Wesley Hilliard
The beta cycle has restarted with iOS 17.2 and the rest, which includes the long-awaited Journal app on iPhone, iMessage sticker reactions, and the rumored Apple TV app redesign.
Apple released iOS 17.1 and the other point updated operating systems on Wednesday, but iOS 17.2 is already here. The new beta cycle introduces some of the remaining features Apple promised for iOS 17, plus some surprises.
Arguably, the biggest release for iOS 17.2 is the Journal app. It is a privacy-focused journaling app that collects data from a suggestion API available to developers that help create new entries.
The Journal app is only available as an iPhone app as of beta 1 and will likely remain that way.
Apple also updated the Apple TV app in line with a recent rumor. On tvOS 17.2 the TV app has a new sidebar that shows available content based on integrated channels.
The integrated channels like Paramount+ and external app channels like Disney+ all show up on the sidebar. It enables users to easily access what they are looking for without having to leave the app like before, but with a much more streamlined interface.
The TV app on iOS is also updated, but tweaked only slightly with more emphasis on the channels in Watch Now. Available channels appear in a "My TV" section.
Apple Music also got a few new changes. The Favorites Playlist is available to beta testers, which collects the user's favorites into one place similar to Spotify's likes playlist.
Apple Music Favorites Playlist and collaborative playlistsCollaborative Apple Music playlists are also now available. Users can invite others running iOS 17.2 to manage a playlist.
Apple included the iMessage sticker reactions function, but users note it's not quite the same as a tapback reaction. It allows users to react with a sticker, but it just attaches a sticker onto the message rather than it becoming an integrated tapback, dissimilar to Slack or Discord reactions.
Additional updates
- Assign Translate to the Action button
- New Weather widgets and clock widget
- iMessage Contact Key Verification
- Apple Music Focus Filter
As more features are discovered, they will be added here. Apple will likely release iOS 17.2 and the other updates in early December.
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Journaling Suggestions uses on-device processing to intelligently group moments and events, in order to provide you with personalized suggestions. Using information stored on your device, Journaling Suggestions can recommend to you special moments to remember and write about.
You control which suggestions are shared with journaling apps that use Journaling Suggestions. Journaling Suggestions can include suggestions from your activities (such as workout type, duration, routes, calories, and heart rate), media use (such as which podcast and song you listened to, artist name, and track name), contacts (such as whom you communicated with via texts, calls, and FaceTime), photos (such as photos and videos from your library, shared albums, and memories), and significant locations (such as places you’ve recently been, as well as how often and when you visited them, in order to learn places that are significant to you).
When you enable Journaling Suggestions, limited historical data stored on your device, including information about your workouts, media use, communications, and photos, will be used to create meaningful suggestions for you.
You can customize the categories of data to include in your Journaling Suggestions by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Journaling Suggestions, and tapping a specific category to turn it on or off. If more than one journaling app uses Journaling Suggestions, your choices of which categories to include in your Journaling Suggestions will apply to all apps. You can turn off Journaling Suggestions by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Journaling Suggestions, then tapping Turn Off All. Your decision to turn off all suggestions will apply to all journaling apps using Journaling Suggestions.
Nearby People Journaling Suggestions may also use contextual information to determine which suggestions may be more meaningful or relevant to you. Journaling Suggestions uses Bluetooth to detect the number of devices and contacts around you without storing which of these specific contacts were around. This information is used to improve and prioritize your suggestions. It is stored on device, and is not shared with Apple. You can choose not to allow Journaling Suggestions to use the number of devices and contacts around you to prioritize your suggestions by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Journaling Suggestions, then tapping to turn off Prefer Suggestions with Others.
You can also control whether your contacts include you in their number of nearby contacts by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Journaling Suggestions, then tapping to turn off Discoverable by Others. If you disable Discoverable by Others and choose not to be included in your contacts’ counts, Prefer Suggestions with Others will also be disabled and Journaling Suggestions will not detect how many devices and contacts are around you to improve or prioritize your suggestions.