MacRumors

Apple has officially joined Instagram.

The company opened the followable account @Apple today that will exclusively feature curated photos and videos from iPhone users around the world, according to Mashable. The report said Apple won't share any ads or marketing on the account, which has already quickly amassed thousands of followers.

Apple's presence on Instagram had been limited to ads, without a followable account, and an @AppleMusic account. Apple has traditionally shied away from social networks, with blank accounts on Facebook and Twitter that, for now, exist to serve ads. The company also runs @AppleSupport on Twitter.

Apple tells Instagram followers to use the hashtag #ShotoniPhone for a chance to have their photos and videos shared in one of the galleries.

Verizon today introduced a new Verizon Up rewards program that offers customers perks for paying their monthly bills.

For every $300 spent towards Verizon products and services, including a phone bill, customers will receive one credit, which can be exchanged for one reward. Every month, there are six new customized rewards to choose from, with the selection changing on the first day of each month.

Those rewards include up to four free months of Apple Music for new Verizon customers, and one free month for existing subscribers, along with 20 percent off roundtrip JetBlue flights, three free months of HBO NOW, up to $10 per credit towards their next device purchase, up to 2GB bonus data, and more.

Other rewards partners listed on Verizon's website include Amazon, EA Sports, Google Play, Nike, and Starbucks.

Verizon Up also provides customers with access to a limited number of tickets for events in sports, music, and entertainment, such as NFL games and Broadway shows, on a first-come, first-served basis. There also appears to be a chance to win tickets to major NFL events, including Super Bowl LII.

The rewards program is available to Verizon postpaid customers enrolled in the Verizon Selects marketing program and residing in the United States. Credits earned expire after 60 days, and all rewards have an expiration date. Additional information can be found on the Verizon Up website, video, and FAQ.

Verizon Up is available through the free My Verizon app [Direct Link] for iPhone and iPad.

Update: As a point of emphasis, the required Verizon Selects program uses personal information, such as the web addresses of the sites you visit, apps and features you use, device and advertising identifiers, and information from other companies, to provide targeted advertising and marketing.

The newest discovery found within the HomePod firmware has shed some light on the iPhone 8's facial recognition software, and how it could potentially scan a user's face even when the smartphone is lying flat on a table. Uncovered by iHelp BR, code within the firmware related to "Pearl," which is Apple's internal name for the new facial recognition system, also includes multiple references to the word "resting" alongside "unlock."

The feature was discovered to be categorized as an accessibility option, specifically called "AXRestingPearlUnlock" and "com.apple.accessibility.resting.pearl.unlock". While not an exact confirmation, the HomePod firmware discovery does corroborate a report by Bloomberg from July that said Apple was working on an "improved" facial recognition system for iPhone 8, which would replace Touch ID and allegedly work even when the smartphone was flat on a table.

That story claimed the iPhone 8's facial recognition would capture more data points than Touch ID, making it more secure. When rumors first came out that the iPhone 8 would potentially remove Touch ID completely, many iPhone users raised concerns about not being able to unlock their devices as they have been for years, due to a facial recognition system that would need to have the iPhone brought up directly in front of their face.

According to Bloomberg's report, and the new HomePod firmware findings, Apple's facial identification software will have far more nuance than simply scanning faces head-on, and allow the smartphone to be unlocked even when it's at an odd angle. At the time of the report last month, the advanced facial recognition feature was "still being tested" and had the potential to not appear in the iPhone 8 this year. The new discovery within the HomePod firmware, which runs a modified version of iOS, makes it more likely that the advanced face ID system could make it into the iPhone 8.

The firmware also includes references to Apple's facial detection software working with third-party apps, found in a string called "APPS_USING_PEARL". This means that users would potentially be able to unlock features within certain apps using their face, like they can currently within banking apps, for example, using their fingerprint and Touch ID. Another line includes a detail called "PEARL_AUTOLOCK", and iHelp BR theorizes this could be a security feature that automatically locks the iPhone when it detects someone trying to open it whose face doesn't match that of the authenticated user.

