How to Use iOS 17: A Complete Beginner's Guide

What Is This in Plain English?

Think back to when a new appliance arrived at your home in the 1970s — perhaps a new washing machine or a microwave oven. The outside looked unfamiliar, the buttons were in new places, and the manual seemed written in another language. But once a patient neighbor sat down and explained what each dial actually did, the machine made perfect sense.

iOS 17 is simply the name for the set of instructions that runs your iPhone — the invisible engine underneath the glass screen that makes everything work. The "17" simply means it is the seventeenth improved version Apple has released, the same way a 1978 model car was an improvement on the 1977 version. Everything you could do before still works. Apple has simply added some helpful new features and tidied a few things up.

This guide will walk through your iPhone from the very beginning, one room at a time, as if we are taking a slow, unhurried tour of a new home together.

What You Will Need

You will need an iPhone that supports iOS 17. Apple made this version available for the following models.

iPhone Model	Supported?
iPhone XS, XS Max, XR	✅ Yes
iPhone 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max	✅ Yes
iPhone 12 (all versions)	✅ Yes
iPhone 13 (all versions)	✅ Yes
iPhone 14 (all versions)	✅ Yes
iPhone 15 (all versions)	✅ Yes
iPhone X or older	❌ No

💡 Pro Tip: Not sure which iPhone you have? Open the Settings app — the gray gear wheel icon — tap General, then tap About. The line that says Model Name will tell you exactly which iPhone you own.

Part 1: The Outside of Your iPhone

Before touching the screen, let's take a moment to learn the physical buttons — the same way you would locate the knobs on a new cooker before turning it on.

The Side Button: Located on the right-hand edge of the phone. This is the most important button on the outside. Press it once to wake the screen. Press and hold it for two seconds to turn the phone off or on. On newer iPhones without a Home Button, you will also use this to unlock the phone with Face ID.

The Home Button: On older iPhone models (iPhone SE and iPhone 8 or earlier), a round physical button sits at the very bottom of the screen, in the center. It has a faint square shape etched into it. Press it once to return to your Home Screen from anywhere. This button also has a fingerprint sensor built in — resting your finger on it unlocks your phone.

The Volume Buttons: Two buttons stacked vertically on the left side of the phone. The upper button raises the volume. The lower button reduces it. They are slightly raised so you can feel them without looking.

The Silent Switch: A tiny switch above the volume buttons on the left side. Flick it downward to silence all sounds — a small orange stripe will appear to confirm it is silenced, like a little flag going up. Flick it upward to restore sound.

The Lightning or USB-C Port: A small slot at the very bottom of the phone where your charging cable plugs in. Older iPhones use a Lightning cable — a narrow, oval-shaped connector. The iPhone 15 and newer use USB-C — a slightly wider oval connector, the same as many modern laptops.

🛡️ Safety Alert: Only use official Apple charging cables or certified replacements from reputable shops. Cheap, uncertified cables can damage your battery over time and, in rare cases, cause overheating.

Part 2: Turning On and Unlocking Your iPhone

Turning the Phone On

If the screen is completely dark and pressing buttons does nothing, press and hold the Side Button on the right edge for three seconds.
The Apple logo — a silver apple with a small bite taken out of the right side — will appear on a black background. This means the phone is starting up. Wait approximately 30 seconds.
Your Lock Screen will appear, showing the time and date in large numbers.

Unlocking With Face ID (Newer iPhones)

Face ID works like an invisible, instantaneous portrait — your phone recognizes your face and unlocks itself.

Simply pick up your phone and look at the screen naturally, the way you would look at a clock on the wall.
You will see a small padlock icon at the top of the screen — it will animate from locked (closed) to unlocked (open) within one second.
Swipe upward from the very bottom of the screen — a short, gentle flick with your thumb — to open your Home Screen.

Unlocking With a Passcode

If Face ID does not work — perhaps you are wearing a scarf over your face on a cold day — your phone will ask for your passcode instead.

Six empty circles will appear on the screen, waiting for your six-digit PIN.
Tap your digits one at a time on the number pad below. You do not need to press a confirm button — the phone will unlock automatically after the sixth digit.

🛡️ Safety Alert: Never share your passcode with anyone, including people who call claiming to be from Apple Support. Apple will never call you and ask for your passcode. Ever.

Part 3: Your Home Screen and Lock Screen

The Lock Screen

The Lock Screen is what you see before unlocking — like the front window display of a shop. In iOS 17, you can customise it more than ever before.

Your Lock Screen shows the time in large numbers at the top, the date just below it, and any notifications — alert messages from your apps — stacked below that in rounded rectangles.

The Home Screen

Once unlocked, your Home Screen is your starting point — the hallway from which every room in the house is reached. You will see rows of small square icons, each one representing a different app.

