Technologies

Before You Download iOS 17 on Your iPhone, You Need to Do This

If you’re thinking about installing iOS 17, follow this checklist first.

Apple on Monday announced iOS 17 at WWDC, its yearly developer conference. The latest mobile software update will bring several new features to the iPhone, including live stickers in Messages, an improved autocorrect that finally lets you curse in peace and an easier way to share you contact information.

Don’t miss: You Can Download the iOS 17 Developer Beta on Your iPhone Right Now

And as long as you pay for the Apple Developer Program ($99 a year), you can download iOS 17 on your iPhone right now if you wanted to, but before you even think about doing that, there are a few things to know. Here’s everything you should do before installing iOS 17 on your device.

If want to learn more, check out everything announced at WWDC 2023, as well as what you need to know about Reality Pro, Apple’s long-awaited mixed reality headset, and all the new features that are available on iOS 17.

Watch this: WWDC 2023: Here Are All the Major iOS 17 Features

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First, is your device even compatible with iOS 17?

As long as you own an iPhone XS or later, you should be able to download the iOS 17 developer beta. Below is a full list of every iPhone compatible with Apple’s new software update. And if your current phone isn’t on the list, here are some more recent iPhone models to consider purchasing.

The iPhone 15 series, which is expected to be Apple’s next phone release, should be announced later this year and come with iOS 17 already installed.

Next, make sure your iPhone is up to date

Before you update to iOS 17, make sure you’re updated to the latest iOS 16 version so that you don’t encounter any issues if you decide to revert. Also, it’s just good to always be updated to the newest mobile software version in case there are major bugs or other issues in older iOS versions.

To update your iPhone to the latest version iOS 16, go to Settings > General > Software Update and check for any available updates.

Now, back up your iPhone before updating to iOS 17

This is important: The iOS 17 developer beta is experimental software intended for developers, which means it will have many bugs and issues that could potentially cripple your iPhone. Your phone may unexpectedly restart or get really hot — with developer betas, you never know what to expect, so it’s best to prepare beforehand so that if you face major issues you can return to iOS 16.

The best way to do that is to back up your iPhone while it’s still running iOS 16. The reason is that if you update to iOS 17 but then decide to go back to iOS 16, you have an up-to-date backup to revert to, so that you keep your most recent photos, text messages, app data and more.

Now, there are two ways too back up your iPhone: via iCloud and your computer.

Back up your iPhone with iCloud

Your iPhone should automatically back up by default once a day, as long as your device is connected to both a power source and Wi-Fi and locked.

To check if this feature is enabled, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud Backup and make sure that Back Up This iPhone is enabled. Also, if you have a compatible 5G iPhone, including the iPhone 12, iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 models, you can enable Back Up Over Cellular to have your iPhone back up over your cellular network when you’re not connected to W-Fi.

You can also just manually back up your iPhone with iCloud. In the same iCloud Backup page, simply tap Back Up Now. Underneath that, you’ll see the last time a successful backup was created. Under All Device Backups, you can check out more information about your backups, including backup size, and customize what is backed up.

If your iPhone doesn’t automatically back up, you can do it manually in your settings.

Nelson Aguilar/CNET

Back up your iPhone with Mac or Windows

If you don’t have storage on your iPhone or iCloud, you always have the option to back up your device via your computer.

On Mac, connect your iPhone to your computer via lightning cable, open Finder and select your iPhone. Next, check the circle next to Back up all of the data on your iPhone to this Mac and then hit Back Up Now.

You can back up your iPhone on your Mac if you don’t have phone storage.

Nelson Aguilar/CNET

The process with Windows is pretty similarly. Again, connect your iPhone to your computer via cable, but this time open the iTunes app and click the iPhone button on the top-left of the window. In the Summary page, click Back Up Now to back up your iPhone to your Windows PC.

For more on Apple, here are the best iPhone deals right now and our ongoing review of the iPhone 14.

Technologies

Tesla Has a New Range of Affordable Electric Cars: How Much They Cost

The new, stripped-back versions of the Model Y and Model 3 have a more affordable starting price.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 22 #598

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 22, No. 598.

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 fun one — I definitely have at least two of these in my house. Some of the answers are a bit tough to unscramble, so 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: Catch all.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: A mess of items.

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:

BATE, LICE, SLUM, CAPE, HOLE, CARE, BARE, THEN, SLAM, SAMBA, BACK

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:

TAPE, COIN, PENCIL, BATTERY, SHOELACE, THUMBTACK

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is JUNKDRAWER. To find it, look for the J that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind down, over and then up.

Quick tips for Strands

#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an «S» or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.

#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.

#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Oct. 22, #1586

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Oct. 22, No. 1,586.

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

Today’s Wordle puzzle features some letters I don’t often guess, but it’s not terribly difficult. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has one repeated letter.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has one vowel.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with S.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with T.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to an action displaying spectacular skill and daring.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is STUNT.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Oct. 21, No. 1,585 was DETOX.

Recent Wordle answers

Oct. 17, No. 1,581: GROSS
Oct. 18, No. 1,582: HAVEN
Oct. 19, No. 1,583: IDEAL
Oct. 20, No. 1,584: LIMBO

Quick tips for Wordle

#1: Check our list ranking the popularity of all the letters in the alphabet and choose your starter words accordingly. (TRAIN, STERN and AUDIO are good.)

#2: Don’t forget that letters can be used more than once.

#3: Many words are similar. You don’t want to use up multiple guesses that don’t advance your cause. So if the puzzle is STA_E, don’t guess STARE, STATE and STALE. Guess something that uses that R, T and L, like TWIRL.