MacRumors

Apple is to be investigated by France's data-protection watchdog following allegations that the company's personalized advertising feature violates European Union data protection and e-privacy rules (via Bloomberg).

The National Commission on Informatics and Liberty, known as "CNIL," is France's regulator that oversees privacy and data. CNIL is now examining antitrust allegations from France Digitale, a lobbying group representing startups and venture capital companies, about Apple's personalized advertising practices.

Apple displays personalized ads in the App Store, Apple News, and the Stocks app based on collected user data, but does not request consent before doing so.

Four French advertising lobbies have highlighted that Apple's changes to App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14, which requests user permission to be tracked across apps and websites for advertising purposes, do not extend to Apple itself. Apple can still deliver personalized advertising via a default setting, the lobbies have said, thereby holding itself to a different standard.

France Digitale alleges in its complaint that users are "insufficiently informed" about the use and processing of their personal data by Apple. Apple has now responded to the claim, calling the allegations "patently false," and said that "privacy is built into the ads we sell on our platform with no tracking."

The investigation may result in requests for Apple to make adjustments to its personalized advertising systems, or even an in-depth probe with sanctions. EU General Data Protection Regulation law allows data regulators to levy fines of as much as four percent of a company's annual sales for breaches.

A ruling is expected as soon as March 17, and Bloomberg claims that the result could have "implications" for Apple's personalized advertising in a future iOS 14 update.

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.

Instagram today announced several new tools and changes coming to the platform with the aim of "protecting young people." Amongst the changes will be the inability for adults to DM teenagers (users under 18 years old) who don't follow them.

Instagram says it has partnered with The Child Mind Institute and the non-profit group ConnectSafely to publish a new Parents Guide in the U.S. The new resource advises parents and teenagers on proper and safe usage of the platform. It will additionally roll out in partnership with experts in Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, and Singapore, joining existing guides for the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain and with plans to expand further in the future.

Instagram's terms and conditions require all users to be at least 13 years old to make an account, although some young users "can lie about their date of birth," circumventing the requirement. To battle it, Instagram does ask some new users for a form of age verification, and now, Instagram will use artificial intelligence to help "keep teens safer and apply new age-appropriate features."

One of the most prominent new "age-appropriate features" will be limited interaction between adults and teenagers who aren't following each other. As Instagram explains, if an adult tries to DM a teenager who doesn't follow them, they'll be shown a prompt saying, "You can't message this account unless they follow you." Additionally, Instagram will add new "Saftey Notices" for teenagers when messaging an adult they follow.

Safety notices in DMs will notify young people when an adult who has been exhibiting potentially suspicious behavior is interacting with them in DMs. For example, if an adult is sending a large amount of friend or message requests to people under 18, we'll use it to alert the recipients within their DMs and give them an option to end the conversation, or block, report, or restrict the adult.

Other changes coming to Instagram will include the platform attempting to make it harder for adults to find teenagers to follow if they've been "exhibiting potentially suspicious behavior to interact with teens." Instagram also says it will encourage teenagers to make their accounts private, only allowing people they approve to see their photos and videos.

Dropbox today announced that it will be rolling out a limited version of its Dropbox Passwords password manager to users with a free Dropbox Basic account in early April. The feature launched last year for paying subscribers only.

Dropbox Basic users will be able to store up to 50 passwords, with automatic syncing on up to three devices. These limits are likely in place to incentivize users to start paying for a Dropbox Plus or Dropbox Professional plan, but as The Verge notes, Bitwarden offers unlimited password storage and syncing for free.

Similar to 1Password, Dropbox Passwords is a password manager that allows you to save your account usernames and passwords and sync them across your devices, with autofilled or suggested passwords when you sign into websites and mobile apps. Dropbox Passwords is available as a desktop app on macOS and Windows, mobile app on iOS and Android, and browser extension across Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge.

Users can sign up to be notified when Dropbox Passwords is available.

