iPhone 17

[Plutonic Panda]

I'm an apple guy I love iPhones I cannot stand Androids. And I'm not saying that to start some sort of a flame bait war I understand why some people like Android. A couple months ago I bought the new iPhone 17 Pro. I gotta tell you to me. This is the worst iPhone I've ever had hands-down. And the worst thing about it is the keyboard. It also glitches out a lot.

When I'm typing stuff that I use speech to text sometimes it will change words that don't even sound remotely familiar that I speak to the phone. I could say something like "hey Johnny let's go grab a drink later" and the phone will interpret it as "hey not lets get a hideaway on the back front of a winchel" and no, I'm not kidding. It is sometimes that bad.

I just made that one up, but generally, it'll get things that inaccurate. One specific example is like the other day when I told my buddy I said hey I hope you have a great day the phone translated that into and somehow thought I said "hey you're really gay" which is really weird because I don't use that word a lot so I'm not sure why it would even think I said that.

On top of the keyboard and features that absolutely sucking, Siri is basically nonfunctional. I've tried to reset it and Tinker with it multiple times with no luck. My buddy has a three year-old Samsung S23 ultra and it has the better camera than my phone does but you're supposed to have some of the best newest technology available.

I've tried to go to the Apple Store and talk to him about it and they basically tell me they can just replace my phone, but then I have to go through in tinker with all the settings again and when I do that, it takes me hours and it's just not something I wanna do right now. I'm gonna get the new iPhone 18 when it comes out I don't usually do I usually get a new iPhone once every 2 to 3 years. But this one has made me so mad.

Is anyone else experiencing problems with their iPhone 7 whether it's the regular one the Pro or the Pro Max? I have just the pro not the Pro Max.

FWIW, I know this might sound crazy, but my favorite iPhone was the iPhone X. I don't know why, but I just loved that phone.

[hotdogPi]

I've had iPhone SE (the first) and 13; I only switched because the first was running low on battery lifespan and memory, not because it failed. They've both worked really well, with the one exception that receiving a text only dings about 2/3 of the time (on both phones, on the second most likely because I transferred data over from the first).

While I can't speak for speech-to-text, autocorrect is surprisingly good. I've typed a five-letter word where only the last letter was correct, and it figured out what I was trying to type (I believe "found"). I believe it matters which part of the key you hit to see if it's close to the edge, but I can't find any confirmation anywhere that it actually does this.

[Plutonic Panda]

My AutoCorrect in speech to text has always been great except since I got this new iPhone, I don't know why.

[fwydriver405]

iPhone 16 Pro user here (upgraded from iPhone 11 in July 2025 due to battery and age of phone, had it since Nov 2019), also been noticing the same with Dictation but only sporadically. Started from a fresh slate when I got it (no restore from backup).

I want to say it may be more of an iOS/iPadOS 26 issue rather than the iPhone series themselves, but can't conclusively say given a small sample size. I do know the keyboard typing issue has been an issue since the iOS 26.0 betas, but that's a different story. I do know the amount of bugs and UI issues in iOS/iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe 26 have been rampant since its public release, so much so that some Mac users (including myself on an Intel-based MacBook Pro) have downgraded back down to macOS Sequoia 15 because of those.

Siri/Apple Intelligence has been mediocre to bad in the last few years, from my experience, with the same Dictation issues mentioned in the OP especially with trying to reply to iMessages/RCS/SMS.

[Max Rockatansky]

I have a new iPhone 17 that I recently bought before my recent trip to Mexico.  So far I have no complaints, the layout essentially is the same as my previous 11.  The photo quality is way higher, the stock memory is larger and the battery life is a huge improvement.

[Plutonic Panda]

I have a new iPhone 17 that I recently bought before my recent trip to Mexico.  So far I have no complaints, the layout essentially is the same as my previous 11.  The photo quality is way higher, the stock memory is larger and the battery life is a huge improvement.

