MacRumors

A proposed class action lawsuit in the U.S. has accused Google of violating federal wiretap laws by tracking the online activities of users when in Incognito mode.

According to Reuters, the class action argues that by surreptitiously collecting information about what people view online and where they browse when they use Chrome's private browsing mode, Google has been intentionally deceiving customers into believing that they have control over the information they share with the company.

According to the complaint filed in the federal court in San Jose, California, Google gathers data through Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager and other applications and website plug-ins, including smartphone apps, regardless of whether users click on Google-supported ads.

This helps Google learn about users' friends, hobbies, favorite foods, shopping habits, and even the "most intimate and potentially embarrassing things" they search for online, the complaint said.

Google "cannot continue to engage in the covert and unauthorized data collection from virtually every American with a computer or phone," the complaint said.

Google has said it will defend itself "vigorously' against the claims.

"Incognito mode in Chrome gives you the choice to browse the internet without your activity being saved to your browser or device," said Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda. "As we clearly state each time you open a new incognito tab, websites might be able to collect information about your browsing activity."

The three plaintiffs argue that the lawsuit likely covers "millions" of Google users who since June 1, 2016 browsed the internet using Incognito mode. The proposed class action therefore seeks $5,000 in damages per user for violations of federal wiretapping and California privacy laws, amounting to at least $5 billion.

Market research firm Canalys has forecast a sharp drop in PC and tablet sales in 2020 due to the economic recession brought on by the global health crisis.

PC shipments fell by approximately 9 percent in the first quarter, and Canalys predicts a marginal recovery in the second and third quarters, with shipments projected to be down year on year.

According to the report, PC and tablet shipments are expected to reach 367.8 million units by the end of this year, down 7 percent from 395.6 million units in 2019. Apple in particular could see lower shipments of iPads if consumers consider them "non-esential" purchases.

If the economy does not show major signs of recovery by Q4, Canalys expects that consumers will move away from discretionary spending on non-essential devices, such as Apple tablets, at the end of the year. We expect the recovery in the US to be delayed until 2022, when the market will grow 4% year on year.

The report follows data shared by Gartner on Monday indicating iPhone sales dropped eight percent in the first quarter of 2020, although other smartphone manufacturers saw much steeper drops in sales.

WhatsApp has been updated to allow users to create group video chats with up to 50 people on the social platform, thanks to an integration with Facebook's recently announced Messenger Rooms feature.

Facebook unveiled Messenger Rooms as an alternative to Zoom and Group FaceTime in April, releasing it to a small trial group of users. Facebook said part of its plan was to extend the capability to its WhatsApp and Instagram platforms, and now both apps have been updated to support the integration.

The following steps walk you through the process of setting up a Messenger Room. Bear in mind that you'll need Facebook Messenger installed on your device as well, as WhatsApp hands over to Facebook's messaging app when creating a new room. A Facebook account is not required to participate in these chats, but you can only create a group video chat with a Facebook account.

1. Launch WhatsApp on your iPhone.
2. Create a new group chat from the Chat tab by tapping the note icon in the top-right corner of the screen. Alternately, select an existing group chat room and skip to step 6.
3. Select New Group.
4. Select people in your contacts to add to the group, then tap Next.
5. Give your new group a subject name, then tap Create.
6. Once you're in the new group, tap the plus (+) button and select Room.
7. In the card that appears, tap Continue in Messenger.
8. Wait for the others to join your room. From here, you can also share a link to the room with others so they can join.

Messenger Rooms aren't end-to-end encrypted like ‌FaceTime‌ or WhatsApp group video chats, so it's meant to be used on a more casual basis, but Messenger does allow you to lock a room to limit the amount of people who have joined the room.

The fourth-generation iPad Air may be equipped with a USB-C port instead of a Lightning port, according to a new report from Japanese site Mac Otakara that says the information comes from a Chinese supplier.

Apple transitioned to USB-C for its iPad Pro models in 2018, but other iPads have continued to feature a Lightning port for charging purposes. Mac Otakara says that the new ‌iPad Air‌ will be based on the 11-inch ‌iPad Pro‌, which is in line with prior rumors that we've heard.

