Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming watchOS 4.3 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the first beta and two weeks after releasing watchOS 4.2.2, a minor update focusing on bug fixes and performance improvements.
Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software update.
To install the update, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it has to be in range of the iPhone.
watchOS 4.3 brings support for Nightstand mode in portrait orientation, a feature that was previously only available when the watch was in landscape orientation.
There's a new charging animation when the Apple Watch is placed on the charger, and your Activity data is now displayed on the Siri watch face.
The update also includes the return of a much-desired feature that allows music playing on the iPhone to be controlled using the Music app on the Apple Watch. In prior versions of watchOS, the Music app could only be used to control music playing from the watch itself. With tvOS 11.3 installed, there's also an option to control music playing on the Apple TV with the watch.
Apple plans to release watchOS 4.3 to the public in the spring, and until then, it will be limited to developers. Apple offers public betas of tvOS, iOS, and macOS, but watchOS betas are not available for public beta testers.
Yesterday, reviews for the HomePod launched online and with them new details about Apple's smart speaker began emerging ahead of its release date on February 9. One new tidbit of information came from Rene Ritchie's review of the speaker on iMore, which confirmed that any music streamed via HomePod does not count toward an Apple Music subscription's device streaming limit. Additionally, HomePod does not count toward the 10 device limit placed on devices associated with an Apple ID.
This means that subscribers with single memberships to Apple Music will be able to ask Siri to play a song on HomePod while listening to music on another iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Prior to HomePod, if single membership users streamed Apple Music on an iPhone and then began listening to music on a Mac, for example, the iPhone would disconnect from the music and serve up a warning about the new stream.
#HomePod doesn’t count against any simultaneous device or streaming limits.
Set up 10 of them. Leave the house. Listen on your iPhone. Everyone at home can still listen on any/all HomePods.
(That part’s glorious.) https://t.co/6u4sQbU5Pm
— Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) February 6, 2018
When users get their HomePods this weekend, it appears that they won't have to worry about the speaker taking up similar streaming limits on their Apple Music accounts. Apple Music family plans already support simultaneous streaming across multiple devices, but the HomePod feature should work the same for those users as well.
That includes HomePod not counting against any Apple Music device or concurrent stream limit — set it up one or more HomePods with your iPhone or iPad, leave the house with that device, and anyone who stays or comes home can still listen to Apple Music on any or all the HomePods you've set up.
Another small tidbit relates to how HomePod affects each user's music recommendations within the "For You" tab of Apple Music. According to The Loop's Jim Dalrymple, there's a toggle in the HomePod section of the Home app (where the speaker will be controlled on iOS devices), and turning it off allows users to prevent the HomePod's streams from impacting how Apple Music's algorithms recommend new music.
When using the feature, no music streamed via HomePod will count towards the subscriber's overall taste profile, but if users want HomePod streams to affect recommendations they can ignore the setting.
One thing about having multiple people access the HomePod that bothered me was that it would affect my “For You” section in Apple Music.
When you love songs, play songs and add songs to your library, Apple Music will suggest similar music, assuming that is what you want. If someone else, or a group of people come over and start playing genres you don’t like, it would screw everything up.
Well, it turns out I didn’t have to worry about that after all. There is a setting in the Home app that allows you to prevent the music played on HomePod from affecting the “For You” section of Apple Music.
This way, when users know a lot of people will be around the HomePod -- at a party, for example -- they can toggle the setting off. Then, if other people begin asking HomePod to play music that doesn't particularly align with the tastes of the main account, that Apple Music subscriber's New Music Mix and other song/artist recommendations won't be thrown off.
The same setting will also control the albums and playlists that appear on an Apple Music profile. In leaked screenshots posted by iGen in January, it was confirmed that turning off this one setting will prevent both music recommendations from being affected as well as "Listening To" history from being updated. It also synchronizes the playback status of podcasts on all devices connected to the same Apple ID.
If you're interested in reading up on everything else we know about the HomePod so far, be sure to check out our full HomePod Roundup.
The follow-up email blames the mishap on a "processing error" and adds that all future reports of these kind will require developers to sign into their accounts to view their dashboards to ensure this issue does not occur again.
Um Apple you might want to check why Search Ads is emailing me some other developer's ad spend details pic.twitter.com/hfBcsqpCiy
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) February 6, 2018
Thank you for being a part of the iOS developer community and for using our new Search Ads Basic service.
