Halide, a popular camera app designed for iOS devices, was today updated with support for the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro, with the company adding new features able to take advantage of the hardware in the new devices.
There's a faster lens switcher that uses Haptic Touch to switch between the two focal lengths in the iPhone 11 (wide and ultra wide) and the three focal lengths in the iPhone 11 Pro (wide, ultra wide, and telephoto). Halide's developers say it's quicker, smoother and more intuitive than the standard lens switcher.
On the iPhone 11 Pro, there's a new Lens Guides feature designed to help users compose shots. The Lens Guides appear when the lens switcher tool is opened, providing overlays of what a shot would look like using a different focal length.
There are no manual focus controls for the ultra wide-angle camera in Halide, and that's because the lens has a fixed focus. The ultra wide-angle camera is not capable of RAW output, nor does Apple's outside the frame feature work with RAW. Halide hasn't added outside the frame functionality at this time.
Smart RAW has been updated for iPhone 11 and 11 Pro, with the exposure engine tuned to produce RAW shots with less noise. Smart RAW improvement for the new iPhones is an ongoing product though, with Halide planning to add additional refinements in the future.
For older iPhones, the new version of Halide includes bug fixes and enhancements, along with RAW exposure improvements for all Smart RAW iPhones.
Apple News+, Apple’s subscription news and magazine service, has launched for users who live in the UK and Australia, Apple announced today.
Apple News+ subscribers can access more than 150 publications in Apple News+, with a one month free trial available to test the service before having to pay the £9.99 (UK) or $14.99 (Australia) monthly fee.
Available magazines and publications in the UK include The Times and The Sunday Times, Cosmopolitan UK, Elle UK, Esquire UK, FourFourTwo, Empire, Hello!, Cyclist and Grazia, plus US-based newspapers and magazines like The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, Vox and more.
Magazines and publications in Australia include The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, The Courier Mail, The Advertiser, Vogue, Australian Women’s Health, Elle, The Australian Women’s Weekly, Harper’s Bazaar Australia, GQ, Australian Men’s Health, Delicious and Australian Geographic, plus US and UK-based newspapers and magazines.
Apple News+ has been available in the United States and Canada since March, and it is designed to present magazine and news content in a media rich format on iPhone and iPad. Apple said that Apple News+ would come to the UK and Australia as part of iOS 13, though it is also available for those using iOS 12.2 or later and those using macOS 10.14.4 and later.
Apple News+ was built using Texture, a now-discontinued magazine subscription service that Apple purchased in 2018. It has thus far received some criticism for its formatting (not all publications support Apple’s media rich format) and for its confusing interface, though some improvements have been made since the U.S. launch.
Apple today updated its line of iWork apps for iOS devices, introducing support for iOS 13 on Numbers, Pages, and Keynote.
Pages and Numbers now offer Dark Mode support, allowing them to work with either light or dark themes on iPhones and iPads. For all of the apps, Apple has also added support for accessing two iWork documents side by side on the iPad using Split View, so you can access two Pages documents side by side, or two Numbers spreadsheets.
Custom fonts are now supported, screenshots of entire documents can be captured, and files can be accessed from a USB drive, external hard drive, or file server. Additional changes are outlined in the release notes for each app below.
Pages Release Notes:
- Enable Dark Mode to emphasize your content.* - On iPadOS, use Pages in multiple spaces or edit two documents side by side in Split View. - Support for new iOS 13 and iPadOS text editing and navigation gestures.* - Set the default font and font size used for all new documents created from basic templates. - Use custom fonts installed from the App Store.* - Capture a screenshot of an entire document, mark it up, then easily share it as a PDF.* - Access files from a USB drive, external hard drive, or file server.* - Listen to an audio representation of your chart using VoiceOver.* - Add accessibility descriptions to audio, video, and drawings. - Improved accessibility of exported PDFs. - Support for HEVC-formatted movies, enabling reduced file size while preserving visual quality. - Select multiple objects by pressing Shift or Command on a hardware keyboard.
