Many people are wearing masks that cover their faces when going outside, visiting stores, and other tasks, and Apple's Face ID iPhones do not unlock when the face is obscured by a mask.
In the iOS 13.5 beta, released this morning, Apple has streamlined the speed with which the passcode pops up when a person wearing a mask is detected, making it easier to get into an iPhone with a passcode when Face ID fails.
Speedier access to the passcode interface is noticeable when you swipe upwards on the Home screen when unlocking the iPhone, as this action now immediately brings up the passcode interface if your face is covered by a mask.
Previously, the iPhone would attempt to initiate Face ID first, creating a few seconds of delay before the passcode interface was shown. The new, speedier passcode entry method makes it quicker to get into an iPhone.
The feature is available in the current iOS 13.5 beta, which should see a public release in the next few weeks.
Apple in iOS 13.5 is introducing an exposure notification API designed to allow apps created by public health authorities worldwide to notify people who come into contact with someone who has COVID-19 about their exposure to the virus.
Apple's Exposure Notification feature is privacy focused and shares no personally identifiable information or location data with the public health authorities creating the apps, but some users may want to opt out of the feature, which is enabled by default when upgrading to iOS 13.5.
Apple in the iOS 13.5 update added a toggle to disable COVID-19 Exposure Notifications for those who do not want to participate and do not want to be notified should they come into contact with someone who has COVID-19. Here's how to get to it:
Open the Settings app.
Scroll down and tap on Privacy.
Tap on Health.
Tap on COVID-19 Exposure Notifications.
Tap the toggle to turn the feature off.
The purpose of the exposure notification system is to limit the spread of COVID-19 as much as possible by informing people who have been exposed so they can self-isolate and get recommendations from their local health authorities. Because it works by allowing two smartphones to interface with one another using random identifier beacons and Bluetooth, it works best when most people have it turned on.
Re-enabling Exposure Notifications can be done by following the steps above and tapping the toggle to turn the feature back on. If the toggle is green, it's on, and if the toggle is gray, it's off.
iOS 13.5 is available in a beta capacity at the current time, and there won't be apps that take advantage of Exposure Notifications until the update is released. Receiving Exposure Notifications also requires downloading an app from a public health organization that uses the API and agreeing to its terms and conditions. Simply having the toggle turned on won't do anything without the app.
Apple is today releasing the third beta of iOS 13.5 for developers along with the first beta of Xcode 11.5, laying the groundwork for the release of its opt-in exposure notification APIs that will be used by public health apps to create coronavirus contact tracing tools.
iOS 13.4.5 has been bumped up to iOS 13.5 to include the code that’s necessary to run the first apps built using the exposure notification API, while Xcode 11.5 includes a new version of the iOS SDK with the exposure notification API.
Apple is working with Google on its exposure notification initiative, and Google has also delivered its beta Google Play Services update with the exposure notification API and SDK to select developers who can test using Android Developer Studio.
Public health authorities are able to use these new tools to begin getting their apps that take advantage of exposure notification ready. Apple is planning to release its exposure notification API in mid-May following the testing period.
Apple and Google first announced plans to develop Bluetooth-based contact tracing technology (now known as exposure notification) on April 10, providing a privacy-focused way to track coronavirus exposure.
The beta API released today is the first part of a two-prong effort to provide an exposure notification platform for health agencies. Apps created by verified health authorities can incorporate the API to allow smartphones to communicate with one another, providing users with notifications if they’ve come into contact with someone that is later diagnosed with COVID–19.
When smartphone users with a contact tracing app installed come into contact with another person that also has an app installed, their phones exchange an anonymous identifier beacon. If one of those people contracts coronavirus, they can then choose to notify all of the other people they’ve been in contact with, and at that point, all the other smartphones that have exchanged info with the infected person’s smartphone will be notified.
The API works cross platform on both iOS and Android devices, and it was built with privacy and transparency in mind. A random, rotating identifier, which changes every 15 minutes, is assigned to a person’s phone and transmitted via Bluetooth to nearby devices.
