MacRumors

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming iPadOS and iOS 13.1 update to developers, one day after surprising developers with the new beta.

Beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program will receive the iOS 13.1 beta update over-the-air after installing the proper certificate on an iOS device.

Those who want to join the beta testing program can sign up on Apple's beta testing website, which gives users access to iOS, macOS, and tvOS betas.

iOS 13.1 is not a mistake, but it was a surprise as Apple has never before released a point update for software that's not out yet. With the update, Apple is likely aiming to make iOS 13.1 ready for download shortly after iOS 13 becomes available.

Apple still plans to release iOS 13 ahead of iOS 13.1, and iOS 13.1 is a subsequent update that will follow the initial iOS 13 launch.

The iOS 13.1 update includes multiple features that were announced at WWDC but were ultimately removed from iOS 13 over the beta testing period. Shortcuts Automations, for example, is back in iOS 13.1.

Shortcuts Automations allows Shortcuts users to create personal and home automations from the Shortcuts app to have actions performed automatically when specific conditions occur.

Share ETA, a major maps feature, is also available in iOS 13.1. With Share ETA, you can share your estimated time of arrival to a location with a friend or family member.

Other new features include new icons on the volume indicator when headphones or speakers are connected (with icons for AirPods, Beats headphones, and HomePod), more detailed HomeKit icons in the Home app, and updates to Dynamic Wallpapers.

Mouse support, an accessibility option in iOS 13, has been improved in iOS 13.1 allowing a long press or 3D Touch to be mapped to the right click function of the mouse. Reading goals now include PDFs, Nike+ is now just Nike, and iOS 13.1 supports HEVC video encoding with alpha channels.

There are some other smaller changes in iOS 13.1, which are outlined in our first iOS 13.1 article.

Apple has published a new support document with several questions and answers about its Siri quality evaluation process, also known as grading, to address any privacy concerns that customers may have.

As a refresher, it was recently discovered that Apple hired contractors to listen to a small percentage of anonymized Siri recordings — and review their corresponding computer-generated transcripts — to measure how well Siri was responding and to improve the assistant's accuracy and reliability.

The human review process likely existed for quite some time, but it was never mentioned in Apple's privacy policy, and it only became the subject of controversy last month after The Guardian reported that contractors "regularly" heard "confidential details" while listening to the Siri audio recordings.

Following that report, Apple quickly suspended its grading program and conducted a review of its policies. Apple has since apologized over the matter and says it will resume the evaluation process in the fall on an opt-in basis with improved privacy measures, including no longer retaining audio recordings.

In its FAQ, however, Apple says it will continue to review anonymized computer-generated transcripts of Siri interactions, even from users who do not opt in. The only way to avoid this will be to disable Siri entirely:

Is the only way for Siri not to retain my audio recordings and transcripts to disable Siri?

By default, Apple will no longer retain audio of your Siri requests, starting with a future software release in fall 2019. Computer-generated transcriptions of your audio requests may be used to improve Siri. These transcriptions are associated with a random identifier, not your Apple ID, for up to six months. If you do not want transcriptions of your Siri audio recordings to be retained, you can disable Siri and Dictation in Settings.

Prior to suspending grading, Apple says it reviewed less than 0.2 percent of Siri interactions and corresponding computer-generated transcripts.

As for users that do opt in, Apple says it has updated its review process to limit graders' exposure to audio recordings that are determined to have resulted from Siri being triggered inadvertently. Apple is also making changes to minimize the amount of data that the graders have access to:

When you say you are minimizing the amount of data reviewers have access to, what does that mean? What will they still be able to hear?

We are making changes to the human grading process to further minimize the amount of data reviewers have access to, so that they see only the data necessary to effectively do their work. For example, the names of the devices and rooms you setup in the Home app will only be accessible by the reviewer if the request being graded involves controlling devices in the home.

Apple says it will work to delete any recording which is determined to have resulted from Siri being triggered inadvertently.

The changes to Siri will be implemented in a future iOS update released this fall, which will likely introduce a toggle switch for grading. For more details, read Apple's support document and its related press release.

Apple today announced that it will resume its Siri quality evaluation process in the fall with several privacy-focused changes.

Going forward, Apple will only gather audio samples from users who opt in to the grading program, and those who participate will be able to opt out at any time. And when a customer does opt in, only Apple employees will be allowed to listen to the audio samples, and the recordings will no longer be retained.

