Just Install iOS 17? Here's 12 Things to Do First

Apple today released iOS 17 to the public, and there are hundreds of new features and changes for you to learn about. Some of these options require some set up to get up and running, so we've written this guide that walks you through what you should do after installing iOS 17.

Just Install iOS 17 Feature

Set Up Your StandBy Screen

When you charge an iPhone running iOS 17 in an upright and horizontal orientation, it displays a new StandBy screen. StandBy serves as a home hub to show glanceable information that makes your ‌iPhone‌ more useful when it's not being actively used.

StandBy iOS 17
StandBy is most useful on the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro models with always-on display, but it is available on all iPhones that run iOS 17.

There are three total StandBy screens that you can access by swiping between them when your phone is in the appropriate StandBy position. The first screen displays widgets (including interactive widgets), the second showcases photos from the Photos library, and the third is a large clock that shows the time.

standby
You will want to customize your two widget stacks on the widget screen to make it more useful, and you can also customize how the time is displayed and the photos that you see. Customizing is done by swapping over to the correct screen and long pressing on it to get to the customization options.

live activity standby
StandBy can show you incoming notifications, Live Activities, and Siri queries full screen. When you use StandBy with different MagSafe chargers in separate locations, you can customize your phone to remember which screen configuration you prefer based on location. For example, you might prefer widgets when at the office, or the clock screen when the ‌iPhone‌ is on your nightstand.

StandBy can be a little bit complicated when you're not familiar with it, so we recommend looking through our StandBy guide to see the full extent of what you can do with it.

Prioritize Interactive Widgets

Lock Screen and Home Screen widgets are interactive in iOS 17, which makes widgets much more useful. You can do things like check off a reminder or activate a home device right from a widget without having to open an app.

iOS 17 Interactive Widgets
Both Apple apps and third-party apps are able to use the new interactive functionality, so you might want to redo your widget setup now that certain widgets are more useful.

Lock Screen widgets can be customized by long pressing on the Lock Screen, choosing a Lock Screen option, and then tapping "Customize." From there, select the Lock Screen and then tap into the widgets box to choose your widget options.

reminders widget
On the ‌Home Screen‌, long press, tap on the "+" button in the upper left corner, and select the widget that you want to add.

Customize Your Contact Poster

In iOS 17, there's a customizable Contact Poster that people see when you call, FaceTime, or text them. You can customize it with a photo, Memoji, Animoji, or an initial, and choose the colors and fonts that you prefer.

contacts
When you install iOS 17, you'll be prompted to make a Contact Poster, but you can tweak it at any time in the Contacts app. Just open Contacts, tap on "My Card" and then tap on "Edit" in the upper right corner to get to the editing interface.

From there, you can choose a photo, select a color for the text, add a filter, and more. You can have multiple Contact Posters to swap between, and you can create a Contact Photo that's different from your Contact Poster.

The Contact Poster and Contact Photo that you choose will be shared with others when you call or message them, but there are some settings you can use to restrict access. You can choose to share your photo and poster automatically with all of your contacts, or you can have your ‌iPhone‌ get permission from you first. Name and photo sharing can also be disabled entirely if you prefer.

Make Sure Live Voicemail is On (U.S. and Canada Only)

Live Voicemail is a new feature that lets you see a transcript of a voicemail as it's left, so you can pick up if it's an important call. You can make sure Live Voicemail is enabled by opening up the Settings app, tapping on Phone, scrolling down to Live Voicemail and toggling it on.

Live Voicemail iOS 17
With the option turned on, when someone begins to leave a voicemail you will see a the transcript of what they have to say right on the Lock Screen. You can ignore it or answer the phone. During the beta testing process, Live Voicemail's wording was a bit confusing for callers, but Apple has since addressed that issue.

If you find Live Voicemail irritating, toggling it off will disable it and your voicemail will return to normal.