Numbers Release Notes:
- Enable Dark Mode to emphasize your content.* - On iPadOS, use Numbers in multiple spaces or edit two spreadsheets side by side in Split View. - Support for new iOS 13 and iPadOS text editing and navigation gestures.* - Use custom fonts installed from the App Store.* - Capture a screenshot of an entire spreadsheet, mark it up, then easily share it as a PDF.* - Access files from a USB drive, external hard drive, or file server.* - Listen to an audio representation of your chart using VoiceOver.* - Add accessibility descriptions to audio, video, and drawings. - Improved accessibility of exported PDFs. - Support for HEVC-formatted movies, enabling reduced file size while preserving visual quality. - Select multiple objects by pressing Shift or Command on a hardware keyboard.
Keynote Release Notes:
- On iPadOS, use Keynote in multiple spaces or edit two presentations side by side in Split View. - Support for new iOS 13 and iPadOS text editing and navigation gestures.* - Use custom fonts installed from the App Store.* - Capture a screenshot of an entire presentation, mark it up, then easily share it as a PDF.* - Access files from a USB drive, external hard drive, or file server.* - Listen to an audio representation of your chart using VoiceOver.* - Add accessibility descriptions to audio, video, and drawings. - Improved accessibility of exported PDFs. - Support for HEVC-formatted movies, enabling reduced file size while preserving visual quality. - Select multiple objects by pressing Shift or Command on a hardware keyboard.
In addition to updating its iOS iWork apps for iOS 13, Apple has also introduced updates for Numbers, Keynote, and Pages on the Mac. The iWork for Mac updates are minor in scale, focusing on performance improvements and bug fixes. Details are available in the release notes below.
Pages for Mac Release Notes:
- Set the default font and font size used for all new documents created from basic templates. - Easily add HEVC-formatted movies to documents, enabling reduced file size while preserving visual quality. - Jump to a specific page in your document using a new menu command. - Add accessibility descriptions to audio, video, and drawings. - Improved accessibility of exported PDFs.
Numbers for Mac Release Notes:
- Improved performance when working with large tables. - Easily add HEVC-formatted movies to spreadsheets, enabling reduced file size while preserving visual quality. - Add accessibility descriptions to audio, video, and drawings. - Improved accessibility of exported PDFs.
Keynote for Mac Release Notes:
- Easily add HEVC-formatted movies to presentations, enabling reduced file size while preserving visual quality. - Jump to a specific slide in your presentation using a new menu command. - Add accessibility descriptions to audio, video, and drawings. - Improved accessibility of exported PDFs.
All of the new updates are available now from the iOS App Store and macOS App Store.
Apple today seeded the tenth beta of macOS 10.15 Catalina to developers, one week after seeding the ninth macOS Catalina beta and over three months after the new Mac operating system update was first unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference.
The new macOS Catalina beta can be downloaded using the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences after installing the proper software from the Developer Center.
macOS Catalina eliminates the iTunes app, splitting it into Music, Podcasts, and TV apps. The three new apps offer similar functionality to iTunes, but are split up by feature. iOS device management is still available on the Mac, but it's now done through the Finder rather than iTunes.
With a new Sidecar feature, you can turn your iPad into a second display for your Mac with just the click of a button. The Apple Pencil works with Sidecar, so you can turn your iPad into a drawing tablet in apps like Photoshop and Illustrator.
Your Apple Watch can be used to approve security prompts for passwords and other info in macOS Catalina, and Macs with a T2 chip now support Activation Lock, making them more secure. There's a new Find My that brings the Find My Mac app to the Mac for the first time and even lets you track your devices when they're offline, or, in the case of notebooks, closed.
Screen Time is available on the Mac as well as iOS devices, and Project Catalyst, a new Apple initiative, will let developers easily port their iPad apps over to the Mac to increase the number of Mac apps available.
There's a new Photos interface that surfaces your best photos organized by day, month, or year, there's a new start page in Safari, Mail has new tools for muting email threads and blocking senders, and the Reminders app has been overhauled.
32-bit apps no longer work in macOS Catalina, which is something to be aware of before installing the beta.
For more details on macOS Catalina, make sure to check out our macOS Catalina roundup. Apple is planning to release macOS Catalina sometime in October.
Apple today released watchOS 6.0.1, the first update to the watchOS 6 operating system that was released on September 19.
watchOS 6.0.1 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 over 50 percent battery, it needs to be placed on a charger, and it needs to be in range of the iPhone.