Apple says it will work to delete any recording which is determined to have resulted from Siri being triggered inadvertently.

These changes come after The Guardian reported that Apple contractors "regularly" heard confidential information while grading anonymized Siri audio samples. Following the report, Apple suspended the grading program and began conducting a review of its process, and it has now apologized over the matter.

As a result of our review, we realize we haven’t been fully living up to our high ideals, and for that we apologize. As we previously announced, we halted the Siri grading program. We plan to resume later this fall when software updates are released to our users — but only after making the following changes:

• First, by default, we will no longer retain audio recordings of Siri interactions. We will continue to use computer-generated transcripts to help Siri improve.

• Second, users will be able to opt in to help Siri improve by learning from the audio samples of their requests. We hope that many people will choose to help Siri get better, knowing that Apple respects their data and has strong privacy controls in place. Those who choose to participate will be able to opt out at any time.

• Third, when customers opt in, only Apple employees will be allowed to listen to audio samples of the Siri interactions. Our team will work to delete any recording which is determined to be an inadvertent trigger of Siri.

Apple is committed to putting the customer at the center of everything we do, which includes protecting their privacy. We created Siri to help them get things done, faster and easier, without compromising their right to privacy. We are grateful to our users for their passion for Siri, and for pushing us to constantly improve.

Prior to suspending the grading program, Apple says it reviewed less than 0.2 percent of Siri interactions and their computer-generated transcripts to measure how well Siri was responding and to improve its reliability, including whether the user intended to invoke Siri or if Siri responded accurately.

In its press release, Apple emphasizes its commitment to protecting user privacy and outlines how Siri adheres to that. The company does not use Siri data to build a marketing profile of any user, for example, and it also uses a random identifier to keep track of the data while it is being processed.

Apple has shared a new support document with more details on Siri privacy and grading.

Fitbit has announced the Fitbit Versa 2 smartwatch, with an all-new design that shares a few similarities with the Apple Watch. Accompanying the watch is "Fitbit Premium," a new health and fitness subscription service that costs $10 per month and offers guidance and coaching to reach your fitness goals.

The Versa 2 includes direct support for Amazon Alexa, which you can trigger by saying "Hey, Alexa" and then asking about the weather or any other smart assistant command phrase. There's also direct support for Spotify, as well as notifications for call, calendar, and texts from your connected smartphone.

Otherwise, the Versa 2 supports NFC payments, includes a heart rate sensor, and has water resistance up to 50 meters. The new smartwatch will support Fitbit's new Sleep Score feature, which factors in your daytime activities and sleep time to judge your overall sleep quality, as well as Smart Wake. This feature figures out the best time to wake you depending on your sleep habits.

For its subscription service, Fitbit Premium, Fitbit said it will provide a holistic view of your health that other health and fitness apps lack. This includes nine guided programs to help you get more sleep, wake up energized, increase your activity, manage nutrition, and create overall lasting healthy habits.

Programs include actionable coaching, daily tips and tricks, structured workout plans, relaxation tools, recipe suggestions, and educational content. Fitbit will launch additional activity, sleep and nutrition programs by the end of the year. The company plans to launch a one-to-one personal coaching service next year as well.

Fitbit Premium will debut in September and cost $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year. The Versa 2 is available for presale today for $199.95 and will launch on September 15.

The latest beta version of Apple Music for Android includes Chromecast support, allowing users to stream songs and playlists from the service over Wi-Fi to Chromecast-enabled devices like the Google Home.

As noted by Android Police via AppleInsider, the cast icon will automatically appear on the now playing screen and elsewhere in the app if there is a compatible Chromecast-enabled speaker or TV connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the Android smartphone. Playback can still be controlled on the phone.

The latest beta of ‌Apple Music‌ for Android also provides access to over 100,000 broadcast radio stations from sources like TuneIn and iHeartRadio. And last month, in an earlier beta, the app gained a dark mode.

Android users can sign up for the beta via Google Play.

Apple today released a surprise iOS 13.1 beta, which is unprecedented as the company has never before released a point update for an unreleased software update.

iOS 13.1 was not a mistake, though, and it appears to be an update that Apple will debut shortly after the release of iOS 13, necessitating developer testing now. iOS 13.1 includes new features and brings back some features that were removed from the iOS 13 update over the beta testing period.

