MacRumors

Greg Joswiak, Apple's VP of iOS, iPad, and iPhone Product Marketing, recently sat down with Arianna Huffington on the Thrive Global Podcast to discuss the new Screen Time feature that Apple implemented for the iPhone 5s and later in iOS 12.

According to Joswiak, information is the "cornerstone" of what Apple is doing with Screen Time. The company's goal is to provide people with information about how they're using their apps so they can come to their own conclusions about whether they're happy with their usage statistics.

If you ask people how much they're using their devices, they can only guess. If you ask them how much they're using a particular app or category of app, they can only guess. I almost guarantee you their guesses are wrong. So what we wanted to do was provide people with the real information about how much they're using devices, apps, categories of apps, and how many notifications they're getting. These things are very measurable.

With Screen Time, built into iOS 12, users can get a complete overview on how much time is spent on each of their devices on a daily or weekly basis, with Apple offering up a weekly report. Joswiak says Apple wanted to make it as easy as possible, which is why iOS 12 asks people to opt in at sign up and delivers automatic reports each week.

Apple is hoping people will be "more cognizant" of what they're doing on their devices, using the Screen Time information to make better choices. Joswiak believes the vast majority of people will turn Screen Time on and will use the information to regulate behavior. That's how he uses Screen Time - awareness without imposing limits.

For me, I couldn't imagine leaving my home in the morning without my iPhone. I think like most people. I still found it fascinating to be able to open up the Screen Time app and see where I was spending my time. [...] That information was useful for me to regulate myself a to the behavior that I want. I didn't need limits, I just needed that information.

Even with children, Joswiak thinks parents will benefit most from being able to have an "intelligent conversation" about device usage with real data usage rather than implementing parental controls, but the controls are there for parents who need them.

Because of Apple's focus on user privacy, no data about Screen Time or app usage information is sent to Apple or any third party. Apple can tell who has Screen Time enabled and who doesn't for users who send diagnostic information to the company, but data is otherwise "available only to you."

Joswiak also highlighted iOS 12's features for cutting down on notifications, such as Instant Tuning, which lets you quickly turn off notifications for a particularly bothersome app without having to dig into the settings. Do Not Disturb has also been expanded in iOS 12 with new options that let it be turned on for an hour or a critical event.

Apple was not concerned with people using their devices less as a result of Screen Time, because it aims to provide the best usage experience, not the longest. "We don't need to make you use it every minute of every day," said Joswiak. "Our business model doesn't depend on how much you use your devices."

Screen Time was not developed because of the well-known shareholder's letter that called on Apple urging Apple to do more to protect children from smartphone addiction. Screen Time was conceptualized well over a year ago with the idea that Apple "wants to empower people with Apple."

"It's not a kids thing," explained Joswiak. "It's an everybody thing." Apple didn't set out to create a solution for parents to lock down their children's devices, it was created to give everyone information on how devices are being used. "Apple is not reactionary," said Joswiak. "We bring out features we think are going to help people."

Screen Time is available for all devices starting with the 2013 iPhone 5s, and bringing these kinds of new features is to millions of iOS users is something that only Apple can do, according to Joswiak. He says that soon, 80 percent of the user base will be using the latest version of iOS 12, which is "staggering."

Joswiak says that Apple has "lots of ideas" on how to take Screen Time further in the future. "We know there's lots more we'll want to do over time," he said.

Apple this afternoon shared several of the best "Shot on iPhone" photos that it's seen on Instagram and Twitter from customers who have purchased one of the new iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max devices.

The photos were collected from Instagram and Twitter users who included the hashtag "#ShotoniPhone" alongside their photos, with images showcasing Portrait Mode, Smart HDR, more advanced bokeh, Depth Control, and other features introduced with the iPhone XS and XS Max.

Apple's new iPhones continue to offer the same 12-megapixel dual-lens telephoto and wide-angle camera system introduced in the iPhone X, but multiple upgrades result in pictures that are better than ever before.

The iPhone XS and XS Max are equipped with an improved wide-angle image sensor that's 32 percent larger than the sensor in the iPhone X and twice as fast for better image fidelity, greater color accuracy, and improved performance in low light conditions.