Due to a processing error, the January monthly results email we sent to you contains incorrect app promotion information.
Accurate performance information is always available in your Search Ads account. To ensure such an issue will not recur, all future performance communications will direct you to sign in to your account to view your Dashboard.
We apologize for the inconvenience this error has caused. We value your business and will work hard to make our new Basic service something you'll love.
Introduced late last year, Search Ads Basic works so that developers only pay out if a user installs the app. It includes suggestions on how much a developer should pay based on historical data pulled from the App Store based on the type of app being marketed, and uses App Store trends to target the ideal audience.
Over the past few weeks, iOS app developers have been sharing stories on Twitter about their apps getting rejected by Apple's App Review team because emojis were used in "non-keyboard based situations." So if an app displayed an emoji in its user interface, where the user did not type it in with a keyboard, Apple said it was not complying with its trademark and Apple Emoji imagery guidelines.
As accounts of similar situations begin to build, Emojipedia this week reported on the topic, and attempted to make sense of the new rules, with a handful of examples of apps that have been using emoji within their UI and are now being rejected by Apple. In the iOS app "Reaction Match," a Game Center error screen saw the use of the loudly crying face and alien emojis become problems for developer Eddie Lee. He eventually removed all instances of the emojis, and the App Store reviewers then accepted the app.
Image of Reaction Match's rejected (left) and approved (right) app screens via Emojipedia
Github client app GitHawk faced similar issues, with Apple rejecting the app for its use of emojis as "media" in various parts of the app. As developer and software engineer Ryan Nystrom explained, these instances of "non text input" emoji use got flagged, but once he removed the emojis and used them only as "content" and as text input examples, the app was approved.
Like other newly discovered App Store guidelines, there is some inconsistency in Apple's processes and the exact rules remain unclear. For example, a few major apps apparently violate the new emoji-as-text-only rule -- like Snapchat's emoji friend scores -- but appear to not have had issues in recent updates. Other areas of uncertainty include emojis in push notifications and in responses from chatbot apps.
As Emojipedia pointed out, this could affect smaller developers the most and cause their user interfaces to become less personalized.
Smaller developers will be hardest hit as Apple's professionally designed emojis were a quick and easy way to provide imagery in an app that fit in with the system. They will now need to create their own icons to fill the gap, embed a licensed emoji set, or have a naked-looking UI.
Larger developers have the budget to create their own emoji or icon sets, or to license existing ones. The largest or most popular apps may see Apple overlooking breaches of this new policy.
Apple is known to consistently introduce tweaks and updates to its App Store Review Guidelines, occasionally amending harsher rules that create unexpected problems for some apps. For example, last June Apple introduced new guidelines that banned apps created from a commercialized template or app generation service in an effort to fight clones and spam on the App Store. Eventually, the rule negatively affected small businesses who rely on such templates, and Apple amended its guidelines to be less restrictive.
Outside of the traditional emoji characters, Apple launched a new set of advanced emojis with Animoji on the iPhone X. The new feature creates 3D models of existing emojis and tracks their animations to the user's facial features using the iPhone X's TrueDepth front-facing camera, which resulted in the phenomenon of "Animoji Karaoke" videos that Apple itself eventually got in on.
Uber yesterday updated its iPhone app, and while the release notes do not mention any specific changes, the latest version appears to re-enable the ability to request a vehicle for pickup using Siri or Apple Maps.
After updating the Uber app, we were successfully able to ask Siri to hail us a ride, while tapping on the Ride tab in Apple Maps once again listed Uber as one of the ride-hailing services available alongside Lyft.
While the Siri and Apple Maps integrations are working again in the United States, we encountered errors when trying to hail an Uber with Siri and Apple Maps in Toronto, Canada, where the features were previously supported.
As noted by Christian Zibreg at iDB, some users may need to manually re-enable the Siri and Apple Maps integrations in Settings → Uber → Siri & Search and Settings → Maps under "Ride Booking Extensions."
The ability to hail an Uber ride with Siri or Apple Maps had disappeared in late January following an earlier update to the Uber app. Both features were originally added in iOS 10, and it's unclear what prompted their temporary removal.
Microsoft today updated its Cortana app for iOS with native iPad support. The design looks essentially the same as the iPhone version, but with an interface optimized for the larger 7.9-inch to 12.9-inch screen sizes of Apple's tablets.
