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iOS 17.1: Your iPhone Just Got These New Features

Apple’s next iOS update addresses iPhone 12 safety concerns and adds these features.

Apple released iOS 17.1 to the public on Wednesday, more than a month after the arrival of iOS 17. The update brings a few new features and bug fixes to your iPhone, but some touted features, like the Journal app, are still missing. 

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To download the update, go to Settings > General > Software Update, tap Install Now and follow the onscreen prompts. 

Here are some of the new features and fixes iOS 17.1 brings to your iPhone.

iPhone 12 radio frequency concerns addressed

France’s National Frequency Agency said on Sept. 12 that the iPhone 12 exceeds European-specific absorption rate limits, and it appears Apple addresses those concerns with iOS 17.1.

«iOS 17.1 includes an update for iPhone 12 for users in France to accommodate this specific test protocol that requires reduced power when off-body on a static surface,» Apple posted Oct. 10. «iPhone 12 will no longer increase the allowed power when the off-body state is detected, such as while it is sitting on a table.»

New StandBy mode settings

An iPhone with its Standby screen active

StandBy mode is one of my favorite new iOS features, and in iOS 17.1, Apple gives StandBy mode more setting options. With iOS 17.1, you have the option to turn StandBy mode off after 20 seconds, never or «Automatically.» Apple writes that if you choose Automatically, the display will turn off when your iPhone is not in use and the room is dark, like when you’re sleeping at night.

However, I checked these settings on my iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone XR and only found these options on my iPhone 14 Pro. So it appears the new settings are only available on iPhones with an always-on display.

Apple Music upgrades

Playlist options in Apple Music

In iOS 17.1, Apple adds a new button in Apple Music that allows you to quickly find Favorite songs. When a song is playing and you’re looking at its card on your iPhone, there’s a star outline near the song’s title. You can tap this star to add the song to your Favorites. 

There’s also a new way to find all your Favorited playlists, albums and songs. To find them, go into the corresponding category in Apple Music, tap the button in the top-right corner of your screen, and tap Favorited.

Apple Music also shows you song suggestions in iOS 17.1. To see them, go into any of your playlists and scroll to the bottom of the playlist to see a section called Song Suggestions. These are songs that the app thinks you might like, based on your musical tastes.

AirDrop using cellular data

With iOS 17, Apple upgraded AirDrop with NameDrop, which allows two devices to tap each other and exchange contact information — kind of like exchanging digital business cards. And in iOS 17.1, Apple now lets you use cellular data to send and receive information over AirDrop when two iPhones are out of range of each other. 

Flashlight symbol in Live Activities 

Have you ever accidentally switched on your iPhone’s flashlight and had someone point it out to you later? Some iPhone users won’t have to worry about that anymore. With iOS 17.1, when you turn on your flashlight, a little flashlight symbol appears in the Live Activities feed across the top of your screen. However, I couldn’t replicate this symbol anywhere on my iPhone XR, so this feature likely only works on Live Activity-enabled iPhones, like the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, as well as the iPhone 15 lineup.

Full release notes for iOS 17.1

Here are Apple’s full release notes for iOS 17.1, including bug fixes and other improvements:

AirDrop
• Content continues to transfer over the internet when you step out of AirDrop range.

StandBy
• New options to control when the display turns off (iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max).

Music
• Favorites expanded to include songs, albums and playlists, and you can filter to display your favorites in the library.
• New cover art collection offers designs that change colors to reflect the music in your playlist.
• Song suggestions appear at the bottom of every playlist, making it easy to add music that matches the vibe of your playlist.

This update also includes the following improvements and bug fixes:

• Option to choose a specific album to use with Photo Shuffle on the Lock Screen.
• Home key support for Matter locks.
• Improved reliability of Screen Time settings syncing across devices.
• Fixes an issue that may cause the Significant Location privacy setting to reset when transferring an Apple Watch or pairing it for the first time.
• Resolves an issue where the names of incoming callers may not appear when you are on another call.
• Addresses an issue where custom and purchased ringtones may not appear as options for your text tone.
• Fixes an issue that may cause the keyboard to be less responsive.
• Crash detection optimizations (all iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 models).
• Fixes an issue that may cause display image persistence.

Some features may not be available for all regions or on all Apple devices. For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222.

For more, check out my review of iOS 17 and our iOS 17 cheat sheet.

