iOS 17 has come out with lots of fresh stuff. But, I’m not here to talk about the big, popular features everyone’s talking about, like Contact Posters, Standby Mode, or Live Voicemail.

Instead, I want to shine a light on those new features that are kind of hidden, maybe they’re hardly mentioned in the update notes or not mentioned at all. Many of these are small improvements, and I think they’re just as cool as the big new features. So, let’s dive in.

IOS 17 Features

IOS 17: Camera Features

New Leveling Feature

First, let’s talk about some new things in the Camera App. One of them is a leveling feature that lets you know if your camera is straight like the ground. It shows a line that connects when it’s level.

Additionally, when your camera is level, it gives you a small vibration as a signal. You can turn on this feature by going to your phone’s settings, then selecting “camera,” and then toggling the level feature on.

Steady Video Colors

There’s one more cool thing for videos: You can now use the White Balance Lock, which ensures that the color temperature of your video stays the same while you’re recording. This means your video won’t suddenly become more orange or blue.

Instant Image Cropping

In the Photos App, there’s a new way to cut down(crop) a picture. You just drag it to make it bigger or smaller, and a crop button pops up at the top right. When you tap it, the picture is cropped to what you see on the screen. And if you want, you can crop it even more after that.

IOS 17: Lock Screen

Customize Lock Screen Clock Fonts

There are some new things you can do with your lock screen. One of them is making the numbers on the clock look bolder or lighter. You do this by tapping on the lock screen, then choosing “customize,” and finally selecting “lock screen.” After that, just tap on the clock and use a slider to make the numbers thicker or thinner. This works for all clock styles.

Better Wallpaper Fit

If you choose a picture for your wallpaper that doesn’t quite match your screen size, like it’s too small or you zoom out a lot, something cool happens with iOS 17. Instead of having a sharp cutoff at the edges, the picture kind of softens and mixes with the background. This mix can be either black or white, depending on how bright the picture is. It makes your wallpaper look better and less jarring.

RELATED: iPhone 15 Pro Max Full Review, Major Changes.

IOS 17: General Features

Quick Settings Access: Search and Toggle

There are some small new features, and one of them is that you can now use Spotlight to search for system settings like Bluetooth. When you search for it, you’ll see a toggle switch in the search results, so you can easily turn it on or off directly from there.

Multiple Timers at Once

Another significant feature, which you might have heard about, allows you to run multiple timers at the same time.

New Shake to Undo Feature

Another handy update: You can now use the ‘shake to undo’ feature when rearranging icons on your home screen. If you accidentally move icons and make a mess, just give your iPhone a shake, and it will ask if you want to undo the changes. It’s a helpful feature!

New iCloud Keychain Update

In the iCloud Keychain, where you keep your passwords, there’s a new feature: you can now give your entries custom titles. Previously, only the URL would show up in the list, but now you can choose any title you like.

IOS 17: Show/Hide iMessage Apps

New iMessage Feature

Here’s a handy iMessage feature: You can now choose which iMessage apps appear when you tap the plus button. Simply go to Settings, then Messages, and select iMessage Apps. From there, you can uncheck the ones that come with regular apps, and they won’t show up in your iMessage app list.

This won’t uninstall the complete app. However, for apps that are exclusively for iMessage, like the game Pigeon, If you press the minus button, it will completely uninstall the app.

You can also notice the new interface for accessing iMessage apps using the plus icon. You can now hold and drag to rearrange their order. For example, I moved the photos app to the bottom, making it more convenient to access after tapping the plus button.”

IOS 17: Visual Lookup Improvements

Visual Lookup Feature

There are some new features to the ‘Visual Lookup’ function in the camera. For instance, if you snap a photo of laundry symbols, you’ll notice a small analysis icon with a star on the info button. It will display ‘Look Up Laundry Care,’ and provide you with the meaning of those symbols.

A similar functionality for car warning lights. If you snap a photo of your dashboard, you’ll now find an option that says ‘Look Up Auto Symbol,’ helping you understand what it means. This feature isn’t limited to cars; it also works for food. If you take a picture of a meal you’re unfamiliar with, it will now display ‘Look Up Food,’ providing you with information about it.”

IOS 17: Safari Features

Enhanced Privacy

Safari has introduced a new feature called “Advanced Tracking and Fingerprint Protection.” You can access it by navigating to your Safari settings and choosing “Advanced” from the options. This feature prevents websites from tracking your online activity using sneaky methods beyond just cookies.