Multiple reports suggest that Apple is developing an augmented reality headset as well as smart glasses, and a newly granted Apple patent may provide a clue about one of the potential features that could be included in the latter device.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday granted Apple a patent describing "systems and methods for gaze-driven recording of video."

Apple's patent notes that head-mounted displays are used to provide virtual reality, augmented reality, and/or mixed reality experiences for users, and envisions video from such a device being recorded for later playback or analysis. Specifically, it envisions such a system in smart glasses, where the use of built-in gaze-tracking sensors could provide an indication of where a person is currently looking, which could direct a built-in camera to record the scene where the user's eyes are trained, instead of simply recording what's in front of the user.

The patent envisions a system with one or more gaze-tracking sensors, one or more image sensors, and a processing apparatus configured to access the gaze data captured. This apparatus would apply a temporal filter to the gaze data to obtain a "smoothed gaze estimate," which would allow it to determine a region of interest based on the sensors. The system would then apply signal processing to the video based on the region of interest to obtain an enhanced recording that could mitigate the impact of rapid-movement eye saccades.

According to the patent, the system would consist of a pair of smart glasses and a separate connected device for power and storage, which could be interpreted to mean an iPhone, iPad or Mac.

The invention harks back to another patent filed last month in which an eye tracking system is used for detecting the position and movements of a user's eyes in smart glasses and other head-mounted displays.

In the latter patent, Apple envisages the eye tracking system being used to analyze the position and movements of the user's eyes, or to detect other information such as pupil dilation. In one example, identifying the point of the user's gaze allows for interaction with content shown on the near-eye display of the head-mounted display, while another application includes the creation of eye image animations that could be used for digital avatars visible to other users in a mixed-reality communal environment.

Of course, Apple files numerous patent applications every week, and many of these inventions do not see the light of day. But they do provide a glimpse into the kinds of technologies Apple is exploring for potential use in its upcoming AR/VR products, and based on the rumored launch roadmap for its mixed-reality headset and smart glasses, the company still has plenty of time to implement them.

The Information and Bloomberg have both said that Apple is working on smart glasses AND an AR/VR headset, with the headset to come out in first followed by the glasses. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes the "mixed reality" headset will come out in 2022, with the Apple Glasses to follow in 2025. The headset is AR/VR, while Apple's glasses are augmented reality.

The headset is rumored to be similar to Facebook's Oculus Quest virtual reality headset, but with a sleeker design that uses fabrics and lightweight materials to ensure the headset is comfortable. JP Morgan believes the headset will look similar to other brands of VR headsets, featuring six lenses and an optical LiDAR scanner to map the wearer's environment. The headset will be targeted at the top end of the consumer market and will be more expensive than others on the market.

The glasses, meanwhile, which are reportedly in an early stage of development, are said to resemble high-end sunglasses with thick frames that house the battery and chips. Kuo expects the AR glasses to be marketed as an iPhone accessory and will primarily take a display role offloading computing, networking, and positioning to the iPhone, with the glasses providing a mobile-first "optical see-through AR experience."

Patently Apple was first to report on the patent being granted today. Apple originally applied for the patent in December 2019.

Apple has reportedly agreed to show users a prompt when first setting up a device in Russia to pre-install government-approved apps, in compliance with a new law from the Ministry of Digital Affairs, according to a report from Vedomosti.

According to the report, citing a source within the Ministry, Apple struck a deal with the government that will show users a prompt when first configuring a device in Russia to pre-install apps from a list of government-approved software. Users will have the ability to decline the installation of certain apps.

The new legislation is an amendment to the existing "On Consumer Protection" law that will require the pre-installation of software on all devices sold in Russia, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and smart TVs. The pre-installed software will include antivirus and cartographic apps, social media apps, and "Public Service" apps for payments and civil services.

Apple told Vedomosti that beginning on April 1, "users will be offered a choice of applications from Russian developers, which they will be able to choose for further installation on their iPhone or iPad." Furthermore, Apple is reportedly discussing adding a new section to the App Store in Russia specifically dedicated to promoting Russian apps.