Today’s update is minor in scale, addressing a bug with the Mickey and Minnie Mouse watch faces, fixing a calendar complications bug, and addressing an issue that could cause a loss of display calibration data. From Apple’s release notes:
watchOS 6.0.1 optimizes performance, provides security updates, and contains improvements and bug fixes, including: - Resolves an issue where the Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse watch face does not speak time - Addresses an issue where the calendar complication may not display events - Fixes a bug that could result in a loss of display calibration data
Apple today released iOS and iPadOS 13.1.2, updates to the iOS and iPadOS 13.1.1 software that was released on Friday.
The iOS and iPadOS 13.1.2 updates are available on all eligible devices over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the updates, go to Settings > General > Software Update.
According to Apple's notes for the beta, the iOS 13.1.2 update introduces bug fixes for several issues, including problems with the camera, iCloud backup, flashlight, and more.
iOS 13.1.2 includes bug fixes and improvements for your iPhone. This update: - Fixes a bug where the progress bar for iCloud Backup could continue to show after a successful backup - Fixes an issue where Camera may not work - Addresses an issue where the flashlight may not activate - Fixes a bug that could result in a loss of display calibration data - Fixes an issue where shortcuts could not be run from HomePod - Addresses an issue where Bluetooth may disconnect on certain vehicles
There are also separate release notes for the iPadOS 13.1.2 update:
iPadOS 13.1.2 includes bug fixes and improvements for your iPad. This update: - Fixes a bug where the progress bar for iCloud Backup could continue to show after a successful backup - Fixes an issue where shortcuts could not be run from HomePod
iOS 13.1.1, released last Friday, was also a bug fix update and came after iOS 13.1, released a week ago.
Atlanta-based company Social Technologies LLC today filed a lawsuit against Apple that accuses the iPhone maker of falsely indicating that it holds the federal registration for the trademark Memoji in the United States.
Apple has included MEMOJI® in its U.S. trademark list on its website since June 2019, with the ® symbol signifying a federally registered trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, despite the federal registration for the trademark belonging to Social Technologies LLC and not Apple.
Of note, Apple has successfully registered the Memoji trademark in some countries outside the United States, and several foreign countries also use ® to indicate that a mark is registered in that country, but fine print on Apple's website says its list is for trademarks and service marks in the United States.
Memoji is the name of Apple's personalized emoji feature for iPhone and iPad, introduced as part of iOS 12 at WWDC 2018. Apple has applied for two trademarks for the feature with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, but both are currentlysuspended due to ongoing litigation with Social Technologies LLC.
Social Technologies LLC offers an Android app named Memoji on the Google Play store, which it describes as "the world's best messaging app that will capture the facial expression of the end user with full-motion capabilities, and transpose the image into a custom, personalized emoji of the users actual face."
Social Technologies LLC already sued Apple for trademark infringement in September 2018, and alleges that Apple even unsuccessfully tried to purchase the rights to its then intent-to-use application in April 2016, yet Apple proceeded to add MEMOJI® to its trademark list in June 2019.
An excerpt from the complaint filed with a U.S. federal court in New York:
Social Tech visited Apple's Trademark List1 on June 17, 2019, a day before the deposition of Mr. Thomas La Perle, Apple's Senior Director of Copyright and Trademark in connection with Plaintiff's trademark infringement action against Apple in the Northern District of California. As of that date—June 17, 2019—MEMOJI was not listed on Apple's Trademark List.
However, immediately following Mr. La Perle's deposition, the Trademark List was updated to include the falsely designated MEMOJI® mark. On information and belief, Mr. La Perle orchestrated a scheme to undermine Social Tech's registered trademark rights and mislead the public by causing Apple to add the falsely designated mark to Apple’s Trademark List.
Social Technologies LLC is seeking an injunction to prohibit Apple from using the ® symbol in connection with Memoji, as well as an award of monetary damages and legal fees. The small company also wants a declaration that it owns the only federally registered Memoji trademark.
Update - Oct 1: Apple has replaced MEMOJI® with Memoji™ in its trademark list.
The full complaint, sent to us by law firm Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLP, is embedded below.
Spotify today announced a new feature that is now available for Spotify on iOS and Android, letting you combine podcasts and music into the same playlist. You can also choose to create a playlist of only podcasts, like your favorite episodes from multiple shows.
To do this, find the podcast you want to add to a playlist, tap the ellipsis icon to the right of the episode, and tap "Add to playlist." You can choose to add it to an existing playlist, or start a new one. Spotify Premium subscribers can then organize the playlist and intersperse it with songs so that the podcasts and music play in a certain order.