A new image signal processor and second-generation Neural Engine included with the A12 Bionic chip allow Apple to process photos in a new way, using a Smart HDR feature for better dynamic range. The new hardware also powers Depth Control and better bokeh when using the iPhone's Portrait Mode for artful background blurring.

The full range of Instagram photos highlighted by Apple can be seen in the Apple Newsroom feature.

Sebastiaan de With, the developer behind photography app Halide, has taken an in-depth look at the front and rear-facing cameras in the iPhone XS and XS Max, providing some insight into complaints about a possible skin smoothing "beauty mode" that results in less realistic selfies than prior iPhone models.

A soft filter on selfies "doesn't exist," says de With, with the smoother look attributed to more aggressive noise reduction techniques and the merging of exposures that eliminates sharp light and dark contrasts where light hits the skin.

Both the front and rear-facing cameras in the iPhone XS and XS Max are using computational geography to improve photo quality, a feature that takes multiple shots at once and then merges them into a single perfect photo.

Apple's iPhone XS website explains all of the different things that are going on behind the scenes when an image is captured, and part of the process involves taking shots that are underexposed, overexposed, and captured at different times, with the camera taking the best elements of each shot and combining them.

According to de With, this results in a "whole new look" for photos that represents a "drastic departure" from images captured with previous-generation iPhones. As the Halide blog post explains, the small areas of contrast seen in photos from older iPhones can make images look sharper, but these areas of deep contrast have been eliminated in the iPhone XS models.

Using the exposure merging techniques, the iPhone XS reduces the brightness of the bright areas and the darkness of the shadows. While the detail is still there, we see it as less sharp because of this loss of contrast. Skin ends up looking smoother because the "light isn't as harsh."

The iPhone XS and XS Max are also using much more aggressive noise reduction techniques than in previous iPhones. de With says this is because the iPhone XS models prefer a faster shutter speed and a higher ISO level, capturing photos quicker but resulting in more noise. Taking care of that noise sacrifices some detail and contrast.

In the front-facing camera specifically, which uses a smaller sensor than the rear-facing camera, the heavy noise reduction paired with the image merging techniques leads to the noticeably smoother selfies that people have seen with the iPhone XS camera.

The tradeoff is that selfies, which traditionally are worse in mixed or harsh lighting (the majority of lighting!) are now no longer blown out, and in most cases it just looks better, if just a little on the smooth side.

According to de With, Apple can tweak these settings through software updates if the majority of people are unhappy with the selfie camera, so we may see a better compromise between noise reduction and the filtering of harsh lighting in the future.

All in all, de With believes the iPhone XS camera is better than the iPhone X camera thanks to its superior dynamic range, with some post processing able to re-add the contrast where necessary.

There are issues with RAW image capture because of the noise level. When taking RAW photos with an app like Halide, de With says it is a must to do so manually and to reduce the exposure. Otherwise, RAW images will end up looking worse than Smart HDR JPEGs.

To account for the changes to RAW image capture, Halide is gaining a new Smart RAW feature that uses the new sensor tech in the iPhone XS to get better images. It avoids Smart HDR all together to cut down on noise reduction and pull out more detail.

Halide's full blog post is well worth a read for anyone interested in an in-depth look at the camera changes Apple has introduced in the iPhone XS and XS Max. The Halide app can be downloaded from the App Store for $5.99. [Direct Link]

A Forbes report has highlighted the first known case of law enforcement forcing a suspect to unlock an iPhone using Face ID.

The incident reportedly happened in August when federal agents obtained a warrant to search the house of a man in Columbus, Ohio, as part of a child abuse investigation.

According to case documents, FBI agents got 28-year-old Grant Michalski to put his face in front of his iPhone X to activate the Face ID facial authentication.

After the device was unlocked, investigators looked through Michalski's chat history, photos, and other files stored on the phone. Evidence discovered on the device was used to charge the suspect later that month with receiving and possessing child pornography.

Several previous cases have occurred where law enforcement has gained access to digital data by forcing people to unlock mobile devices using their fingers. One case even reportedly involved trying to use the finger of a dead person to unlock a phone, which ultimately didn't work.

However, this appears to be the first case in which Face ID has been used, so it's likely to reignite debate over where the law stands in relation to biometric authentication methods.