The release notes also mention that Cortana now opens 20 percent faster:
What's new: Introducing a brand-new Cortana for iPad design. Enjoy an exclusive layout and interface for your iPad. Cortana now launches 20% faster! Enjoy a lightning-fast experience.
Like rivals Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, Cortana is a digital assistant that can set reminders, schedule calendar appointments, respond to queries, and provide other information through machine learning techniques.
Apple only allows third-party assistants to function within their apps, however, limiting their usefulness versus Siri on iPhone and iPad. For example, Cortana can't be invoked with a voice command when an iOS device is locked.
Nevertheless, iPad users now have one more assistant to choose from alongside Siri and Alexa. Cortana is available for free on the App Store.
Apple is in talks with its investment bank Goldman Sachs about the possibility of offering customers financial loans when buying Apple products, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
The Wall Street firm is in talks to offer financing to shoppers buying phones, watches and other gadgets from Apple, people familiar with the matter said. Customers purchasing a $1,000 iPhone X could take out a loan from Goldman instead of charging it to credit cards that often carry high interest rates.
Talks between Apple and Goldman Sachs remain at an early stage and could still fall apart, according to WSJ. Both the tech giant and the investment bank declined to comment for the report.
Part of Goldman's discussions with Apple are said to involve taking over some form of Apple's iPhone upgrade program, which is designed for users who want to have the newest iPhone every year and comes with AppleCare+ included.
Those who sign up for the program in its current form can trade-in their existing iPhone for a new model after 12 monthly installments are made, starting a new cycle of the program each year. Apple started the program in September 2015 with the help of Citizens Financial Group, who finance the zero-interest loans for iPhone upgrades and higher-interest options for other device purchases. The program was introduced around the same time that wireless providers began reducing buyer subsidies for iPhones.
Goldman Sachs is said to view the potential financing deal with Apple as a way of growing its new consumer bank, as it looks beyond corporate clients to more fully embrace retail banking and consumer lending. Two years ago the investment firm launched Marcus, an online lender that helps people refinance credit-card debt, while the bank is also building a "point-of-sale" financing business that will offer loans to shoppers at checkout, according to people familiar with the firm who spoke to WSJ.
Alipay, the mobile payment system offered by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, will soon be accepted in Apple retail stores across China, making it the first third-party mobile payment system to be accepted at brick-and-mortar Apple stores anywhere in the world (via Reuters).
The partnership with Apple was announced in a statement on Wednesday by Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial, which runs Alipay. Apple's regional China website, iTunes Store, and App Store have accepted Alipay for over a year, but Apple has now agreed to accept Alipay payments across all of its 41 local retail stores in the country, where Apple Pay has thus far received a lukewarm reception.
Alipay is China's most used mobile payment platform, but Alibaba is looking to keep one step ahead of Tencent Holdings' rival digital payment system, which is integrated into hugely popular chat app WeChat.
Reports of discussions about a potential partnership between Apple and Alibaba date back to November 2014, when the idea of integrating Alibaba's Alipay with Apple Pay was first considered as a more comprehensive mobile payments solution for the Chinese market.
The new macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 beta can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center or through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store with the proper profile installed.
macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 includes bug fixes and performance improvements for issues that weren't addressed in macOS High Sierra 10.13.3. The update includes support for some features that are also available in iOS 11.3, like Messages on iCloud, which uploads all of your iMessages to the cloud. It will also support Business Chat, a feature coming when iOS 11.3 and macOS 10.13.4 are released to the public.
The new macOS update also includes the smoke cloud wallpaper that was previously only available on the iMac Pro, and it introduces a warning when opening up a 32-bit app as part of an effort to phase them out.
In the future, Apple plans to phase out 32-bit Mac apps, just like it did with 32-bit iOS apps. Apple says macOS High Sierra is the last version of macOS that will support 32-bit apps without compromises.
Starting with the second beta of iOS 11.3, Apple has introduced a new "Battery Health" feature that's designed to provide you with more information about the state of your battery and whether or not it's impacting device performance.
If your iPhone has a degraded battery that is leading to throttling issues, the "Battery Health" section will let you know about it, and it will provide an option to turn off performance management to put a stop to any throttling that's going on.
There are, however, some nuances to this feature that you need to know about, which we'll outline below.