Spotify has been aggressively focusing on its push into podcasts as it attempts to challenge Apple's place in the podcast market. This includes purchasing pre-existing podcast libraries and revamping its app's UI to make podcasts easier to discover, to the frustration of some longtime Spotify users.
The new feature is available for Spotify on mobile, but the company noted that you can't make a playlist with a podcast in it from the desktop app yet.
Amazon over the weekend introduced a new deal on Apple's latest iPad Air, bringing the 256GB model down to a new low price. You can get the 10.5-inch iPad Air (Wi-Fi, 256GB) for $597.00, down from $649.00 ($52 off).
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.
This is the lowest price we've tracked at the major Apple resellers for this iPad Air, and it's available in Silver and Gold. The Space Gray model is not seeing as steep of a discount at the time of writing.
The iPad Air was recently updated in March 2019 with a new 10.5-inch display, a Touch ID Home button, headphone jack, A12 Bionic processor, and support for the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard. The new iPad Air models sit in the middle of Apple's tablet lineup, allowing users to get some of the features of the higher-end iPad Pro lineup at a lower cost, thanks to the exclusion of upgrades like an edge-to-edge display and TrueDepth camera system.
For deals like today's and many more, be sure head to our full Deals Roundup.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has traveled to Germany this week to visit local Apple employees and App Store developers, and he even took a moment to celebrate the annual Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich.
Cook has so far met with Algoriddim, makers of the popular DJ and mixing app djay, as well as one of Apple's design teams. Continuing his tour, he later met with developers of the Blinkist reading app in Berlin.
In an interview with German publication Bild, Cook said iPhone 11 sales are off to a "very strong start" and he also confirmed interest in offering the Apple Card anywhere possible, including Germany, although this will take time due to various regulations in countries around the world.
On Tuesday, Cook made various stops in France.
Cook routinely travels to countries around the world for meet and greets, having visited Canada, China, France, Ireland, Italy, the United Kingdom, and many other countries during his eight-year tenure as Apple CEO.
From an Apple intern to a developer success story! Wonderful to see how Karim Morsy and @Algoriddim are making DJing accessible to everyone. Thanks for a great visit! 🎶 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/eUCBdjWrJO
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) September 29, 2019
Among the many things our Bavarian Design Center team works on are the silicon chips that improve battery life. Thanks to our teams here in Munich for their superb engineering and attention to detail. Macht weiter so mit Euer großartigen Arbeit! 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/JZT0vVCdTb
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) September 30, 2019
Impressed with the growing and talented team at @Blinkist. Helping everyone understand and experience some of the best non-fiction books is a great example of how a single idea from college can evolve into a solution for a problem we all share — too little time! pic.twitter.com/8rRrms7BMY
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) September 30, 2019
Visited with students and professors at Polytech Montpellier — they’re doing impressive things with Everyone Can Code. It’s always exciting to see how Swift opens up new opportunities for students around the world. Merci d’avoir partagé vos projets !🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/d8Vk3Q2QXe
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) October 1, 2019
It’s been a busy and exciting few weeks for our retail team around the world! Wonderful to meet our customers and teams at Apple Kurfürstendamm 🇩🇪 and Apple Odysseum 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/dt284UDfnD
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) October 1, 2019
Apple Antara opened its doors to the public in Mexico City's upscale Polanco on Friday, and Apple has shared some pictures that capture the excitement in and around the flagship retail store, located at Antara Fashion Hall in Cuidad.
Apple Antara is the first Apple Store of its kind in Latin America, featuring a pavilion design with 23-foot-tall sliding glass doors. Inside, there is also a Forum and 8K Video Wall for Today at Apple sessions, nestled among indoor trees.
Mexican illustrator Edgar Flores was in attendance, leading the store's first Today at Apple session and creating a communal art piece with participants.
Deirdre O'Brien, Apple's senior vice president of Retail and People, joined the team to welcome customers to Apple Antara, while Mexican R&B artist Mariana "Nan" de Miguel, aka Girl Ultra, performed on the opening night. Apple also created a special App Store story and Apple Music playlist to celebrate the opening.
Over 100 new store team members have been employed at Apple Antara, which is now Apple's second retail store in Mexico City, after Apple Vía Santa Fe.
