MacRumors

Apple today seeded the release candidate version of an upcoming macOS Monterey 12.1 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming a week after the fourth beta and a month after the official release of macOS Monterey.

Registered developers can download macOS Monterey 12.1 beta profile through the Apple Developer Center and after the appropriate profile is installed, the beta will be available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences.

macOS Monterey 12.1 brings SharePlay to Macs for the first time. SharePlay is a new feature that's designed to let you watch TV, listen to music, and play games with friends and family members over FaceTime.

SharePlay allows all kinds of apps to work with ‌FaceTime‌, with content synced for all people who are part of the ‌FaceTime‌ call. You can listen to music with Apple Music and access shared playlists, watch synced TV shows and movies together, work out together, and even share your screen for things like group trip planning or device troubleshooting.

Apple designed SharePlay to work with first-party app options like Apple TV, Apple Fitness+, and ‌Apple Music‌, but there's also an API for developers so third-party apps can also use SharePlay ‌FaceTime‌ features for games and other experiences.

SharePlay is already available in the release versions of iOS 15.1, iPadOS 15.1, and tvOS 15.1, so the Monterey 12.1 update brings Macs in line with other Apple devices.

The full release notes for macOS 12.1:

macOS Monterey 12.1 adds SharePlay, an entirely new way to have shared experiences with family and friends in FaceTime. This update also includes the Apple Music Voice Plan, new safety features for children and parents in Messages, redesigned Memories in Photos, and other features and bug fixes for your Mac.

SharePlay

• SharePlay is a new way to share synchronized experiences in FaceTime with content from the Apple TV app, Apple Music, and other supported apps
• Shared controls give everyone the ability to pause, play, rewind or fast forward
• Smart volume automatically lowers the audio of a movie, TV show or song when you or your friends speak
• Screen sharing lets everyone on a FaceTime call look at photos, browse the web, or help each other out

Apple Music Voice Plan

• Apple Music Voice Plan is a new subscription tier that gives you access to all songs, playlists, and stations in Apple Music using Siri
• Just Ask Siri suggests music based on your listening history and likes or dislikes
• Play it Again lets you access a list of your recently played music

Photos

• Memories has been redesigned with a new interactive interface, new animation and transition styles, and multiple image collages
• New Memory types include additional international holidays, child-focused memories, trends over time, and improved pet memories

Messages

• Communication safety setting gives parents the ability to enable warnings for children when they receive or send photos that contain nudity
  

• Safety warnings contain helpful resources for children when they receive photos that contain nudity

Siri and Search

• Expanded guidance in Siri, Spotlight and Safari Search to help children and parents stay safe online and get help with unsafe situations

Apple ID

• Digital Legacy allows you to designate people as Legacy Contacts so they can access your iCloud account and personal information in the event of your death

TV App

• Store tab lets you browse, buy, and rent movies and TV Shows all in one place

This release also includes the following enhancements for your Mac:

• Hide My Email is available in the Mail app for iCloud+ subscribers to create unique, random email addresses
• Stocks allows you to view the currency for a ticker and see year-to-date performance when viewing charts
• Reminders and Notes now allow you to delete or rename tags

This release also includes bug fixes for your Mac:

• Desktop and Screen Saver may appear blank after selecting photos from the Photos library
• Trackpad could become unresponsive to taps or clicks
• External displays may not charge some MacBook Pro and MacBook Air computers when connected using Thunderbolt or USB-C
• HDR video playback on YouTube.com could cause 2021 MacBook Pro computers to panic
• Menu bar extras may be obscured by the camera housing on 2021 MacBook Pro computers
• MagSafe may stop charging on 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro computers when lid is closed and system is shut down

Apple today seeded the RC versions of upcoming iOS and iPadOS 15.2 updates to developers for testing purposes, less than a week after seeding the fourth betas and six weeks after the launch of iOS 15.1 and iPadOS 15.1.

iOS and iPadOS 15.2 can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or over the air after the proper profile has been installed on an iPhone or an iPad.

iOS and iPadOS 15.2 add support for App Privacy Report, a feature that Apple first highlighted back at WWDC. With App Privacy Report, you can see how often apps are accessing sensitive info granted to them through privacy permissions, such as location, camera, microphone, and contacts.

The feature also gives you details on the various domains that apps and websites are contacting, so you can keep an eye on what your apps are doing behind the scenes and where your data might be going.