Rumors earlier this year suggested that Apple is working on an 11-inch ‌iPad Air‌, which could launch in the second half of 2020. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently said that Apple is working on a 10.8-inch iPad, and while he didn't say it was an "Air" model, it fits in with other rumors about a new ‌iPad Air‌.

One rumor from leaker L0vetodream has indicated the upcoming ‌iPad Air‌ could feature a mini-LED display with an under-display version of Touch ID instead of Face ID, but it remains to be seen if that info will turn out to be accurate as it hasn't yet been backed up with a second source.

‌Mac Otakara‌ also mentions the upcoming iPad mini, which Kuo previously said would measure in at 8.5 to 9 inches. This new ‌iPad mini‌, coming in 2021, is expected to continue to feature a Lightning port rather than a USB-C port.

iCloud appears to be down for many people at the current time, based on complaints from MacRumors readers and Twitter users.

Apple's system status page was not initially displaying an error when the problems started, but has been updated to confirm an issue with ‌iCloud‌ account sign ins. The support site says that some users may be unable to sign in to their ‌iCloud‌ accounts and may also be unable to access ‌iCloud‌ web apps and ‌iCloud‌ Mail.

Some users are seeing a message about needing to verify their ‌iCloud‌ accounts, and when attempting to sign in, are getting an error message that says "The application you have selected does not exist." Other iCloud-based services such as Apple Pay are also not working properly, and app specific passwords are failing.

There's no word on when the ‌iCloud‌ problem will be fixed, but we'll update this article when Apple addresses it.

Update: According to Apple's System Status page, the ‌iCloud‌ issue has been fixed.

Apps developed for the Mac often don't receive as much coverage as apps designed for iPhones and iPads, so we have a series at MacRumors that highlights interesting Mac apps that are worth taking a look at. This month's apps are designed to make working from home a little bit easier.

• Meeter (Free) - Working from home often involves a lot of video meetings, and right now, most personal events are also being held online with apps like Zoom and Google Hangouts. Meeter is an app that manages all of your upcoming calls, so you can see what's happening at a glance and keep track of which app you're supposed to be using. Meeter automatically picks up upcoming calls when connected to a calendar, and it supports all kinds of meeting platforms.
• Mic Drop ($6.99) - Mic Drop is a simple little menu bar app that lets you quickly mute your microphone, which is great when you have an emergency during a meeting and need to cut the sound quick. Along with working from the menu bar, it can also be activated with a global shortcut. Mic Drop works with all meeting apps, including Zoom, Slack, FaceTime, Houseparty, and more.
• Paletro ($6.99) - Paletro shows you all of the shortcuts for the app you have open. So if you're running Apple's Mail app and tap Shift-Command-P, you can see all a list of shortcuts that work with the app. It has a handy search interface so you can search for the command you're looking for, and it's a useful way to get more familiar with keyboard shortcuts. Paletro costs $6.99, but there's a 14-day free trial so you can see if it works for you before purchasing.
• Weather mini ($4.99) - Most of us aren't spending a lot of time outside right now, but if you're planning a hike or a walk, it's still useful to be able to check the weather. Weather mini adds a compact weather app to the Dock on your Mac, which displays current weather conditions and the temperature at a glance. Clicking it provides more weather information, including hourly and daily forecasts.
• Command E (Free) - Command E connects to your cloud apps and lets you search through them quickly and easily with a simple Command-E keyboard shortcut. It works with all kinds of cloud services like Dropbox, Box, G Suite, Trello, Asana, Evernote, Zendesk, Slack, and more, making it faster to find specific files and entries that you're looking for.

Know of a must-have Mac app that we haven't highlighted yet? Let us know in the comments below and we might feature it in a future video. For more of our Mac app picks, check out our essential Mac apps archive.

Apple is planning to add a built-in language translation feature and full Apple Pencil support to Safari in iOS and iPadOS 14, according to details found in a leaked version of iOS 14 by 9to5Mac.

Safari's built-in translation feature would allow users to translate web pages without using a third-party app or service. If such a feature comes to iOS 14, we can probably also count on it coming to the next-generation version of macOS as well.

The code suggests the translation option will be available for each website that's visited, but an automatic translation feature will also be able to be turned on, similar to Chrome's automatic translation. Apple also appears to be testing translation options for other apps, such as the App Store, allowing users to do things like read reviews in other languages.