According to a recent Tweet by Mark Gurman, Apple's pitch for facial recognition will be that the new feature is "quicker, more secure, and more accurate than Touch ID." Other recent HomePod firmware leaks revealed that the iPhone 8's facial recognition will likely work with Apple Pay and that the smartphone might record 4K Video at 60 FPS with both front and rear cameras.

iOS developer Guilherme Rambo has discovered a reference to a 4K HDR display mode in the HomePod's firmware, lending credence to rumors that Apple is testing a fifth-generation Apple TV capable of streaming 4K resolution video.

HomePod doesn't have a display, and iOS devices lack the resolution for native 4K playback, so the discovery likely pertains to the Apple TV.

Rambo also discovered strings kCADisplayModeDolby and kCADisplayModeHDR10, suggesting that a 4K Apple TV could support both the Dolby Vision and HDR10 color formats for high-dynamic-range video.

Apple has also listed select movies as 4K and HDR in iTunes purchase history, at least in Canada and the United Kingdom. The content is still only playable in standard definition or HD, which varies from 720p to 1080p, but Apple could be preparing to offer iTunes content in 4K HDR for its new Apple TV.

Another developer Jeffrey Grossman‏ also spotted a possible reference to an Apple Watch with LTE support. The string, which refers to GizmoPreservingeSIM, lends credence to a report yesterday that claimed Apple Watch Series 3 models will feature cellular connectivity for use without a paired iPhone.

The relevant bit of that string is the mention of a SIM, as the Apple Watch Series 3 would presumably have an embedded SIM card if it had cellular connectivity. Another string mentions GizmoRadioBundleIdentifier, which could refer to the Apple Watch Series 3's cellular radio, reportedly to be supplied by Intel.

For those unaware, in 2015, The New York Times reported the Apple Watch was codenamed Gizmo internally.

Inside Apple, members of the team that worked on the watch product, code-named Gizmo, say it was a difficult engineering challenge.

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Last week, Apple seeded an over-the-air firmware file for the HomePod, revealing that it will run a slightly modified version of iOS. The pre-release software is said to correspond with iOS 11.0.2, and it contains references to several unreleased features that would normally be redacted before a public release.

The firmware contains a payload that can be unpacked into a filesystem using a few developer tools, giving anyone skilled enough the ability to search through thousands of strings in the software using Terminal commands and disassembly apps like Hopper. For the past eight days, that's exactly what's happened.

Since the HomePod firmware is based on a full iOS stack, many discoveries have been made not only about the smart speaker, but also potentially about the so-called iPhone 8, Apple TV, and Apple Watch.

Thanks to the HomePod firmware, we know that that the iPhone 8's front camera may record 4K video at 60 FPS, and that its infrared facial recognition capabilities may work with Apple Pay. The firmware also revealed a glyph of an iPhone 8 with a full-front display with a notch at the top for the earpiece and sensors.

As for the HomePod itself, it's been discovered that the smart speaker's multi-color LED waveform visible when interacting with Siri measures in at 272×340 pixels. HomePod also appears to have 1GB of RAM, and some of the speaker's sound effects were found buried in the firmware.

HomePod doesn't launch until December, so the firmware was likely released by accident, under the identifier AudioAccessory1,1.

Update: MacRumors discovered the string J105a in the HomePod firmware, consistent with the fifth-generation Apple TV's internal codename first revealed by Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman in February.

The third-generation Apple Watch, set to launch this fall, will have an "all-new form factor" according to Daring Fireball's John Gruber.

Gruber shared the news in a post highlighting Bloomberg's news suggesting the device will include an LTE chip.

It's hard to overstate just how big a deal this could be. No mention in Businessweek's report, though, of the all-new form factor that I've heard is coming for this year's new watches.

Most rumors about the third-generation Apple Watch have suggested it will be a more minor update that focuses on battery life and other under-the-hood improvements, but ahead of the launch of the Series 2 Apple Watch, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the third version would include the device's first redesign.

Though we're likely just over a month away from the debut of the third-generation Apple Watch, if it does indeed launch alongside new iPhones, we've heard very little about the device. Aside from rumors of LTE connectivity and a focus on battery, we don't know what else to expect.