Apple on Monday began rolling out a major update to its New York City coverage in the Maps app, boosting geographical details and correcting numerous errors in the process, according to the New York Post.
The update should see an increase in details on buildings, roads, parks, sports fields, parking lots, ground cover, foliage, pools, pedestrian pathways, and bodies of water.
For example, users looking at Central Park should now see individual baseball diamonds and more detailed footpaths, while buildings are more accurately rendered in the 3D mode thanks to new flight technology to better depict elevations.
Apple may still be rolling out the changes to its servers, as some Reddit users report that the appearance of the new coverage remains patchy and seems to depend on zoom level.
Apple has been deploying the enhanced maps up the northeast United States over the last few months, rolling them out in a stepwise fashion in adjacent continental U.S. states.
The last update brought enhanced maps to the likes of Washington D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, and Maine.
The data is gathered by Apple's own fleet of sensor- and camera-equipped vehicles, as well as first-party data gathered from iPhones using Apple's differential privacy. The combined data is also being made to ensure search results are more relevant.
At WWDC 2019, Apple said the updated maps will roll out to the entire United States by the end of the year, followed by additional countries in 2020.
Popular writing app Ulysses received its eighteenth major update today, adding some notable features and bringing full support for iOS 13 and iPadOS.
First up, version 18 of Ulysses adds support for Apple's new system-level Dark Mode, meaning users no longer need to activate the app's native dark theme to get a twilight look that's designed to be easier on the eyes.
Instead, the app can now honor the user's global preference and will also respond to the new Automatic setting that switches between Light and Dark based on the time of day.
This version also sees the removal of Ulysses native iPad Split View feature, which makes way for the new system Split View. The decision to drop the app's native Split View was tough for the developers, but ultimately they felt it was important that it conforms to the behavior of the global feature, and the functionality is very similar anyway.
Notably, iPadOS also allows apps to have multiple windows open in so-called spaces, and Ulysses fully supports that now, so users can work on several projects and easily switch between them.
Elsewhere in this version, users can now optionally save Ulysses files in external folders (though in iOS, this is currently limited to Dropbox) without losing access to all of Ulysses' advanced features. So things like annotations, writing goals, keywords, notes, and image attachments remain functional in files that are synchronized via Dropbox instead of iCloud.
In addition, Ulysses 18 supports previewing image captions in the editor and exporting them to PDF and DOCX documents, working with numbered lists has also been improved, keywords can now be reordered via Drag and Drop, and a Command-Up Arrow/Down Arrow keyboard shortcut has been added to quickly navigate to the beginning/end of the sheet list.
Ulysses can be downloaded for free on the App Store and the Mac App Store, with version 18 rolling out to existing users today.
After a 14-day trial period, a subscription is required to unlock the app on all devices. A monthly subscription costs $4.99, while a yearly subscription is $39.99. Students can use Ulysses at a discounted price of $11.99 per six months. The discount is granted from within the app.
Reiterating a prediction he shared in April, noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today said Apple plans to release high-end iPad and MacBook models with Mini-LED displays between late 2020 and mid 2021.
In a research note for TF International Securities, seen by MacRumors, Kuo added that the iPad and MacBook displays will each use approximately 10,000 LEDs, compared to 576 in Apple's upcoming Pro Display XDR. Each LED is said to be below 200 microns in size, significantly smaller than those in the Pro Display XDR.
Kuo previously said the iPad and MacBook models will have 10-12 inch and 15-17 inch display sizes respectively, and he also expects them to be high-end devices due to costly Mini-LED display components. Altogether, that means these will likely be iPad Pro and MacBook Pro models, but Kuo has not specified.
Although mass production of medium-sized OLED displays has gradually improved, and the wide color gamut performance of OLED is comparable to that of Mini-LED, Kuo believes Mini-LED is Apple's first choice to avoid burn-in issues and to reduce its dependance on Samsung for supply of OLED displays.
LG Display will supply the Mini-LED display panels, while other Mini-LED component suppliers will include Epistar, Zhen Ding, Radiant Opto-Electronics, Nichia, Avary Holding, and TSMT, according to Kuo.
Kuo believes the Mini-LED displays will allow for thinner and lighter product designs, while also offering good wide color gamut performance, high contrast and HDR, and local dimming, which dims the backlight behind areas of the screen that are displaying black while keeping the bright parts of the screen bright.