Apple's translations are powered by the Neural Engine and may work with or without an internet connection.

As for the ‌Apple Pencil‌, Apple may be planning to add full support for ‌Apple Pencil‌ input on websites, which would allow it to be used for drawing and marking up. This feature would be limited to iPadOS 14 as the ‌Apple Pencil‌ does not work on iPhones.

Earlier this year, MacRumors discovered new PencilKit features that will allow users to handwrite text in any text input field using the ‌Apple Pencil‌, with the handwritten content then converted into standard text.

The code also indicates Apple is working on a kind of "Magic Fill" feature that will let users draw a general shape in an app and have it filled in by the operating system.

The leaked version of iOS 14 that's been floating around the internet is an early version of the software and it's not clear if Apple's development plans have changed or if some features might be delayed due to the global health crisis.

We'll find out what we can expect in iOS 14 on June 22, which is when Apple's virtual WWDC event is set to kick off.

The next iteration of the Apple Pencil could be available in black for the first time, according to leaker Mr. White who shared the tidbit on Twitter this morning.

We haven't heard rumors of a next-generation ‌Apple Pencil‌ and it's not clear when a new model might be released. Apple is rumored to be working on mini-LED versions of the iPad Pro, and it's possible that a new ‌Apple Pencil‌ could be unveiled alongside the upgraded tablets.

There were initial rumors suggesting a 12.9-inch mini-LED ‌iPad Pro‌ could launch in the fall of 2020, but more recent information has indicated that Apple's plans have been delayed and mini-LED ‌iPad Pro‌ models won't be coming until sometime in 2021.

Apple also already refreshed the 11 and 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ models in March of 2020, so it seems unlikely that we're going to see a new ‌Apple Pencil‌ at any point in 2020.

Both the original ‌Apple Pencil‌ and the ‌Apple Pencil‌ 2 designed for 2018, 2019, and 2020 ‌iPad Pro‌ models are available only in white, even though the iPad itself comes in multiple colors. Apple could perhaps in the future offer the ‌Apple Pencil‌ in a few colors matching the available finishes of the ‌iPad Pro‌ models.

Mr. White doesn't often leak details about Apple's product plans, but he has shared multiple hardware prototypes in the past, some of which have been accurate and some of which have not been accurate.

Apple today updated its Apple Research app to introduce updates for its Apple Hearing Study and its Apple Heart & Movement Study.

There's a new "Speech in Noise" test that's available in the Apple Hearing Study, with the test designed to help researchers understand participants' hearing ability under various circumstances, including when background noise is present.

For the Apple Heart & Movement Study, there's a new survey available that will help researchers understand the impact of COVID-19 on daily life.

This update includes bug fixes and improvements, including:

- New 'Speech in Noise' test in the Apple Hearing Study to help understand participants' hearing ability under various circumstances, including the presence of background noise
- New survey in the Apple Heart & Movement Study to help understand the impact of COVID-19 on daily life

Those who have downloaded the Apple Research app and have signed up to join one of the above studies will see the new additions to the app.

Apple first launched the Apple Research app in November 2019. The app was created to make it easier for iPhone users to participate in and contribute to medical research.

The app can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Peloton today introduced an Apple TV app, providing easy access to its full library of live and on-demand workout videos on the big screen. There are thousands of workouts related to cycling, running, walking, strength training, yoga, stretching, and more.

Peloton bikes already feature a built-in touchscreen for accessing workout videos, but the Apple TV app allows the videos to be watched on a larger TV without AirPlay. Some workouts are designed with the Peloton bike or treadmill in mind, but other exercises can be done on the floor with a mat, such as yoga, stretching, and meditation.

Peloton bike owners were notified of the new Apple TV app today, including 9to5Mac's Zac Hall. The app is free to download, but requires a Peloton membership.

Apple has updated its Maps app to include real time transit directions and data for Hong Kong residents.

From today, local Apple Maps users can search for metro train stations, bus routes and ferry piers, and get real time transit information for services. The only limitation appears to be a lack of indoor station mapping.

The metropolitan area is one location in Asia where hints of transit support surfaced months ago. However, Apple's Hong Kong mapping has been a complicated issue because of the administrative region's self-governance and autonomy disputes with mainland China.