If there are major design changes in the works, Apple has managed to keep them under wraps, perhaps because of all the focus on the iPhone 8 this year.

Update: Gruber updated his post to clarify that his information comes from "a little birdie" and that it might not be accurate: "That tidbit came from an unconfirmed little birdie, though, so I wouldn’t bet the house on it."

Apple's third-generation Apple Watch, set to launch later this year, will include its own LTE for a standalone cellular connection, reports Bloomberg.

With a cellular connection, the new Apple Watch models will be untethered from the iPhone, able to stream music, send messages, download apps, and connect to the internet without the need for an iPhone.

It's not clear if a standalone cellular plan will be needed for the Apple Watch, but it seems likely. According to Bloomberg, only a subset of carriers who sell the iPhone will support the Apple Watch, but in the U.S., AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile all plan to offer the LTE Apple Watch when it launches.

Intel, not Qualcomm, will supply the LTE modems for the Apple Watch.

Cellular connectivity for the Apple Watch is not a new rumor - we've been hearing hints of it since before the Series 2 Apple Watch was released last September. Battery issues have reportedly been holding Apple back - a cellular connection drains battery more quickly.

Previous third-generation Apple Watch rumors have suggested Apple is focusing primarily on improving battery life and the company may have made enough progress to compensate for LTE connectivity.

Aside from the inclusion of an LTE chip, not much is known about the next Apple Watch. Rumors have pointed towards a more minor update that focuses on under-the-hood hardware and performance improvements rather than external design changes.

Bloomberg believes the cellular-capable Apple Watch will launch this fall alongside new iPhones, but cautions that the device could be delayed beyond 2017.

Update: The Wall Street Journal has corroborated Bloomberg's report and says Apple will introduce an LTE Apple Watch this year. According to The Wall Street Journal, the cellular Apple Watch will likely be rolled into existing wireless plans for an additional monthly charge, similar to how LTE tablets work.

Apple is working on "several different kinds" of wearable augmented reality prototypes as it tries to figure out the "most compelling application" for an AR headset, reports Financial Times.

Citing sources with knowledge of Apple's plans, Financial Times says at least one group within Apple is pushing for a pair of glasses that feature a 3D camera but no screens, making the iPhone the main display, similar to Snap's Spectacles, but no final design decisions have been made.

Rumors of Apple's work on AR smart glasses first surfaced in 2016, and previous rumors have suggested the glasses will connect wirelessly to the iPhone, much like the Apple Watch, and will display "images and other information to the wearer."

While Robert Scoble suggested Apple could launch the smart glasses this year through a partnership with Carl Zeiss, most rumors (like today's) suggest Apple is still in a prototyping phase and that a launch is still a ways off.

Earlier this year, Financial Times said Apple was "stepping up" development on an augmented reality wearable, but a potential launch is at least a year away or longer. Bloomberg has predicted a similar timeline, suggesting Apple is perhaps aiming to launch a product in 2018.

As Apple works on AR smart glasses, the company is preparing to make its first major move into augmented reality with the launch of iOS 11 and ARKit, a set of APIs designed to allow developers to build powerful augmented reality experiences into apps and games. When ARKit launches, the iPhone and the iPad will become the largest augmented reality platform in the world given the large number of devices already out in the wild.

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Over the course of the past several months, Apple CEO Tim Cook has talked about Apple's work on augmented reality several times. Just this past week, he called it "big and profound" and said he "could not be more excited" about AR and what developers are creating with ARKit.

"This is one of those huge things that we'll look back and marvel at the start of it," he said.

Apple has updated its online store today to indicate that AirPods are now estimated to ship in four weeks in the United States, Europe, and many other regions, down from a six-week estimate listed since launching in December.

Apple hasn't disclosed AirPods sales numbers, but CEO Tim Cook has routinely said demand continues to significantly outweigh supply. Earlier this week, he revealed that Apple has increased production capacity for AirPods, which has perhaps led to the quicker turnaround time now quoted.