The battery is much better. Of course the photo quality is gonna be better than the 11. But the other night when I was taking a picture of the Hollywood sign because it was lit up, which I'm guessing was for a movie or a photo shoot I'm not sure why it was lit up(I wish they would have it lit up every night), the quality of my phones camera inferior to that of my friends who had an S23 ultra. Which I believe that phone is two or three years old. And I'm not sure if you have the regular 17 or the pro. I have the pro. I don't have the Pro Max. I did hear the Pro Max performs better than the pro, but I'm not sure if it has a better camera or not.

[Max Rockatansky]

I have a new iPhone 17 that I recently bought before my recent trip to Mexico.  So far I have no complaints, the layout essentially is the same as my previous 11.  The photo quality is way higher, the stock memory is larger and the battery life is a huge improvement.

The battery is much better. Of course the photo quality is gonna be better than the 11. But the other night when I was taking a picture of the Hollywood sign because it was lit up, which I'm guessing was for a movie or a photo shoot I'm not sure why it was lit up(I wish they would have it lit up every night), the quality of my phones camera inferior to that of my friends who had an S23 ultra. Which I believe that phone is two or three years old. And I'm not sure if you have the regular 17 or the pro. I have the pro. I don't have the Pro Max. I did hear the Pro Max performs better than the pro, but I'm not sure if it has a better camera or not.

Have you changed your photo setting from HEIC back to JPEG?  The default is now HEIC.

[Plutonic Panda]

I have a new iPhone 17 that I recently bought before my recent trip to Mexico.  So far I have no complaints, the layout essentially is the same as my previous 11.  The photo quality is way higher, the stock memory is larger and the battery life is a huge improvement.

The battery is much better. Of course the photo quality is gonna be better than the 11. But the other night when I was taking a picture of the Hollywood sign because it was lit up, which I'm guessing was for a movie or a photo shoot I'm not sure why it was lit up(I wish they would have it lit up every night), the quality of my phones camera inferior to that of my friends who had an S23 ultra. Which I believe that phone is two or three years old. And I'm not sure if you have the regular 17 or the pro. I have the pro. I don't have the Pro Max. I did hear the Pro Max performs better than the pro, but I'm not sure if it has a better camera or not.

Have you changed your photo setting from HEIC back to JPEG?  The default is now HEIC.

No, I don't know much about photography, but I'll go look into that right now. I'm guessing JPEG is better quality? If so, why would they change it?

[Max Rockatansky]

I have a new iPhone 17 that I recently bought before my recent trip to Mexico.  So far I have no complaints, the layout essentially is the same as my previous 11.  The photo quality is way higher, the stock memory is larger and the battery life is a huge improvement.

The battery is much better. Of course the photo quality is gonna be better than the 11. But the other night when I was taking a picture of the Hollywood sign because it was lit up, which I'm guessing was for a movie or a photo shoot I'm not sure why it was lit up(I wish they would have it lit up every night), the quality of my phones camera inferior to that of my friends who had an S23 ultra. Which I believe that phone is two or three years old. And I'm not sure if you have the regular 17 or the pro. I have the pro. I don't have the Pro Max. I did hear the Pro Max performs better than the pro, but I'm not sure if it has a better camera or not.

Have you changed your photo setting from HEIC back to JPEG?  The default is now HEIC.

No, I don't know much about photography, but I'll go look into that right now. I'm guessing JPEG is better quality? If so, why would they change it?

HEIC is supposedly more efficient and uses less memory than JPEG.  I've found the format to be washy/saturated and generally not all that great.  Flickr wasn't accepting HEIC for upload the last time I checked.

[fwydriver405]

I have a new iPhone 17 that I recently bought before my recent trip to Mexico.  So far I have no complaints, the layout essentially is the same as my previous 11.  The photo quality is way higher, the stock memory is larger and the battery life is a huge improvement.

The battery is much better. Of course the photo quality is gonna be better than the 11. But the other night when I was taking a picture of the Hollywood sign because it was lit up, which I'm guessing was for a movie or a photo shoot I'm not sure why it was lit up(I wish they would have it lit up every night), the quality of my phones camera inferior to that of my friends who had an S23 ultra. Which I believe that phone is two or three years old. And I'm not sure if you have the regular 17 or the pro. I have the pro. I don't have the Pro Max. I did hear the Pro Max performs better than the pro, but I'm not sure if it has a better camera or not.

