It is true that we are going through some very cold days, and that we are in the middle of winter. But we won't notice, and we'll be back in the spring. And before it ends, in the month of June, we will have the WWDC 2023 from Apple. A conference where those from Cupertino will teach us, among many other things, iOS 17.
Un iOS 17 which a priori does not seem to bring very significant news at the user level. Since it seems that the company is working on three great novelties. And only one of them can be interesting for the vast majority of us who carry an iPhone in our pocket. Let's see.
Apple programmers are working like never before on the new version of iOS 17 that will be presented at the WWDC 2023 conference to be held next June, as usual year after year. But that amount of work does not mean that it will be reflected in a new iOS with many new features and very spectacular use of the iPhone.
It will be an update that, at the user level, will not attract our attention at all, with few new features for daily use. It will mainly bring three new features. Two of them will not affect the vast majority of iPhone users, and only the third will give us a great advantage over the current scenario of how we use our phone. As Jack "the Ripper" said, let's go in parts.
Support for Apple Glass
For now we call them Apple Glass, but we still do not know the official name of the Virtual Reality glasses that Apple will probably launch at some point in 2023. A device that will be very autonomous, even with its own App Store for its applications, but that in a certain way (could not be otherwise) will be linked to our iPhone.
And that integración of the iPhone with virtual glasses is one of the main novelties of iOS 17. The first of the two new features that most users will not use.
A new Car Play
CarPlay is updated to better integrate with vehicles with multiple screens.
The second new feature that 99 percent of iPhone users will not use in 2023 is the new C from Apple. iOS 17 will already come prepared for this new integration between the iPhone and cars. An updated CarPlay for vehicles with multiple screens, and to be able to control more functions of said vehicles. The only downside is that the first vehicle models compatible with this new CarPlay will not go on the market until the end of this year. So we already have a second novelty that we will not be able to use at the moment.
Freedom for App Store alternatives
This is the only novelty that we can use from the first minute after installing iOS 17, and surely many users were looking forward to that moment. It's about being able to use Other App Stores that are not the official Apple Store. Almost nothing.
European legislation against monopoly has forced Apple to make sideloading possible on Apple devices from 2024, thanks to the European Digital Markets Law. And with iOS 17 this will already be possible. At least in Europe. We can now use alternative application stores to the Apple Store, and install their applications without problem.
The only thing we still don't know is whether said "market opening" will take place this 2023 as soon as iOS 17 is released, or we will have to wait with our devices already prepared for the January 1 2024, which is when it becomes mandatory by European legislation.
IOS 17 release date
As usual, Apple will present iOS 17 with all its new features at the WWDC 2023 developer conference to be held in the month of June. In it, the first beta version will be released for these programmers. And new beta versions will continue to correct the errors detected, until it is finally officially launched for all users in September, when we will see the new iPhone 15 this year.