Apple plans to release the iPad between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, followed by the MacBook between the first quarter and second quarter of 2021, according to Kuo.
After months of waiting and a design overhaul, Samsung's first foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Fold, is now available to customers who want to shell out $1,980 for a device that can convert from a phone into a tablet.
We decided to pick up one of Samsung's folding smartphones to test it out to see if it's worth the price point, so check out our video for our Galaxy Fold unboxing and first impressions.
Samsung initially planned to release the Galaxy Fold in early 2019, but after providing the device to reviewers, a host of major issues were uncovered that impacted the durability and performance of the device.
Samsung ultimately canceled the Galaxy Fold's launch and went back to the drawing board to address some of the problems that led to multiple broken devices within a matter of days after reviewers received a review unit.
So the new Galaxy Fold is supposed to have a more durable display with a better protective layer (which some reviewers thought was meant to be removed on the original version) and a strengthened hinge to prevent breakage from dust and debris, and other durability changes.
Samsung's updated device, as we discovered, comes with a whole host of paperwork and instruction, which makes for an odd unboxing experience. The Galaxy Fold is still delicate enough that users need to be instructed in the specifics of how to use it without breaking it. Many of the instructions are also outlined in a Samsung video:
Basically Samsung warns Galaxy Fold owners to use a light touch when interacting with the device, avoid water and dust, avoid excessive pressure, and to keep it away from objects that can be damaged by magnets. It's unsettling getting such a long list of warnings with a new smartphone.
Design wise, the Samsung Galaxy Fold is massive in size and heavy compared to a standard smartphone, but that's no surprise since it unfolds from a thick 4.6-inch smartphone into a 7.3-inch tablet.
There are volume and power buttons on the right side along with a fingerprint sensor, which is best suited to a thumb due to its position. There's a triple-lens camera at the back, two front-facing cameras at the front when it's unfolded, and one other camera on the front above the display when folded.
The versatility of the Galaxy Fold is useful because the small 4.6-inch folded size is ideal for one-handed use, but then the 7.3-inch display is ideal for when you have the time and space to use the phone unfolded. It's an interesting compromise for those smartphone users who have always preferred a smaller form.
Using a folded phone in practice is novel and it's not quite like anything else that's out there. The 7.3-inch display looks great, and it's perfect for media consumption and multitasking. Typing with the keyboard works well despite the split design.
There are new T-shaped brackets at the top and bottom of the Galaxy Fold that are meant to address the hinge issues present in the prior Galaxy Fold design. It also looks more resistant to dust, and the built-in screen protector now extends to the hinges and can't be accidentally removed.
The crease in the middle of the Galaxy Fold isn't really noticeable in person when it's in use, and it mostly blends right in.
We've only had the Galaxy Fold for a couple of hours, so it remains to be seen how well it's going to hold up over time, but Samsung is now offering a $149 screen replacement program for those who experience issues.
Despite the improvements, we've already heard reports of durability issues. TechCrunch's Galaxy Fold, for example, already has a broken display even though it wasn't damaged. TechCrunch's Brian Heater says he believes pressing on the display to close it may have caused the damage.
Since the Galaxy Fold is priced starting at $2,000, it's a niche smartphone, but if it proves popular, folding display technology could be the future.
Rumors and patents suggest Apple has explored folding display technology for the iPhone, but there's thus far been no concrete evidence that Apple has plans to release an iPhone that folds in half.
Just hours after The Wall Street Journal said that Apple was perhaps planning to release some of its upcoming Apple TV+ movies in theaters, Apple has set release dates for several of the films.
According to Variety, "The Banker," "Hala," and "The Elephant Queen" will all be released in theaters before coming to Apple TV+.
"The Banker," starring Samuel L. Jackson and Mackie as real estate and finance moguls in the Jim Crow era, will be in theaters on December 6, coming to Apple TV+ later in January.
"The Elephant Queen," which premiered in New York this week, will be in theaters on October 18 and will be available on Apple TV+ in November.
"Hala," a movie about a Muslim girl reconciling her family traditions with modern life will be in theaters on November 22, coming to Apple TV+ at some point in December.
Apple TV+ is set to launch on Friday, November 1. It will be available for $4.99 per month, but Apple is offering a free subscription to customers who purchase an Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
Along with the above listed movies, Apple TV+ will also feature quite a few TV shows at launch, including "Dickinson," "For All Mankind," "Helpsters," "Ghostwriter," and "The Morning Show."