No personally identifiable information is associated with the identifier, and the list of identifiers a person has been in contact with doesn’t leave the phone unless the user decides to share it. Users that test positive will not be identified to other users, Apple, or Google, and location data is not collected.
Exposure time is recorded in five minute intervals, with the maximum exposure time capped at 30 minutes. All Bluetooth metadata is encrypted, and exposure estimates will rely on the power level of the Bluetooth signal to determine the distance between two phones when contact was made.
Public health authorities will be able to define and calculate an exposure risk level that they can choose to assign to users in the event they are notified of COVID–19 exposure, allowing for fine-tuned notifications that will evaluate exposure based on information like approximate distance and exposure duration. Exposure risk is calculated on users’ devices in the app and the data is not shared with Apple or Google.
Apple and Google on Friday plan to release additional information including sample code that will aid developers in understanding how the exposure notification system will operate, and specific criteria for developing apps.
In the future, Apple and Google plan to debut a broader Bluetooth-based contact tracing platform that is built into iOS and Android, allowing more individuals to participate.
Update: Due to the Labor Day holiday in Europe on Friday, Apple plans to release additional details associated with the betas of the exposure notification API early next week.
iOS and iPadOS 13.5 can be downloaded from the Apple Developer center or over the air after the proper developer profile has been installed.
iOS 13.5 is not a typo – Apple has introduced an API change to include initial support for its exposure notification platform in both the new iOS beta and Xcode 11.5, necessitating the version update to iOS 13.5 because it’s using a different SDK than iOS 13.4.
Today’s update introduces the exposure notification API in a beta capacity to allow public health authorities to begin developing COVID–19 contact tracing apps that take advantage of it. Most of the features are for health-related apps that will incorporate the new API, but there is a toggle that is designed to allow users to opt out of participating in COVID-19 exposure notifications.
The update features the same content that was in iOS 13.4.5 beta 2 along with the addition of support for apps that use the exposure notification API, which is set to be released officially in mid-May.
Earlier betas have introduced a new Apple Music feature that allows Apple Music songs to be shared on Instagram Stories. Tapping the Share button on a song in Apple Music creates a story with a song title, album name, and animated background, but at this time there is no way to get to Apple Music from the shared information.
iOS 13.5 also patches two security vulnerabilities that affect the Mail app on the iPhone and the iPad. One vulnerability allowed an attacker to remotely infect an iOS device by sending emails that consume a significant amount of memory, while another allowed remote code executions.
The update may also address an issue with Personal Hotspot that prevents it from working for some people and it could also fix a VPN-related vulnerability, both of which are bugs that Apple has promised to address in upcoming iOS updates.
Update: Apple has also seeded the new iOS 13.5 beta to public beta testers.
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming macOS Catalina 10.15.5 update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after seeding the second beta and over a month after releasing macOS Catalina 10.15.4 with Screen Time Communication Limits, iCloud Folder Sharing, and real-time Apple Music lyrics.
The new macOS Catalina beta can be downloaded from the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences after installing the proper software from the Developer Center.
macOS Catalina 10.15.5 introduces a new Battery Health Management feature for Mac notebooks, which is designed to extend the overall lifespan of a Mac's battery by reducing the rate of chemical aging.
The Battery Health Management feature analyzes the battery health of a laptop and its charging pattern, and in some cases, will preserve battery longevity and health by not charging a MacBook to its full capacity, which can reduce battery life.
When a Mac is used plugged in and the battery is largely kept full, Battery Health Management will kick in and will stop short of a full charge. The feature can be enabled and disabled in the Energy Saver section of the System Preferences app.
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming watchOS 6.2.5 update to developers, two weeks after releasing the second beta and over a month after releasing the watchOS 6.2 update that added in-app purchases to the Apple Watch App Store.
watchOS 6.2.5 can be downloaded for free through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software Update. To install the new software, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it needs to be placed on a charger, and it needs to be in range of the iPhone.
There is no word yet on what features might be included in watchOS 6.2.5, if any, and nothing new was discovered in the first two betas, suggesting it focuses on bug fixes and other under-the-hood improvements.
Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the tvOS 13.4.5 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that's installed using Xcode.
tvOS updates are typically minor in scale, focusing on under-the-hood bug fixes and improvements rather than major outward-facing changes. There's no word yet on what's included in tvOS 13.4.5, and we saw no new features in the first two betas.
Though we don't often know what's new in tvOS during the beta testing process, we let MacRumors readers know when new updates are available so those who are developers can download it upon release.
Popular music streaming service Pandora today updated its app for the Apple Watch to introduce support for Siri, allowing Siri to be used to play stations, songs, albums, and podcasts.
The inclusion of Siri support makes it easier to find specific content right on the Apple Watch without needing to rely on the iPhone. Users can also ask Siri to dislike or like the current song for preference tuning purposes.
Pandora for iOS is also gaining more personalized discovery for better music recommendations, there's a Shuffle Stations feature and there's an option to add music to a specific playlist using Siri, though this is limited to Premium subscribers. The full release notes for the update are below:
NEW: Edit Shuffle Stations feature * Available for Premium listeners * Select which stations you want to play on shuffle _ NEW: Siri on Apple Watch * Ask Siri to play stations, songs, albums, and podcasts: "Hey Siri, play Thumbprint Radio on Pandora." * Tell Siri you like or dislike the current song: "Hey Siri, I like this song." _ ADDED FEATURES/IMPROVEMENTS: Siri on iOS * Ask Siri to add music to your collection or for a specific playlist: "Hey Siri, add Hotel California to my collection on Pandora." (Premium listeners only) * Tell Siri you like or dislike the current song. * Even more personalized discovery to help you find and listen to the music you love.
Pandora can be downloaded from the iOS and Apple Watch App Store for free. [Direct Link]
There are a few notable Mac deals happening this week on Adorama, offering shoppers the chance to save on Apple's MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac Pro, and more. Adorama offers free shipping on many items, and also has a "VIP360" membership program that provides free 2-day shipping to its members.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Adorama. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
For the Mac deals, Adorama continues to offer one of the best prices on the 16-inch MacBook Pro online. You can get the high-end stock configuration with 1TB of storage for $2,499.00, down from $2,799.00. We've seen this deal a few times in the months since the 16-inch MacBook Pro launched, and it remains the lowest price we've tracked for a new 1TB version of the notebook.
For the new MacBook Air, deals have been scarce since the device just launched in March. Still, Adorama has a solid $50 off deal on the 2020 MacBook Air with 512GB of storage, priced at $1,249.00, down from $1,299.00. This is around the lowest price we've seen new 512GB MacBook Air models go, and it's matching the best price online right now.
There are a few iMac deals as well, centering around the iMac Pro. Adorama has the high-end desktop computer with 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD (3.2GHz 8-Core Vega 56 GPU) at $4,689.00, down from $4,999.00 ($310 off). That's one of the best prices available among the major Apple resellers online right now. In terms of regular iMac models, Adorama has the 27-inch model with a 1TB Fusion Drive (3.1GHz 6-Core) at $1,899.00, down from $1,999.00.
Apple today shared a new video that follows Grammy-nominated songwriter and music producer Oak Felder as he creates a new song. Felder makes use of multiple Apple products, including the 16-inch MacBook Pro and iMac.
Follow hitmaking, Grammy-nominated songwriter and music producer Oak Felder as he creates a new song. Along the way, he speaks about music production, creating his own unique sound, working with the world's top artists, and what it means for young artists to have access to powerful technology.
VESA today announced that it has released DisplayPort Alt Mode 2.0, paving the way for future USB4 devices to support DisplayPort 2.0.
Announced in June 2019, DisplayPort 2.0 has a max effective bandwidth of 77.4 Gbps, nearly triple that of DisplayPort 1.4. The new standard enables support for displays with up to 16K resolution, higher refresh rates, HDR support at higher resolutions, improved support for multiple display configurations, and more.
