This series of tips, mostly new to iOS 17, continues with some excellent additions to the operating system. How many of these have you already heard of?

While some features are advertised by Apple during release events, others go unmentioned and are often randomly discovered by users. Some of these are undocumented by Apple (or really hard to find). Here’s a mix.

Ping My Watch

For years, Ping My iPhone has been available on Apple Watch. You can tap a button in Control Center to make a sound on the linked iPhone, making it easier to find.

As watchOS 10 changes the foundational gestures of Apple Watch, press the Side Button to show Control Center and then tap the button that looks like an iPhone with sound waves coming out from the sides.

Following in its footsteps, iOS 17 adds Ping My Watch, causing the linked watch to play the same melody. To set up, add Ping My Watch in Settings > Control Center. Then, show Control Center and tap the button that looks like an Apple Watch with sound waves coming out from the sides.

My watch is a little slow to respond when it’s on my wrist and hopefully that’s not when I’m using this feature. Fortunately, the sound plays pretty quickly when the watch is not on my wrist.

With both Ping My iPhone and Ping My Watch, the sound effect only plays once. Tap the button repeatedly as you continue your search.

Check In

Remember the days when your friend dropped you off at home and waited until you opened the door? Don’t worry, those days are still here.

However, in a world where we want to be sure our loved ones make it safely to their destination and we aren’t there to see it with our own eyes, iOS 17 introduces Check In. This feature is available in Messages when sender and all recipients are on iOS 17 or later.

To get started in a given conversation, tap the ⊕, tap More, and choose Check In. When you do this for the first time, you’ll step through the guided setup screens shown above.

When you send a Check In, you can edit it to specify a destination and how you’re getting there, or set a duration by which you expect to arrive. Those with whom you’re checking in are notified at various points based on your preferences. Learn more in Apple’s support article.

Swipe to Reply

In iOS 17, you can swipe right across a specific message to reply to it. Lots of articles reference this feature. So far, Apple only mentions it along with the “catch-up” arrow among new Messages features on its iOS 17 Overview page.

The standard reply arrow (a la Mail) appears to the left of the message as you swipe. This saves you from having to long press the message before tapping Reply. If you opt not to reply after all, just tap outside the original message to dismiss.

Replies are useful in a conversation that goes on tangents, or if you want to reply to a specific earlier message so your recipient doesn’t confuse your response as related to something later in the chat thread.

[Update: Apple’s support article, Send and reply to messages on iPhone, is now up to date with replying inline to a specific message.

Capture QR Code on Device

Previously, to act on a QR code, it had to be on an external surface, separate from the capturing device. For example, you might hold your camera up to a code printed on a sign or another screen and tap it to visit a linked website. I wrote about this experience just a few months ago in Shear & Be Shorn?.

These days, I prefer to use the hidden Code Scanner app. You can pull this up your iPhone using search or add it to Control Center.

Conveniently, Code Scanner acts on QR codes automatically, so you don’t have to tap anything on the screen. Additionally, it provides easy access to the flashlight if you need to add light to your view.

However, we’re no longer restricted to external QR codes. As of iOS 15, Live Text makes it possible to act on a QR code that appears in a picture on your device, like when signing up for a cellular plan and adding an eSIM.

Start with a photo or screenshot containing a QR code, such as in your photo library. Or, if the QR code is on a website or other screen, take a screenshot and tap the thumbnail in the bottom left to open it in Markup.

Now, simply long press on the QR code, which your iPhone has probably already recognized and translated. If it goes to a website, you can open the link. You can also copy the content or otherwise share it.

If you went the screenshot route, the image will still get saved to your library, from which you may delete it. However, this process saves you from having to email or text the image to yourself, or print it.

Have you found a good reference for one of these hidden tips? Have you discovered a feature that you can’t find documented? Share your findings with me and I’ll happily consider publishing them for all of us to learn.