BGR
We’re just over a month away from Apple’s big iPhone 15 event, which will deliver plenty of new hardware. Soon after, Apple will release its major updates for its operating systems, which are currently in beta for anyone to try out. iOS 17 is the most important OS coming your way in September, and the release will bring over several exciting features.
I’ve already decided I won’t use some of the iOS 17 features Apple demoed during the WWDC keynote, but there are other hidden functionalities in iOS 17 that I’m excited about.
It’s the smaller tricks that will improve the overall iPhone experience, and we’re only getting started. I’ll cover a few of the hidden iOS 17 features that we know of right now, although I’m sure we’ll find others as we experience iOS 17.
Use your old iPhone password
I explained recently that iOS 17 brings to iPhone a password feature I hope I never have to use. Say you forget your iPhone’s lock screen password right after you’ve changed it. And I do think you should change your password from time to time. If you enable this secret iOS 17 feature, you’ll have 72 hours after you’ve changed your password to use the old lock screen pin code if you forgot the new one.
The key detail here is that you have only three days to take advantage of it. But if you’ve gone over three days, the chances are you remember the new password so that you can forget about this hidden iOS 17 feature until next time.
Sharing passwords with other iPhone users
Securely sharing passwords can be a chore on any device, not just the iPhone. You’ll copy and paste the login credentials in an app like iMessage or WhatsApp and hope for the best. At least those apps are end-to-end encrypted.
But come iOS 17, you can share passwords and passkeys with your friends and family using the iPhone’s built-in Passwords functionality.
Create groups of people for sharing things like Netflix credentials or Wi-Fi passwords, and iCloud Keychain security will protect those passwords. The thing to remember here is that everyone in that group needs to run iOS 17.
Interactive widgets
One of the iOS 17 features I’m excited about most concerns widgets. They’re finally becoming interactive, which means you’ll be able to perform certain actions inside an app’s widget before heading to that app. That’s a feature that can save you time, one that all iPhone users should appreciate, especially those with plenty of widgets on their home screens.
