There are tons of new features in the Messages app for iOS 17, but you might not notice them right away. In previous years we had standout features like Memojis and inline replies, but for iOS 17 the focus has shifted to quality of life improvements.
However, they are more than welcome. While these new features may seem a bit more tucked away, they are a joy to discover and use while texting with your friends and family.
A great new feature for group chats is a new ‘catch up’ button. If you’ve been away from your phone for a while (or just ignored your friends who just won’t stop talking in the group chat), you can now automatically scroll to where you left off in the conversation.
If you have more unread messages from the group than will fit on your screen, an arrow will appear that you can tap in the top right to go to the last message you’ve read.
2. Swipe to reply
The new swipe-to-reply feature in Messages is so much more natural than before and feels like the perfect convenience feature. You no longer have to press and hold on a message and then click Answerjust to create an answer thread.
In iOS 17, all you have to do is swipe right on a message and a reply will be triggered automatically. It is so fast and can be done mindlessly. This feature only works with iMessage conversations.
When your friends share their locations with you through the Find My app, their whereabouts are now more deeply integrated into Messages. At the very top of each conversation, where you’d normally see a contact’s name and photo, you’ll see their location in small text.
It only lists the city and state, but offers a quick look at where your friends are when you message them. Of course, you can still tap the contact’s name there to bring up the contact card, which offers more details about the person’s location, including a map and directions.
4. Create your own sticker from a photo
You can now create your own iMessage stickers from your photo library, fueling the next wave of memes for years to come.
iOS 16’s updated Visual Look Up feature lets you remove subjects from wallpapers on your iPhone. iOS 17 adds to this by letting you create fun stickers to send to friends in Messages. As a bonus, when you use Live Photos on your iPhone, they automatically turn into animated GIF-like stickers.
To create these photo stickers, open a Messages conversation and tap the plus (+) icon next to the text field and choose Stickers. Navigate to the first category icon, which looks like a blank folded sticker. Crane New decal to select a photo, and Messages will automatically cut out the subject and create a sticker that you can send whenever you want.
5. Audio messages are now automatically transcribed
If you send or receive audio messages in iMessage, you should notice that they automatically show transcripts in iOS 17. It may take a while for your iPhone to appear the audio message, but the full text will appear in the same message bubble.
It may not always be perfectly accurate, but it can transcribe quite well and provides an easy way to read audio messages if you’re not in a place where you can listen to them.
Note that the transcript will still disappear along with the audio clip if you haven’t set your iPhone to prevent audio messages from expiring.
6. Check in to notify friends when you arrive
Check In is a brand new iMessage feature in iOS 17. You can set up this feature with a contact and let them know when you arrive home or at your destination. It’s great for those who constantly forget to let friends and family know when we arrive safely.
To set up a check-in, tap the plus (+) icon in an iMessage conversation and tap Check in. Here you can set your Check In to automatically send a notification based on your location or after a set time. If you choose the time-based check-in, after a period of time you set, you’ll be prompted to let the person know you’ve arrived.
You have 15 minutes to respond to the report; otherwise, the recipient will be notified that you have not responded. Apple also gives you fine-grained control over what location data you share and with whom.
Apple’s Messages app gets quality of life improvements in iOS 17
These may not be the most notable features to ever appear on Messages for iPhone and iPad, but they all make for a pleasantly improved experience.
Explore the Messages app to see what other subtle changes you might see in iOS 17, or take advantage of what we’ve highlighted here. From photo stickers to audio transcriptions and checking in, Messages has gotten a nice upgrade.