Apple’s iOS 17 update will let your friends or family know when you’re home safe

The classic ‘Let me know when you get home!’ message is one we’ve all sent our friends after a night on the town.  

Now, responding to such messages is about to get a whole lot easier, thanks to Apple’s upcoming iPhone update. 

The tech giant has announced a new feature coming in iOS 17 called Check In. 

The tool will allow you to notify family members or friends when you’ve made it to a destination safely. 

While many happy parents have praised the new feature, one user joked: ‘Peeps are going to catch ’em cheating partners with the Check-in feature.’

Apple has announced a new feature coming in the iOS 17 update, called Check In. The tool will allow you to notify family members or friends when you’ve made it to a destination safely

Apple announced the new feature at its WWDC 2023 conference, which is taking place at its headquarters in Cupertino, California this week. 

The feature will sit within the Messages app, and is coming in the iOS 17 update, which is slated to launch in September.     

‘Messages introduces Check In, an important feature for when a user wants to notify a family member or friend that they have made it to their destination safely,’ Apple explained. 

‘After a user initiates a Check In, their friend or family member will automatically be notified as soon as the user arrives. 

‘If they are not making progress toward their destination, useful information will be temporarily shared with the selected contact, such as the device’s location, battery level, and cell service status.’

Thankfully, Apple confirmed that any information shared is end-to-end encrypted, so only you and your family members can see when you’ve reached your destination. 

While the feature is yet to launch, it’s already been highly praised by many people on Twitter. 

‘This check in feature in #iOS17 is built for me. I never remember to text my mom after I get home when she asks,’ one wrote. 

‘Oh my moms gonna love check in for when i’m on the highway for work,’ another added. 

Unfortunately, if your iPhone is over five years old, you’ll miss out on the wave of new features and applications coming with Apple’s upgrade to iOS 17 

And one joked: ‘Peeps are going to catch ’em cheating partners with the Check-in feature.’ 

Unfortunately, if your iPhone is over five years old, you’ll miss out on the wave of new features and applications coming with Apple’s upgrade to iOS 17.

The iPhone X, the first to feature FaceID, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus will not support the new operating system. 

That means the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR will be the oldest devices capable of running the new operating system when available later this year.

The end of having to say ‘Hey’ to summon Siri, a new Journal app for tracking your life goals and improvements to autocorrect are also among iOS 17’s new features. 

But only the most advanced iPhones, from 2021’s iPhone 12 and newer, will be able to control their device with hand gestures during a FaceTime call, unlocking fun augmented reality (AR) reaction graphics.