.99 per month, and there are numerous ways to get Apple TV+ for free for a few months. You can also sign up for Apple One, which is a package of Apple services that includes Apple TV+. The prices for Apple One range from $16.95/£16.95 per month for an individual plan to $32.95/£32.95 per month for family plans.

Once you sign up for Apple TV+, here’s how to watch Friday Night Baseball.

On Mac, iPhone, and iPad: Friday Night Baseball will be available through the TV app. Click on the Originals tab and then scroll down to Major League Baseball.

On Apple TV 4K and HD: Go to the Sports tab and scroll down to Major League Baseball. From there, you can see the schedule and add games to your Up Next queue.

On the web: Apple TV+ is available through a browser at tv.apple.com. If Friday Night Baseball isn’t appearing in the marquee spot at the top of the page, scroll down and look for the Major League Baseball section.

On a smart TV or set-top box: Many smart TVs and set-top boxes come with the Apple TV app installed. If not, you can search for it through the App Store on your device (Amazon, Google, Roku, etc.). If you can’t find the Apple TV app, check your device for a software update.

If you have a business in the U.S., Friday Night Baseball will be available on DirectTV for Business, which caters to bars, restaurants, and other venues. In Canada, Friday Night Baseball will be available through several different providers.

Apple TV+ Friday Night Baseball: Schedule

Apple has posted the Friday Night Baseball schedule through July 31. The two games will air on separate streams, so the length of the first game will not affect the start time of the second game. These are the upcoming games on the schedule:

Friday, June 2
Milwaukee Brewers at Cincinnati Reds
5 p.m. ET

Cleveland Guardians at Minnesota Twins
8 p.m. ET

Friday, June 9
Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles
7 p.m. ET

Seattle Mariners at Los Angeles Angels
9:30 p.m. ET

Friday, June 16
Pittsburgh Pirates at Milwaukee Brewers
8 p.m. ET

Chicago White Sox at Seattle Mariners
10 p.m. ET

Friday, June 23
Pittsburgh Pirates at Miami Marlins
6:30 p.m. ET

New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies
7 p.m. ET

Friday, June 30
Milwaukee Brewers at Pittsburgh Pirates
7 p.m. ET

Arizona Diamondbacks at Los Angeles Angels
9:30 p.m. ET

Friday, July 7
Baltimore Orioles at Minnesota Twins
8 p.m. ET

Atlanta Braves at Tampa Bay Rays
6:30 p.m. ET

Friday, July 14
Los Angeles Dodgers at New York Mets
7 p.m. ET

San Francisco Giants at Pittsburgh Pirates
7 p.m. ET

Friday, July 21
St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs
2 p.m. ET

San Diego Padres at Detroit Tigers
6:30 p.m. ET

Friday, July 28
Cleveland Guardians at Chicago White Sox
7 p.m. ET

Los Angeles Angels at Toronto Blue Jays
7 p.m. ET

Apple TV+ Friday Night Baseball: Where to watch

Friday Night Baseball games are available in 60 countries and regions, including:

• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• Columbia
• Dominican Republic
• Germany
• Italy
• Japan
• Mexico
• Puerto Rico
• South Korea
• United Kingdom
• United States

Besides the games, Apple offers baseball shows that are available only in the U.S. and Canada. Those shows include “MLB Big Inning,” “Countdown to First Pitch,” “MLB Daily Recap,” and “MLB This Week.”

Apple TV+ Friday Night Baseball: Streaming quality

While games will not be shown in 4K, Apple announced that game broadcasts will employ “state-of-the-art cameras, including high-speed Phantoms, the high-resolution Megalodon, and more throughout the season to present vivid, live-action shots.” Additionally, audio will be presented in 5.1 with spatial audio enabled. “Friday Night Baseball” will also use “new on-screen graphics that include innovative new probabilities-based forecasts of different situational outcomes, plus highlights and live look-ins from around the league integrated right into the broadcast,” according to Apple.

Apple TV+: How to listen to home team audio

After getting a lot of criticism for its broadcasters last season, Apple switched up its broadcasters this year with a new team including Wayne Randazzo (play-by-play), Dontrelle Willis (analyst), Heidi Watney (sideline reporter), Alex Faust (play-by-play), Ryan Spilborghs (analyst), and Tricia Whitaker (sideline reporter). But fans in the U.S. and Canada (only Blue Jays games) also have the option to listen to the audio of the home and away teams’ local radio broadcasts during “Friday Night Baseball” games. To find it, click, the three-dot button on iPhone and iPad or the sound icon on Mac and Apple TV, then select audio and change to the home or away broadcast.

Apple TV+ Friday Night Baseball: Expanded coverage

Apple announced that the games will include pre- and post-game coverage hosted by Lauren Gardner with a rotating group of analysts and former players, including Carlos Peña, Cliff Floyd, and Yonder Alonso. For the 2023 season, Apple added Wayne Randazzo, Dontrelle Willis, Heidi Watney, Alex Faust, Ryan Spilborghs, and Tricia Whitaker to the game broadcast team. Broadcast teams for each game will be announced on a weekly basis.

The broadcast teams are all MLB Network personalities, and Apple is relying on the MLB Network for its telecast production. In a press release, Apple stated that the production involves high-speed Phantom and high-resolution Megalodon cameras, immersive sound in 5.1 with spatial audio enabled, new on-screen graphics that include probabilities-based forecasts, and highlights and live look-ins from around the league integrated right into the broadcast.

Games also display on-screen callouts about batters’ walk-up songs from Apple Music, Siri-based baseball trivia, and more. 

