iOS 17 finally grabs two long-time Android features, and more

iOS powers all iPhones and also forms the base for iPadOS, which powers all iPads. As such, Apple really puts thought into what features get added to iOS, preferring to wait it out and polish the feature before rolling it out to millions of users. At WWDC 2023, Apple announced iOS 17 and all the new features it is coming with. With the release of iOS 17’s first public beta, Apple has some more features that it was saving as a surprise, including the ability to take scrolling screenshots and bilingual Siri.

As spotted by Techcrunch, Apple is introducing some more new features with the release of the first public betas of iOS 17 and iPadOS 17.

Full-page screenshots/scrolling screenshots

For the first time, iPhone users can now take full-page screenshots without needing to resort to hacky apps and workarounds. With iOS 17, you can take a scrolling screenshot of a webpage, document, or email that exceeds the length of your iPhone.

You have to initiate a screenshot as you normally do (simultaneously press and release the side button and volume up button). Then tap the screenshot in the lower-left corner, and click on Full Page to begin taking a scrolling screenshot. Once done, you can save the screenshot as an image or as a PDF.

It’s worth noting that Google added scrolling screenshots to the Android platform only with Android 12. Prior to that, OEMs had their own scrolling screenshot implementations. Either way, it’s great to see that iPhone users can now also enjoy scrolling screenshots.

Bilingual Siri

Catching up to Google Assistant and Alexa, Siri can now speak and understand two languages simultaneously! Apple is adding support for bilingual queries to Siri, beginning with English plus Indic languages like Hindi, Telegu, Punjabi, Kannada, or Marathi.

We could not locate resources on when other language combinations will be made available for Siri.

Better dual-SIM support

iOS 17 will also play nicer with dual SIMs on iPhones. Users will now be able to sort messages per SIM, set separate ringtones for each SIM, and have the ability to choose a SIM when calling back unknown numbers.

Expanded call history

iOS 17 is also expanding the call history feature. Previously, iPhones could only keep the latest 100 entries in the call history section, which was pretty limiting if you used your phone for a lot of calls across apps. Now, users will be able to see up to 2,000 calls, which will include Facetime and WhatsApp calls.

Phone number sign-in for Apple ID

With the new releases of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS Sonoma, users can sign into Apple ID with their phone number instead of their email ID.

Other changes

There are a bunch of other changes as well:

• iPad users can now filter messages by known and unknown senders.
• Transliteration support has been added for Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.
• A built-in Punjabi dictionary has been added.

Note that Apple will be releasing stable versions of iOS 17 and other platforms later in the year. The current public betas expectedly have bugs, so we do not recommend most users to install them. Please wait for the stable iOS 17 release.