As noted by tech blog Ata Distance, ‌Apple Maps‌ actually uses two different map data sources for Hong Kong – AutoNavi map data for mainland SIM iPhones, and another one for non-mainland SIM iPhones. This led to an unusual situation in which transit directions where available to Chinese visitors but not to residents of Hong Kong.

Also today, Apple Pay Octopus officially launched in Hong Kong, just before 1.00 a.m. local time, following a silent rollout that began on Monday. A press event is scheduled to take place at 12.30 p.m. local time.

‌Apple Pay‌ Octopus is similar to ‌Apple Pay‌ Suica with Express Transit – users just hold the top of their iPhone or Apple Watch near an Octopus reader to use, and there's no need to unlock the device or open an app. Even if the device shuts down due to low battery, users can still use Octopus.

Apple Octopus Pay is compatible with ‌iPhone‌ 8 and later devices updated to iOS 13.5, and Apple Watch Series 3 and later running watchOS 6.2.5.

Octopus Cards Limited first announced ‌Apple Pay‌ Octopus would be "coming soon" in July 2019, but the launch was pushed back several times, eventually to "later in 2020" without explanation.

(Thanks, Sean!)

Apple Music has cancelled its Beats 1 radio schedule for Blackout Tuesday and is suggesting that listeners tune in to a radio stream celebrating the best in black music.

Blackout Tuesday is a campaign organized by the music industry to support Black Lives Matter after Minneapolis citizen George Floyd was killed by police in the course of his arrest.

On launching ‌Apple Music‌, many users on Mac and iOS devices are today being met with a message replacing the usual For You, Browse, and Radio sections, along with a Listen Together button that links to the aforementioned station.

In steadfast support of the Black voices that define music, creativity, and culture, we use ours. This moment calls upon us all to speak and act against racism and injustice of all kinds. We stand in solidarity with Black communities everywhere. #TheShowMustBePaused
#BlackLivesMatter

Otherwise, the ‌Apple Music‌ service is operating as usual. Users are still able to access their music library and search the ‌Apple Music‌ catalog.

Following the unrest in numerous U.S. cities after last week's killing of George Floyd, Apple CEO Tim Cook on Sunday addressed the pain that many are feeling and urged others to commit "to creating a better, more just world for everyone."

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News 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.

Apple and Walgreens have partnered up on a new offer to entice U.S. users to sign up for Apple Card, with users who open an account during the month of June eligible to receive $50 in bonus Daily Cash if they spend at least $50 on their ‌Apple Card‌ at Walgreens within the first 30 days.

The offer can be found in the Walgreens iOS app at the bottom of the Weekly Ad & Coupons page, and you can tap directly from the offer page into the Wallet app to start an ‌Apple Card‌ application.

For users with an Apple Cash card, Daily Cash earned through ‌Apple Card‌ purchases is transferred to Apple Cash, where it can be used for person-to-person payments and more. Alternatively, it can be applied to an outstanding ‌Apple Card‌ balance.

Walgreens has been a close partner with Apple in promoting ‌Apple Card‌ benefits, becoming one of the select merchants offering a premium 3% Daily Cash back on purchases made using an ‌Apple Card‌ via Apple Pay.

In April, Walgreens expanded the 3% Daily Cash offer to include purchases made with a physical ‌Apple Card‌ at Walgreens drive-thrus. That offer was originally set to expire at the end of June, but has since been extended through July.

Apple is dropping prices on the iPhone SE, iPhone 11, ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max in China in celebration of the 6.18 shopping festival, reports CNBC.

Apple has cut prices on its official store on the Alibaba-owned Tmall, and JD.com, an Apple reseller, is also offering significant discounts. This is the second time that Apple has participated in the 6.18 event.

On Tmall, users can buy an iPhone 11 64GB model for 4,779 yuan ($669.59), down around 13% from its original 5,499 yuan selling price. The iPhone 11 Pro starts at 7,579 yuan down from 8,699 yuan, while the iPhone Pro Max is listed for 8,359 yuan versus the original price of 9,599 yuan. The recently-released iPhone SE, the cheapest in Apple's range, is priced at 3,099 yuan, down from 3,299 yuan.