The Ministry of Digital Affairs assures that it is not seeking to create a dominant position for itself on the list of pre-installed apps. In fact, the Ministry says that if there are other apps on the market, they should be added to the list for users to pre-install.

The Ministry is not interested in the fact that popular programs included in the list for mandatory pre-installation occupy a dominant position. If there are alternative offers of interest to users and rapidly gaining popularity on the market, they will be included in this collection and will also be offered for pre-installation.

In 2019, Apple warned that this new law would open up its device to possible risks and that it would be the "equivalent to jailbreaking." Apple maintains tight control over the pre-installation of apps on its devices and strict moderation over apps allowed onto the ‌App Store‌, so the expected change is unusual.

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.

Kensington in February began accepting pre-orders for the StudioDock docking station that it released for the iPad Pro, and now those StudioDock orders have started arriving to customers. We picked up one of the new StudioDocks to see if it's worth the high purchase price for an iPad workflow.

Available for the 11-inch ‌iPad Pro‌, the 10.9-inch iPad Air, and the 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌, the StudioDock has a magnetic base where an ‌iPad‌ can attach, and it can be used in either landscape or portrait mode. We have the version for the 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌, and it looks kind of like the Pro Display XDR stand.

This isn't an Apple-designed product so it's not quite as high quality as the Pro XDR stand, but the aluminum design looks nice on a desk, and the plastic back panel is hidden. The ‌iPad‌ attaches magnetically to the rubberized front of the stand, and plugs in to the USB-C connector.

In addition to orienting the ‌iPad‌ in landscape or portrait mode, you can also adjust the angle up and down to get the ideal position for what you're doing, and once situated, it doesn't move around.

The dock offers 37.5W passthrough charging to charge your ‌iPad‌ at full speed through USB-C, plus it adds multiple ports and charges your other accessories. There are three USB-A ports, one USB-C port, an HDMI 2.0 port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an SD card reader, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a power button. There are also two spots for Kensington locks to protect the StudioDock.

On the built-in Qi-based wireless charging pad that's at the bottom, you can charge an iPhone and AirPods, or any other Qi-based device, plus you can add-on a separate Apple Watch charging puck. You'll need to give up the USB-C port on the side whenever you want to use it, though. The iPhone charging spot charges at 7.5W, while the AirPods spot charges at 5W.

At the $380 to $400 price point, the StudioDock is aimed at those who use their iPads in a professional capacity. If the ‌iPad Pro‌ or ‌iPad Air‌ is your main work or school machine and you're using it in lieu of a Mac or PC, the StudioDock adds all of the versatility you need for a full day of work.

If you're using your ‌iPad‌ in a more casual capacity and have other Apple products that you use alongside it, the StudioDock is likely overkill.

The StudioDock can be purchased from the Kensington website. It's priced at $380 for the 11-inch model that works with the ‌iPad Pro‌ and ‌iPad Air‌ and $400 for the 12.9-inch model designed for Apple's largest ‌iPad Pro‌.

Huawei will begin negotiating for royalties from Apple and Samsung for access to its portfolio of patents on 5G technology (via Bloomberg).

Huawei is the owner of the world's largest collection of 5G patents and is seeking to charge other large tech companies a "reasonable" fee for access to them, creating a substantial new source of revenue.

Huawei's Chief Legal Officer, Song Liuping, explained earlier today that the company will negotiate rates and comprehensive cross-licensing agreements with Apple and Samsung, promising to charge lower rates than competitors such as Qualcomm, Ericsson, and Nokia. "It's natural" for Huawei to capitalize on its patents, Song said.

Per-phone royalties will be capped at $2.50, which is markedly less than Qualcomm's $7.50 rate that led to a legal battle with Apple over supposedly unfair pricing.

While Apple is currently reliant on Qualcomm and expected to stick with external suppliers for its 5G technology until 2022, the company is rumored to be developing its own 5G modem for introduction on the 2023 iPhone models. Apple is also believed to have begun work on next-generation 6G wireless technologies.

