Apple's Siri, Keyboard to get bilingual support for Kannada, Telugu and more

Just a few hours ago, Apple opened the access to public beta of iOS 17, iPadOS 17, macOS 14 Sonoma, watchOS 10, and tvOS 17.

Several features were showcased at World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2023 in June, but due to time constraints, some didn't make it to the keynote presentation.

Now, value-added features specific to the Indian region are emerging. They are really exciting and sure to enhance the user experience of Apple products. 

Here's what you should know about the new features coming in iOS 17, macOS 17, watchOS 17, and tvOS 17:

Apple Siri to get bilingual support (on iPhone,iPad, Mac, and Watch)
Once updated to the new OS, Siri on iPhones and iPads will be able to understand commands with a mix of English and regional languages including Kannada, Telugu, Punjabi, Hindi, or Marathi

Users can set an alarm or timer, send messages, make calls, play music, check the weather, and look up directions on Maps.

Transliteration Keyboard support for more Indian languages
In India, it has become normal for people to use a mix of English and regional languages not just during talking but also while texting too. So, Apple has been adding bilingual support to the keyboard since 2022. 

In the previous version of iOS 16 (and v16.4), Apple had introduced support for Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Urdu, Punjabi, and Gujarati, now with the new iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS 14, the keyboard will support Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam.

Also, with the new macOS/iPadOS/iOS, Apple devices will get a built-in Punjabi dictionary. Here, users can easily look up definitions of words and phrases from a variety of sources. 

Better dual-SIM experience on iPhone

In India, owning two or three SIMs is normal, as people, most corporate employees, and business enterprises like to have separate SIMs for personal and work purposes.

Apple, though quite late to bring dual-SIM (via e-SIM) compared to Android, it has improved the dual-SIM usage experience in the last few years. Now, with the new iOS 17, messages will get more organized. It will have clear categories of Messages sorted by their primary as well as secondary SIM.

Also, the new iOS 17 brings support for different ringtones for calls from primary and secondary SIM, so that the user will instantly know if the call is related to work or personal.

Must read | watchOS 10: Key features you should know about Apple's new wearable OS

Key features that will surely improve user experience on Apple products:
-- For the first time, Apple is bringing an option to sign into Apple ID with a phone number. 
Once you update to iOS/iPadOS 17 or macOS 14, users can sign into their Apple ID using a phone number instead of an email address.

--Extended call history: This has been one of the most requested features in India. Currently, the call history doesn't go beyond two weeks. Now, with the new iOS/iPadOS 17, users will be able to view the extended call history of up to 2,000 calls in Recents within the Phone app, including phone and FaceTime calls, as well as calls received on WhatsApp 

--Full page Screenshots: Android had this feature for several years and thankfully, it is finally coming to iPhones and iPads. Now, users want to take screenshots, they can scroll down to the last to get the full page in it. Be it a full page in Safari, or Mail, or Notes, users can choose whether to save it to iPhone and iPad as an image or a PDF.

--Message filtering:  With this, the iMessage app will have a filter with categories such as unread, known senders, and unknown senders on iPad, in addition to iPhone.

Read more | Here's how to install iOS/iPadOS beta on iPhones and iPads

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