17 Hidden iOS 17 Features and Settings on Your iPhone

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Technologies

AT&T Rumored to Launch New Top-Tier Unlimited Phone Plan Soon

Online reports point to a new plan, potentially called Elite 2.0, that boosts hotspot data for a premium price.

When AT&T recently revamped its unlimited phone plans, the top-level Premiere 2.0 plan cost more than the Unlimited Premium PL plan it replaced. (The Extra 2.0 and Value 2.0 plans came in as less expensive options than their predecessors.) And then the company raised the costs of «retired» plans, encouraging subscribers to switch over — but not giving folks willing to pay for top-tier plans much incentive to do so.

Now it looks like AT&T is going to add a pricier unlimited plan that includes more hotspot data to the top spot of its lineup.

As reported by Android Authority referencing a video by Sneed Mobile Tech, AT&T will soon introduce an Elite 2.0 plan that includes 250GB of hotspot data as well as unlimited talk, text and high-speed data in 20 Latin American countries.

The new plan is reportedly priced at $75 per line on an account with four lines. AT&T lets you mix and match their plans on an account, with the per-line price going down the more lines you have. A single-line price is not listed, but Sneed Mobile Tech speculates it could run $110.

It will also include the company’s AT&T Turbo feature that boosts data throughput and video quality and offers unlimited international talk and text, 20GB of global data and «smartwatch and tablet access,» according to the video, which appears to show a leaked data sheet detailing the differences between plans.

An AT&T representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Technologies

Scientists Use AI to Map Ocean Currents in Incredible Detail

Understanding ocean currents is important for work such as weather forecasting, climate research, search-and-rescue operations and oil spill response.

The shifting patterns of ocean currents shape our climate and weather. Even today, understanding how ocean currents behave is challenging. But researchers have developed an AI tool that can map currents across large swaths of the ocean with a level of detail previously unachievable. 

The team from the University of California, San Diego, published their work in the journal Nature Geoscience on April 13. They trained an AI network using thermal imagery from weather satellites in an approach they call GOFlow (Geostationary Ocean Flow). 

«We can now observe small, fast-changing ocean currents from space with much greater detail and frequency than before,» Luc Lenain, an oceanographer at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the study’s first author, told CNET. «Those currents are important because they help control how heat, carbon, nutrients and pollutants move through the ocean.»

Ebbs and flows

A few years ago, while Lenain was looking through thermal satellite images of the North Atlantic Ocean, he noticed visual patterns in temperature changes from major currents, such as the Gulf Stream. He had an idea for a new way to measure ocean currents by taking what his eye could see and putting it into an AI tool.

The researchers trained the GOFlow neural network on simulated ocean currents, then used It on real images from a weather satellite. The AI tool used satellite images to track surface temperatures, which shift due to underlying ocean currents. 

By tracking temperature changes in the images, GOFlow inferred which current caused them. 

The team checked their work against data that was gathered by ships in the Gulf Stream region. They also tested GOFlow’s results against more traditional satellite methods that rely on tracking height changes in the ocean surface. 

The researchers found that their outputs aligned with other ship and satellite results, but they say that GOFlow also provided greater detail on ocean currents than had previously been documented only in computer models. 

«These kinds of [AI] driven approaches are not replacing physics,» Lenain said. «Instead, AI is helping us extract physical information that is already present in satellite observations, but has been difficult to recover with traditional methods until now.» 

The view from above

Despite GOFlow’s achievements, the researchers note that the tool has some limitations, such as cloud cover: Cloudy days can block a satellite’s view of the ocean. They say future work will incorporate additional satellite data to fill these gaps. 

The computer code developed by the researchers will be made publicly available to help further work. 

«We wanted to make this work transparent, reproducible and useful to the broader community,» Lenain said. «We see GOFlow as a stepping stone toward more routine use of large remote-sensing datasets combined with machine learning.»

Gathering satellite images to learn about ocean currents is an example of Earth observation. Governments and militaries, as well as farmers and insurance companies, rely on this data for decision-making.

The GOFlow project is part of a larger AI trend, as AI tools can speed up and improve the accuracy of data analysis. NASA, the European Space Agency and private space firms have begun building and testing AI tools that can analyze such data.

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Technologies

Can’t File Your Income Taxes by Today? You Need to File a Free Extension Now

The best tax software will let you file a federal income tax extension to give yourself six more months to finish your taxes.

Time’s up, US taxpayers. The deadline for filing your income taxes is today. You have until midnight tonight to submit your 2025 tax return electronically or have it postmarked.