Have you changed your photo setting from HEIC back to JPEG?  The default is now HEIC.

No, I don't know much about photography, but I'll go look into that right now. I'm guessing JPEG is better quality? If so, why would they change it?

HEIC is supposedly more efficient and uses less memory than JPEG.  I've found the format to be washy/saturated and generally not all that great.  Flickr wasn't accepting HEIC for upload the last time I checked.

Under Settings -> Camera -> Formats...

Most Compatible will use JPEG for photos and H.264 for videos. Cinematic video, 4K60 or higher videos, and HDR videos require you use High Efficiency, which use HEIC for video and HEVC/H.265 for videos. If you have a Pro model, you can still use RAW in either mode, and/or select the photo resolution, though I haven't tested it under "Most Compatible".

IIRC, even you select High Efficency, if you email, AirDrop, or send via Messages (and possibly more depending on the app) photos/videos, sometimes it'll convert to a "most compatible" format, which would be JPEG for photos and H.264 for videos. When sharing videos via iMessage, I've noticed videos higher than 720p30 will be downscaled to that format if using that medium to send videos.

EDIT: when you share a photo from the Photos app, you can click on "Options > " on the top to set parameters on how the photo should be shared. In this pane, you can choose if location and other metadata should be shared, the format (Automatic/Current/Most Compatible), and how the photo should be shared as (Automatic/Individual Photo/iCloud Link) before sharing it with your desired application.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/116944#working

[Plutonic Panda]

What is (PAL)? I mean, I'm seeing it saying that some kind of Asian format thing used for TV or something but I don't know why I would need that.

[Plutonic Panda]

I have a new iPhone 17 that I recently bought before my recent trip to Mexico.  So far I have no complaints, the layout essentially is the same as my previous 11.  The photo quality is way higher, the stock memory is larger and the battery life is a huge improvement.

The battery is much better. Of course the photo quality is gonna be better than the 11. But the other night when I was taking a picture of the Hollywood sign because it was lit up, which I'm guessing was for a movie or a photo shoot I'm not sure why it was lit up(I wish they would have it lit up every night), the quality of my phones camera inferior to that of my friends who had an S23 ultra. Which I believe that phone is two or three years old. And I'm not sure if you have the regular 17 or the pro. I have the pro. I don't have the Pro Max. I did hear the Pro Max performs better than the pro, but I'm not sure if it has a better camera or not.

Have you changed your photo setting from HEIC back to JPEG?  The default is now HEIC.

No, I don't know much about photography, but I'll go look into that right now. I'm guessing JPEG is better quality? If so, why would they change it?

HEIC is supposedly more efficient and uses less memory than JPEG.  I've found the format to be washy/saturated and generally not all that great.  Flickr wasn't accepting HEIC for upload the last time I checked.

Under Settings -> Camera -> Formats...

Most Compatible will use JPEG for photos and H.264 for videos. Cinematic video, 4K60 or higher videos, and HDR videos require you use High Efficiency, which use HEIC for video and HEVC/H.265 for videos. If you have a Pro model, you can still use RAW in either mode, and/or select the photo resolution, though I haven't tested it under "Most Compatible".

IIRC, even you select High Efficency, if you email, AirDrop, or send via Messages (and possibly more depending on the app) photos/videos, sometimes it'll convert to a "most compatible" format, which would be JPEG for photos and H.264 for videos. When sharing videos via iMessage, I've noticed videos higher than 720p30 will be downscaled to that format if using that medium to send videos.

EDIT: when you share a photo from the Photos app, you can click on "Options > " on the top to set parameters on how the photo should be shared. In this pane, you can choose if location and other metadata should be shared, the format (Automatic/Current/Most Compatible), and how the photo should be shared as (Automatic/Individual Photo/iCloud Link) before sharing it with your desired application.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/116944#working

The only options I get are JPEG Lossless which I thought only was relevant to recording a video. I didn't know that had anything to do with photography. I thought that was just audio. Either way the only option my phone is giving me is JPEG.

[fwydriver405]

What is (PAL)? I mean, I'm seeing it saying that some kind of Asian format thing used for TV or something but I don't know why I would need that.

