iOS 17.2: Apple releases new iPhone update with Journal app and other major new features

New software also lets people get ready for Apple’s upcoming Vision Pro virtual reality headset

Apple has released iOS 17.2, the biggest iPhone update in months.

The new version of the operating system includes several features that had been announced for the new iOS 17 upgrade but were not available when it first launched in September, such as the new Journal app. It also includes unexpected changes, such as the ability to take videos ready for Apple’s upcoming Vision Pro virtual reality headset.

As usual, the update can be downloaded by opening the Settings app, clicking “General” and choosing the software update option. iPhones will also eventually prompt users to install the new update after some time.

Perhaps the most obvious and biggest upgrade is the release of the Journal app. That aims to let people write down moments from their lives, and Apple suggests that it could help people monitor and improve their mental health.

The app includes a variety of features intended to remind people to journal and help them write those entries. Users can schedule notifications to remind them to add an entry, and the app will gather information from other apps – such as workouts and photos – to offer suggestions of things to write about.

The update also adds the option to turn the Action Button on the new iPhone 15 Pro into a translation tool, and improvements to the Messages, Music and Weather apps. The update also includes a host of smaller improvements and bug fixes, such as the introduction of a new charging standard for some older phones.

The new download also adds the option to take Spatial Videos with the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. That uses multiple cameras on the phone to take three dimensional videos.

Those can only be viewed properly on the headset, which is due for release early next year. On the phone itself, they will appear only as normal videos.