With Apple seeking to move away from reliance on other companies for wireless technologies, it is unclear how a deal with Huawei may pan out. Though Apple could take advantage of Huawei's expansive portfolio of 5G patents to develop its own wireless technologies, the company's apparent desire for independence in this area may mire the chances of a sustainable long-term agreement.

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.

Apple plans to begin enforcing its App Tracking Transparency changes following the release of iOS 14.5, and all apps that access an iPhone's ad identifier or IDFA will need to ask a user's permission before tracking is allowed.

According to a new report by the Financial Times, however, the state-backed China Advertising Association (CAA) is testing a tool that could be used to bypass the new Apple privacy rules and allow companies to continue tracking users without their consent.

The new method of tracking users is called CAID, which is said to be undergoing testing by tech companies and advertisers in China. According to the report, TikTok owner ByteDance has already provided its developers with an 11-page guide suggesting that advertisers "use the CAID as a substitute if the user's IDFA is unavailable."

However, the CAA told FT that the tool "does not stand in opposition to Apple's privacy policy" and that the association "is currently actively communicating with Apple," while the CAID solution has not yet been formally implemented.

Apple declined to directly comment on the potential use of CAID to get around its new App Tracking Transparency rules, but told the newspaper that it wouldn't grant any exceptions.

"The App Store terms and guidelines apply equally to all developers around the world, including Apple," the company told FT. "We believe strongly that users should be asked for their permission before being tracked. Apps that are found to disregard the user’s choice will be rejected."

However, two people briefed on the issue told the newspaper that Apple is aware of the tool and seems to have so far turned a blind eye to its use.

Apple is believed to have the capacity to detect which apps use the CAID tool and could block them from its App Store in China, if it wanted to. But such a response could ignite a major confrontation if CAID receives the support of China's technology companies as well as its government agencies.

Three people with knowledge of briefings between Apple and developers also said the Cupertino, California-based company would be wary of taking strong action, despite a clear violation of its stated rules, if CAID has the support of China's tech giants as well as its government agencies.

Rich Bishop, chief executive of AppInChina, a leading publisher of international software in China, suggested that Apple might "make an exception for China" because tech companies and the government are "so closely aligned."

It still remains unclear how the CAID system works, but Beijing-based data privacy company Digital Union believes that the system has been designed with Apple's rules in mind because its tracking methods may not uniquely identify users. "This is the room that the industry has left to explore," the company's co-founder Yang Cong'an told FT, suggesting the grey area was intentional.

CAID is reportedly scheduled to be publicly released as soon as this week, and although the system is intended to be used by local app developers in China, at least one French gaming group is said to have been encouraged to apply to use it and several foreign advertising companies have already applied on behalf of their Chinese divisions.

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.

Encrypted messaging app Signal appears to have been banned in China, reports TechCrunch. While the app remains available in the App Store, the service is no longer operational in mainland China, according to the censorship tracking website Greatfire.org.

Western-run social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have been unavailable in the country for some time, but Signal has largely flown under the radar of China's authorities until now. Signal has yet to comment on the issue.

It's unclear what has caused the country's government to act and whether the ban is permanent, however Signal and rival service Telegram have both recently experienced a significant uptick in users following WhatsApp's bungled PR campaign explaining its upcoming privacy policy update.

Like Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp are still listed on the China ‌App Store‌, although access to the services requires the use of VPNs – another category of apps that local authorities have cracked down on in recent years.

VPNs circumvent China's "Great Firewall" by routing and encrypting internet traffic to servers outside of the country, making them popular with privacy-conscious users who have limited access to online content because of government restrictions.

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.

As reported by Ars Technica, a significant number of Apple device users are being bombarded with spam group FaceTime calls during late hours of the night from people they've never met.

