Apple's iOS 17 update is now official after a bumper WWDC 2023 event that saw new hardware also unveiled. But while the Vision Pro headset is getting all of the attention there is still plenty going on in the world of the iPhone.
The iOS 17 update brings with it a number of quality-of-life improvements and a new Journal app looks set to help people be more mindful and put a bigger focus on their wellbeing.
But one of the more notable improvements to iOS 17 is something we'll all use multiple times every day — Apple says we can look forward to some big improvements to autocorrect.
Machine learning to the rescue
Apple detailed what we can expect from the improved autocorrect as part of a wider iOS 17 feature press release, adding that we can look forward to a "comprehensive update."
That update will use a transformer language model, we're told. That's a "state-of-the-art on-device machine learning language model for word prediction" that promises to improve the accuracy of autocorrect in iOS 17 and beyond.
Apple is also making changes to the way we actually interact with autocorrect, too.
Autocorrect "also receives a refreshed design to better support typing, and sentence-level autocorrections can fix more types of grammatical mistakes," Apple says. "Users will now receive predictive text recommendations inline as they type, so adding entire words or completing sentences is as easy as tapping the space bar, making text entry faster than ever."
All of that will be available as part of the iOS 17 update that is expected to ship to the public in or around September. The update is now in the hands of developers and will likely go into public beta within the next few weeks as well.
Apple's WWDC 2023 included plenty of other software announcements including iPadOS 17, macOS 14 Sonoma, watchOS 10, and tvOS 17. All of those updates will also ship later this year.