Apple will also offer shows with more baseball coverage. On Thursdays, “Countdown to First Pitch” previews the week’s upcoming games. Every morning, “MLB Daily Recap” shows highlights from the previous night. Every weeknight, “MLB Big Inning,” features highlights and coverage of the games in progress. In the U.S. and Canada, viewers can watch a live stream of highlights, analysis, classic games and shows, and more, in addition to on-demand programming. However, access to this content will require an Apple TV+ subscription.

MLB in Apple News and Apple Music

On Fridays, Apple News will have curated highlights and stories from around MLB, and you can get personalized MLB highlights in the News app.

Apple Music has playlists of batters’ walk-up songs from teams featured on Friday Night Baseball. There are also collections of songs with the theme of baseball.

Apple TV, Streaming Media

Ever since Apple set the ball rolling with its first iPhone, the smartphone industry has been overflowing with clever lifestyle ideas and new milestones. Apple itself is often at the forefront of innovation: the iPhone can now contact emergency services via satellite, unlock a car or find an escaped pet. iOS and the iPhone make it all possible.

If the iPhone can do all this already, how much more will it be capable of five years from now? The key, when extrapolating the developments of the past into the future, is to bear something important in mind: the progress that lies ahead is always much faster than the progress we have already made. This is especially true for the world of tech, because Moore’s Law applies. It says (in a nutshell) that the complexity of integrated circuits doubles every 1-2 years; in other words, computing power increases exponentially. We can expect much more significant leaps in development in the next five years than we have seen in the past five.

Because new hardware opens up completely new possibilities, we can take some guesses at what could be on the horizon. Here are seven cool, crazy, and far-out features that could land on your iPhone sooner than you think.

Infinite battery life

In some ways this already exists: inductive charging works wirelessly and is pretty convenient too. We simply place our iPhones on a MagSafe charging station and save ourselves the annoying tangle of cables.

What the technology still lacks for the next revolution, however, is range. If such induction fields could be extended, or if our iPhone could tap into radio waves for charging, we would never again have to worry about empty batteries. This isn’t science fiction, either. Xiaomi demonstrated a revolutionary through-the-air charging system as long ago as January 2021.

Theoretically, such an advance would mean you could do away with the battery altogether since energy would be available everywhere. This in turn would drastically reduce the weight of mobile devices, save costs and help the environment.

6G speeds

After 5G, the next mobile communications milestone is already awaiting us in the form of 6G. Although there is no exact date for the launch of the new standard, 6G should arrive in five to six years.

Transfer rates of up to 400Gbps are planned; with that, you could download an entire Blu-ray movie to your iPhone in one second. One can only hope that the device’s storage will make similarly great progress. Perhaps local data chips will also become more or less superfluous since immense data volumes could be downloaded from iCloud in a fraction of a second.

Actual artificial intelligence

Right now, Siri is bad, and it probably seems wildly ambitious to hope it could ever attain the smarts of an AI system like ChatGPT. Nevertheless, the topic of AI and its integration into human life are still important issues for iOS. Experts agree that the complete networking of all everyday technologies, from cars to nutrition apps to smart homes, is now only a matter of time.

Apple and its walled garden could particularly benefit from highly intelligent AI. After all, in the Apple ecosystem, more and more applications have to work together smoothly and manage increasingly complex tasks for ever more demanding users.

The future iPhone might drive your car to your front door, read your kids a bedtime story (if they’ve been good), and automatically ask the boss to forgive you if you’re late for work—all without asking Siri.

Mind control

Another prediction that might sound daring, at least for the next five years. But the idea is anything but far-fetched, because thought control of tech devices already works today, even if no one has yet implemented it in a mobile operating system.

Don’t believe us? You’d better sit down. Neuralink, a company owned by Elon Musk, implanted a brain chip into a monkey for exactly this purpose. The implanted circuit can send brain signals from the primate directly to a smartphone.

You can see the result in the video above. If you’re wondering why the monkey is sucking so passionately on that metal tube, it’s because he receives a banana smoothie as a reward for playing his part. At the end of the video, haptic control devices are completely disconnected and the monkey controls the game with his thoughts alone.

It’s all very far-fetched, but satellite SOS, wireless charging, and Siri were once pretty far-fetched too.

Super apps

You don’t need a crystal ball to see this trend coming. In the future, so-called super apps will play an increasingly important role in our everyday lives, and the iOS of the future will be no exception.

Super apps combine a wide range of services, functions, and services into one interface. This makes sense, because as practical and versatile as apps are today, doesn’t it annoy you that so many of them are needed? Every social media site has its own app and pesters visitors into downloading it. If you use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, you’ve probably got an app salad on your iPhone.

Super apps also promise convenient and above all time-saving solutions in many other areas. Planning a holiday? In the future, a single app will let you book a flight or a hotel, make calendar entries and invite your sweetheart, find good local restaurants, organize a rental car, and call room service.

Augmented reality

Right now, we’re eagerly awaiting Apple’s first AR headset, which will arrive accompanied by its own operating system, probably called xrOS. If this product is a success, AR will play an increasingly important role at Apple and could expand into other areas.

Naturally, the iPhone will be a big part of Apple’s VR and AR effort, first as a companion to the headset then as a full-fledged AR device of its own. And if all goes according to plan, the AR headset will eventually replace the iPhone completely with the next 10 years.

Just a screen

All of the iPhone’s limitations can be traced back to one thing: the hardware. But who says heavy and power-hungry components have to be built into the smartphone? If storage and the user account are already hosted in the cloud, why not run the software there as well? If some of the technology here comes to fruition—6G, true wireless charging—you wouldn’t need to carry around much more than a paper-thin screen.

This article originally appeared on Macwelt and was translated and edited by David Price and Michael Simon.

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