Wow your loved ones this holiday with 7 iPhone 17 features they don’t know about
I am beginning to get questions from mates, members of the family and strangers about iPhone 17, iOS 26 even the brand new one AirPods Professional 3. Possibly I simply appear like a educated man, or they see mine brilliant orange iPhone 17 Professional and are sure to ask. So now I am asking questions like, “How do you do this factor along with your AirPods that I noticed on TikTok?” and “What’s a cool iPhone characteristic I ought to attempt?” After testing the brand new Apple telephone and equipment for the previous couple of months, I’ve collected my share hidden ideas and methods.
The following pointers might not be new to everybody or unique to the iPhone 17 line (most require iOS 26), however they’re the least apparent ones I exploit probably the most.
1. Photographs app background ideas
Your iPhone’s lock display has been extra customizable since iOS 16.
Through the years, Apple has given the lock display and residential display a serious visible overhaul. There are countless choices to customise the look of your apps, lock display clock and add triple area results to convey your wallpaper to life.
One in all my favourite latest discoveries, although, is the Wallpaper Options within the Photographs app, which selects wallpaper-worthy photographs out of your library and crops them to suit your display. There’s even a 3D animation impact that may be added to actually give your background some pizzazz. Above is a photograph of my telephone with a background of one in all my cats (from Options), for instance. It amuses me to no finish that it seems like her head is poking out of the nook of the display as if to say, “Are you unlocking your telephone?”
Should you do not see Steered Wallpaper within the Photographs app, go to SETTINGSthen to Photographsand test it out Present featured content material is activated. Then, if you happen to do not wish to see the background ideas, you may flip them off right here. However why would you?
2. Use uncooked photographs to make the moon pop
Listed below are three photographs of the moon taken inside seconds of one another. The left and middle photographs are JPEGs, with the left one uncovered for the moon and the middle one uncovered for the buildings. The photograph on the appropriate was taken as a uncooked picture and edited later to steadiness the publicity for each.
This tip is for you iPhone Professional house owners and is a straightforward method to be sure you get an ideal shot of a high-contrast scene. Consider a brilliant topic in a darkish surroundings, such because the panel of the Mineral Level Opera Home lit up at evening, or a darkish topic in a brilliant setting, just like the black cat background shot from my earlier tip.
Listed below are the intense lights of the Mineral Level Opera Home model contrasted with the darkish evening.
Final week, there was a full moon over San Francisco, and I cherished the way in which Charlie Fog — sure, San Francisco’s marine layer has a reputation — swirled via the moonlight. Nonetheless, once I tried to take an image of it, my telephone overexposed the picture for the intense moon, making the whole lot else look darkish. And once I tried to reveal the picture to gentle up the buildings within the background, the moon simply blew out utterly white.
As an alternative, I turned on the uncooked photograph setting within the Digicam app and bought an ideal shot of the moon. I used to be then capable of edit it after the actual fact inside the default Photographs app to enhance shadow element on the darkish background and highlights on the moon. The consequence: Each the moon and the buildings seemed precisely how I wished. You may also use a third-party app to edit uncooked pictures.
Uncooked information include extra picture information than a JPEG or HEIC, permitting you to make extra in depth edits after taking a picture. I do not take uncooked photographs on a regular basis as a result of the file sizes are enormous: the uncooked photograph of the moon is 13.6 MB in comparison with a JPEG I took that was 1.5 MB.
To do that, you should allow the uncooked information grasp key first. Go to SETTINGSthen cAMERA menu. Choose FORMATS and activate ProRAW & Decision Management. I exploit JPEG Lossless for ProRAW format.
As soon as enabled, open the Digicam app. Should you’re working iOS 26, you must see a button that claims JPEG, HEIC OR uncooked on the higher left aspect. Faucet on it to see the controls for Format and Decision. Uncooked pictures will be recorded at 48MP on the iPhone 17 Professional.
3. AirPods Professional 3 case is the button
The case for AirPods Professional 3 is the button.