Back in the analogue TV days, PAL is a format used in parts of Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe, one of three major analogue colour TV standards, the other two being NTSC and SECAM.

North America, Japan, and parts of South America use NTSC. By default (at least phones sold in the United States and Canada from what I've seen), this setting is disabled. Enabling PAL will allow you to record at 1080p25, 4k25, 4k100 on the native iOS camera. Most people in North America can just leave this setting disabled unless they need to record at the mentioned resolutions for some reason. (50fps recording requires the use of a third party application)

The only options I get are JPEG Lossless which I thought only was relevant to recording a video. I didn't know that had anything to do with photography. I thought that was just audio. Either way the only option my phone is giving me is JPEG.

In the formats menu in Camera, I was referring to the Camera Capture setting.
Did you click on the settings under "ProRAW Format"? I thinks that's where you are getting the JPEG Lossless setting. There is also settings to choose between JPEG Lossless and JPEG-XL (lossless/lossy).

[Plutonic Panda]

I see I completely missed that because I had the options of either high efficiency or most compatible. It wasn't until I read the print under it where it mentioned the different formats. I just switched it right now to most compatible.

And by the way, thanks for the info about PAL that's pretty interesting. I didn't know any of that.

[Takumi]

Video game systems are/were famously split between NTSC and PAL by region. For example, on my PlayStation from the 90s, I can play only NTSC games, which means, if the region lock is bypassed, I can also play Japanese-market games on it.

Back to the subject, I bought an iPhone 16 in 2024, replacing an iPhone 12 Pro. Nothing was wrong with the 12, but I wanted to future-proof myself a bit as I plan to keep the 16 for at least five years, and wanted more storage space because I still use iTunes to add mp3s to it. I've had both Android and iPhone devices over the years and, while I prefer the iPhone, don't really care what other people use.

[hbelkins]

HEIC photos don't play well with my Windows 11 work PC. I will routinely get HEIC photos emailed off someone's iPhone and I will have to transfer them to my personal MacBook to convert them to JPEGs before I can do anything with them.

[SSOWorld]

HEIC photos don't play well with my Windows 11 work PC. I will routinely get HEIC photos emailed off someone's iPhone and I will have to transfer them to my personal MacBook to convert them to JPEGs before I can do anything with them.

If you turn off HDR, you'll get JPG photos

[SSOWorld]

I still have a 14. Choosing to stay that way for now.

[Bobby5280]

One of the biggest complaints I've seen about the new iPhone is the bump on the back for the camera lens pack.

I'm not all that sold on the HEIC image format. It's not so much the codec itself is bad. It can be more data efficient than JPEG. But the tech industry people get too proud of their new codec and lean into making the default settings really severe in terms of compression level. That's one way how HEIC images can end up looking worse than JPEG images. If anyone is wanting a decent level of control in post processing their images, they really need to shoot them in a RAW format.

I also got annoyed by how long it took for creative applications like Adobe Photoshop to support newer image formats like HEIC and WebP. Now it's not a problem, but it was for awhile.

I've been an Android guy for a long time. My current phone is a Samsung S22 Ultra. I had a Note5 before that and went thru a couple HTC Evo models. I don't have anything against Apple products. I have a large iPad Pro for instance. One of the key things I like about Android phones is I can move data both on and off the phone EASY. I just connect the phone to my computer and it shows up sort of like an external hard drive in Windows File Explorer. I can see all the data folders on the phone as well as move data in/out of those folders. When I hard wire connect my iPad Pro to my computer the only folder that shows up in File Explorer is the "DCIM" digital camera folder. I can't move image files into that folder either. I can only cut/copy images out of that folder.

I have a bunch of customized ring/notification tones in my phone that I created in Adobe Audition. All I had to do was move the audio files from my computer into the appropriate folder in the phone. Last time I checked an iPhone won't let you do that. They want you to buy that kind of stuff from the app store.

The Windows OS is trying to creep in that direction. I had to "install" font packs of Arial Nova and Gill Sans Nova as apps from the Microsoft store. That sucks. On the bright side the font packs were free.

