With the iOS17 update, sharing with your iPhone just got easier

Stickers created from your own photos and dropping your contact info instantaneously -- Apple's new iOS 17 is making your device more intuitive and personalized.

Every year Apple mixes things up with new software for hundreds of millions of iPhone users, and iOS17 does it again with some cool new tricks.

"A lot of these features are really aimed at making your phone easier to use, and easier to share content with other people, I think it is a great update," CNET Senior Mobile Editor Lisa Eadicicco said.

One big change: You can now use your phone as a desktop assistant.

"This basically turns your iPhone into a mini smart display when it is charging in landscape orientation," Eadicicco said. "This allows you to see the time or calendar, even photos on your phone, without picking it up. It turns it into a mini-Amazon echo sort of. "

Sharing contacts is easier on iOS17 with NameDrop.

"This feature lets you swap contact info with another iPhone just by holding your phone next to their iPhone," Eadicicco said.

There's also a check-in feature that alerts loved ones when you've arrived at your destination. Stickers is a fun way to share your pictures.

"You can basically tap and hold anything in a photo and lift that subject and use it as a sticker in the messages app," Eadicicco explained.

Like all updates there are some bugs -- and Android users are always ready to say they had it first.

"It depends on what you're talking about," Eadicicco said. "In some ways yes; but in some ways, Apple is ahead of the game ... especially when it comes to sharing and connectivity and things like that."

On that front, iOS17 continues that trend, giving iPhone users more ways to share and stay connected.

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