Apple lately launched AirPods Professional 3. They arrive with some nice options, together with the flexibility to observe coronary heart charge and translate conversations in actual time. However once I first went to pair them with my telephone, I used to be stunned: The place’s the pairing button?
Simply me? Possibly not.
To pair AirPods Professional 3, merely place them within the case and open the lid. They need to mechanically pair with any Apple system you’ve gotten available. However if you happen to’re attempting to pair them with an Apple system that does not have the identical iCloud account or a non-Apple system, you will have to open the lid and double-tap the case to enter pairing mode.
And that is not the one AirPods tip I’ve for you (spam).
4. AirPods mechanically flip off the music while you go to sleep
AirPods Professional 3 of their pure surroundings: The Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park, the corporate’s headquarters.
Should you’re somebody who listens to music, a podcast, or white noise that will help you go to sleep, you may set your AirPods to mechanically cease no matter you are listening to when you go to sleep. To activate this, hold the AirPods of their case, convey the case near your iPhone and open the lid. Now go to SETTINGS and faucet on the title of your AirPods. Subsequent, scroll all the way down to Cease the media while you go to sleep and allow that setting. Now sit again, put in your AirPods, and revel in that 80-minute podcast about Mission Unimaginable: Ghost Protocol when you’re snoozing.
This characteristic is a part of iOS 26 and works with:
- AirPods Professional 3
- AirPods Professional 2 with USB-C
- AirPods Professional 2 with Lightning
- AirPods 4 with ANC
- AirPods Max with USB-C
Additionally, if you have not explored your AirPods settings menu earlier than, you may entry many nice options equivalent to Head gestures, Direct translation AND Digicam distant management.
5. The invisible iPhone button
Here is the again of the iPhone 17 Professional. You might not see one, however the again will be was an “invisible” button to set off numerous actions.
Knock again it is not a brand new characteristic, nevertheless it’s a characteristic that lots of people do not find out about. Your iPhone has an “invisible” button that you simply activate by tapping on the again of the telephone. It’s customizable and may do issues like open apps, activate the flashlight, or, as I exploit it, present/disguise Management Middle.
To configure it, open SETTINGSgo to AccessibilityChoose contact after which scroll down and faucet on Knock again. You’ll be able to arrange a number of actions, one triggered by a double faucet and one other by a triple faucet (I might like to do that with the iPhone’s Motion button). As you may see from the motion menu, Again Faucet can carry out dozens of various actions and shortcuts.
After I wish to open the Management Middle — particularly if I am holding the telephone with one hand — I can double-tap the again of the telephone and it pops up. Should you faucet it twice once more, it goes away. Moreover, while you use Again Faucet, a small Dynamic Island banner seems to clarify what is going on on. You’ll be able to flip this off within the Faucet Again settings menu if you happen to do not wish to see it.
6. Use iPhone cross strap for digicam and permission
Apple sells a Crossbody strap for the iPhone 17 and Air collection. It prices $60 and doesn’t include a field.
We have seen telephone straps from different telephone makers, like Motorola for its Razr, and there are many third-party choices out there. Nonetheless, this yr Apple launched its personal crossbody strap for the iPhone. The strap prices $60, which appears steep for a skinny piece of cloth, however there’s truly extra “tech” than meets the attention. Apple cross strap it’s lined with magnets to maintain the 2 “items” of the belt (the place it folds over itself) from separating or by chance adjusting the size when carrying it.
It additionally has use instances past simply being linked to a telephone. On TikTok, many movies like this present individuals utilizing the crossbody strap as a digicam strap. However why cease right here? Use it to carry passes or IDs for amusement parks or conventions.
The strap is lengthy which is nice if you happen to’re a much bigger particular person like me and nonetheless has sufficient size to go throughout your physique and maintain your telephone or digicam in your hip. Apple created one other accent that’s having its second proper now: iPhone pocket. Just like the crossbody strap, you may put on it throughout your physique, however I am unsure it could maintain something however an iPhone that nicely.