Tapping an icon once opens that app. Pressing and holding an icon for two seconds causes all the icons to begin gently wobbling — like a display of jellies on a shelf. This means you are in "editing mode" and can move apps around. Press the Side Button or tap Done in the top-right corner to stop the wobbling.

Swiping Between Pages

If you have many apps, they spill onto additional Home Screen pages, like chapters in a book.

Place your finger in the middle of the screen.
Slide it gently to the left to move to the next page of apps.
Slide it to the right to return to the previous page.
Small dots near the bottom of the screen show how many pages you have and which one you are currently viewing — similar to page indicator dots on a slideshow presentation.

💡 Pro Tip: At the very bottom of your Home Screen, you will notice a row of four icons that does not change when you swipe between pages. This is called the Dock — think of it as your most-used kitchen counter tools, always within arm's reach. Most people keep their Phone, Messages, Safari (internet), and Camera apps here.

Part 4: The Control Centre — Your Quick Settings Panel

The Control Centre is a hidden panel of shortcuts — like a fuse box tucked behind a cabinet door — that lets you quickly adjust common settings without going through the full Settings menu.

How to Open the Control Centre

Place your finger in the top-right corner of your screen — right at the very edge where the screen meets the frame.
Slowly slide your finger downward. A dark panel will slide down from the top, covering the upper half of your screen.
This is your Control Centre.

What You Will See

The Wi-Fi icon — looks like curved lines forming a fan or an upside-down ice cream cone shape. When it is white or blue, you are connected to the internet. When it is gray, you are not.

The Bluetooth icon — looks like a letter "B" made of angular lines, similar to a jagged lightning bolt. This controls your connection to wireless accessories like hearing aids or speakers.

The Brightness slider — a vertical bar with a sun icon (a circle with short lines radiating outward, like a child's drawing of the sun). Slide your finger up the bar to make the screen brighter, downward to dim it.

The Volume slider — a vertical bar with a speaker icon. Slide up for louder, down for quieter.

The Torch — looks like a small flashlight or a simple cylinder shape. Tap it once to turn your iPhone into a torch. Tap again to turn it off. This is one of the most useful tools on the entire phone.

Aeroplane Mode — looks like a small aeroplane silhouette. Tapping this turns off all wireless signals — useful on a flight, as the name suggests. When it is orange, Aeroplane Mode is on and your phone cannot make calls.

How to Close the Control Centre

Tap anywhere on the dark area that is not a button, or swipe upward from the bottom of the Control Centre panel. It will slide back up and disappear.

💡 Pro Tip: If you ever need a torch in a hurry and your phone is still on the Lock Screen, you do not even need to unlock it. Simply press the Side Button to wake the screen and you will see a small torch icon in the bottom-left corner. Press and hold it briefly to turn the torch on instantly.

Part 5: Making and Receiving Phone Calls

Making a Call

Find the Phone app on your Home Screen or in your Dock. It looks like an old-fashioned telephone handset — the curved shape you would have held to your ear and mouth in the 1960s or 70s — on a green background.
Tap it to open it.
Along the bottom of the screen, you will see five small icons with labels. Tap the one that says Keypad — it looks like a grid of nine small dots, like the number arrangement on a telephone dial pad.
Tap your number, then tap the large green circle at the bottom with a white telephone handset inside it to place the call.
Hold the phone to your ear naturally. To end the call, tap the large red circle with a white handset inside it.

Calling from Your Contacts

In the Phone app, tap Contacts at the bottom — the icon looks like a small silhouette of a person with a tiny address card.
Scroll through the alphabetical list or tap the small letters running down the right side — like an index tab in an address book — to jump to a specific letter.
Tap the person's name, then tap their phone number to begin the call.

Receiving a Call

When someone calls you, the screen will light up and display the caller's name (if they are in your Contacts) or their phone number.

To answer, swipe the green circle to the right — like sliding a door bolt open.
To decline (send the call to voicemail), swipe the red circle to the left.
If your phone is already unlocked when a call arrives, you will simply see two buttons — a green Accept button and a red Decline button. Tap whichever applies.

🛡️ Safety Alert: If you receive a call from a number you do not recognize, it is always safe to let it ring through to voicemail. Genuine callers leave messages. If a recorded voice tells you that you owe money, that your bank account has been frozen, or that you will be arrested unless you call back immediately — this is a scam. Hang up and call a family member.

Part 6: Sending and Reading Text Messages

Opening Messages

Find the Messages app. It looks like a green square with a white speech bubble inside it — the same kind of bubble you see in comic strips when a character speaks.
Tap it to open it. You will see a list of your conversations, the most recent at the top.

Reading a Message

Tap any conversation in the list to open it. Your messages appear on the right side of the screen in blue bubbles. The other person's messages appear on the left in gray bubbles. The conversation reads from top to bottom, oldest to newest, exactly like a written exchange of letters.

