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Apple's first developer beta for iOS 17.1 is here, and it actually has a decent amount of new features — and hints of features yet to come.

When it announced iOS 17 in June, Apple promised to make Apple Music more social, giving users the ability to collaborate on playlists. That hasn't quite happened yet, but iOS 17.1 does add a few new features to Apple Music.

Most importantly, you can now Favorite tracks on your phone. You do it by tapping the star icon next to the track's name. Even better, you can now do it from the Now Playing widget that shows up on your Lock Screen while you're playing music.

Yay, you don't have to get out of Lock Screen to Favorite a track!Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

This is a big deal. Apple offered the ability to "Love" tracks before (somewhat confusingly, the option is still called "Love" in Apple Music's desktop version), but the company never did much with the feature; for example, you couldn't even see your Loved tracks on an iPhone, only on Apple Music for Mac.

Later this year, the new Favorites system will likely be used in the context of collaborative playlists (similar to Spotify's Jam feature). For now, though, the tracks you've added to Favorites will be offered as suggestions when you create a new playlist.

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The tracks you've added to Favorites will be suggested when you create a new playlist. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Other new features in the first iOS 17.1 developer beta include the ability to continue AirDrop transfers over cellular or Wi-Fi. This means that, if you start sending a bunch of photos to someone's phone via AirDrop and have to bail quickly, you can do it, and the person on the other end will still receive the files. If you don't like the feature, go to Settings - General - AirDrop and deselect "Use Mobile Data."

Excuse me, sir, your flashlight is on. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Also, the Dynamic Island will now show an indicator when flashlight (which Apple calls Torch) is activated. This used to be the case for iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, but now it works on iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, as well as iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. It's a welcome addition to the Dynamic Island; I can't remember how many times I've forgotten to turn the flashlight off when I no longer needed it.

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Finally, you can now send NameDrop contact info from an iPhone to an Apple Watch, though it'll only work if the phone is running iOS 17.1 and the Watch is running 10.1.

SEE ALSO:How to use Apple's newest mental health features

In the official release notes, Apple also lists a number of issues that were resolved in iOS and iPadOS 17.1, including a fix for blank widgets on mismatched iOS and macOS releases. The company also acknowledged several known issues in Wallet and Apple Pay, and listed some temporary workarounds you can try if you encounter them. Notably, the reported overheating issues that some users are experiencing aren't mentioned.

The new iOS 17.1 is currently only available to those who have signed up for Apple's Developers program. As always, exercise caution and update your data before trying the new beta; by definition it's not a polished release, and various bugs and issues are very possible.

TopicsAppleiOS