iPadOS 17

How To: Your iPhone's Messages App Has 22 New Must-Try Features — And You Probably Didn't Know About Half of Them

Your iPhone's Messages app has some impressive new features and changes with iOS 17, and you've probably already noticed some of them just by using the updated app. But there are less apparent features, even hidden ones, that have likely eluded you that you're going to want to know about. There are even some new Messages features yet to be officially released.

How To: Apple's Reminders App Has 7 Hot New Features That Can Help Boost Your Productivity and More

If you're still using a third-party task manager on your iPhone, you might want to check out Apple's updated Reminders app. With each new update, Reminders gets more powerful yet remains one of the simplest task managers to use, and iOS 17's new to-do list features reinforce that statement.

How To: Share Account Passwords or Passkeys with People You Trust Easily from Your iPhone, iPad, or Mac

Previously, you'd have to use a third-party password manager on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to securely share passwords with other people or groups outside of AirDrop range. And while apps like 1Password, Bitwarden, and Dashlane let you store passkeys, only 1Password has added support for passkey sharing so far. Now, Apple itself makes sharing passwords and passkeys much, much simpler.

How To: Download Offline Maps in Apple Maps — Everything You Need to Know

Offline maps help you get around an unfamiliar area whenever you anticipate encountering bad cellular reception and no internet connectivity. Google Maps and other map apps have had offline maps for a while now. But Apple Maps only had a little-known caching workaround to produce something even remotely similar to full offline maps — until now.

How To: Siri Can Finally Display and Even Log Health Data and Fitness Activity for You on Your iPhone

Apple has finally given Siri the power to tell you things such as your current elevation and the ETA to your destination during navigation in Maps, thanks to the iOS 17.2 software update — but those aren't the biggest Siri improvements. The most significant update to Siri with iOS 17.2 is its enhanced integration with your iPhone's Health app, giving you quick access to your health data.

How To: Apple's Music App for iPhone Just Got a Helluva Lot Better for Everybody with These 20+ New Features

In case you missed it, Apple has added a lot of new features and enhancements to the Music app on your iPhone, changes that benefit both Apple Music subscribers and non-subscribers. Chances are, you haven't seen all the changes yet, especially since many of them weren't released when iOS 17 first came out, but we'll go over them all with you.

How To: Create Still or Animated Live Stickers from Your iPhone Photos to Use in Messages, Notes, and More

Apple just upped its sticker game on iPhone and iPad. We've already had stickers available for Memoji, Fitness activities, and third-party iMessage apps, but only some could be used outside the Messages app. Now we can use stickers practically anywhere from the new stickers drawer, with fun emoji stickers to boot. Even better, we can stickerize the subjects of our own photos and videos, including animations.

How To: Use FaceTime's Secret Hand Gestures and Reaction Buttons to Add Animated On-Screen Effects to Your Video Feed

Apple's Messages app has long had visual effects you could apply manually after long-pressing the send button, and there are even hidden keywords you could use to trigger full-screen effects automatically. FaceTime's latest update also gives you some full-screen effects to play around with during video calls, but the triggers are an entirely different concept — hand gestures.

How To: Apple Finally Lets You Set Early Notifications for Reminders to Get Custom Alerts Before Tasks Are Due

The Reminders app is a simple yet powerful task manager, and it does a great job of reminding you to start an errand, alerting you to a project that's supposed to be done, or prompting you about a recurring chore. But with the latest Reminders update, the dates and times you set for tasks can act more like due dates thanks to the new early reminders feature.