Technologies

Apple Messages in iOS 17 Will Turn Your Photos Into Stickers

At WWDC, Apple unveiled a handful of iOS 17 updates to its Messages app, including Live Stickers.

Apple’s Messages is about to get an upgrade. With iOS 17, you’ll be able to turn pictures into stickers, transcribe voice memos, keep your friends and family notified on your way home and more.

News about the Messages update came Monday at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, held at its Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, California. Apple traditionally uses the annual event to unveil new devices, such as its mixed reality headset Apple Vision Pro, and give developers a preview of upcoming additions to its desktop and mobile software.

Live Stickers coming to iOS 17

The update to Messages will be part of iOS 17 and include new sticker experiences, where people can take their photos and turn them into stickers they use in text conversations, alongside standard emojis, which can also be used as stickers. People can customize their stickers with effects, like shiny, puffy, comic and outline, and keep them in a new drawer in the keyboard for streamlined access, Apple said in a press release. Stickers will be available systemwide, including in third-party apps. Apple said iOS 17 will be shipped later this fall. Here’s which iPhones will be able to run the update.

To make a photo into a sticker, touch and hold an object in a photo. Then you can style your object with various effects, outline it or create animated Live Stickers with Live Photos. To use the sticker in Messages, add them in the bubble from the Tapback menu.

Watch this: Apple Reveals iOS 17

16:43

Search in Messages, Check In and more

Apple also debuted a refined search feature for what it called a more «powerful and precise» Messages search experience. People can apply additional filters to their Messages search to more quickly find the exact conversation they were looking for. Plus, when you’ve received lots of texts in a group chat, you can now use the catch-up arrow to locate where the conversation left off last.

iOS 17 Messages will also transcribe voice memos you receive, if you don’t have the time to listen to them. Apple additionally announced a new location sharing feature that lets you keep track of your friends by viewing their location in your text conversation.

Apple's Check In feature on three iPhones. — Apple’s Check In feature through iOS 17.

Screenshot by CNET

Another location sharing feature Apple debuted is Check In. If you want to keep a friend or family member updated on your journey home, for example, you can use Check In, which notifies the person of your whereabouts and lets them know if you’re having trouble getting home. «If they are not making progress toward their destination, useful information will be temporarily shared with the selected contact, such as the device’s location, battery level, and cell service status,» Apple said in the press release. Check In will be end-to-end encrypted, so only you and the person you’re sharing this information with is privy to your location.

Developers can try out iOS 17 today, and everyone can try out the public beta in a month.

Apple kicked off WWDC with an announcement on its thin 15-inch MacBook Air and offered details on its latest desktop software, MacOS 14 Sonoma.

For more, Apple reveals its brainiest Mac chip yet and upgrades its Mac Pro to M2 Ultra Silicon. With the iOS 17 update, you can finally type what you ducking mean.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, July 25

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for July 25.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

I love it when the New York Times gives me the same clue in the same puzzle with two different answers — like with «skirt» for both 6-Across and 2-Down. It always spices up my Mini Crossword experience! Keep reading for an assist with today’s Mini Crossword. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: What a palm tree emoji on Slack might indicate, informally
Answer: VACAY

6A clue: Skirt
Answer: EVADE

7A clue: iPhone app for jotting
Answer: NOTES

8A clue: C.E.O., C.F.O. or C.T.O.
Answer: TITLE

9A clue: Requirements for pink or purple hair
Answer: DYES

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Let off a little steam
Answer: VENT

2D clue: Skirt
Answer: AVOID

3D clue: Like a remark that might elicit a «me-ow»
Answer: CATTY

4D clue: «Skyfall» singer
Answer: ADELE

5D clue: Positive R.S.V.P.s
Answer: YESES

Technologies

Starlink Restored After Hours-Long Outage Took Down Elon Musk’s Satellite Internet Service

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for July 25 #509

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for July 25 No. 509.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a mix of easy words to find and unscramble and one whopping long one. But if you know the theme, that word is easy to decipher. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Step to it!

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Boogie shoes.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

HOGS, RICE, RICER, MUSE, CHAT, CHATS, GRAM, PANT, COAT, COATS, PARS, CARS, LASS, CLASS, CLASSY

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers: