MacRumors

Meta has announced that it's now possible to add WhatsApp to Accounts Center, the company's hub for managing how user information is used across its platforms.

The integration means that users can now adjust their settings from one place and share their status updates across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

Meta says the option to link WhatsApp to Accounts Center is completely optional and disabled by default, and that WhatsApp messages and calls remain end-to-end encrypted regardless of whether users choose to add the app or not. From the company's news blog:

Our approach for WhatsApp is simple: your account is separate from other apps and no one but you can change that. While adding your WhatsApp to Accounts Center is completely optional and off by default, it can help those who want features to work more seamlessly across apps. For example it’ll be easier to reshare updates from your WhatsApp Status to Facebook or Instagram Stories and show your friends what’s happening in your life without having to post multiple times. You’ll also be able to log back in to your WhatsApp account with a single sign-on, so you can get back into your accounts faster and with fewer steps.

The WhatsApp integration into Accounts Center is being rolled out globally over the next few months. Once available, users will find the option in their WhatsApp settings or when cross-posting content across Meta's platforms, such as re-sharing a Status to one of its other apps.

Newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump on Tuesday expressed support for Elon Musk potentially acquiring TikTok, and also proposed a joint ownership structure with the U.S. government.

"I would be, if he wanted to buy it, yes," Trump told reporters at a White House event announcing a new AI infrastructure private sector partnership, where OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son were in attendance. The comments came just days after TikTok briefly went offline in the United States following Supreme Court action.

The social media platform, which boasts 170 million American users, temporarily shut down for about 12 hours on Saturday after the Supreme Court upheld legislation requiring Chinese company ByteDance to divest its US TikTok operations. Trump subsequently issued an executive order providing a 75-day pause on the ban's enforcement.

During the White House event, where Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison was also present, Trump floated the idea of a 50-50 ownership split between any acquiring company and the US government. "They'll have something that's actually more valuable because they have the ultimate partner," Trump explained.

Trump specifically mentioned both Musk and Ellison as potential buyers during the event. Oracle already plays a significant role in TikTok's operations, hosting most of the platform's servers.

Trump originally supported banning the short-form video app over national security concerns, but his thinking has U-turned since winning the US presidential election for a second time. "We won the young vote. I think I won it through TikTok," Trump told reporters. "So I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok."

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular caller ID app Truecaller is rolling out an update that brings real-time caller ID support to its iOS subscribers.

Apple introduced Live Caller ID Lookup in iOS 18, allowing third-party caller ID apps to securely retrieve information about a caller from their servers, hence today's Truecaller update.

iPhone users can enable the Live Caller ID Lookup feature by going to Settings ➝ Apps ➝ Phone, and selecting Call Blocking & Identification. Here, users should enable all Truecaller switches and open the Truecaller app again.

Truecaller told TechCrunch it built a new server architecture to enable the new feature, and created a separate, encrypted database for iOS, alongside its existing larger database for Android users:

Apple's Phone app makes encrypted requests to this database and gets encrypted responses that are only decrypted on the client (iPhone) to show the caller ID in real time. This process is called "homomorphic encryption," as the computations use encrypted data instead of decrypting them first, while decryption happens on the client to display caller information if it matches with the data stored on the server.

Truecaller has around 750,000 iPhone-using subscribers out of around 2.6 million subscribers in total, where the majority are Android users. However, 40% of Truecaller’s revenue is from iOS subscriptions, thanks to a 5x conversation rate to its premium tier on iOS compared to Android, and 80% higher revenue from iPhone subscribers.

In addition to the new feature support, Truecaller has updated its interface, with the caller's name appearing in bold over their number. The latest version also includes automatic blocking of spam calls, while other improvements include the ability to search for previously identified calls, going as far back as 2,000 previous numbers in the Recents list in the Phone app.

Prior to iOS 18, Truecaller had to rely on a locally saved dictionary of limited phone numbers on iOS. The Android app has offered real-time caller information for some time, so the latest iOS update is bringing feature parity across platforms. Truecaller says it is now working on support for images to show up in the caller ID for its iOS users.

Truecaller's premium tier for iOS users starts at $9.99 a month per person, or $74.99/year. The company also has a family plan on iOS starting at $14.99/month or $99.99/year and the highest tier Gold subscription at $249 a year.

Apple is closing in on an investment plan deal with Indonesian authorities that would allow it to resume iPhone 16 sales in the country, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

Indonesia banned sales of the device in October, claiming Apple had failed to comply with local manufacturing requirements of 35% domestic content for smartphones and tablets. Apple has offered a $1 billion investment in the country that includes building an AirTag factory. The offer is a significant increase from its previous offers of $10 million and $100 million, which were rejected by the government.

“I strongly believe it will resolve very, very soon,” the country's investment minister Rosan Roeslani said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Davos on Tuesday. "Hopefully within one or two weeks this issue can be resolved."

"The way they calculate it is different I think," he said, referring to the local content requirement. "Now they find a solution on that one, so hopefully they accept the discrepancies so we can have the iPhone 16 sold in Indonesia."

Indonesia represents a significant market for Apple, with the country's population of 280 million operating some 354 million active mobile phones. The company has maintained developer academies there since 2018, but the country currently hosts no Apple manufacturing facilities.

Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes.

The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all devices that support Apple Intelligence, and there are also bug fixes for Siri and Apple Music.

Visual intelligence with Camera Control (All iPhone 16 models)
- Add an event to Calendar from a poster or flyer
- Easily identify plants and animals

Notification summaries (All iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max)
- Easily manage settings for notification summaries from the Lock Screen
- Updated style for summarized notifications better distinguishes them from other notifications by using italicized text as well as the glyph
- Notification summaries for News & Entertainment apps are temporarily unavailable, and users who opt-in will see them again when the feature becomes available

This update includes the following enhancements and bug fixes: - Calculator repeats the last mathematical operation when you tap the equals sign again
- Fixes an issue where the keyboard might disappear when initiating a typed Siri request
- Resolves an issue where audio playback continues until the song ends even after closing Apple Music

Some features may not be available for all regions or on all Apple devices. For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit:
https://support.apple.com/100100

The release candidate version of iOS 18.3 represents the final version of the software that will be released to the public in the near future should no additional bugs be found;

We are expecting iOS 18.3 to see a launch alongside iPadOS 18.3, macOS Sequoia 15.3, tvOS 18.3, visionOS 2.3, and watchOS 11.3 next week.

With iOS 18.3, Apple made a small but meaningful change to the way the Calculator app works, reintroducing repeating operations. When you tap the equals sign twice, the app will now repeat the last mathematical operation.

So, for example, if you type in 5x5 and tap the equals sign, you'll get 25 as a result. If you hit the equals sign again, it will multiply 25x5, and will continue multiplying by 5 every time you tap the equals symbol.

Repeating operations were an option in the Calculator app prior to iOS 18, but ‌iOS 18‌ removed the functionality. Users who have missed the feature will get it back after updating to iOS 18.3. Being able to repeat operations is useful for calculating compound interest.

Note that this feature has also been missing in macOS 15, but the macOS 15.3 update reinstates it.

Netflix is raising its prices for all plans in several countries, including the United States, Canada, Portugal, and Argentina. The cheapest Standard with ads plan will be $1 more expensive in the U.S., going from $6.99 to $7.99 per month.

The Standard plan's price will increase from $15.49 to $17.99 per month, and the Premium plan will now cost $24.99 per month, up from $22.99 per month. The Standard plan offers 1080p HD video, and the Premium plan is the only plan that supports 4K streaming.

Netflix last increased prices in October 2023, and this is the first price increase the ad-supported plan has seen since its late 2022 launch.

The price hikes were announced during Netflix's Q4 2024 earnings results [PDF], which saw the company report 19 million new subscribers, a quarterly record, and 16 percent revenue growth. Netflix now has over 300 million paying subscribers worldwide, and the company forecasts continued growth in 2025.

On the price increase, Netflix said the following: "As we continue to invest in programming and deliver more value for our members, we will occasionally ask our members to pay a little more so that we can re-invest to further improve Netflix."

The UK government today announced plans for a digital wallet that will house digital driver's licenses. It is not yet clear if the digital wallet that the UK government has planned will integrate with Apple Wallet, but UK users will be able to access their driver's licenses through a GOV.UK app on the iPhone when the initiative launches.

The digital driver's license will allow users to prove their age when purchasing age-restricted items, and it will serve as proof of the right to drive. Personal information will be protected with Face ID or Touch ID for security even if a device is lost.

Along with driver's licenses, the UK digital wallet will eventually include veteran cards, DBS checks, and other documents issued by the government, but traditional physical documents will also remain available.

The UK digital wallet app is launching alongside a GOV.UK app that will feature a built-in "GOV.UK Chat" chatbot that is being created in partnership with OpenAI, and the chat service is already being tested. The chatbot will let UK residents make payments and receive notifications and reminders about government services.

In the United States, Apple has partnered with several states to bring digital driver's licenses and ID cards to the Wallet app on the ‌iPhone‌ and Apple Watch. Digital IDs are available in nine states, as well as Puerto Rico. At least six additional states have pledged future support for the functionality.

A leaker known as "Majin Bu" today shared an alleged image of a component for the rumored, ultra-thin "iPhone 17 Air" model.

The blurry, pixelated image shows a pair of rear iPhone shells with a pill-shaped, raised camera bar along the top. On the left side of the bar, there is a circular cutout that appears to be for a single rear camera. On the right side of the bar, there appears to be an LED camera flash and a tiny microphone hole. The ultra-thin "iPhone 17 Air" is the only iPhone 17 model that is expected to have a single rear camera, so the shell could be for that device.

The fourth-generation iPhone SE is also expected to have a single rear camera, but an elongated camera ridge has not been rumored for that device.

In the world of AI-generated photos, and counterfeit iPhones, we do not know if this image shows the actual "iPhone 17 Air." Sometimes leaks like these end up being real, but in many cases they end up being fake. Skepticism is warranted.

Majin Bu accurately revealed the "Desert Titanium" color name for iPhone 16 Pro models seven months before the devices launched, but some of his information has been wrong, including a rumor about an iPad 11 being imminent in 2023.

An elongated camera bump has been rumored for both the "iPhone 17 Air" and iPhone 17 Pro models, so perhaps this alleged design change will be coming to the entire iPhone 17 lineup. Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 17, the "iPhone 17 Air," the iPhone 17 Pro, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max in September.

There are already some Android phones with a camera bar, such as Google's Pixel 9.

According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the "iPhone 17 Air" will measure just 5.5mm at its thinnest point, which would make it the thinnest iPhone ever. Apple does not include the rear camera bump in its iPhone dimensions.

Due to its ultra-thin design, the "iPhone 17 Air" is expected to have limited specs, including only a single rear camera, a single speaker, no SIM card slot worldwide, and an A19 chip instead of the more powerful A19 Pro chip. Of course, the device will also be equipped with a smaller battery than other iPhone 17 models due to size constraints.

Other rumored features include a 6.6-inch OLED display with a Dynamic Island, Face ID, 8GB of RAM for Apple Intelligence support, and more.

Bookmark our iPhone 17 roundup to stay up to date with more rumors over the coming months.

Apple today seeded out the release candidate version of an upcoming macOS Sequoia 15.3 update, and provided there are no underlying bugs discovered, the RC is the version of macOS that will be released to the public in the near future.

With the RC, Apple provided the release notes for ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.3, so if you want to know exactly what's coming, here are the details.

This update introduces Genmoji, powered by Apple Intelligence, and also includes other enhancements, bug fixes, and security updates for your Mac.
- Genmoji creation in Messages and other apps
- Calculator repeats the last mathematical operation when you click the equals sign again
- Easily manage settings for notification summaries from the Lock Screen (Mac with Apple silicon)
- Updated style for summarized notifications better distinguishes them from other notifications by using italicized text as well as the glyph (Mac with Apple silicon)
- Notification summaries for News & Entertainment apps are temporarily unavailable, and users who opt-in will see them again when the feature becomes available (Mac with Apple silicon)
Some features may not be available for all regions, or on all Apple devices.
For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit: https://support.apple.com/100100

With the exception of Genmoji, a feature that was already available in iOS and iPadOS, these release notes also pertain to iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3.

We're expecting ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.3, iOS 18.3, and iPadOS 18.3 to see a public launch next week.

When installing macOS Sequoia 15.3, iOS 18.3, or iPadOS 18.3, Apple Intelligence will be turned on automatically on compatible devices, Apple says in the developer release notes for the updates.

For users new or upgrading to iOS 18.3, Apple Intelligence will be enabled automatically during iPhone onboarding. Users will have access to Apple Intelligence features after setting up their devices. To disable Apple Intelligence, users will need to navigate to the Apple Intelligence & Siri Settings pane and turn off the Apple Intelligence toggle. This will disable Apple Intelligence features on their device

With ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.1, ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.2, iOS 18.1, and iOS 18.2, ‌Apple Intelligence‌ was opt-in rather than opt-out, and users who wanted the feature needed to turn it on in the Settings app. Going forward, it will be enabled by default, and Mac, iPhone, and iPad users who do not want to use the feature will need to turn it off.

‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.3 also brings Genmoji to the Mac for the first time, so Mac users will be able to create custom emoji characters after installing the update. All three new software updates add tweaks to the Notification summaries feature to make it more clear when a notification contains AI-generated information.

Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, and ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.3 today, which means the software updates will see a release in the near future. We are expecting the updates to launch to the public next week.

With the iOS 18.3 update, Apple is adding new Visual Intelligence features for the iPhone 16 models. After installing the software, ‌iPhone 16‌ users will be able to add an event to the Calendar app when using the Camera Control ‌Visual Intelligence‌ option to view a poster or a flyer.

Using ‌Visual Intelligence‌ to add an event to Calendar was a promised function that Apple showed off when introducing Camera Control, and it will be usable in iOS 18.3. To add an event, view a document such as a poster with a date, and then tap on the date when the feature pops up in the ‌Visual Intelligence‌ interface.

The update also adds a feature for easily identifying plants and animals with ‌Visual Intelligence‌. The Photos app is already able to provide insight into plants, animals, and insects when opting to view additional information in the editing interface, but Camera Control will now show these details in real-time.

When viewing an animal or a plant with ‌Visual Intelligence‌, you may see a tappable bubble that lets you know what you're looking at. Tapping it provides more information.

‌Visual Intelligence‌ is an Apple Intelligence feature that is exclusive to the ‌iPhone 16‌ models. It can be activated by long pressing on the Camera Control button.

Apple today provided developers with the release candidate versions of upcoming watchOS 11.3, tvOS 18.3, and visionOS 2.3 updates for testing purposes. The RCs come a week after the third betas.

The betas are available to registered developers, and can be downloaded from the Settings app on each device.

There were no notable new features found in the updates, but code suggests that Apple will add support for robot vacuums to HomeKit, which means it will be a supported category in the Home app in visionOS, tvOS, and watchOS.

Apple also plans to add a new notice about digital movie and TV show sales in tvOS 18.3.

We are expecting tvOS 18.3, watchOS 11.3, and visionOS 2.3 to be released sometime in late January alongside iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, and macOS Sequoia 15.3.

Apple today provided developers with the release candidate version of an upcoming macOS Sequoia 15.3 update, with the update coming a week after Apple released the third beta.

Registered developers can opt-in to the ‌macOS Sequoia‌ beta through the Software Update section of the System Settings app. An Apple ID associated with an Apple Developer account is required to get the beta.

‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.3 brings Genmoji to the Mac, a feature that was previously limited to the iPhone and iPad. With ‌Genmoji‌, Mac users can create custom characters with a text-based prompt, similar to how Image Playground works.