My next phone will probably be another Samsung phone. I'm not really tempted to get the new Galaxy S26 since my S22 Ultra is still working just fine. Plus I'm considering spending a serious amount of money on some new pro-level camera gear.

[Molandfreak]

I had to go into my system preferences to see that mine was a 14 pro max. 10 years ago, phones were such status symbols that everyone knew exactly what model they had and what their friends had. Now you're just a rich weirdo if you need to get the latest and greatest year after year.

In some aspects, this is a good thing because it means one less area where consumerism has a universal effect. But there's something more simple about the excitement of technological progress, as well as the wonder of where things could go from there, that I miss.

[Bobby5280]

In some circles, such as the rich douchebag class, the entertainment industry, etc. you're frowned upon if you're not "wearing" an iPhone. The thought is you're not succeeding enough in life if you don't have an iPhone. Apple's mobile products -mainly its phones and watches, function partly as fashion items.

This is all ridiculous considering the fact the latest Samsung Galaxy phone can cost just as much as an iPhone. A Galaxy phone isn't a piece of junk either, contrary to what some die-hard Apple fans may say. The mobile carriers do all their "deals" to blur the lines further on the cost of the phones.

A person might have been able to show off or "flex" by having an iPhone back in 2007. A first generation iPhone was expensive and not easy to acquire. It's no longer possible to impress anyone by having an iPhone. No one will give a shit. Smart phones in general are pretty damned ordinary. They're just electronic devices now. That might also explain why so many people are holding on to the phones they have for years longer rather than upgrading frequently.

[fwydriver405]

I still have a 14. Choosing to stay that way for now.

I had to go into my system preferences to see that mine was a 14 pro max.

Yup, iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Plus (not the Pro or the Pro Max) seems to be the phone of choice for a lot of people I know since 2024 (and still is to this present day).

I have a bunch of customized ring/notification tones in my phone that I created in Adobe Audition. All I had to do was move the audio files from my computer into the appropriate folder in the phone. Last time I checked an iPhone won't let you do that. They want you to buy that kind of stuff from the app store.

It's always been possible (albeit very cumbersome) to add custom ringtones on iPhone or iPad for quite some time now... it just requires that the files be in .m4a format (and you may have to use a third party application to edit such files to satisfy the length limit), and you use iTunes (Windows, or macOS Mojave or older) or the Finder (macOS Catalina and later) to drop them onto the device, via a physical connection. Been doing that with iPhones and iPads since iOS 6 back when syncing iDevices with iTunes was a thing. Although, I have noticed on the Mac side of things since like Monterey, the add process is a bit finicky - sometimes it will add using the Finder and sometimes it will add via Music.app, via drag and drop.

Since iOS 26 beta 1 (not sure about iPadOS 26), if the .m4a files are on-device (locally), you can now assign ringtones directly on the device without a computer, albeit you need to use the Files application to do this, the related option is located in the share pane once the file is selected. (source).

HEIC photos don't play well with my Windows 11 work PC. I will routinely get HEIC photos emailed off someone's iPhone and I will have to transfer them to my personal MacBook to convert them to JPEGs before I can do anything with them.

Microsoft does provide a codec from the Store for HEIC, and HEVC (video, H.265) that will allow the playback of such files on the OS. Unfortunately, these codecs cost $0.99 if you get it from the Store, though there used to be a way to get it for free from the device manufacturer a long while back.

Personally, I just use the VLC player and it works with such files for video playback and export just fine, codec or not. I imagine there are other open-source solutions for the HEIC situation just like with VLC for the video for Windows users.

A person might have been able to show off or "flex" by having an iPhone back in 2007. A first generation iPhone was expensive and not easy to acquire. It's no longer impossible to impress anyone by having an iPhone. No one will give a shit. Smart phones in general are pretty damned ordinary. They're just electronic devices now. That might also explain why so many people are holding on to the phones they have for years longer rather than upgrading frequently.

I remember this used to be the case, but, with the MacBooks back in the late 2000s/2010s (back when they had glowing Apple logos on their MacBooks with the 2015 models (excluding MacBook, Retina, 12-inch, 2015) and prior. Although, the tides have turned with the introduction of MacBook Neo a few days ago...