We're also seeing incredible enthusiasm for AirPods, with 98 percent customer satisfaction based on a Creative Strategies survey. We have increased production capacity for AirPods, and are working very hard to get them to customers as quickly as we can, but we are still not able to meet the strong level of demand.

In late December, a few weeks after AirPods launched, Cook said the wireless earphones had been "a runaway success," contributing to a "great holiday" season. Cook cheerfully noted that Apple is making them as fast as it can.

AirPods are Apple's first pair of truly wireless earphones. They instantly turn on and connect to your iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, or Mac when taken out of their charging case, thanks to Apple's custom W1 chip. Likewise, audio automatically plays as soon as you put them in your ears and pauses when you take them out.

AirPods are controlled mainly by Siri. Doubling tapping an earpiece invokes Siri, and voice commands can be used to adjust the volume, change the song, make a call, and so forth. AirPods deliver up to five hours of listening time on one charge, and a 15-minute fast charge provides up to three hours of listening time.

AirPods have received largely positive reviews, and they earned a 98 percent customer satisfaction rate in a recent Creative Strategies survey.

AirPods can be ordered on Apple's website for $159 in the United States. They're also frequently in stock at resellers such as AT&T and Verizon with delivery to most U.S. addresses in as little as 2-5 days.

Ahead of the launch of Apple's new original TV show "Carpool Karaoke: The Series," the executive producers behind the show, James Corden, Ben Winston, and Eric Pankowski, sat down with Variety to discuss topics like how the new series will differ from the original "Carpool Karaoke" segment on "The Late Late Show with James Corden," and how they decided on which celebrities to feature.

To make the show without James Corden as the focal character, the trio decided to use interesting celebrity pairings to keep people's attention.

It's all about who you would like to see with each other. And therefore when you get certain pairings, like Billy Eichner and Metallica, that's a really fascinating thing. When you see Miley Cyrus, we've seen her in lots of things before, but we've never seen her with her grandmother, her brothers, her sister, her mom and her dad. It's about finding pairings that would either be fascinating watching or they're just really great together, like John Legend and Alicia Keys.

When choosing the celebrity pairings for the show, the team aimed for organic relationships like Miley Cyrus and her family, as well as people who "would be fun together," like Billy Eichner and Metallica, Tracee Ellis Ross and Big Sean, and Shaq and John Cena.

The show was designed with an "organic nature" and will feature some elements that were unplanned, such as the Cyrus family jumping in a bouncy castle at a kid's birthday party.

Because there's no set host, the producers see each episode as "its own special." Each episode is unique because it "takes on the voice and perspective" of the celebrities who are starring in it. Seth MacFarlane and Ariana Grande, for example, will do a theatrical musical episode.

Apple's Jimmy Iovine originally approached James Corden about creating a version of the show for Apple, and the company has allowed the producers "complete creative freedom." There were no set time limits, with show length dictated by content. Corden says teaming up with Apple has been "a perfect match," while Winston says Eddy Cue had ideas for how to turn the segment into a complete series.

We were just excited by the excitement they showed for it as well. Eddy Cue really had a vision for what this show could be. They were so excited by helping us turn this into a series. For us to be with Apple, Apple has a pulse on everything that feels relevant and feels cool. The fact that they wanted to do the series with us and they backed it to the hilt like they have is a wonderful thing for us.

"Carpool Karaoke: The Series" will debut on Tuesday, August 8. Each episode is a half-hour long and features a different celebrity pairing. The show will be available to Apple Music subscribers. The full interview with additional behind the scenes info on the series can be read over at Variety.

In its semi-annual State of Mobile Networks report this week, OpenSignal claims that both AT&T and Verizon have experienced a decline in 4G LTE speeds since each carrier reintroduced an unlimited data plan in February. OpenSignal blames the slowdown on an increase in data demand now that caps have been removed.

From April through June, AT&T's average LTE download speed was 12.92 Mbps, while Verizon averaged 14.91 Mbps, according to crowdsourced data from thousands of users with the OpenSignal app for iOS or Android.