When Installing iOS 11.3
When you first install the iOS 11.3 update, all performance management features that might have been enabled are automatically disabled. So when you first install the beta, you don't need to do anything because performance management is turned off.
You will, however, need to watch out for an unexpected shutdown that turns your device off, because if this happens and you have a bad battery, performance management will be turned back on. More on this below.
Accessing Battery Health
You can check out the status of your battery in the new Battery Health section, which will tell you the maximum capacity of the battery in your iPhone and whether or not it's running at peak performance capacity. Here's how to get to it:
Open up the Settings app.
Scroll down to "Battery" and tap it.
Tap on "Battery Health."
All the info you need to know about your battery is listed here. Maximum Capacity will let you know how your battery is performing overall, and it directly correlates to how long your iPhone will last on a single charge.
Peak Performance Capability will let you know if a degraded battery has resulted in performance slowdowns.
What it Looks Like When Your Device Running Normally
When your iPhone is running as normal, under the "Peak Performance Capability" section, it will say "Your battery is currently supporting normal peak performance."
You may still have somewhat degraded Maximum Battery capacity as this number slowly declines after charging cycles, but throttling does not kick in until the battery becomes severely degraded and can no longer offer enough power to support spikes in processor usage.
What it Looks Like if You Have a Bad Battery
If you have a bad battery, it will say "Your battery's health is significantly degraded," and it will let you know that an Apple Authorized Service Provider can replace the battery to restore full performance.
It will also tell you if performance management features have been turned on, and it will provide an option to turn them off.
What Happens When You Have an Unexpected Shutdown
As mentioned above, all performance management features are disabled automatically upon installing iOS 11.3. If your device has a bad battery and it shuts down because of it, performance management will be automatically enabled.
If this happens, you will see the following message under "Peak Performance Capability" in Battery Health.
"This iPhone has experienced an unexpected shutdown because the battery was unable to deliver the necessary peak power. Performance management has been applied to prevent this from happening again."
If you have an unexpected shutdown AND your battery capacity is significantly degraded, you'll see a slightly different message suggesting an immediate battery replacement.
How to Disable Performance Management if Your Battery is Bad
After experiencing an unexpected shutdown, performance management is turned on automatically on your iPhone. You will, however, see a small "Disable" option when this happens, and if you tap it, you'll be given the option to disable performance management.
Disabling performance management will turn off any throttling that's been applied, but it will leave your device vulnerable to future unexpected shutdowns.
You will not see the option to disable performance management until your device has experienced at least one unexpected shutdown, and once you disable it, there is no option to turn it on again.
If your iPhone shuts down again while performance management is disabled, though, performance management will automatically turn it on again.
This means you will need to turn performance management off again each time your device experiences an unexpected shutdown, as Apple believes slower performance is preferable to sudden losses of power.
How to Permanently Disable Performance Management
If you have a device with a bad battery that is experiencing unexpected shutdowns and is subjected to Apple's performance management feature, the only permanent solution is to get a new battery.
Having your battery replaced will restore an older iPhone to full working order, with maximum capacity and performance capabilities.
Apple is offering $29 battery replacements for the iPhone 6 and newer through the end of 2018. Your battery does not need to be experiencing shutdowns to be replaced - you can also get a replacement for a battery that's not operating at maximum capacity, no questions asked. You can get one $29 battery replacement per device.
Newer devices like the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X that have a high maximum capacity near 100% don't need replacement, but at levels below 90%, it could be worth getting a new battery while Apple is still offering them at a discounted price. To get a battery replacement, contact Apple Support.
If you have AppleCare+ or are under your one-year device warranty and have a battery that's below 80 percent, you won't even need to pay the $29 fee -- that's considered a defective battery and Apple will replace it for free.
Devices Impacted by Performance Management
Performance management features have been installed on the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus, and SE. On other iPhones, like the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X, you will be able to see readings for Maximum Capacity and Peak Performance Capability, but you won't need to worry about throttling or unexpected shutdowns.
Apple's newest iPhones, including the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X, use a "different performance management system" than older iPhones, which means any performance management features may be less noticeable on these devices.