The spammers, or "pranksters," utilize the fact that Apple doesn't provide a setting to accept ‌FaceTime‌ calls only from people within a user's address book. Apple does allow users to block individual numbers, but doing so does not prevent group ‌FaceTime‌ calls, even if the blocked number is in the call. As explained by Ars Technica, some users have been getting inundated with the group ‌FaceTime‌ calls, and as soon as they hang-up, another call comes in.

As described by one Apple Support forum user, the spam calls have been ongoing non-stop, and as a result, they've blocked more than 300 numbers. Another user describes their experience:

Starting around 2 am this morning I began receiving group FaceTime calls from a mix of numbers in my contacts and random numbers I didn't have saved. Since then I've received about 7 more calls throughout the day. The calls only ring once or twice before ending. What's even more interesting is that, after going back through the numbers involved in the calls in the "recents" tab of the FaceTime app, there were more than the 32 total people involved with the highest being 59. The reason I think this happened is that every number was repeated once or twice.

It seems this is not a new occurrence, with posts dating back as far as March of last year complaining about the issue. Unfortunately, there's no current remedy, but hopefully the growing number of users reportedly being targeted will push Apple to provide a solution. We've reached out to Apple for comment and will update this article if we hear back.

Apple continued to have a dominant hold on the wearables market in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to new shipment estimates shared today by IDC. Apple shipped 55.6 million wearable devices during the quarter for 36.2 percent market share.

That's the same market share Apple held in the fourth quarter of 2019, but overall device shipments were up from 43.7 million in Q4 2019. Apple's competitors don't even come close. Xiaomi shipped an estimated 13.5 million wearable devices for 8.8 percent market share, followed by Samsung at 13 million devices and Huawei at 10.2 million devices.

Apple Watch shipments rose an estimated 45.6 percent thanks to the different pricing intervals of the Apple Watch Series 6, SE, and Series 3, and "hearables" shipments of AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max surged during the quarter.

Across all of 2020, IDC believes Apple shipped 151.4 million wearable devices for 34.1 percent market share. Xiaomi was the number two wearable device manufacturer in 2020 with 50.7 million devices shipped, followed by Huawei and Samsung with 43.5 million and 40 million devices shipped, respectively.

Apple does not provide specific breakdowns of the number of Apple Watch and AirPods models shipped, so IDC's data is based on estimates. During a January earnings call, Apple said that wearables set a new revenue record in fiscal Q1 2021, which corresponds to the fourth calendar quarter of 2020. Apple's wearables business is the size of a Fortune 120 company.

Over the course of the last several weeks, Google has been adding App Privacy labels to its iOS apps in accordance with Apple's App Store rules, but it took Google multiple months to begin sharing the information.

There was speculation that Google's delay meant that it had something to hide, which DuckDuckGo is leaning into with a new tweet that highlights Google's data collection and calls out the company for "spying" on users.

Google recently added App Privacy labels to its Google Search app, spelling out the extent of information that's collected. For third-party advertising purposes, Google collects data that includes location, search history, and browsing history. Google's own marketing data includes all of the above information along with contact info and device identifiers, plus there's even more data collected for analytics, app functionality, and product personalization.

DuckDuckGo claims that Google "wanted to hide" the information that it collects, which is why Google took so long to roll out support for App Privacy labels. Most people are likely not surprised at the extent of the data that Google collects, but having it in one spot in the ‌App Store‌ is a stark reminder.

Many of Google's major apps did not start getting privacy labels until late in February, even though Apple's rule went into effect in December. Google delayed adding the labels for so long that its apps went more than two months without being updated. Even now, it's been three months since the Google Maps app has been updated, though most other apps have now received App Privacy labels and updates.

DuckDuckGo is a privacy-focused search and browser option that's available on iOS devices and that can be set as the default search engine option. As DuckDuckGo points out in its tweet, the DuckDuckGo app does not collect data that's linked to you.