USB4 converges the Thunderbolt and USB protocols as part of Intel's goal to make Thunderbolt available on a royalty-free basis, which should result in wider and cheaper availability of Thunderbolt accessories like docks and eGPUs.
USB4 uses the USB-C connector design and is backwards compatible with USB 3.2 and USB 2.0.
Apple will likely adopt USB4 in future Macs. VESA expects the first products incorporating DisplayPort Alt Mode 2.0 to appear on the market in 2021.
Google has announced that its Meet videoconferencing service will be free to use for anyone with a Google account from next month.
Following a gradual rollout through May, Meet will no longer be exclusive to paying G-Suite members, and will remain open to Google account holders until September 30, 2020.
Google Meet offers many of the features that have made Zoom so popular in recent weeks, including video conferencing for up to 100 participants, the option to schedule meetings, and screen-sharing capabilities.
We've invested years in making Meet a secure and reliable video conferencing solution that's trusted by schools, governments and enterprises around the world, and in recent months we've accelerated the release of top-requested features to make it even more helpful. Starting in early May, anyone with an email address can sign up for Meet and enjoy many of the same features available to our business and education users, such as simple scheduling and screen sharing, real-time captions, and layouts that adapt to your preference, including an expanded tiled view.
Google Meet usually imposes a 60-minute time limit on meetings for non-paying users, but the company is lifting the limit for the period of its availability to all Google account holders. Given Zoom's recent troubles, Google is also keen to underscore the privacy and security of the platform – Meet video meetings are encrypted in transit, and all recordings stored in Google Drive are encrypted in transit and at rest.
Anyone interested in using Google Meet can download the Hangouts Meet iOS app from the App Store or head to meet.google.com to use the web browser version. As the rollout is gradual, users can sign up to be notified when it's available.
Apple has agreed to pay $18 million to settle a California class-action lawsuit that accused it of intentionally breaking FaceTime in iOS 6 to force users to upgrade to iOS 7.
According to the lawsuit, originally filed in 2017, Apple forced users to upgrade so it could avoid payments on a data deal with Akamai.
Apple used two connection methods when it launched FaceTime in 2010: a peer-to-peer method that created a direct connection between two iPhones, and a relay method that used data servers from content delivery network company Akamai Technologies.
Apple's peer-to-peer FaceTime technology was found to infringe on VirnetX's patents in 2012, however, so the company began to shift toward the relay method, which used Akamai's servers. Within a year, Apple was paying $50 million in fees to Akamai, according to testimony from the VirnetX trial.
Apple eventually solved the problem by creating new peer-to-peer technology that would debut in iOS 7. The class-action lawsuits, however, alleged that Apple created a fake bug that caused a digital certificate to prematurely expire on April 16, 2014, breaking FaceTime on iOS 6.
The lawsuit claimed that breaking FaceTime in iOS 6 allowed Apple to save money because it would no longer need to support users who did not upgrade to iOS 7.
According to Law360.com, Apple agreed to settle the case with the $18 million payout, although the majority of the money will go to paying attorney fees and expenses, with only a fraction going to the class action's representatives and claimants.
A court in Florida dismissed a similar consumer lawsuit earlier this year alleging Apple broke FaceTime on older iPhones to save costs.
Apple appears to have updated the speaking voice of Siri on devices in Germany, based on reports compiled by iphone-ticker.de (via ifun.de).
According to the website, several readers have reported Siri's German speech comes across as more natural and melodic than before, especially on HomePod, although the changes are subtle, with better pronunciation and different inflection depending on what's being said.
Apple thoroughly revised Siri's voice in 2017 with the introduction of iOS 11, which also brought enhancements to the voice assistant's machine learning and artifical intelligence. Apple also tweaked Siri's British and Australian voices to be more natural in February 2019.
Apple was the third-fastest growing brand in India's smartphone market in the first quarter of this year, according to new data from Counterpoint Research.
Apple achieved 78 percent growth as the overall market in the country grew 4 percent year on year during Q1 2020. OPPO shipments grew 83 percent year on year in the same quarter, while realme grew 119 percent.
