New operating systems for your Apple devices are here!

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You can tell that fall is arriving with cooler days, crisp nights and earlier sunsets. You can also tell because Apple releases their new operating systems for all devices every fall. You can set your watch to it.

Here are the summaries for each device/OS. All are available today, except macOS Sonoma, which is available September 26th. Overall, these are kind of ho-hum upgrades this year, in my opinion.

iPhone - iOS 17

Nothing really incredible to note, but there are a few:

  • NameDrop - share your contact info to another person by bringing the two iPhones within an inch or two of each other

  • Improved AutoCorrect - Not only is the correction better, but so is the prediction of the next word you want to type. In addition, it will offer prediction of the entire rest of the sentence you are typing!

  • Apple Maps offline - Finally, you can download maps so that they are accessible without having Internet connection where you use the maps!

  • Contact Posters - Design the screen that pops up when you make a phone call to another iPhone. There are lots of options here - choose a photo or a Memoji, colors, fonts and more!

  • Live Voicemail - Read a transcript of a voicemail as it is being left for you and pickup the call if you find the message compelling, similar to old-style home phone voice message machines!

  • “Hey Siri” is being shortened to just “Siri” to get her attention.

iPad - iPadOS 17

Most changes in iOS 17 apply to iPadOS 17. In addition, iPadOS 17 features the addition of the Health app - Finally it is available on the iPad!

Apple Watch - watchOS 10

A few improvements to the OS this year:

  • Smart Stack - Roll the crown from the watch face and see things like the weather, your next calendar appointment, timer status and more.

  • Cycling activity - A much improved cycling activity app with better metrics, views and more! Also connects the watch to Bluetooth cycling accessories on your bike.

  • NameDrop - this feature, described above, can work between Apple Watches or between Apple Watch and iPhone.

Mac - macOS Sonoma

Includes most items in iOS 17 and there are a few things to note:

  • Interactive widgets on your Desktop - Finally, you can have the weather, sports scores, upcoming calendar events and more! Not only that, you can add widgets that are only on your iPhone and connect to iPhone apps (as long as your iPhone is on the same Wi-Fi network). An example of this would be your car’s app (like Tesla) - you can now see the charge state of your car, start the HVAC before you get in your car in the garage and much more!

  • You can now have websites in the Dock alongside your apps (similar to how iOS has allowed this for many years).

  • Screen Sharing - this is the app that we use when I remote into your Mac! It now has a high performance mode, with better responsiveness, better audio and video (of the shared screen).

  • Safari Profiles - you can choose the look, Favorites, history and more for each profile you set up in Safari. For example, you could have a work and a personal profile, each with different content.

  • Photos - the People album, which has been a favorite feature for many years, now adds pets!

  • Keychain - you can now share passwords with friends and family.

So, download these upgrades today! They have been really well tested by Apple and over a million Beta users since July!

  • On your iPhone and iPad - Settings > General > Software Update.

  • On your Apple Watch in the Watch app on the iPhone - Settings > General > Software Update.

  • On your Mac - System Settings > General > Software Update (or System Preferences > Software Update for older OSs)

This is definitely not an exhaustive list. If you want to read more:

iOS 17 - https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-17/

ipadOS 17 - https://www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-17/

watchOS 10 - https://www.apple.com/watchos/watchos-10/

macOS Sonoma - https://www.apple.com/macos/sonoma-preview/