In the United States, forcing someone to give up a password is interpreted as self-incrimination, which is protected by the fifth amendment and against the law. Nevertheless, courts have ruled that there's a difference between a biometric recognition system like Touch ID and a passcode that you type into your phone.

In the case highlighted by Forbes, the FBI was eventually locked out of the phone and had to gain a second search warrant to allow them to conduct a more thorough search of the device using a third-party unlocking solution, likely similar to Grayshift.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues 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.

A number of iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max owners in the Apple Support Communities and MacRumors Forums report that the devices fail to start charging when a Lightning cable is plugged in while the screen is turned off.

As with many crowdsourced issues, experiences vary. In most cases, the iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max begins charging once the user wakes the device by tapping or raising the screen. However, some users report having to both wake the iPhone and disconnect and reconnect the Lightning cable to get a charge.

In rarer cases, the iPhone stops responding entirely at some point after a Lightning cable is plugged in while the screen is turned off.

Lewis Hilsenteger demonstrated the issue on his popular YouTube channel Unbox Therapy today by plugging a Lightning cable into one iPhone X, four iPhone XS, and four iPhone XS Max units. While the iPhone X began to charge, it appears two of the iPhone XS units and three of the iPhone XS Max units did not.

Affected customers have documented the issue in at least a dozen discussion threads across the web, including the Apple Support Communities, MacRumors Forums, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, and other forums and platforms. It's unclear how widespread the issue is at this time, but not everyone is affected.

Some users have speculated the issue could be related to USB Restricted Mode, introduced in iOS 11.4.1, which prevents an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from communicating with USB accessories via the Lightning connector if one hour or longer has passed since the device was last unlocked.

However, while USB Restricted Mode is enabled by default in iOS 12, Hilsenteger and others say disabling the feature does not help. Apple also has a support document that ensures "your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch charges as usual when it's connected to a USB power adapter" with the feature toggled on.

In the YouTube comments on the Unbox Therapy video, some users claim to be experiencing the same issue on older iPhones and iPads, so there is a decent chance this is a software issue that could be addressed in a future iOS 12 update. In the meantime, there does not appear to be a workaround.

If you are affected by this issue, we recommend contacting Apple Support. Apple frequently passes on device information and diagnostics to its engineering teams to address potential bugs like these, so all feedback helps.

Apple did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but we'll update this article if we receive any information.

Update: Apple has confirmed that this issue will be addressed in iOS 12.1.

The Apple Watch Series 4, launched last week, features a new dual-core S4 chip that's significantly faster than the S3 chip in the Series 3, and, of course, the chips used in older Apple Watch models.

We did a side-by-side comparison of the Apple Watch Series 4 to the original Apple Watch, the Series 1 models, the Series 2 models, and the Apple Watch Series 3 to see how far the Apple Watch has come since it was first introduced in 2015.

According to Apple, the fourth-generation dual-core 64-bit Silicon-in-Package or SIP chip in the Apple Watch is twice as fast as the previous-generation S3 chip. Its improved efficiency and speed allow for better battery conservation and new health-related features like ECG readings.

In our testing, we compared Apple Watch tasks like booting up, opening apps, and activating Siri to demonstrate the speed differences between each generation.

Unsurprisingly, the Series 4 was the fastest, but for a lot of tasks, there weren't huge speed differences between the Series 4 and the Series 3.

When comparing the Series 4 to the Series 2 and older, though, you can see the impressive improvements Apple has made to the processor over the course of the last three years. While it took the Apple Watch Series 4 40 seconds to boot up, it took the Series 2 almost four minutes, the Series 1 three minutes, and the Series 0 five minutes.

When opening up apps, we didn't see a huge difference between the Series 3 and Series 4 for most tests, but the Series 4 was always just a little bit faster. On Series 2 and older, apps took a good deal longer to open, and in some cases, like with the original Apple Watch, apps took so long we gave up.

So, what can we learn from this? You may not see major speed changes when upgrading to Series 4 from Series 3, though everything will feel snappier.

You will, however, notice an incredible difference upgrading from an original Apple Watch, Series 1 model, or Series 2 model, which makes upgrading from one of these older devices worthwhile.