Overall smartphone shipments increased through January and February, before a 19 percent drop in March due to the global health crisis, according to Counterpoint.
Pricing promotions and the iPhone 11 launch are said to have been the main factors attracting new buyers to the Apple brand. Apple also commanded 55 percent of the ultra-premium market, although it still trails Xiaomi, Vivo, and Samsung in overall smartphone sales.
Apple grew a strong 78% YoY driven by strong shipments of iPhone 11 and multiple discounts on platforms like Flipkart and Amazon. In the ultra-premium segment (>INR 45000,~$600 ) it was the leading brand with a market share of 55%.
Overall, smartphone shipments in 2020 are expected to fall by 10 percent in India due to the impact of the health crisis.
Apple last week launched its new 2020 iPhone SE, a low-cost $399 smartphone that features iPhone 8 components upgraded with the same A13 chip available in Apple's flagship iPhones. We did a full hands-on video back on Friday, but we took the weekend to see how the iPhone SE's camera measures up to the iPhone 8 and iPhone 11 Pro.
Based on an iFixit teardown that looked at the base camera hardware, the iPhone SE is using the same camera sensor as the iPhone 8, a 12-megapixel lens that features an f/1.8 aperture and a 28mm focal length, narrower than the 26mm focal length of the 12-megapixel wide-angle in Apple's flagships.
Though equipped with iPhone 8 hardware, the iPhone SE has more advanced photographic capabilities that are enabled by the powerful A13 Bionic chip inside, such as Portrait Mode and Smart HDR, so for the most part, the iPhone SE's camera quality is superior to the iPhone 8 but inferior to the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro.
When it comes to photos with good lighting (aka, bright lighting indoors or out), all three iPhones put out similar, decent images because there's not a lot of work needed behind the scenes for improvement. The iPhone 8 and the iPhone SE photos are a little bit warmer than the cooler iPhone 11 Pro images, and you can see that what's coming out of the iPhone 11 Pro is a bit crisper, which is no surprise.
The iPhone 8 struggles with highlights being blown out or overexposed in some situations, and that's where you can see the Smart HDR in the iPhone SE shine. While the iPhone SE was fine in bright lighting, it definitely struggled in low lighting conditions compared to the iPhone 11 Pro.
Both the SE and the iPhone 8 had a hard time with low lighting situations, but the iPhone SE's images came out a bit better because of the A13 chip. The iPhone 11 Pro has Night Mode, a feature not available on the iPhone 8 or the iPhone SE, so it of course vastly outperformed the iPhone SE in photos with poor lighting.
The iPhone SE features Portrait Mode much like Apple's higher-end iPhones, but it's the first of Apple's iPhones to entirely rely on software to generate Portrait Mode images and Portrait Lighting features. Since the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro have two and three cameras, respectively, their hardware-based Portrait Mode images come out better, but the iPhone SE does a respectable job.
Portrait Mode in the iPhone SE is limited to people because the neural network that powers the feature needs to detect a person to blur out the rest of the image. It's not going to work with pets, food, or other objects like it does on the iPhone 11 Pro.
Because the iPhone SE's Portrait Mode is using 2D images to create a depth map, there's a unique iPhone SE feature - you can take a Portrait Mode photo of a photograph that already exists. It doesn't work great all the time, but it's an interesting way to jazz up some older photographs and add background blurring.
Like the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro, the iPhone SE supports 4K video at 60fps, which is an impressive feature for a $399 smartphone. A video comparison between the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone SE showed little difference in quality. Both looked great and the optical image stabilization worked well. In comparing 4K video between the iPhone SE and the iPhone 8, the image quality was similar, but stabilization on the iPhone SE seemed to be better and the audio quality is superior.
The iPhone SE has a plain 7-megapixel front-facing camera that also supports a software-based Portrait Mode, which is not available on the iPhone 8. The front-facing camera is fine, nothing spectacular, but it works well enough for FaceTime and selfies and was comparable to the front-facing cameras of the iPhone 8. The iPhone SE doesn't support the wider angles available with the front-facing camera on the 11 Pro, and the 11 Pro selfies looked a bit better.