LG recently rolled out a firmware update to customers who own an LG TV in the UHD UM7X series, enabling HomeKit and AirPlay 2 functionality. LG originally said that this firmware update would be available in October, but the software has come out early.
LG UHD UM7X TV owners can download the new 04.70.03 software update to enable the new functionality. AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support first began rolling out on LG TVs in July.
With AirPlay 2, LG TV users can stream TV shows and movies from an iOS or macOS device directly to the television, with no Apple TV set-top box required. A movie can be started on an iPhone and AirPlayed right to a TV, plus content can be mirrored from a Mac or iOS device to the TV.
AirPlay 2 lets multiple audio sources to play the same content, so a song can be played on a single television set, multiple television sets, or a TV and other AirPlay 2 devices such as speakers for whole home audio.
The AirPlay 2 functionality in LG TVs is linked to HomeKit, so LG TV sets with the new firmware will show up in the Home app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. In the Home app, LG TV users can do things like switch inputs, turn the television on and off, and adjust the volume. Siri can also be used for these commands, so a simple "Hey Siri" voice request on an iOS or macOS device can adjust the volume or turn the TV on or off, much like other HomeKit products.
LG also plans to enable HomeKit and AirPlay 2 support on its LG UHD UM6X series television sets as well as the LG NanoCell SM83 series or below, but those software updates have yet to be released.
Apple's newest iPhones, the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max, are equipped with a new feature called Night mode, which is designed to take crisp, clear photos even when lighting conditions are poor, such as at night.
Unfortunately, Night mode is not supported on the iPhone SE or iPhone XR. It remains an exclusive feature for the iPhone 11 line of phones.
Night mode, as the name suggests, lets you take photos in the evening, with lighting that has never before been possible on an iPhone thanks to new hardware and new machine learning algorithms. Though Night mode brightens photos, it also preserves the night time feeling, balancing the light and dark elements of an image.
Android smartphone makers like Google and Samsung have had special modes for brightening up evening shots for a while now, and with the 2019 iPhones, Apple is on equal footing with these other smartphone cameras.
What is Night Mode?
Night mode is an automatic setting which takes advantage of the new wide-angle camera that's in the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro models. It's equipped with a larger sensor that is able to let in more light, allowing for brighter photos when the light is low.
Night mode uses the new sensor along with machine learning and the Neural Engine in the A13 processor to create Night mode shots.
When Night mode is engaged, the cameras in the iPhone analyze the available amount of light and then the iPhone chooses the number of frames needed to create a suitable image. The camera then takes a series of images for a set amount of time, such as one second, three seconds, five seconds, or in some situations, even longer.
The images are taken at different exposures, some with longer exposures and some with shorter exposures, similar to what's done when the iPhone composes an HDR image. This lets the iPhone pull out the best parts of the scene, highlighting what's important.
You'll need to hold the camera steady when using Night mode, and optical image stabilization also works to reduce shake as you take the photos. After the set amount of time, the A13 chip in the iPhone analyzes each photo that was taken, aligns them to account for movement, tosses out the images that are too blurry, and then fuses all the sharpest images of the bunch.
The resulting photo is the end image that you get when using Night mode, with Apple's software algorithms adjusting color, eliminating noise, and enhancing details to create a night time shot that preserves an impressive amount of detail.
Taking and combining several images allows Night mode to pick up more light than would be available in a single shot, which is why you can see so much more detail than the lighting conditions would normally allow for.
All of the Night mode calculations are done behind the scenes -- you'll only see the final shot, rather than being able to choose from a series of images as you can do in Burst mode even though it's a similar concept.
In a nutshell, Night mode is the result of a better camera sensor and some behind the scenes magic from Apple's A13 processor.
How to Turn on Night Mode
Night mode turns on automatically when the lighting conditions call for it, so there's no need to enable it. Tapping the moon icon at the top of the Camera app will let you access the Night mode settings, though, allowing for the time length of photos to be adjusted in some situations.
How to Turn Off Night Mode
To turn off Night mode, tap on the moon icon at the top of the Camera app interface to open up the Night mode slider and then slide it all the way to the left to turn the feature off entirely for a photo.
Night mode will need to be turned off on a photo by photo basis, as it is meant to come on automatically. There is no setting to disable it permanently.