Create Your Own Stickers

Apple in iOS 16 added a Remove Subject from Background tool that lets you remove the primary object from any image. In iOS 17, when you use this feature, you can turn the subject of an image into a sticker.

ios 17 stickers create
To get it to work, choose any photo with main subject. Do a short tap and hold on the subject of the image and at the text popup, choose "Add Sticker."

From there, you can choose a sticker effect, such as adding a puffy look, including a white border, adding a glitter effect, and more. Some stickers will animate if they are pulled from a Live Photo, and the stickers that you can create can be used across the operating system.

With iOS 17, Apple also merged emojis and stickers into one, so stickers work wherever you can use emoji.

Set Up New Safari Profiles

In ‌iOS 17‌, Apple added a Profile feature that is designed to let you separate your browsing for different use cases. You can create a "Work" profile and a "Personal" profile, for example, so all of your work-related browsing is kept separate from your personal browsing.

ios 17 safari profiles
Each profile has separate cookies, browsing history, extensions, and website data. You can turn off cookies and pop-ups on one profile, for instance, leaving them on for another profile. Profiles also have separate Favorites and Tab Groups.

safari profiles set up ios 17
To set up your separate profiles, open the Settings app, select Safari, tap on New Profile, and choose an icon, name, and background color.

Turn on Anti-Tracking

URLs in ‌iOS 17‌ can be stripped of all tracking information appended to the end of the URL so that websites cannot track your browsing using URL identifiers. This function is enabled automatically for private browsing in ‌iOS 17‌, but it can be turned on for all browsing.

settings
To turn it on, open up the Settings app and go to Safari. Tap on Advanced, then tap on "Advanced Tracking and Fingerprinting Protection." From there, toggle on "All Browsing." The setting will ensure that URLs opened in Safari will strip any tracking information at the end of a URL.

Share Your iCloud Keychain Passwords

iOS 17 lets you securely share passwords and passkeys stored in iCloud Keychain with friends and family members. Through the sharing feature, passwords for media accounts, utilities, bills, and more can be accessed by multiple people.

ios 17 shared passwords
Passwords can be shared by opening up the Passwords section in the Settings app and tapping on "Get Started" under the Share Passwords with Family banner. Alternatively, you can tap the "+" button and create a new shared group. You can have multiple separate password sharing groups with different people.

Name Your Pets in Photos

In the ‌Photos‌ app, the People album is now the Pets and People album because the ‌iPhone‌ can recognize dogs and cats. Once you've let your ‌iPhone‌ charge for a bit, head into the Pets and People album and you'll be able to identify your pets and other animals that you have photos of, adding a name just like you can with people.

ios 17 pets photos
You can review additional photos to add more, watch a slideshow, and more.

Log a Mood

Apple added a mood tracking feature to the Health app in iOS 17 so you can track your mental wellbeing over time. To get to it, open up the Health app, go to Browse, and tap on Mental Wellbeing. Choose Log under State of Mind, and you can select your mood

ios 17 mood tracking
You can set a mood for the current time or an overall mood for the entire day, choosing the factors that might have influenced your mood such as work or a relationship. You can see how your mood changes from week to week and what impacts how you're feeling.

You can set up notifications to remind you to log your mood, and if you have an Apple Watch, you can do mood logging from your wrist.

Share an AirTag

AirTags can be shared with family members, so if your partner or your child borrows an item with an AirTag, they'll no longer get alerts about an unknown item traveling with them. This also goes for items that have Find My integration.

airtag sharing interface ios 17
To share a device, open up the ‌Find My‌ app and choose the items tag. Select an ‌AirTag‌ or an item and tap on Share This ‌AirTag‌. From there, you can choose a contact to share the ‌AirTag‌ with.

Try Out New AirPods Pro 2 Features

AirPods Pro 2 have multiple new features in iOS 17 that you'll want to test out. Adaptive Audio combines Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency into an all-in-one mode that adjusts the volume of what's playing based on what's around you and your interactions throughout the day.

airpods pro 2 purple
With Conversation Awareness, the ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2 can detect when someone is speaking to you, turning down the volume of media and cutting down on background noise. Personalized Volume will also adjust the sound of what's playing based on personal preference and the sounds around you.