- Shortcuts Automations - Automations, a Shortcuts feature removed in iOS 13, has returned in iOS 13.1. With Automations, you can create personal and home automations from the Shortcuts app to have certain actions performed when specific conditions occur.

- Share ETA - Share ETA has returned to the Maps app, allowing users to share their estimated time of arrival with a friend or family member once directions to a specific place have been entered.

- Dynamic Wallpapers - Apple has made some tweaks to the available dynamic wallpapers, shifting the overall look and color of some of them. The Dynamic wallpapers previously limited to the iPhone X and later are also now available on older devices.

- AirPods Volume Indicator - When adjusting the volume of your ‌iPhone‌ with AirPods connected, you'll see an AirPods icon on the volume bar. This also works for Powerbeats Pro, HomePod, and other Beats headphones, plus there's a special person icon when you have two sets of headphones connected to an ‌iPhone‌ or iPad (an iOS 13 feature).

- New HomeKit Icons - ‌HomeKit‌ devices in the Home app have updated, more detailed icons in iOS 13 beta 1. These same icons were added to the most recent macOS Catalina beta.

- Mouse Support Improvements - According to developer Steve Troughton-Smith, it's now possible to map the right click function of a mouse to the 3D Touch/long press action on an iOS device. Mouse support in iOS 13 and iPadOS is available as an accessibility option.

- TestFlight Indicator - Apps that you have installed via Apple's TestFlight app (aka apps in beta) are now denoted with a bright yellow dot next to them that's easier to see than before.

- HEVC Improvements - According to Jeremy Horwitz, iOS 13.1 adds HEVC video encoding with alpha channels for easier green screen-style compositing.

- Fonts - iOS 13 has a feature for downloading and installing fonts from the App Store. In iOS 13 beta 1, when opening up General > Fonts, there's new text that directs users to the ‌App Store‌. There are no fonts apps yet, but presumably in the future this option will link to specific apps for fonts.

- Reading Goals - In the Settings app under Books, there's a new toggle to make the iOS 13 reading goals feature include time spent reading PDFs.

- Nike - In the Apple Watch app on the ‌iPhone‌, Nike+ Run Club is now just "Nike Run Club," suggesting Nike and Apple are dropping the "+" branding.

Apple Watch App - In the Apple Watch app on ‌iPhone‌, Display & Text Size has been renamed to Display & Brightness.

Apple Maps Collections - When deleting a collection from ‌Apple Maps‌, Apple will now confirm that you want to delete it before removing it.

Know of a feature that's new in iOS 13 beta 1 that we left out? Make sure to let us know in the comments and we'll update this article.

Steve Moser contributed to this report.

Apple hasn't yet released iOS 13, which is still being beta tested, but the company today seeded the first beta of iOS 13.1 and iPadOS 13.1 to developers for testing purposes.

Developers who have downloaded the profile for iOS 13 from the developer website will receive the iOS 13.1 beta over the air.

Apple has never before released a point update to an iOS beta ahead of when a new update has launched, so it's not clear if this release of iOS 13.1 is a mistake, or what might specifically be included in the update. While it was originally believed the iOS 13.1 beta was an error, it appears that Apple is indeed testing an iOS 13.1 update that will be released shortly after iOS 13.

The iOS 13.1 release notes suggest that the update reintroduces the Automations feature in Shortcuts, and adds other functions that were removed over the course of the iOS 13 beta testing period.

Apple has seeded eight betas of iOS 13 so far, with the last one having been released on August 21. iOS 13 is expected to be released in September alongside new iPhones.

Nearly 50,000 students in Glasgow, Scotland will receive free iPads to assist with their education, as part of a seven-year £300 million agreement between Glasgow City Council and Canadian IT firm CGI, according to the BBC.

As part of the deal, every student in academic year P6 to S6 will receive their own iPad to keep for school use, while younger students in academic years P1 through P5 will have shared access to an ‌iPad‌. A total of 47,000 iPads will be handed out to students by 2021, and 4,900 teachers will also receive one.

The initiative will also include the installation of Wi-Fi in every classroom and faster internet connections overall.

The report notes that all of the iPads will be tracked and managed by the Glasgow City Council, which can lock or erase the devices remotely, while social media platforms and inappropriate websites will be blocked. The initiative has already been tested at a number of schools across Glasgow.

"This is the biggest Apple education initiative in Europe and I'm delighted that Glasgow is once again leading the way in innovative practices," said Glasgow councillor Chris Cunningham, according to STV News.