By comparison, OpenSignal's last report measured average LTE speeds for AT&T and Verizon at 13.86 Mbps and 16.89 Mbps respectively, based on crowdsourced data collected from 169,683 users with the OpenSignal app for iOS or Android installed between October 1 and December 31, 2016.

T-Mobile was declared as the fastest network in the United States during the testing period. The carrier's average LTE speed was 17.45 Mbps, up from 16.65 Mbps in OpenSignal's last report. Sprint's average LTE speed also rose to 9.76 Mbps, up from 8.99 Mbps in the previous study.

AT&T or Verizon remained the fastest network in select U.S. cities, including Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Diego, and San Francisco.

OpenSignal says its data is collected from regular consumer smartphones and recorded under conditions of normal usage, be it indoors, outdoors, in a city, or in the countryside. For this particular report, it said 5,073,211,200 data points were collected from 172,919 users between April 1 and June 30, 2017.

Apple today uploaded two additional videos in its series that stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Apple's personal assistant Siri, both of which are meant to show off Siri's range of functionality.

In the first video, The Rock uses Siri to activate the HomeKit-connected lights in his gym, and in the second, he speaks in Mandarin, demonstrating Siri's ability to work with multiple languages.

Support for multiple languages is one of the main differentiating factors between Siri and other voice-based AI assistants like Alexa and Cortana.

Both of today's videos are new, but look similar to scenes that were in the original "The Rock x Siri Dominate the Day" spot, which is three and a half minutes in length. In the first ad, The Rock is seen using Siri throughout an entire day as he commandeers a plane, cooks a meal in a high-end restaurant, and ends up in space.

Apple yesterday shared three other short ads depicting The Rock asking the personal assistant to set a reminder, set a timer, and take a selfie.

Apple's partnership with The Rock to highlight Siri features comes as Apple gears up to release its first Siri-based speaker at the end of this year, the HomePod. Siri is also an important part of the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with Apple undoubtedly hoping to increase awareness about all of the things Siri can do through the ad series.

AT&T has tentatively agreed to sell a flagship smartphone made by Chinese company Huawei, according to The Information.

The report, citing people familiar with the matter, said the device AT&T carries may resemble Huawei's upcoming Mate 10 smartphone, a new high-end model that the company is rumored to unveil in Europe this October. However, the smartphone could have a different name in the United States.

A deal isn’t finalized until the phone clears all the technical hurdles and the companies agree on the commercial terms of the release. Huawei’s engineers are working on hardware and software modifications that are necessary for meeting U.S. telecom standards and AT&T’s requirements, the people said.

The partnership would be a major win for Huawei, already the world's third largest smartphone maker by market share.

Huawei is the most popular smartphone maker in China, and it has aggressively pushed into Canada and several European countries, but it has considerably less brand awareness in the United States, where it lacks agreements with the big four carriers Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and until now, AT&T.

American customers have to resort to retailers such as Best Buy, Walmart, or Amazon to purchase a Huawei smartphone, reducing the brand's visibility in a country where Apple and Samsung reign supreme.

Huawei's reputation also suffered when it was banned from selling network equipment in the United States. In 2012, citing a risk to national security, a U.S. congressional report raised concerns that Huawei could build backdoors in their equipment to leak sensitive information from the U.S. to China.

Huawei has denied those claims, and the company has expressed hope that the ban will eventually be lifted. Of note, the ban doesn't appear to affect Huawei's ability to sell smartphones in the United States.

A deal with AT&T could help Huawei achieve its lofty goal of becoming the world's largest smartphone maker by 2021, a feat that would require leapfrogging both Apple and Samsung in sales.

Huawei shipped an estimated 38.4 million smartphones in the June quarter, a 20 percent increase over a year ago, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. By comparison, Apple reported it sold 41 million iPhones in the same period, up nearly 2 percent from the year-ago quarter.

"Huawei is now closing in fast on Apple and Apple will be looking nervously over its shoulder in the next few quarters," said Woody Oh, Director at Strategy Analytics. "Huawei is outperforming across Asia, Europe and Africa with popular Android models such as the P10 and Mate 9."

Huawei held just 1 percent market share in the United States as of the first quarter, according to research firm IDC.