Sending a New Message

Tap the small pencil and paper icon in the top-right corner of the Messages screen.
In the box at the top that says To:, type the name of someone in your Contacts, or type a phone number.
Tap the large white box near the bottom of the screen where it says Message. A keyboard will rise up from the bottom.
Type your message by tapping the letters. Use the large key labeled space for spaces between words. Use the key labeled return to start a new line.
When finished, tap the small blue arrow inside a blue circle to the right of the message box to send it. The arrow points upward, like a paper aeroplane launching skyward.

Using Your Voice Instead of Typing

Look for a small microphone icon on the keyboard — usually to the left of the spacebar, or at the bottom-right of the screen.
Tap it and speak your message clearly and at a natural pace.
The phone will transcribe your words into text. Say "period" for a full stop, "comma" for a comma, and "question mark" for a question mark.
Review what appeared, make any corrections, then tap the blue arrow to send.

💡 Pro Tip: In iOS 17, you can now leave a voice message directly inside the Messages app. Press and hold the small microphone icon inside the message box — not the keyboard one — speak your message, then release. The recipient will receive an audio clip they can play back, like a modern answering machine message.

Part 7: Using Safari to Browse the Internet

Safari is Apple's internet browser — think of it as a window that looks out onto an enormous public library containing virtually every piece of information ever written, available to browse at any time of day.

Opening Safari

Find the Safari app. It looks like a white compass — a circular navigation instrument with a needle inside pointing to one of the cardinal directions — on a blue background.
Tap it to open it.

Visiting a Website

At the top of the screen, you will see a long white bar — the address bar. It may show a web address already, such as "apple.com."
Tap once on that bar. The keyboard will appear.
Type the web address of the site you wish to visit — for example, bbc.co.uk or nytimes.com.
Tap the blue Go key in the bottom-right corner of the keyboard. The website will load within a few seconds.

Searching for Something

You do not always need to know a web address. You can simply type a question or topic into the same address bar.

Tap the address bar at the top.
Type your question naturally — for example: weather in Chicago tomorrow or chicken soup recipe.
Tap Go. A list of results will appear, and you can tap any result to read it.

Making Text Larger on a Website

If a website's text is too small to read comfortably, place two fingers on the screen and slowly spread them apart — as if stretching a piece of elastic between your fingertips. The page will zoom in and the text will grow larger. Pinch your fingers together to zoom back out.

💡 Pro Tip: In iOS 17, Safari has a feature called Reader Mode that strips away all the clutter from a webpage — the advertisements, the flashing banners, the sidebars — and presents just the clean text of the article in a large, readable format. Look for a small icon at the left of the address bar that looks like four horizontal lines of different lengths, like a simplified paragraph. Tap it and select Show Reader for a much more comfortable reading experience.

Part 8: New Features Introduced in iOS 17

Apple introduced several thoughtful improvements in this version. Here are the ones most likely to be useful to you.

StandBy Mode

When you place your iPhone on its side — horizontally, like a picture frame lying on its back — while it is charging, it automatically switches to a large display mode showing the time, date, and useful information in big, easy-to-read numbers and text. Think of it as turning your iPhone into a bedside clock while it charges overnight.

To use it, simply lay your phone on its side on your charging stand or prop it up while plugged in. The display will activate automatically in a dimmed room.

Improved Autocorrect

Autocorrect is the feature that tries to fix spelling errors as you type. In iOS 17, Apple significantly improved it — it is now much better at understanding what you actually meant to say, and much less likely to change a word to something embarrassing. Words it has changed will appear underlined briefly so you can tap them to revert if needed.

Live Voicemail

When someone calls and you do not answer, iOS 17 now shows their voicemail message appearing as written text on your screen in real time — as they are speaking it — before they finish. It works like watching someone type a message, except it comes from a phone call. You can then decide whether to pick up mid-message or let them finish and call back.

When a call comes in that you do not answer, watch your screen.
A gray box will appear showing words populating in real time as the caller speaks.
If it sounds urgent, tap Answer to pick up while they are still leaving the message.

Contact Posters

You can now create a personal "poster" — a large, beautifully designed card showing your name and photo — that appears on other people's screens when you call them, rather than just a name and number. To set yours up, open the Phone app, tap Contacts, tap your own name at the top, and tap Contact Photo & Poster.

💡 Pro Tip: StandBy Mode works best with a MagSafe charging stand — a circular magnetic charger that snaps neatly to the back of compatible iPhones. However, any charging stand that holds your phone on its side will work. It makes a genuinely lovely bedside clock.

Part 9: Siri — Your Voice Assistant

Siri is your phone's built-in helper, available at any moment simply by speaking. Think of Siri as a very knowledgeable personal assistant who never sleeps, never gets impatient, and can answer almost any question you put to them.