Night Mode Lenses
On the iPhone 11, Night mode is limited to the wide-angle camera as it is the only camera with optical image stabilization and because Night mode requires a camera with 100 percent focus pixels to analyze and align images.
On the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max, Night mode can be used with either the wide-angle camera or the telephoto camera because both of these lenses support optical image stabilization and the other necessary features for Night mode to work.
Night mode images look best with the wide-angle camera as it is the better lens, but the telephoto is an option when needed. The ultra wide-angle camera in the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro models doesn't work with Night mode.
Using Night Mode's Time Intervals
The iPhone 11 and 11 Pro are able to analyze the lighting in a situation and will provide a recommended interval for Night mode, which is usually somewhere between one and five seconds, though it can vary based on how much ambient lighting is available.
You can tap on the moon icon at the top of the Camera interface to get to the Night mode settings, where you can change the interval from the recommended level to a longer level if desired, which can alter the look of the photo that you're capturing.
The darker the photo subject, the longer time period options your iPhone will offer up. At sunset where there's still a decent amount of light, your exposure options might max out at around 3 to 5 seconds.
In full darkness, when taking a photo of the night sky, as an example, you might see longer time intervals available, and selecting a longer time interval in this situation may allow you to see more of the night sky in the resulting image than you might have been able to capture with a shorter exposure. For maximum time, a tripod is required.
The different time intervals are worth experimenting with to get the specific look that you want for a particular image, but Apple's default shot length is calculated using a multitude of factors and almost always results in a nice looking low light shot.
How to Get the Best Night Mode Shots
Night mode takes a series of shots and is similar to a long exposure photo, so techniques used for long exposures can also be useful for Night mode.
Apple uses optical image stabilization and software to cut down on blur, but for the absolute best Night mode shots, it's a good idea to use a tripod. A tripod means there won't be any shake when capturing the multiple images that are used for a Night mode shot.
A tripod isn't needed, but when the iPhone is stable and detects that it's being held steady, it will offer longer exposure times than you can get when holding the iPhone yourself. If you want a 30 second Night mode shot of the night sky, for example, you're going to need a tripod to do it. Night mode works in 1 to 30 second intervals depending on conditions like steadiness and ambient lighting.
Even with shorter time intervals, Night mode can result in blur, so if you don't have a tripod, do your best to hold the iPhone as steady as possible. Stabilizing your arms can help.
Night mode shots work best on images where there aren't moving people, pets, or objects. Since the iPhone is taking multiple shots of a subject and stitching them together, there needs to be minimal movement. A pet that's running around or an active child isn't going to make for a good night mode shot, but you can get good night time portraits of people and pets if your subject can stay still.
Night mode isn't going to work for every photo because it can result in dramatic colors, high contrast (especially in situations where the ambient lighting is an odd color like the yellow of a street light), excessive shadows, and issues with light reflection, but more often than not, it produces incredible images and allows iPhone users to capture scenes that simply couldn't be captured with an older iPhone.
What Devices is Night Mode Available On?
Night mode is a feature on the new 2019 iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max. It isn't available on earlier iPhones, but like other camera additions, will continue to be a feature for future iPhones and is likely to see improvements over the years.
Night Mode vs. Earlier iPhones
Night mode is a feature that's unmatched by earlier iPhones, as can be seen in comparison photos between the iPhone 11 Pro Max and the iPhone XS Max. The iPhone 11 models can get a whole new level of detail in lower lighting conditions that just wasn't possible before. It's a major step forward in camera technology and is going to result in much better photos than were possible with the iPhone XS line and earlier.
Comparisons With Android Smartphones
Night mode isn't new -- and in fact, it's something that Google popularized last year with its Pixel 3 smartphones. Google introduced a feature called Night Sight in the Pixel 3 that blew people away.
Night mode vs. Night Sight on Google Pixel 3, image via TechCrunch
Other Android smartphone manufacturers have also added similar features to their smartphones too, so this isn't a feature that originated with Apple. Below, we've shared some comparison videos and photos between Night mode in the iPhone and other Android phones with a similar feature.
Pixel 3 XL (right) vs iPhone (left), image via PCWorld
Pixel 3 (left), iPhone 11 Pro (right), via The Verge
Apple's technology isn't too far off from the technology used by other smartphone makers, and as with any camera setup, image preference is going to vary from person to person.
Guide Feedback
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