‌Genmoji‌ characters behave just like emoji on devices running iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, ‌‌macOS Sequoia‌‌ 15.1 and later, but on earlier versions of iOS, macOS, iPadOS, and Android devices, ‌Genmoji‌ are sent as images. ‌Genmoji‌ can be added from the emoji interface, and image generation is done on-device.

All macs with an Apple silicon chip support ‌Genmoji‌ and other Apple Intelligence features.

Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after Apple released the third betas.

iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3 can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update.

With the update, Apple made several changes to Apple Intelligence Notification Summaries, such as removing news-related summaries temporarily.

Additional ‌Apple Intelligence‌ Siri updates are coming later in iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 updates that will follow iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. We're expecting to see the new software launch toward the end of January.

Amazon this week has Apple's AirTag 4-Pack for $69.99, down from $99.00. Amazon introduced this all-time low price earlier in January, and it's been consistently available for most of the month.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Amazon provides an estimated late January delivery date for most residences in the United States, and you won't need to clip an on-page coupon in order to see this deal. If you're shopping for just one AirTag, Amazon has the AirTag 1-Pack for $22.99, which is about $3 higher compared to that option's record low price.

Be sure to visit our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more Apple-related products and accessories.

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Apple plans to release at least one new iPad Pro model this year, according to a supplier-focused report today from Korean website The Elec. It is likely that the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models would be updated simultaneously.

After receiving an OLED display last year, the report said the iPad Pro will receive only "minor" changes this year. Overall, the next iPad Pro is expected to look "similar" to the current models, suggesting that the device will not receive any major design changes this year. All in all, expect a spec bump only for the next iPad Pro models.

The report is focused on the possibility of South Korean company LX Semicon supplying display drivers for the new iPad Pro this year. It said that components for the device would go into mass production in April or May, suggesting that the next iPad Pro models are still many months away. A launch will likely occur later in the year.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple could have its next-generation M5 chip ready for the next iPad Pro by late 2025 or early 2026.

The current iPad Pro models with OLED displays and the M4 chip launched in May 2024.

Earlier this year, Apple is expected to release new iPad Air and entry-level iPad 11 models. Those devices will likely launch by March or April. According to Gurman, the iPad 11 will be equipped with an A17 Pro chip and 8GB of RAM for Apple Intelligence, while a recent leak indicated that the new iPad Air models will have an M3 chip.

It is unclear if the iPad mini will be updated this year, but it is typically only updated once every several years. After receiving the A17 Pro chip and more last year, the iPad mini might be the only iPad model that is not updated in 2025.

Apple has experienced a significant decline in iPhone sales in China, dropping from the leading position to third place in the country's smartphone market during the fourth quarter of 2024.

According to a new report from Counterpoint Research, ‌iPhone‌ shipments in China fell by 18.2% year-on-year in the final quarter of 2024. This decline resulted in a 17.1% market share for the company, placing it behind Huawei and Xiaomi, which captured 18.1% and 17.2% of the market, respectively. The fall comes just a year after Apple held the top position in the market with a 19% share. This is apparently the first time since the U.S. ban on Huawei that Apple has been displaced by its Chinese competitor.

Apple's reduced performance in China has been attributed to several factors, including heightened competition from domestic brands and its inability to bring Apple Intelligence to the region. While Apple Intelligence was introduced alongside the iPhone 16 lineup in September 2024 in the United States, it has not been made available in China due to regulatory constraints. The company is believed to be partnering with Chinese companies to deliver the features at a later date. Huawei's strong growth in the fourth quarter—up 15.5% year-on-year—has been largely credited to AI features in its flagship Mate 70 devices and the mid-range Nova 13 series.

It is also of note that China's smartphone market experienced a 3.2% year-on-year decline in the fourth quarter of 2024, marking the only quarter of the year with negative growth. Despite these obstacles, Apple maintained its position as the third-largest smartphone brand in China for the quarter, and its sales were closely matched with Xiaomi, which recorded a 17.2% market share.