Apple outlined the difference between its newer iPhones and older models in an updated support document covering the Battery Health features introduced in today's iOS 11.3 beta. Apple says iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X use a more advanced hardware and software design that's better able to estimate power needs and battery performance.
iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X models use a more advanced hardware and software design that provides a more accurate estimation of both power needs and the battery's power capability to maximize overall system performance. This allows a different performance management system that more precisely allows iOS to anticipate and avoid an unexpected shutdown. As a result, the impacts of performance management may be less noticeable on iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X. Over time, the rechargeable batteries in all iPhone models will diminish in their capacity and peak performance and will eventually need to be replaced.
Though the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X may be less impacted by performance management features in the future, Apple says that the rechargeable batteries in all iPhone models will eventually diminish in capacity and need to be replaced for the iPhone to continue running at peak performance.
While Apple previously said that the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X do not have power management features installed at the current time, today's updated support document gives us some insight into how these devices might be affected in the future.
Apple has implemented performance management features in the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Plus. As of iOS 11.3 beta 2, customers can check to see if their devices are impacted by processor slowdowns in a new "Battery Health" section of the Settings app.
Installing iOS 11.3 will turn off any current performance management features on older devices, and it will only be reimplemented if and when a device experiences an unexpected shutdown. Customers also have the option of turning off the feature even after an unexpected shutdown, but it will need to be disabled after each performance failure.
For devices that have degraded batteries that are causing performance issues, replacing the battery solves the problem. Apple is continuing to offer $29 battery replacements through the end of 2018.
iOS 10.2.1, introduced on January 23, 2017, has become one of Apple's most infamous iOS updates as it marked the introduction of power management features that slow down older iPhones with degraded batteries.
Apple introduced the update, and designed the power management features, to fix unexpected shutdowns that were impacting iPhone 6 and 6s devices.
When iOS 10.2.1 was first released in January of 2017, Apple made no mention that it addressed unexpected shutdowns, and the company did not bring up the issue again until a month later, in February of 2017. On February 23, Apple explained that the iOS 10.2.1 introduced "improvements to reduce occurrences of unexpected shutdowns."
In a recent inquiry, Senator John Thune, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, asked Apple why there was a discrepancy between the time that the update was introduced and the time when Apple explained what was in the update, a question Apple answered today.
Apple says that iOS users were not immediately informed about the power management features in iOS 10.2.1 because it first needed to confirm that the update successfully solved the problem causing unexpected shutdowns. From Reuters' Stephen Nellis:
After gathering and analyzing data, we issued the iOS 10.2.1 software update in January 2017, for iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE.
Then we looked at the diagnostic data made available by the update, and it indicated that the rate of unexpected shutdowns was greatly reduced for iPhone 6 and 6s owners. In February 2017, we updated our iOS 10.2.1 Read Me notes to let customers know the update "improves power management during peak workloads to avoid unexpected shutdowns." We also provided a statement to several press outlets and said that we were seeing positive results from the software update.
Even after Apple provided details on iOS 10.2.1, customers did not know the full extent of how the power management features worked until December of 2017, which is why Apple has landed in hot water with customers and government officials around the world.
In addition to the inquiry from Senator Thule, Apple is also being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to determine whether Apple violated security laws "concerning its disclosures" when it launched the iOS 10.2.1 update.
Apple is facing dozens of lawsuits over the issue, and the company is also dealing with inquiries in countries that include China, Italy, South Korea, France, and Brazil.
Target this week has launched one of the first notable App Store and iTunes gift card discounts since the holidays, offering shoppers the chance to buy one iTunes card at regular price and get a second one for 20 percent off. While not as good as the straight 15 percent discounts for a single card we've seen over the past few months, this is one of the only iTunes card sales going on right now, so it could be a good opportunity to add some credit to your iTunes account.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
The offer is valid on $15, $25, $50, and $100 iTunes cards and will be delivered via email. The 20 percent discount will be applied to the lower priced item, so multiple price tiers can be added at once, and after two cards are placed in your cart you'll notice the discount. Target noted that quantities are limited, but the sale is planned to last through Friday, February 16 at 11:59 p.m. PT. We've rounded up a few examples of the savings you can net with Target's new offer below:
2x $15 iTunes cards: $27, down from $30
2x $25 iTunes cards: $45, down from $50
2x $50 iTunes Cards: $90, down from $100
If you're a Costco member, you have a chance to save a bit more money with discounts closer to the 15 percent savings seen in previous iTunes gift card sales. Costco's members-only iTunes sale will end this Saturday, February 10.