In our opinion, if you're considering upgrading from a Series 2 or earlier to the Series 4, do it. The speed changes are so drastic that using the Apple Watch Series 4 is an entirely different experience than using an older Apple Watch.

Have you upgraded to a Series 4 from an older Apple Watch model? Let us know what you think about the new device in the comments below.

Over the course of the last week, the front-facing camera in the iPhone XS and XS Max has been receiving a lot of attention because the selfies captured on the new devices are drastically different from those captured with the iPhone X or earlier iPhone models.

In a MacRumors forum thread and on Reddit, Apple has been accused of using a skin-smoothing feature or a "beauty filter" for prettier selfies from the front-facing camera. The effect was demoed by a Reddit user in the image below:

We covered the issue in our recent iPhone XS Max vs. iPhone X camera comparison, where we did see the smoothing effect, but the front-facing camera's performance has garnered so much attention since then that we wanted to more prominently highlight the problem.

When taking a selfie in a situation where lighting is less than ideal, such as indoors or outdoors in areas with lower lighting, the iPhone XS Max appears to be applying a drastic smoothing effect that can hide freckles, blemishes, and other issues.

In full outdoor lighting the problem is less apparent, which has led to speculation that the skin smoothing is actually a result of some heavy-handed noise reduction techniques.

You can test the new camera yourself with an iPhone XS or XS Max and an older iPhone like an iPhone X model by taking selfies indoors and outdoors and comparing the differences between the two. In almost all cases where the lighting is low or uneven, photos captured with an iPhone XS Max look dramatically different.

It makes sense that we'd see differences between the iPhone XS and say, an iPhone 8 because the front-facing cameras are different, but as far as we know, the iPhone X and XS are using the same 7-megapixel front-facing camera. Apple detailed several changes to the rear-facing camera in the iPhone XS models, but beyond a new Neural Engine, there were no announced changes to the TrueDepth camera system.

Because the camera is the same, Apple is doing something different with the way photos are processed after being captured, which could be related to the new HDR features that have been implemented. Apple has a new A12 chip and next-generation Neural Engine that are aiding in photo processing to enable a Smart HDR feature that applies to both the rear and front-facing cameras.

Turning off HDR does not remove the smoothing effect, nor does tweaking any other camera setting, so if the ultra skin smoothing is a result of something like unintentional excessive noise reduction, it needs to be tweaked on Apple's end through a software update. YouTuber Unbox Therapy recently demoed the issue with a series of selfies.

While it's mostly the front-facing camera that's been under scrutiny, this is a problem that affects both the front-facing and rear-facing cameras and it's not entirely limited to skin. Excessive smoothing can be seen affecting other images as well.

There has been speculation that Apple intentionally implemented the skin smoothing feature to mimic the beauty mode that's popular in Asia and common on some other smartphones, but it's not clear if that was Apple's intention.

Many MacRumors readers and Reddit users have reported the issue to Apple, and given that this issue has received so much attention, we may see front-facing camera tweaks in a future iOS update.

The United States International Trade Commission will not be blocking imports of the iPhone in the ongoing Apple v. Qualcomm case, reports Reuters.

Qualcomm had asked the ITC to ban imports of the AT&T and T-Mobile iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X models that use chips from Intel, citing multiple patent violations.

Qualcomm did not ask for a ban on iPhones that use Qualcomm LTE chips, with the reasoning that a more limited exclusion order was more likely to be granted.

An ITC judge said on Friday that while Apple's iPhones infringe on a patent related to power management technology, a ban will not be put in place. The judge cited "public interest factors" as one of the reasons why the court ruled against Qualcomm.

Neither Apple nor Qualcomm have commented on the decision as of yet, but it marks a major victory for Apple in its months-long legal battle with Qualcomm.

The two companies have been embroiled in an increasingly tense legal feud that kicked off in January 2017. Qualcomm and Apple have filed several more than a dozen lawsuits against one another since then.

Apple has accused Qualcomm of charging unfair royalties for "technologies they have nothing to do with," while Qualcomm claims that its inventions form the "very core" of modern mobile communication.

Earlier this week, Qualcomm further escalated the dispute by accusing Apple of providing confidential trade information and trade secrets stolen from Qualcomm to Intel.