Apple’s upcoming iOS 17 is predicted to incorporate many new options first seen on Android, however there are additionally some thrilling, distinctive options that Android must steal pronto.
It is common observe for Apple to undertake new options for iOS that have been first seen on Android, however the identical will be stated of Google, which has built-in quite a few bells and whistles on Android from iOS as properly.
Living proof: Apple added a lock display screen and wallpaper customization engine on iOS 16. Lo and behold, Android 14 will debut the identical performance (with some new wrinkles, comparable to AI-generated wallpapers, for good measure).
Now that Apple has lifted the veil on iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, listed here are the highest new options that Google and/or system producers must carry to Android telephones and tablets as quickly as doable.
1. Improved Lock Display screen Display screen Savers
Android already has display screen savers. Heck, my first PC within the late ’90s had one. So I scoffed on the notion of Apple including display screen savers on iOS 17. Nevertheless, StandBy makes an iPhone double as a sensible show when docked horizontally, with assist for widgets, interactive clocks, Reside Actions, and Siri outcomes.
Whereas Google goals to make its docked Pixel Tablets just like its sensible shows, having this identical expertise on smartphones could be good. Nevertheless, Google won’t wish to cannibalize its Nest sensible show enterprise by giving it away totally free by way of Android smartphones. For now, we could also be caught with issues like clocks, rotating pictures, and altering colours.
2. Safe Sharing Teams for Passwords and Passkeys
Android and iOS have had built-in password managers for some time now, making it straightforward to log in to web sites and apps with out having to recollect random strings of characters.
Nevertheless, sharing passwords that keep up to date for everybody with entry is not easy. Most Android customers will share passwords by copying and pasting them one after the other, sending them by doubtlessly less-than-secure means. Third-party apps like LastPass have options for facilitating always-updated password sharing, however these apps may also leak delicate credentials.
Apple has solved this on iOS 17, permitting iPhone customers to create teams with trusted contacts on iCloud Keychain. They will dump all the required passwords and passkeys into the group, sharing them by end-to-end encryption, they usually’ll keep up to date for everybody with entry. Individuals will be eliminated at any time too. It will be nice to have password sharing like this constructed into Android.
3. Customized-Made Reside Stickers in Messages
Borrowing related performance from Snapchat, Reside Stickers lets iPhone customers clip folks, pets, vegetation, and different topics from their Reside Pictures, add particular results, and retailer them of their stickers drawer. They will then peel and stick them on iMessage bubbles or ship them as particular person messages.
Whereas Google might by no means get Apple to undertake the RCS protocols to make the messaging expertise cohesive between working programs, it might at the least borrow this enjoyable device for its Messages app.
4. Full-Display screen Contact Posters on the Name Display screen
Apple continues its streak of aesthetically pleasing customization options on iOS 17 with Contact Posters. This characteristic lets iPhone customers management their look on different Apple customers’ name screens.
They will use their favourite photograph of themselves, Memoji, or Memoji Stickers, they usually select the font and colour of their title. It is similar to iOS 16’s Lock Display screen editor interface and saves Contact Posters for simple switching between. Plus, they’ll create Contact Posters for anybody of their contacts checklist, together with non-Apple customers.
On Android, you will possible see a contact’s monogram or Google account photograph in a bubble, and it will not take over the complete name display screen. Apart from particular person contact photos, most Android telephones will solely allow you to set one background for the decision display screen. Third-party dialer apps can assist, however many customers nonetheless do not know methods to change their default dialer app, they usually will not be as glossy as a built-in possibility.
5. Improved File Sharing
Apple and Google each have close by file-sharing capabilities constructed into their ecosystems, however iOS and iPadOS 17 are about to make their AirDrop service way more handy for everybody, particularly customers who share giant recordsdata.
With the brand new and improved AirDrop, an iPhone or iPad person can open no matter content material they intend to share, then carry their system along with the receiving iPhone or iPad, and it’ll start the share instantly. Android’s Close by Share can do one thing related, nevertheless it’s not as streamlined and would not at all times work, in my expertise. Apple’s implementation is easy, quick, and intuitive.
Apple additionally provides NameDrop, which makes sharing contact info between two iPhone customers as straightforward as sharing different content material. Once more, Close by Share can do that to some extent, nevertheless it’s extra sophisticated. There is not any motive why Android cannot have easy-to-use sharing options like this.
There’s additionally yet another new characteristic approaching iOS and iPadOS 17, which makes it doable for a recipient of a giant file to proceed downloading the shared content material over the web once they transfer away from the sharing system. So long as each customers are signed in to their iCloud accounts and linked to the web, the content material will end downloading in full high quality. Android might simply do one thing related with customers being signed in to their Google accounts.
6. Enhanced AutoFill and Collaboration in PDFs
One characteristic from iPadOS 17 that Google wants to repeat instantly is improved PDF enhancing. Apple customers might already use machine studying on their iPhone or iPad to determine fields in a PDF so they may rapidly fill them out. Nonetheless, iPadOS 17 consists of enhanced AutoFill, so customers can use saved info from Contacts to securely fill out a PDF or scanned doc routinely.
Even higher, Apple consists of real-time collaboration, so any markup, drawings, or stickers one person within the group makes will instantly present up for everybody else who’s within the PDF.
Android already does an excellent job of auto-filling internet types. Nevertheless, as prevalent as PDF types nonetheless are for numerous capabilities, native PDF enhancing must be common. And real-time collaboration should not be left as much as third-party apps.
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