Technologies

iPhone Will Let You Set a Custom Image or Memoji for Your Calls With iOS 17

You can set photos, emoji and typography to create a personalized contact poster to represent yourself.

You’ll soon be able to dress up your iPhone calls by setting a customized image that shows up on the receiver’s screen when you place a call.

The feature, unveiled during Apple’s WWDC keynote address on Monday, is called personalized contact posters and it’s part of iOS 17, Apple’s next major update for the iPhone.

Personalized contact posters allow you to customize how you’re represented on someone else’s phone when you’re calling them. You can use photos or emoji, paired with typography.

You can choose your own image, font and color, customizing your contact poster much as you might your phone lock screen, Apple said. The images show up not only in calls, but also as part of the your contact card, creating a consistent look.

More from WWDC 2023

Additional updates are coming to the iOS 17 experience. You’ll be able to turn your own photos into stickers that you can then use in text conversations, alongside standard emoji.

iOS 17 Messages will also transcribe voice memos you receive. A new location sharing feature will allow you to keep track of your friends by seeing their location in your text conversation. And the new Check In feature is aimed at keeping a friend or family member updated on your journey home, notifying them of where you are, and letting them know if you’re having trouble getting home.

iOS 17 is expected to be available as a public beta sometime next month, with the general release in September alongside the rumored iPhone 15 series.

Watch this: Apple iOS 17: Every New Feature (Supercut)

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Technologies

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Technologies

Apple’s New Smart Home Display Delayed Until Fall Over Siri Issues

It has been nearly a year and a half since the company announced the AI-powered product.

Your home could get smarter with Apple’s Siri, but it will have to wait a few more months. Bloomberg reported the iPad-shaped AI home hub won’t be ready until September, several months after the company was hoping to launch it this spring. Apple engineers first need to complete work on a new and improved Siri assistant for the home device, code-named J490, according to Bloomberg.

Apple was hoping to release J490 this month, along with a slew of other new devices, including the iPhone 17e, MacBook Neo, MacBook Air M5, new Pro models, and iPad Air M4. Apple first teased the smart home display in November 2024.

A representative for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Siri is Apple’s virtual assistant that uses voice recognition and AI to fulfill a variety of tasks and commands, along with intriguing uses. You might use Siri to find your iPhone — «Hey Siri, where are you?» — or to hear the weather forecast — «Siri, what will the weather be today?» Siri is available on iPhones, MacBooks and iPads. It was launched in 2011 as a feature of the iPhone 4S.

As CNET reported last month, Apple engineers have struggled to push the upgraded Siri assistant out the door. It isn’t fast enough, gets confused by complex commands and doesn’t interact well with other Apple AI models. The company is also wrestling with how much personal data to access to inform the AI, and the new Siri is not yet able to complete in-app tasks, such as finding a photo and posting it to socials, all with one command.

It has been nearly two years since Apple announced that it would give Siri a major upgrade. In the meantime, competitors like Alexa Plus and Gemini for Home have entered the marketplace.

Tech tester Jon Rettinger, whose YouTube channel has 1.66 million subscribers, says the repeated delays in upgrading Siri can «erode» confidence in Apple’s ability to keep up in the AI race.

«Apple as a whole is still one of the strongest companies on the planet. But their AI play is clearly the weakest link in an otherwise very strong chain,» Rettinger told CNET.

Rettinger said he has had issues getting Siri to complete basic commands, such as setting two alarms at the same time, and that it’s a bit of «a mess» right now.

«Having said that, the iPhone has such massive market penetration that I’m not sure it will actually matter in the end. Which is kind of wild when you think about it,» Rettinger said.

Facial recognition for residents

The hardware for the forthcoming smart home display has already been finished. It resembles an iPad and can be either attached to a wall or rest on a half-domed-shaped base, the Bloomberg report said.

The device will be equipped with facial recognition, so when residents walk up to it, they will be shown personalized data such as music preferences, news headlines, appointments, reminders, tasks and so on.

The screen interface will include a bunch of circular app icons, similar to the display on an Apple Watch. The Bloomberg report said the smart home display will be the first of several home devices by Apple. Future products include a tabletop robotic limb with a 9-inch screen, a smart security camera and a Face ID-enabled smart doorbell.