In addition to the iTunes card sales, Amazon's Gold Box Deal of the Day might be worth checking out for anyone interested in saving money on an older, refurbished iMac. The timed deal has the 21.5-inch iMac from late 2013 (2.9GHz, 8GB RAM, 1TB HD) priced at $699.99, down from $1,199.99. The iMac is sold by Woot through Amazon, and is said to show limited or no wear and include all original accessories.
If you're looking for more information on the latest discounts, head over to our full Deals Roundup.
The iOS 11.3 beta 2 update, seeded to developers this morning, introduces a new "Battery Health" feature that's designed to provide iOS users with more information about their batteries.
Located in the Battery section of the Settings app, the new Battery Health feature tells you the maximum capacity of your battery and whether or not it is operating at peak capacity.
What you'll see if your device is operating normally
On devices that are operating at full battery capacity, such as the newly released iPhone X, there is no toggle to turn off the throttling feature that causes iPhones with degraded batteries to run more slowly. An updated support document that outlines the feature says that on a device with a battery that needs to be replaced, power management can be toggled off.
What you'll see if your device has a degraded battery
Power management will be disabled on all devices when the iOS 11.3 beta is installed, but if an iPhone experiences an unexpected shutdown, power management will automatically be turned on.
Additionally, users can see if the performance management feature that dynamically manages maximum performance to prevent unexpected shutdowns is on and can choose to turn it off. This feature is enabled only after an unexpected shutdown first occurs on a device with a battery that has diminished ability to deliver maximum instantaneous power. This feature applies to iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Plus.
Apple says that if power management is manually disabled after being enabled due to a shutdown, it won't be able to be turned back on. It will, however, turn on once again automatically if another unexpected shutdown occurs, so it sounds like users may need to turn the feature off more than once on a device that is experiencing issues.
Apple's Battery Health feature is listed as being a "Beta" feature, and Apple will likely continue to refine and update its Battery Health feature over the course of the beta testing period.
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.3 update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after seeding the first beta and two weeks after releasing the tvOS 11.2.5 update.
Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the tvOS 11.3 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that's installed using Xcode and Apple Configurator.
The tvOS 11.3 update introduces support for AirPlay 2, allowing the Apple TV to be added to the Home app as part of a HomeKit setup.
With AirPlay 2, you can play a song on multiple Apple TVs in different rooms, and when AirPlay 2 officially launches, that same functionality will extend to other AirPlay 2 devices like HomePod and AirPlay 2 compatible speakers.
Other new features in tvOS 11.3 include enhancements to Match Content support, automatic frame rate switching on the fourth-generation Apple TV, and automatic mode switching for AirPlay video sessions.
Update: tvOS 11.3 beta 2 fixes a bug that caused the Play/Pause button on the Apple TV Siri Remote not to function properly.
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming iOS 11.3 update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after seeding the first beta and two weeks after releasing iOS 11.2.5, an update that focused primarily on bug fixes and security improvements.
Registered developers can download the iOS 11.3 beta from Apple's Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.
iOS 11.3 is a major update that introduces a long list of new features, like Messages on iCloud for storing your iMessages in iCloud, and ARKit 1.5, a new, upgraded version of ARKit that can more accurately map irregularly shaped surfaces and recognize and place objects on vertical surfaces like walls.
There are four new Animoji on the iPhone X (dragon, bear, skull, and lion), and in the Health app, there's a new Health Records feature that aggregates all of your medical records in one easy-to-access place. Health Records are limited to participating institutions, though.
AirPlay 2 features have been introduced in iOS 11.3 and tvOS 11.3, allowing audio to be played to multiple Apple TVs, and for HomeKit, iOS 11.3 introduces official support for HomeKit software authentication options.
Other new features include a new "For You" section in Apple News that displays the top videos of the day, support for Advanced Mobile Location (AML) for more accurate location when placing an emergency call in a supported country, more information about app size in the Updates tap in the App Store, and a new Privacy screen and icon that will show up whenever Apple asks you for info. iBooks has also had the "i" removed from its name, so it's just "Books" now, and the App Store now lets you sort reviews by most helpful, most favorable, most critical, and most recent.
In the future, Apple plans to introduce more detailed information about the health of a device's battery. The update should provide a lot more data about battery health, and there will also be an option to let customers turn off the power management feature entirely, though Apple does not recommend disabling it. The new features will be available in Settings --> Battery and are available for iPhone 6 and later.