Tmall rival JD.com has even steeper discounts. The iPhone 11 64GB model is priced at 4,599 yuan, the iPhone 11 Pro at 6,999 and the iPhone 11 Pro Max at 7,499 yuan. If the full discounts are applied, the iPhone 11 Pro Max is at a more than 21% discount from its original price on JD.com. The iPhone SE is listed at 3,069 yuan with discount, down from 3,199 yuan.

According to CNBC, JD.com plans to offer discounts every day during the shopping festival, but the discount structure could vary from day to day. Apple product sales on June 1 were three times that of the same period last year, a JD.com spokesperson said.

While Apple is offering discounts through Tmall and through resellers like JD.com, its own retail stores and online store will not be offering iPhones at lower prices.

For most of February, Apple's retail stores in China were shut down, causing a sharp drop in sales. Apple has been working to regain sales momentum in the country now that stores are operational once again.

Apple's iPhone sales dropped eight percent in the first quarter of 2020, according to new data shared today by Gartner.

Apple sold an estimated 40.92 million smartphones during the quarter, a 3.7 million drop from the 44.57 million that it sold in the first quarter of 2019.

Other smartphone manufacturers saw much steeper drops in sales. Samsung's sales, for example, were down 22.7 percent, and Huawei's sales were down 27.3 percent. Xiaomi was the only smartphone manufacturer that saw a slight increase in sales, with the overall smartphone market down 20.2 percent.

"The coronavirus pandemic caused the global smartphone market to experience its worst decline ever," said Anshul Gupta, senior research analyst at Gartner. "Most of the leading Chinese manufacturers and Apple were severely impacted by the temporary closures of their factories in China and reduced consumer spending due to the global shelter-in-place."

Apple in early February was forced to close all of its retail stores in China, and later in the year, the rest of its stores across the world were shuttered amid the global pandemic.

Stores in China started reopening in late February, and by mid-March, all retail locations in China were operational, just in time for Apple's other stores to shut down on March 14.

Apple has been slowly reopening its stores outside of China since the beginning of May and while not all locations have reopened, close to 100 stores in the U.S are open for repairs and pickups, plus stores in countries like Australia, Canada, Italy, and Germany have reopened.

"Apple had a strong start to the year thanks to its new product line up that saw strong momentum globally. If COVID-19 did not happen, the vendor would have likely seen its iPhone sales reached record level in the quarter. Supply chain disruptions and declining consumer spending put a halt to this positive trend in February," said Annette Zimmermann, research vice president at Gartner. "Apple's ability to serve clients via its online stores and its production returning to near normal levels at the end of March helped recover some of the early positive momentum."

Apple in April shared its earnings results for the second fiscal quarter of 2020, which corresponds to the first calendar quarter of the year. Apple posted revenue of $58.5 billion, up just slightly from the $58 billion in revenue it brought in during the second fiscal quarter of 2019.

iOS 14 will be compatible with all iPhones and iPod touch models able to run iOS 13, according to information shared today by Israeli site The Verifier.

The compatibility data was allegedly found in a leaked version of iOS 14 and confirmed by what The Verifier says is a "trusted source from the system development process."

iOS 13 is compatible with the iPhone 6s and later, with a full list of models below.

• iPhone SE (2020)
• iPhone 11
• iPhone 11 Pro
• iPhone 11 Pro Max
• iPhone XS
• iPhone XS Max
• iPhone XR
• iPhone X
• iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus
• iPhone 7 and 7 Plus
• iPhone SE (2016)
• iPhone 6s and 6s Plus
• iPod touch (7th-generation)

The site says that this is the last version of iOS that the iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, and 2016 iPhone SE will support, which is no surprise as Apple often provides software updates for approximately four or five years after the release of a new device.

There is no word on which iPads will be able to run iPadOS 14, but if iPadOS 14 is compatible with all iPads able to run iPadOS 13, it will work on the iPad Air 2, 3rd-gen iPad Air, iPad mini 4 and 5, 5th, 6th, and 7th-generation iPads, and all iPad Pro models.

The Verifier doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to accurate leaks with both hits and misses, but French site iPhoneSoft.fr also previously said that iOS 14 will be compatible with all devices able to run iOS 13.

Apple will unveil iOS 14 at its all-digital WWDC event, which is set to kick off on June 22.