iOS 17 release date and compatibility: When Apple will release new iPhone, iPad and Mac updates – and which will get it

New update brings range of new features – but drops support for iPhone X

(AFP via Getty Images)

Apple has announced its new major update for the iPhone – but not for every iPhone.

The new release, iOS 17, brings new Messaging features as well as whole new ways of using the iPhone, in the form of a new feature called StandBy.

It was announced during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in California this week, as part of a live-streamed event that also saw the reveal of a new virtual reality headset.

Apple announced an early version of the software shortly after that event, but only to developers. Those registered developers can download it now.

The company will then release a public beta, for which anyone can sign up and download the software, in July. It did not give a more precise date for the release.

Apple will then release the update to the public in the autumn, it said. Each year’s iOS update usually arrives just before the introduction of the new iPhone, in September.

Apple will release the updates for MacOS, WatchOS and iPadOS on a similar schedule. Sometimes, however, the launch of the new iPad and Mac update is held until later in the year, in October.

The new update will be available on all iPhone devices that can run the current iOS 16 – with the exception of the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X. Those devices were introduced in 2017.

Apple has said that it keeps new updates coming to older devices for as long as possible, but that new features sometimes mean it has to drop them from new updates.

MacOS will drop support for 2017 iMacs and MacBook Pros, with the exception of that year’s iMac Pro. The new Watch will be compatible with every device that could run WatchOS 9, which means it is available on the Series 4 and later.