Business Chat, which will let you interface with businesses like Wells Fargo, Delta, Hilton and Lowe's right in the Messages app is coming when iOS 11.3 is released, and improvements to Apple Music will bring better support for music videos. Users will be able to stream music videos without adds and create and view music video playlists.
iOS 11.3 will be released to the public in the spring. Spring kicks off on March 20, so iOS 11.3 will be in testing for quite some time.
Update: According to Apple's release notes, starting with iOS 11.3 beta 2, users performing tethered updates or restores on iPhone X will need to use iTunes 12.7.3. Apple says certain features, including Face ID, may not work as expected when using an older version of iTunes. Apple also says that the current beta does not support the 6th-generation iPod touch, but support will be added in a future beta release.
Update 2: As outlined in a separate post, iOS 11.3 beta 2 introduces a new "Battery Health" section to the Battery portion of the Settings app, which provides iOS users with more information about the health of their iPhone battery. It includes details on current maximum capacity, current operating performance, and if an iPhone is subjected to throttling via power management features, it offers a toggle to turn it off.
Apple is considering providing rebates to customers who purchased full-price iPhones before its reduced-cost $29 battery replacements were made available, reports Recode.
Apple confirmed that it is exploring the option following an inquiry from U.S. Senator John Thune, who asked whether Apple would offer rebates to customers who had already purchased new batteries at higher prices.
Has Apple explored whether consumers who paid the full, non-discounted price for a replacement batter in an effort to restore performance should be allowed to seek a rebate for some of the purchase price?"
Apple vice president for public policy Cynthia Hogan answered Thune's inquiry today and said that Apple is indeed looking into whether a rebate program can be provided to customers. "Yes, we are exploring this and will update you accordingly," she told Thune.
Apple began offering customers with an iPhone 6 and newer low-cost $29 battery replacements starting in December following outrage over the company's decision to introduce an iPhone-slowing power management feature in older devices.
Though the power management feature was first introduced in iOS 10.2.1 early in 2017, the details behind how it works were not fully discovered or explained by Apple until December. As it turns out, in older devices with degraded batteries, the power management feature can result in processor throttling at times of peak usage. Replacing the battery in affected devices solves the problem.
When Apple made $29 battery replacements available to customers in late December it also provided some customers who had already made a purchase with refunds, but the company limited refunds to batteries purchased on or after December 14. Customers who purchased a replacement battery before December 14 at the full $79 price have not been able to get their money back.
Should Apple make a rebate program available to customers who previously made a battery purchase, it would presumably cover customers who purchased replacement batteries earlier in the year.
The European Commission today announced it has accepted requests from Austria, France, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Sweden to assess Apple's proposed acquisition of Shazam. The agreement is still pending approval.
The regulatory body will consider whether the transaction may lead to a significant adverse effect on competition in Europe:
On the basis of the elements submitted by Austria and the countries joining the referral request, and without prejudice to the outcome of its full investigation, the Commission considers that the transaction may have a significant adverse effect on competition in the European Economic Area. The Commission has also concluded that it is the best placed authority to deal with the potential cross-border effects of the transaction.
The European Commission didn't specify how the deal could hurt competition, but Shazam does have partnerships with European companies like Spotify that could be affected by the acquisition. However, it's standard for major acquisitions to be subject to review, so the deal may be approved of without scrutiny.
Apple confirmed it plans to acquire Shazam in December in a statement provided to MacRumors and other publications:
We are thrilled that Shazam and its talented team will be joining Apple. Since the launch of the App Store, Shazam has consistently ranked as one of the most popular apps for iOS. Today, it's used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, across multiple platforms. Apple Music and Shazam are a natural fit, sharing a passion for music discovery and delivering great music experiences to our users. We have exciting plans in store, and we look forward to combining with Shazam upon approval of today's agreement.
Shazam is a popular service that can identify the name and lyrics of songs, music videos, TV shows, and more. It has apps across iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, and iMessage, while the service has been built into Siri since iOS 8. The app is also integrated with streaming music services like Apple Music.
In September 2016, Shazam announced that its mobile apps had been downloaded more than one billion times since launching. Shazam's original iPhone app launched in 2008, and uses machine learning algorithms to identify audio clips. The app has since expanded into areas like augmented reality.
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