Automatic Device Switching is also quicker, plus if you press on the stem of the ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2 while on a call, you can mute and unmute yourself. More on the new ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2 features can be found in our guide.

More on iOS 17

For more on all of the new features that have been added in iOS 17, make sure to check out our dedicated iOS 17 roundup.

Related Forums: iOS 17, iPadOS 17

Popular Stories

ios 18 4 carplay

iOS 18.4 Includes a Small But Useful Change for CarPlay

Sunday February 23, 2025 2:23 pm PST by
The first beta of iOS 18.4 is now available, and it includes a small but useful change for CarPlay. As we noted in our list of iOS 18.4 features, CarPlay now shows a third row of icons, up from two rows previously. However, this change is only visible in vehicles with a larger center display. For example, a MacRumors Forums member noticed the change in a Toyota Tundra, which can be equipped...
cook trump

Trump Responds to Apple Keeping Diversity Policies

Wednesday February 26, 2025 6:32 am PST by
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017 "APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote. Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
iPhone Fold Vertical Feature

Apple's 2026 Foldable iPhone Has No Visible Display Crease – Report

Tuesday February 25, 2025 2:58 am PST by
Apple is making significant headway on its long-rumored foldable iPhone, with a new report suggesting the company has achieved a major breakthrough by effectively eliminating the screen crease that plagues current foldable devices. According to Korean publication ETNews, Apple is finalizing its component suppliers for the foldable iPhone, with the selection process expected to be completed...
airtag orange

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch in May or June With These New Features

Monday February 24, 2025 6:11 am PST by
Apple plans to launch a second-generation AirTag in May or June this year, according to a post today from a leaker known as Kosutami. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously reported that a new AirTag would be released in mid-2025. May or June would align with that timeframe. Below, we recap three new features rumored for the AirTag 2: With a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, the...
iphone 17 lineup cad render majin bu

Revealed: Entire iPhone 17 Lineup's Striking New Camera Designs

Monday February 24, 2025 2:49 am PST by
A new CAD render of all the devices in Apple's upcoming iPhone 17 lineup has been shared online by leaker Majin Bu, specifically showing the allegedly different rear camera system designs of the standard iPhone 17, all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air, and the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models. The leaker Majin Bu has had some hits in the past, but some of his information has been wrong,...
trump iphone dictation issue

Apple Fixing 'Trump' Dictation Processing Bug

Tuesday February 25, 2025 1:18 pm PST by
Multiple iPhone owners today noticed a pronunciation processing issue that causes the word "Trump" to momentarily show up when using dictation to send a message with the word "racist." In some cases, when speaking the word racist through the iPhone's built-in dictation feature, the iPhone briefly interprets the spoken word as "Trump" and "Trump" text shows up in the Messages app before being ...

Top Rated Comments

antiprotest Avatar
19 months ago

Going by history, I'm not upgrading until iOS 17.4 or 17.5 is released.
There is no reason to wait. I just updated and typing on it now. It's very stabl...



Attachment Image
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
19 months ago
Going by history, I'm not upgrading until iOS 17.4 or 17.5 is released.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jz0309 Avatar
19 months ago
Set Up Your StandBy Screen


When you charge an iPhone running iOS 17 in an upright and horizontal orientation, it displays a new StandBy screen. StandBy serves as a home hub to show glanceable information that makes your iPhone more useful when it's not being actively used.
the first thing I disabled ;)
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CTHarrryH Avatar
19 months ago
And turn off Game Center for the 100 time
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SilenceBroken Avatar
19 months ago
"Make Sure Live Voicemail is On"

Turn that off, right away.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
prism Avatar
19 months ago
"Just install iOS 17?"...I'm assuming you meant "Just Installed iOS 17?"
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)