How to Activate Siri

Simply say "Hey Siri" followed immediately by your request. You do not need to touch the phone at all.

Alternatively, press and hold the Side Button for one second until you hear a gentle chime and see a glowing light at the bottom of the screen. Then speak.

Things You Can Ask Siri

Speak naturally, as you would to a person. Here are some examples.

"Hey Siri, call my daughter."
"Hey Siri, what is the weather tomorrow?"
"Hey Siri, set a timer for 20 minutes."
"Hey Siri, send a message to John saying I will be late."
"Hey Siri, turn on the torch."
"Hey Siri, what day is Easter this year?"
"Hey Siri, remind me to take my medication at 8 o'clock every morning."

💡 Pro Tip: Siri in iOS 17 is better than ever at understanding natural, conversational speech. You do not need to use special commands or robotic phrasing. Simply speak as you normally would, and Siri will understand.

Part 10: Adjusting Settings to Suit You

Making Text Larger Across the Whole Phone

Open Settings — the gray gear wheel icon.
Tap Display & Brightness.
Tap Text Size.
A horizontal slider will appear — like the volume slider on an old stereo. Drag the circle to the right to make all text on the entire phone larger.

Making Everything Larger (Not Just Text)

Open Settings.
Tap Display & Brightness.
Tap Display Zoom.
Select Larger Text and tap Done. The phone will restart briefly and everything — icons, menus, text — will be noticeably bigger.

Adjusting Screen Brightness

Open Settings.
Tap Display & Brightness.
Drag the Brightness slider left (dimmer) or right (brighter) until the screen is comfortable for your eyes.
Consider turning on Auto-Brightness — found in Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size — which automatically adjusts brightness based on the light around you, the same way your eyes naturally adjust when moving from a dark room to a bright one.

Turning On Bold Text

If regular text still feels thin or difficult to read even at a larger size, Bold Text makes every letter thicker and darker.

Open Settings.
Tap Display & Brightness.
Find Bold Text and tap the toggle switch next to it so it turns green and slides to the right.

💡 Pro Tip: Apple has a dedicated section in Settings called Accessibility — found by going to Settings > Accessibility — designed specifically to make the phone easier to use for people with any visual, hearing, or physical preferences. It is worth spending 10 quiet minutes exploring it. You may find several options that make your daily experience significantly more comfortable.

How to Stay Safe Using iOS 17

Keep your software updated. When your iPhone tells you that a new update is available, install it promptly. Updates fix security weaknesses — like a locksmith reinforcing a lock that a burglar has found a way to pick.

Use Face ID or a strong passcode. A six-digit PIN is the minimum. Never use something obvious like 123456 or your birth year.

Be cautious of unexpected messages. If you receive a text or email saying your Apple ID has been compromised, or that a package could not be delivered, and asking you to tap a link — do not tap it. Instead, contact Apple directly by calling the number on their official website, or visit an Apple Store in person.

Never share verification codes. When you log into a new device or website, Apple sometimes sends a six-digit verification code to your phone by text. This code is like a one-time key. Never read it out to anyone who calls you — no legitimate company will ever ask for it.

Review your App permissions regularly. Every few months, go to Settings > Privacy & Security and check which apps have access to your Location, Camera, and Microphone. Remove any permissions that do not make obvious sense.

🛡️ Safety Alert: Apple will never call you without your prior request. If you receive an unexpected call from someone claiming to be Apple Support — or see a pop-up on your screen with a number to call — it is a scam. Hang up or close the screen, and call a trusted person for help.

A Quick Reference Card

Keep this somewhere handy — a kitchen drawer, your bedside table, or take a photograph of it with your phone.

I Want To...	What To Do
Wake my phone	Press the Side Button once
Unlock my phone	Look at the screen (Face ID) or enter your PIN
Go to the Home Screen	Swipe up from the very bottom edge
Open Control Centre	Swipe down from the top-right corner
Turn on the Torch	Open Control Centre, tap the Torch icon
Make a call	Tap the green handset icon (Phone app)
Send a text	Tap the green speech bubble icon (Messages app)
Search the internet	Tap the blue compass icon (Safari app)
Ask Siri for help	Say "Hey Siri" out loud
Make text bigger	Settings > Display & Brightness > Text Size
Silence the phone	Flick the small switch on the left side downward

You Are Making Wonderful Progress

iOS 17 is a thoughtful, well-designed system, and with a little time and patience, it will begin to feel as familiar as any other appliance in your home. There is no need to learn everything at once.

Pick one section from this guide each day. Practice just that one thing — make a call, send a message, ask Siri a question — before moving on. Repetition is the kindest teacher there is.

And remember: every question is a good question. Your local Apple Store offers free in-person workshops called Today at Apple sessions specifically designed for people who want to learn at their own pace. You are always welcome to walk in and ask for help.

How to Use iOS 17: Complete Beginner's Guide