If you’re not able to finish your 2025 tax return today, or if you’re still missing important tax documents, don’t fret. You can file a free tax extension with the IRS, which will give you another six months to complete and submit your tax return.

There’s no cost or penalty for filing a tax extension, and most tax software will help you complete the process in a few minutes. However, there are some critical details to be aware of before you make the decision to postpone your taxes for another six months.

Read on to find all of the details for filing a tax extension in 2026 and how it will affect your tax refund or the money that you owe. 

What’s the deadline to file an income tax extension?

Along with the tax return submission deadline, there’s a deadline to file for a tax extension. You’ll need to submit it by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, in your time zone. That’s also the tax filing deadline.

How to file an income tax extension in 2026

If you’re planning to file a tax extension this year, you’ll need to submit Form 4868 (PDF) to the IRS either by paper or electronically using e-file before the April 15 deadline. As long as your electronic extension is transmitted by midnight on April 15, or your letter is postmarked by that date, your extension should be good.

However, if you think that you owe taxes, you’ll need to pay your estimated income tax due using Direct Pay, the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System or using a debit or credit card. If you don’t pay your estimated taxes with your extension and owe money, you’ll have to pay interest on that money and a potential penalty when you file.

Some taxpayers are automatically granted more time to file. This includes military personnel serving in combat zones or people in federally declared disaster areas. US citizens who live outside the country have until June 17 to file.

Does an extension give you more time to pay your tax bill?

No. Extending your filing deadline doesn’t delay when you have to pay taxes that you may owe. According to the IRS, you need to estimate and pay at least 90% of your tax liability by the deadline to avoid late fees. Otherwise, you will have accrued interest on what you owe, which you’ll eventually have to pay — plus possible penalties — on top of your income taxes.

The late-payment penalty is usually 0.5% per month of the outstanding tax not paid by the filing deadline, maxing out at 25%. The IRS can also issue a late-filing penalty of 5% of the amount due for every month or partial month your tax return is late. If your return is filed more than 60 days after the due date, the minimum late-filing penalty is either $450 or 100% of the unpaid tax (whichever is less).

For individual taxpayers, penalties and interest will stop accruing only when your balance is paid in full. For more on penalties or to work out a payment plan with the IRS, check out its web page.

How is child tax credit money related to tax returns?

The child tax credit provides benefits for parents of children, allowing them to lower the amount they owe in taxes each year based on how many dependents they claim. If you had a new baby or gained a dependent, you can both decrease the amount of taxes you owe and increase the amount you may get back in a tax refund.

The Child Tax Credit allows families to receive up to $2,200 per eligible child under the age of 17, as long as certain income requirements are met. By not filing your taxes by the deadline, you could be missing out on up to $2,200 per child.

Will you receive your tax refund later if you file an extension?

Yes. The timeline for getting your income tax refund depends on when you file. But even though you have until Oct. 15 to submit your return if you file an extension, it doesn’t mean you have to wait that long to file.

Some tax refunds, especially for more complicated returns or those that need corrections, could take months to arrive. The IRS encourages taxpayers to file electronically and carefully review their details before submitting to avoid any errors that could potentially delay refunds. The agency also asks that you sign up for direct deposit to get your money even faster.

All of the ways you can file your 2025 tax return

The IRS says that taxpayers can file and schedule their federal tax payments online, by phone or with the mobile IRS2Go app.

If you need to find a tax software service to use, and you made $89,000 or less in 2025, you can find an IRS-approved free filing service easily. You’ll need to gather the following information: income statements (W2s or 1099s), any adjustments to your income, your filing status (single, married, filing jointly), and dependent information. If you made more than $89,000 last year, you still can use the IRS’ Free File Fillable Forms.

If you haven’t already made a tax payment, the IRS prefers that payments be made electronically and offers a variety of ways to do so, including IRS Direct Pay, which is directly linked to a checking or savings account. Another option is by credit card using the mobile IRS2Go app, or through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System.

How to review your IRS tax account online

An easy way to review all your tax-related details, including your address and payment plan details, is to access your IRS account online. Taxpayers can use information from their accounts if they need to access their adjusted gross income, find their stimulus payment and child tax credit amounts, or review their estimated tax payments or credits. Accessing your tax transcript will give you all the records necessary if you have a tax problem or a missing payment.

If you have additional questions, you can visit the IRS Interactive Tax Assistant to get help. 

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