For videos with the front-facing camera, both the iPhone 8 and the iPhone SE had a hard time with bright lights, overexposing the video the entire time. The iPhone 11 Pro did a much better job.
It's worth noting that the iPhone SE also supports QuickTake for both the front and rear-facing cameras. QuickTake lets you hold down the camera button when in picture taking mode to quickly capture a video without the need to swap over to video mode.
All in all, the iPhone SE's camera does produce pictures fairly similar to the pictures produced by the iPhone 8, but the A13 chip is doing a lot in the background to make those photographs look better. The iPhone SE also isn't too far off from the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro when it comes to images taken in bright lighting, but that's where the similarities end.
It's a single-lens camera rather than a dual or triple-lens camera so it doesn't have the versatility enabled by additional lenses, there's no optical zoom, software-based Portrait Mode is not as good as hardware-based portrait mode, and there is no Night Mode to use for low light images.
The iPhone SE is a passable camera of course that's going to take great every day shots, but those seriously interested in better iPhone photography should take a look at the iPhone 11 over the iPhone SE.
Image from MacRumors reader oVerboost
If you want to see more great photos taken with the iPhone SE to see just what it's capable of, make sure to check out the MacRumors forums where new iPhone SE owners are sharing their pictures.
Apple and Google developed their upcoming COVID-19 contact tracing tool in record time, according to a new report from CNBC that details how the two companies came together to create the API.
It took Apple under a month to flesh out the project, and in the beginning stages, it was the work of a handful of employees who had started brainstorming a solution to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 back in March.
The speed at which the tool was developed was "highly unusual" for Apple, according to CNBC, spearheaded by employees who wanted to create a decentralized contact tracing solution that used Bluetooth in the background, didn't draw much battery life, and was focused on privacy.
The initial team focused on an opt-in solution that would send anonymous alerts to other phones it had been nearby rather than uploading the information to a government or central authority to prevent databases with detailed location or proximity info from being built, which are all features of the finished product.
Time was of the essence given the quick spread of COVID-19, and it didn't take long for the project to pick up speed with engineers volunteering their time. Meanwhile, employees at Google were also working on something similar, and team members from both Apple and Google ultimately communicated with one another and found a solution for working together.
Within a few weeks, the Apple project - code-named "Bubble" - had dozens of employees working on it with executive-level support from two sponsors: Craig Federighi, a senior vice president of software engineering, and Jeff Williams, the company's chief operating officer and de-facto head of healthcare. By the end of the month, Google had officially come on board, and about a week later, the companies' two CEOs Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai met virtually to give their final vote of approval to the project.
Apple is said to be aiming to launch its contact tracing tool, now called exposure notification, on May 1 in a software update. Apps that use Apple's exposure notification API will run on the iPhone 6s and later and will be able to communicate not only with iPhones, but also with Android devices, with the goal of informing users if they've been exposed to COVID-19.
CNBC's full report, which goes much more into depth on the development of the partnership and the work on the tracing technology, can be found on CNBC's website.
Apple Maps is now displaying COVID-19 testing locations across the United States, a feature that Apple began implementing earlier in April.
When opening up the search interface in Maps, COVID-19 testing is now the first option in the list, and tapping it brings up all of the testing sites in your local area.
Tapping on one of the testing site entries provides a link to the hospital or testing site's website with specific information on how testing is done, such as whether a doctor's referral or an appointment are required to have the testing conducted.
Apple on April 11 launched an online portal allowing healthcare providers, labs, hospitals, and other businesses to register as COVID-19 testing locations. The Apple Maps team reviews each application before allowing approved sites to be displayed on Apple Maps. As pointed out by Engadget, the testing site list is available in all U.S. states and Puerto Rico.
Apple in early April updated the Maps app to prioritize searches for groceries, food delivery, pharmacies, hospitals, and urgent care, and these categories also show up with COVID-19 testing sites.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Adorama. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