[Bobby5280]

It's always been possible (albeit very cumbersome) to add custom ringtones on iPhone or iPad for quite some time now... it just requires that the files be in .m4a format (and you may have to use a third party application to edit such files to satisfy the length limit), and you use iTunes (Windows, or macOS Mojave or older) or the Finder (macOS Catalina and later) to drop them onto the device, via a physical connection.

It's nice they at least let you manage adding custom ringtones in some kind of manner. But the process does sound annoying. Most iPhone users I know just roll with that default "opening" ringtone.

Most Android phones will allow users to assign specific ringtones and notification sounds to individual contacts. Various audio file formats can be used (WAV, FLAC, MP3, AAC, M4V, etc). I'll usually connect my phone to my computer via a USB-C cable, open Windows File Explorer and then paste ringtones in the phone's ringtones folder and shorter notification sounds in the notifications folder. I have a bunch of video game sounds from vintage Williams Electronic games (Defender, Robotron: 2084, Joust, etc) as WAV files. I use a number of those as text notification noises. I have some other funny audio snippets, such as the "Roy D. Mercer" character delivering his catch phrases ("how big a boy are ya?" "by God" "I'll bust you right twixt the running lights" etc).

Not too long ago a previous Samsung/Android OS update changed how notification sounds for specific contacts can be assigned. Previously both the contact's ringtone and text notification tone could be assigned on the same contacts page. Now only the ringtone setting is available there. To change a contact's text notification sound you have to open an existing text message thread or create a new thread with a new contact in order to access a different contacts page. The custom notifications sound setting is buried in there now. That's kind of annoying.

I remember this used to be the case, but, with the MacBooks back in the late 2000s/2010s (back when they had glowing Apple logos on their MacBooks with the 2015 models (excluding MacBook, Retina, 12-inch, 2015) and prior. Although, the tides have turned with the introduction of MacBook Neo a few days ago...

Apple notebooks are a little better now. For awhile some models except the MacBook Pro had a 16GB limit on how much RAM could be installed. I have a 17" Alienware notebook with 64GB of RAM installed along with a serious NVidia RTX graphics board. But it's not meant to be an ultra-portable notebook either.

[hbelkins]

HEIC photos don't play well with my Windows 11 work PC. I will routinely get HEIC photos emailed off someone's iPhone and I will have to transfer them to my personal MacBook to convert them to JPEGs before I can do anything with them.

Microsoft does provide a codec from the Store for HEIC, and HEVC (video, H.265) that will allow the playback of such files on the OS. Unfortunately, these codecs cost $0.99 if you get it from the Store, though there used to be a way to get it for free from the device manufacturer a long while back.

Yep, but when you're on a work computer and your budget for such things is zero, you're SOL.

HEIC photos don't play well with my Windows 11 work PC. I will routinely get HEIC photos emailed off someone's iPhone and I will have to transfer them to my personal MacBook to convert them to JPEGs before I can do anything with them.

If you turn off HDR, you'll get JPG photos

Yep, I did that, but when you work with a bunch of people who aren't tech-savvy and they just go with whatever the default is, it makes things problematic.

[JoePCool14]

I traded in my iPhone 15 Pro for the iPhone 17 Pro for two reasons: one, I've been using my phone for a lot of filming, so I wanted the best phone cameras (mostly concerning zoom) I could get, and because the 17 Pro is the first iPhone available in my favorite color, orange. (Seriously, there's never been an orange iPhone like this! We've gotten close with Coral on the XR, but that was too pink.)

My experience has been great so far. I can see where the complaints about autocorrect are coming from. I do have some strange edits sometimes that are totally off-the-wall. But they are rare. And if they are an issue, they're a software problem, not a hardware one. Buying the next iPhone won't fix that unless there's a physical defect with the touch screen. I'm also a fan of the Liquid Glass interface they went to.

I've actually been leaning more into Apple recently as I'm getting really fed up with Microslop's disaster of an OS they call Windows 11. What started out as something just mediocre has just gotten worse. Having to use it at work is enough. When I'm working on creative projects or browsing the web, I use a Mac or iOS device now.