The iOS 17.2 beta has been running for a few weeks now and the latest version is now rolling out to developers. There aren’t many changes coming to iOS 17.2 beta 4, but the ones we have seem to be pretty significant — especially since it includes the ability to change the default notification sound.
iOS 17 saw the arrival of a bunch of new ringtones and sound alerts. That change also had Apple change the default notification alert from the familiar “Tri-Bound” to the much quieter and subtle Rebound — something that proved pretty unpopular. While it was possible to change your text alert back to Tri-Bound (or something else), the notification sound remained locked to Rebound.
Until now, anyway. For the first time ever, Apple is actually letting users change the notification sound to whatever they like. If you’re on the iOS 17.2 developer beta, you can simply head into the Sound & Haptics settings menu, followed by Default Alerts and pick the Notification option.
Apple has also seemingly pulled Collaborative Playlists from Apple Music in iOS 17.2 beta 4, for reasons unknown. The idea was that people could share playlists with friends and family, with each person having a say on what songs are available and how they’re ordered.
Unfortunately there’s no official word on what’s going on, and whether this is just a bug in the latest beta or if Apple has either pulled or delayed the feature.
Everything else from iOS 17.2 so far
A bunch of new features have launched with the iOS 17.2 beta, least of which is Apple’s new Journal app — which collects information about your day to offer a unique journaling experience. That includes locations, navigation, photos, music you listened to and more.
Apple’s also added extra security for iMessage, with contact key verification helping to keep out unwanted eavesdroppers. Anyone sick of inline predictions when they’re typing also have the option to switch this off — saving us from further machinations of autocorrect.
iPhone 15 Pro owners are also able to record spatial video, though this will only be viewable in its full glory when played through an Apple Vision Pro headset.
Currently iOS 17.2 beta 4 is exclusive to developers, though the changes in the latest update will no doubt be rolling out to the public beta soon. There’s still no word on when iOS 17.2 will leave beta and launch to the rest of the world, but hopefully we don’t have too much longer to wait.
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