Apple today seeded the fourth betas of upcoming iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the new beta updates coming two weeks after Apple released the third iOS and iPadOS 14.5 betas.

iOS and iPadOS 14.5 can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or over the air after the proper profile has been installed on an iPhone or iPad.

iOS 14.5 is the biggest update to iOS 14 to date, introducing several significant new features. First and foremost, Apple is making it easier to unlock an iPhone when you're wearing a face mask with a new "Unlock with Apple Watch" feature.

This opt-in option lets you use an unlocked and authenticated Apple Watch as a secondary authentication method to unlock an iPhone alongside Face ID. With this feature, you no longer have to enter a passcode or remove your mask to unlock your iPhone. Both an iPhone running iOS 14.5 and an Apple Watch are required to use this, and the Apple Watch cannot authenticate Apple Pay purchases, App Store purchases, or unlock third-party apps that use ‌Face ID‌.

The update also brings worldwide support for 5G in Dual-SIM mode on iPhone 12 models, so if you use multiple lines, both can now connect at 5G speeds. Prior to now, Dual-SIM mode was limited to LTE networks.

With watchOS 7.4, iOS and iPadOS 14.5 include AirPlay 2 support for Apple Fitness+, so Apple Fitness+ subscribers can start a workout on an iPhone or iPAd and then AirPlay it to a compatible smart TV or set-top box. ‌AirPlay‌ 2 supports audio and video, but it does not display on-screen workout metrics.

PlayStation 5 DualSense and Xbox Series X controllers are supported on the iPhone and the ‌iPad‌ with iOS 14.5, and code suggests that Apple is going to add joint account support for the Apple Card in the near future.

iOS 14.5 includes a Waze-like crowdsourcing feature for reporting accidents, hazards, and speed checks along a route in Maps when getting directions.

There's a new "Report" button available in the Apple Maps app that lets you tap to report an accident, hazard, or speed trap at your location in the ‌Apple Maps‌ app, which is a feature that mapping app Waze offers. This is available directly on the iPhone and in CarPlay.

There are several new emoji characters in the iOS 14.5 beta, with Apple introducing heart on fire, mending heart, exhaling face, face with spiral eyes, face in clouds, along with different gender options for people with beards. There are also new couple emojis that have new skin tone mixes.

Apple removed the blood from the syringe emoji, updated the Headphone emoji to look like the AirPods Max rather than a generic set of headphones, and added a helmet to the rock climbing emoji.

In the Find My app, there's a new "Items" tab that's been added, which will work with non-Apple products like Beats headphones and Belkin's wireless earbuds that have been designed to integrate with the ‌Find My‌ app. Anything item tracking function that uses Apple's ‌Find My‌ API will be shown here right alongside your Apple devices, and the Items tab will also work with AirTags when those are finally released.

The iOS 14.5 beta addresses the green tint issue that some iPhone owners have been experiencing, with Apple confirming that the beta has "optimizations" to help with the issue.

"iOS and iPadOS 14.5 beta 2 includes an optimization to reduce the appearance of a dim glow that might appear at reduced brightness levels with black backgrounds," reads Apple's iOS 14.5 beta notes. For some users, there are improvements thanks to the optimizations, but for others, the issue still appears to exist, so Apple may have some further work to do.

iOS and iPadOS 14.5 add a new feature for choosing a preferred streaming music service to use with Siri. So if you prefer Spotify over Apple Music, for example, you can now choose Spotify as the app you want to use with ‌Siri‌ and all ‌Siri‌ song requests will go through Spotify without the need to add "on Spotify" to the end of ‌Siri‌ requests. This is a new ‌Siri‌ intelligence feature that works with music apps, podcast apps, and audiobook apps.

iOS 14.5 is the update where Apple will begin requiring developers to comply with its App Tracking Transparency rules. Going forward, developers will need to ask for and receive your permission to access your random advertising identifier and track your activity across apps and websites.

Apple has made design tweaks to the Apple News and Podcasts apps, plus there are new print and sort options in Reminders. There are new settings for emergency alerts, a horizontal loading screen on the ‌iPad‌, and tons of other smaller feature tweaks that are outlined in our full iOS 14.5 features guide. Apple says iOS and iPadOS 14.5 will be released in the spring, so we can expect a launch date sometime after March 20.

