iPhone owners receive FREE upgrade in days with five major changes

IPHONE owners are five days away from receiving their biggest software update of the year: iOS 17.

The new iOS was unveiled alongside the long-awaited iPhone 15 and brings some pretty sweet upgrades with it.

iMessage

Apple's native messaging app is welcoming a new potentially lifesaving feature called Check In, which alerts trusted contacts when you've reached a destination safely.

"If you stop making progress, it checks in with you, and if you don’t respond, it shares helpful information with your friend, like the location, battery level and mobile service status of your iPhone," Apple explains.

iPhone owners will be able to transcribe audio messages, "so you can read them at the time and listen later," according to Apple.

But it also means folks who are deaf and hard of hearing can make use of the nifty voice message feature.

WhatsApp's beloved 'swipe to reply' feature has been embedded into iMessage too.

The AirDrop feature has also been given a new offshoot called NameDrop, which can be used to send contact details through the airwaves when two iPhones touch.

iMessage is also gaining a stickers boost.

Users will be able to create Live Stickers based content from their camera roll which can then be jazzed up with additional effects and text.

FaceTime

Facemails are here... the voicemails of FaceTime.

iOS 17 means Apple fans can record a video or audio message when someone misses your FaceTime call.

The video calling app is also adopting iMessage's popular reactions feature which, instead of being triggered by secret phrases, is activated by hand gestures.

So users can add a reaction that fills the camera frame with a fun effect.

For example, a thumbs up can prompt confetti to rain down or fireworks to explode.

FaceTime will also be compatible with Apple TVs with iOS 17.

Widgets

Widgets don't just belong on your Home Screen, but on the Lock Screen too, according to Apple.

iOS 17 brings introduced way more of them - and they're interactive.

Previously, widgets just informed Apple fans of updates on weather, upcoming calendar appointments, breaking news and their to-do list.

But now they include new interactivity, which means iPhone owners can action a to-do list, control a smart home device or pause and play music, all from the widget, without having to open the app.

Journal

Apple has rolled out a brand new app called Journal that acts as a diary.

It has more features than the standard Notes app, but is also more accessible and private than a physical journal.

According to Apple, "using on-device machine learning, your iPhone creates personalised suggestions of moments for you to remember and write about based on your photos, music, workouts and more."

No one can access it either.

It can have a lock, and all entries and data are end-to-end encrypted - which means not even Apple can see what's inside.

Keyboard

Following complaints that Apple 'broke' its keyboard in previous iOS updates, the company has since tweaked it in a way that will hopefully please iPhone users.

There will be better autocorrect support, Apple says, which will see words temporarily underlined "so you know what’s been changed and you can revert back to the original word with just a tap."

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