Clean Up Your Safari History Your Way

You now have more control over deleting your Safari browsing history. Just follow these steps: go to your settings, tap on Safari, and then select “Clear History and Website Data.” You’ll see different options for clearing your history: the last hour, today, today, and yesterday, or your entire browsing history.

A New Way to Enjoy Articles

In Safari, there’s a cool new feature that lets you have the webpage content read aloud to you. To use it, just click on the “aA” icon and choose “Listen to Page.” Keep in mind that this feature works best with articles and might not work on every website.

New Safari Widgets

New widgets have been introduced for Safari, which were previously unavailable. These widgets are associated with the reading list feature, enabling you to place it on your home screen.

IOS 17: Improved Grouped chats with Android Users

Improved Group Chat Compatibility for iPhone and Android Users

This change is significant, even though it didn’t receive a lot of attention in the updates. It will bring joy to many people, especially those who chat in groups with both iPhone and Android users. Now, in these group chats, a lot of iMessage features will work, even if there are Android users.

For example, if someone with an iPhone responds to a message, it will display correctly for fellow iPhone users on iOS 17 or higher. However, Android users or those on iOS 16 will still see the usual ‘Reply To a Message’ notification.

Moreover, iPhone users in a group chat can edit text now, and it will appear correctly. Android users or those on iOS 16 or older versions will see it as the typical “Edited To,” similar to a regular text message.

It’s worth mentioning that there are still certain limitations when it comes to interactions between iPhone and Android users. For example, if an Android user likes or reacts to a message, it will still be sent as a text message in the iPhone group chat. However, the scenario changes when an iPhone user likes a message from an Android user, especially on the latest stock Android devices.

In this case, Android will show it as a reaction, not a text message. It’s interesting because Android can do this, but iPhones can’t.

IOS 17: Forgot Passcode Option

Three-Day Recovery Option

A new feature is associated with modifying your iPhone’s passcode or PIN number. Now, after you make this change, you’ll have a three-day window where you’ll see a “Forgot passcode” option. This allows you to enter your previous passcode, and it will be accepted. Of course, if you’d rather not have this feature, there’s a setting available in the options to “expire the previous passcode.”

IOS 17: New Pen For Image Markup

This is really exciting! You have more pens to use for drawing on screenshots or pictures now. Before, there were just three choices: a regular pen, a marker (like a highlighter), and a pencil. But if you check out the pencil options, you’ll see there are several new ones you can use.

Additionally, there’s a new pen choice on the left side. At first, it might seem like a regular pen, but the important difference is how it draws lines. Unlike the regular pen, which gets thicker when you move it quickly, this new pen keeps the line width the same, without any changes.

The new fountain pen is pretty amazing, and I’ve learned how it functions. In simple terms, it creates a slim line unless you’re drawing downward, then it gets thicker. However, when drawing horizontally or upward, it keeps the line thin.

I noticed a small change in how shapes are added. Before, they would have an outline by default, but now they’re solid. The interface for changing colors and other settings also looks different.

IOS 17: Weather App Features

The weather app now has some cool new features. You can scroll left to see yesterday’s weather on the details page. When you click on the details, it’s called “conditions” and shows not just the temperature but also things like precipitation chance and daily comparison, unlike before when it only showed temperature.

Moon Info Card

There’s also a new info card about the moon in the weather app. It tells you about the moon’s illumination, rise time, and the next full moon date. And if you want more details, you can drag a timeline to see how the moon will look at different times.

Another new little is on the map, There is a new overlay for wind speed and direction. So that’s kind of cool.

IOS 17: Dual Sim Features

Personalized Ringtones for Each Phone Number

For those of us who use dual SIM cards, there are a couple of new features to enhance your experience. You now have the option to set distinct ringtones for each of your phone numbers. For example, if you have both a work and a personal number on the same device, you can assign unique ringtones to each, making it easy to identify incoming calls at a glance.

Additionally, there’s an option to customize the vibration pattern for each phone number. Furthermore, for dual SIM users, when you need to call back to an unfamiliar number that’s not in your contacts, you now have the flexibility to select which SIM card to use for the call. In the past, it typically defaulted to your pre-set default SIM card unless the number belonged to an existing contact.