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming macOS Big Sur 11.3 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new beta coming two weeks after the launch of the third beta and more than a month after the release of macOS Big Sur 11.2, a bug fix update.

Developers can download the ‌‌macOS Big Sur‌‌ 11.3 beta using the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences after installing the proper profile from the Apple Developer Center.

macOS Big Sur 11.3 introduces more customization options for Safari, adding a way to rearrange the different sections on the Start Page like Favorites, Reading List, Siri Suggestions, Privacy Report, and more. Developers also have access to a new integration to develop features for the Start Page.

The update also includes optimizations for using iOS apps on M1 Macs. When running iPhone and iPad apps on ‌M1‌ Macs, there's a Touch Alternatives preference pane that allows users to set keyboard commands for touch input alternatives, plus iPadOS apps launch with a larger window if the Mac's display allows it. Touch Alternatives can be enabled for iPhone or ‌iPad‌ apps by clicking on the app's name in the menu bar and then selecting the Preferences option. Touch Alternatives let you customize taps, swipes, and drags.

In the Reminders app, reminder lists can be sorted by Due Date, Creation Date, Priority, or Title, and there is an option to print lists by going to File > Print. Reminders can also be moved manually across lists with drag and drop, something that wasn't possible before.

Apple is adding a new "Made For You" library shortcut in Apple Music for finding personal mixes and Replay playlists, and the Listen Now section has been updated with support for highlighting live events.

The ‌Apple Music‌ app also features a new autoplay option that allows the streaming service to continue to play music after a playlist or music queue ends. ‌Apple Music‌ sources music similar to what's in a person's ‌Apple Music‌ library, similar to the autoplay feature added in iOS 14.

With this feature enabled, ‌Apple Music‌ audio will not end even after a playlist or album is over. To check that it's on, play a playlist or album and then click on the three dot/line menu button in the upper right hand corner. From there, make sure the infinity symbol is toggled on.

In the Apple News app, there's a redesigned ‌Apple News‌+ tab with a dedicated "For You" section and a new Browse tab that makes it easier to browse through available content. The new For You section is designed to help ‌Apple News‌+ users find favorite magazines and newspapers much faster, plus it adds new tools for managing downloaded issues.

macOS Big Sur 11.3 also adds support for the latest PlayStation 5 DualSense and Xbox Series X/S controllers for use with macOS games.

There's also an updated "Support" interface when accessing "About This Mac." The new design includes details on your warranty and it allows for starting a repair right from the Mac interface.

The tab works similarly to the AppleCare coverage menu in the iOS Settings app, which lets users request repairs, buy an ‌AppleCare‌ plan, and check their coverage.

For HomePod users, macOS Big Sur 11.3 brings support for ‌HomePod‌ Stereo pairs, allowing a set of paired HomePods to be set as the default sound output option, with the two HomePods showing up as a single selectable speaker rather than separate as in prior versions of macOS.

Code in macOS Big Sur 11.3 suggests that the Optimized Battery Charging feature will now make sure the Mac's battery is fully charged before a scheduled calendar event. The Mac will charge to 100 percent three hours before a calendar event's start time.

Optimized Battery Charging is designed to preserve the lifespan of the Mac's battery by limiting the amount of time that a Mac sits at 100 percent battery.

In Safari, there's support for WebM video playback, allowing users to play WebM videos using Apple's browser. WebM is a niche video format designed to be a royalty-free alternative to the H.264 codec used in the MP4 format. WebM allows video files to remain small without sacrificing quality and can be played with little processing power, making it ideal for webpages and browsers.

Code in macOS Big Sur 11.3 suggests that Rosetta could be removed from some ‌M1‌ Macs in some select regions after the software is released. There's a mention that "Rosetta is no longer available in this region. Applications requiring Rosetta will no longer run," but no additional information is available at this time.

