iOS 17.5: Your iPhone Just Got the New Puzzle Game Quartiles and More

Apple released iOS 17.5 update to the general public on Monday, about two months after the release of iOS 17.4. The latest update brings security fixes and a handful of useful and fun features for iPhones to some users. Previously, I used iOS 17.5 as a beta and release candidate and found a new word game for Apple News Plus subscribers and much more.

To download the update, go to Settings > General > Software updatetouch Update now and follow the prompts on the screen. Here’s what’s new on your iPhone with iOS 17.5.

Read more: Everything Apple announced at its May event

New Quartiles puzzle game for Apple News Plus subscribers

Apple’s iOS 17.5 introduces a new puzzle game, Quartiles, to the News app for Apple News Plus subscribers. At the start of each puzzle, you’re given a grid of 20 tiles that have word parts on them, such as “te” and “tra”. Then you have to combine these tiles to form different words. Words can be between one and four tiles long, but each grid can be made into five words with four tiles – you get the most points by combining the tiles this way.

If you subscribe to Apple News Plus, which costs $13 (£13, AU$20) per monthyou can find quartiles by going to News > Next > Puzzles and dragging the carousel at the top of the screen. You can also scroll down Puzzles page to find quartiles below the mini crossword puzzle.

You can get a free three-month trial of Apple News Plus with the purchase of a new one iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Read more: How to play daily crosswords in the news app on your iPhone

Puzzle leaderboards for Apple News Plus subscribers

In addition to Quartiles, a new feature in iOS 17.5 allows Apple News Plus subscribers to easily compare their daily puzzle scores with those of other people. To turn this feature on, go to Settings > News and below News+ Puzzles tap the switch to Game center.

“Submit your scores to Game Center to see how you rank against friends and other solvers of today’s puzzles,” Apple writes under that setting.

It’s important to note that anyone can enable this setting, but if you don’t have an Apple News Plus subscription, you can’t play the daily puzzles and therefore can’t post anything to these leaderboards.

Apple News Plus is getting an offline mode

With iOS 17.5, Apple allows Apple News Plus subscribers to read their favorite posts offline with the new offline mode. To enable offline mode, go to Settings > News and tap the switch to Automatic downloads.

Once enabled, your app can automatically download things like recent stories, puzzles, and audio stories to your device so you can enjoy them when you’re offline. However, you can control what is downloaded by tapping Download options located under Automatic downloads I switch. Here you can choose what to automatically download to your device.

Detection of unknown third-party trackers

In addition to the warning about unknowns AirTags traveling with you, with iOS 17.5 your iPhone will now alert you if it detects an unknown third-party tracking device traveling with you.

“With this new capability, users will now receive “[Item] Found Moving With You’ alerts on their device if an unknown Bluetooth tracking device is spotted moving with them over time, regardless of the platform the device is paired with,” Apple wrote online.

If you get one of these warnings, your iPhone can make the tracker play a sound so you can find it. Once you find the unknown tracker, your iPhone can see the tracker ID and access instructions to disable it.

These alerts are automatically enabled on your iPhone after you update to iOS 17.5.

Read more: Everything you need to know about Apple’s AirTags

More ways for people in the EU to download apps

With iOS 17.5, Apple now allows people in the EU to download apps from the developer’s website. Apple published online guide which can help developers distribute their applications across the web.

“In eligible regions, you may distribute approved non-marketplace applications from your website,” Apple wrote. “To distribute your app, fill out a web form that outlines the qualifications, and if approved, Apple allows you to download a framework that makes it easy to securely install your app from your website.”

Developers also need to get involved new business conditions of the App Store for the EU and paid a €0.50 Basic Technology Fee for every first app install over 1 million in the last 12 months. But Apple is giving developers the first 1 million app installs for free for the first time.

“Membership in the Apple Developer Program includes one million first-year installs per year for free for apps distributed through the App Store, Web Distribution, and/or alternative marketplaces,” Apple wrote.

An apple announced this feature on March 12, along with other EU-specific features for developers, such as the ability to choose the design of in-app promotions.

This is the latest EU-specific feature coming to iPhone. When Apple released iOS 17.4 in March, much of that update allowed people in the EU to download alternative app stores in order to comply with the regional Digital Markets Act.

New wallpapers from the Pride Collection

Apple offers a new set of Wallpapers from the Pride Collection to iPhone with iOS 17.5. The background reads “Pride” in five different color schemes inspired by LBGTQ+ communities. You can find these wallpapers by going to Settings > Wallpaper > Add new wallpaper and I look down Pride.

New Repair Status Mode

If you take your iPhone to an Apple Store for repair, Apple recommends turn off Find My. However, if you try to turn off Find My in the store and have done so Stolen device protection activated, on security delay will make you wait an hour to turn off Find My.

With iOS 17.5, you can enable repair mode by entering the Find My > Devices and then select an item associated with your Apple ID, such as your iPhone. After selecting this item, tap Remove this device at the bottom of the menu. You will see a pop-up window saying that you cannot remove this device, but you can prepare it for repair. If you tap Continue, your device will ask you to enter your Apple ID password. However, you should probably only do this when you’re bringing your iPhone in for repair.

According to 9to5Mac, if you activate this feature at a service center, an Apple technician will confirm that you own the iPhone in question after seeing you enter your Apple ID password. Once confirmed, the technician will proceed with the repair uninterrupted by the security delay.

It is not clear if there is a way to remove your device from Repair State if you put it into the new mode prematurely. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

The podcast widget changes color

With iOS 17.5, your podcast widget will change color depending on the cover art of the podcast you’re currently listening to. So if the podcast you’re listening to has red artwork, the widget will turn red.

This aesthetic feature was in some early beta versions of iOS 17.4, but Apple removed it from the public version of this update. In iOS 17.4, Apple also brought podcast transcriptsmaking audio media more accessible to more people.

Find recently released podcasts in Spotlight Search

In iOS 17.5, if you tap Spotlight Search and type podcasts in the search bar, you’ll see recently played podcasts along with the Podcasts app in the Top Hits bar at the top of the screen. However, you only see the last three podcasts you listened to. Also, searching for specific podcasts doesn’t make them appear in the top hits bar.

Book app counter tool

It seems Apple wants to help people reach their reading goals. With iOS 17.5, the Books app gets a counter in the upper-right corner of the app’s home page. If you tap this counter, the app will take you to your Reading Goals menu. This menu shows you how much time you spent reading today. There is also a button here that reads Check out the bookstore which opens A bookstore.

Initially, Books sets your daily reading goal at five minutes a day, but you can change that goal to anywhere between 1 minute or a ridiculous 1,440 minutes (24 hours) a day — I love to read, but that seems a bit aggressive.

Here are the full iOS 17.5 release notes:

This update introduces a new Pride Radiance lock screen wallpaper, improvements to Apple News and other features, bug fixes, and security updates for your iPhone.

Apple news

Offline mode in Apple News Plus gives you access to the Today feed and the News Plus tab even when you don’t have an internet connection.

Quartiles is a new and original daily word game now available on Apple News Plus.

The News Plus Puzzles Scoreboard gives you access to new player data for crosswords, mini crosswords and quartiles, including stats and streaks.

Tracking notifications

Cross-Platform Tracking Detection delivers notifications to users if a compatible Bluetooth tracker they don’t own is moving with them, regardless of what operating system the device is paired with.

Some features may not be available in all regions or on all Apple devices. For information about the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website:

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

For more on iOS 17, here’s what’s included iOS 17.4 and here is ours iOS 17 cheat sheet. You can also check what we want to see in iOS 18 at WWDC 2024.