There are also appear to be new assets that suggest a feature for mapping game controller buttons to keyboard layouts, and there's a Game Center toggle to enable or disable connections with friends, which lets games set you up with your friends or prevents apps from accessing that info.

More on macOS Big Sur can be found in our macOS Big Sur roundup. The software is expected to see a release this spring, with spring kicking off on March 20.

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming watchOS 7.4 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new beta coming two weeks release of the third beta and over a month after the launch of watchOS 7.3 with "Time to Walk" functionality, expanded ECG availability, and a new Unity watch face.

To install the ‌watchOS 7.4 beta, developers need to download the proper configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once the profile is in place, the watchOS 7.4 beta can be downloaded through the dedicated ‌Apple Watch‌ app on the iPhone by going to General > Software Update.

To update to the new software, the ‌Apple Watch‌ needs to have 50 percent battery life, it must be placed on the charger, and it must be in range of the ‌‌‌‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌‌‌‌.

Alongside iOS 14.5, watchOS 7.4 introduces a new "Unlock with Apple Watch" feature that lets an iPhone with Face ID use an unlocked and authenticated Apple Watch as a secondary authentication measure when you're wearing a mask, alleviating the need to enter a passcode to unlock the iPhone.

‌Face ID‌ does not work when wearing a mask, but this new Apple Watch feature provides an easy but still secure way to access the iPhone without the hassle of a passcode. It's similar to the Apple Watch unlocking on Mac and can be enabled in the Settings app under ‌Face ID‌ & Passcode.

An unlocked Apple Watch paired with ‌Face ID‌ can unlock the iPhone when a mask is worn, but it's only for mask usage. The Apple Watch cannot be used to authenticate Apple Pay or App Store purchases, nor can it be used to unlock apps that require a ‌Face ID‌ scan. In these situations, the mask will need to be removed or a passcode/password will need to be used instead.

When the Apple Watch unlocks the iPhone, you'll feel a haptic tap on the wrist and will receive a notification on the watch, similar to how it works when using the watch to unlock a Mac.

For those who use Apple Fitness+, the watchOS 7.4 update combined with iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5 enables AirPlay 2 for Apple Fitness+, so workouts can be streamed to an ‌AirPlay‌ 2-enabled TV or set-top box. Apple Watch metrics do not show up on the screen when AirPlayed, however, and that feature is limited to iPhone/iPad/Apple TV.

Apple has said that watchOS 7.4 will be released in the early spring, with spring set to start on March 20, so there are still a few weeks of beta testing expected.

Some iPhone 12 models have been losing color from their aluminum chassis, according to a new report from Svetapple.sk, which includes photos of a PRODUCT(RED) iPhone 12 model that has been noticeably leached of color.

The side of the iPhone 12 near the power button has faded to an orange shade and there's a clear delineation where the red coloring has worn off.

Svetapple.sk says that the iPhone has been used in a transparent case, so friction from a hand has not been a factor, though it's not clear if the case itself may have caused the issue.

There have been similar reports of fading from iPhone 11 and iPhone SE 2 users. MacRumors reader t101, for example, shared photos of an iPhone 11 with a dramatic loss of color on the edges. That iPhone model had also been in a transparent case. While many of the reports have focused on the Red iPhone models, the fading has been seen less frequently on iPhone 11 models in different colors.

Some MacRumors readers speculated that the color fading is due to UV exposure enabled by the clear case, but the problem would likely be more widespread if it was a UV exposure issue. There has also been speculation that the issue could be caused by a chemical reaction with a case, but there's no clear cut explanation.

There are a limited number of reports about color fading, but this is a problem that seems to have persisted for years as there are complaints about the iPhone XR, too. Aside from the iPhone 12 photos shared by Svetapple.sk, we have not seen similar reports about color loss on other iPhone 12 devices, and this could be a manufacturing defect that's not widespread.

Apple likely considers the color fading to be a cosmetic issue, so it's not known if devices that are suffering from color loss will be replaced.