App Privacy Report can be enabled by opening up the Settings app, selecting the Privacy section, and choosing App Privacy Report. From there, you can toggle it on. After you start using apps, data will begin showing up in this spot. Apple shows seven days worth of data.

iOS 15.2 introduces an updated version of Apple's Messages Communication Safety feature for kids, and it adds a Legacy Contacts feature that lets you set a person who can access your Apple content like photos in the event of your death.

Apple added a new "Items That Can Track Me" option in the Find My app for scanning for nearby items, and the TV app on ‌iPad‌ has a new sidebar to make navigation simpler. In the Mail app, there's also a new option to use the Hide My Email feature when composing or replying to an email.

There's a tweaked Notification Summary that gives summaries more of a card-style look, a toggle in the Camera app for Macro mode on iPhone 13 Pro models, and an update to Emergency SOS. The Auto Call feature can now be enabled by pressing on the side button rapidly or holding down the side button and the volume button together. Apple has added a longer eight-second countdown (up from three seconds) to give you more time to cancel an accidental dial.

Apple's release notes for iOS 15.2 are as follows:

OS 15.2 adds Apple Music Voice Plan, a new subscription tier that provides access to music using Siri. This update also includes the App Privacy Report, new safety features for children and parents in Messages, and other features and bug fixes for your iPhone.

Apple Music Voice Plan

• Apple Music Voice Plan is a new subscription tier that gives you access to all songs, playlists, and stations in Apple Music using Siri
• Just Ask Siri suggests music based on your listening history and likes or dislikes
• Play it Again lets you access a list of your recently played music

Privacy

• App Privacy Report in Settings lets you see how often apps have accessed your location, photos, camera, microphone, contacts and more during the last seven days, as well as their network activity

Messages

• Communication safety setting gives parents the ability to enable warnings for children when they receive or send photos that contain nudity
• Safety warnings contain helpful resources for children when they receive photos that contain nudity

Siri and Search

• Expanded guidance in Siri, Spotlight and Safari Search to help children and parents stay safe online and get help with unsafe situations

Apple ID

• Digital Legacy allows you to designate people as Legacy Contacts so they can access your iCloud account and personal information in the event of your death

Camera

• Macro photo control for switching to the Ultra Wide lens to capture macro photos and videos can be enabled in Settings on iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max

TV app

• Store tab lets you browse, buy, and rent movies and TV Shows all in one place

CarPlay

• Enhanced city map in Apple Maps with road details like turn lanes, medians, bike lanes, and pedestrian crosswalks for supported cities

This release also includes the following enhancements for your iPhone:

• Hide My Email is available in the Mail app for iCloud+ subscribers to create unique, random email addresses
• Find My can locate iPhone for up to five hours when in Power Reserve
• Stocks allows you to view the currency for a ticker and see year-to-date performance when viewing charts
• Reminders and Notes now allow you to delete or rename tags

This release also includes bug fixes for your iPhone:

• Siri may not respond while VoiceOver is running and iPhone is locked
• ProRAW photos may appear overexposed when viewing in third-party photo editing apps
• HomeKit scenes that include a garage door may not run from CarPlay when your iPhone is locked
• CarPlay may not update Now Playing information for certain apps
• Video streaming apps may not load content on iPhone 13 models
• Calendar events may appear on the wrong day for Microsoft Exchange users

For a full list of features that have been added with each beta, we have dedicated guides for the initial beta, the second beta, and the third beta.

Apple today seeded the release candidate version of watchOS 8.3 beta to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming one week after the launch of the fourth beta and over a month after the release of watchOS 8.1.

To install ‌‌‌watchOS 8‌‌‌.3, developers will need to download the configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once installed, ‌‌‌watchOS 8.3‌‌‌ can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software update.

To update to new software, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery life, it must be placed on the charger, and it needs to be in range of the ‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌.

watchOS 8.3 introduces support for the Apple Music Voice Plan and App Privacy Report, plus it introduces a fix for an issue that could cause notifications to interrupt Mindfulness sessions.

Razer today announced the launch of the Razer Phone Cooler Chroma, a MagSafe-compatible fan that's designed to attach to the back of an iPhone.

While there's a MagSafe version for the iPhone 12 and 13 models, there's also a second version with a clamp design that's meant for Android phones and that would also work with non-MagSafe iPhones.

Razer says that the Phone Cooler Chroma has a 7-blade fan with up to 6400rpm, and a 30dB noise profile for quiet performance. There's a Bluetooth connection to adjust the fan properties, and it is meant to work with a USB-C power cable as there is no included battery.

According to Razer, the device is meant to provide "advanced cooling technology" for improved gaming performance. The included 12 Razer Chroma RGB lights can also be customized.

The Razer Phone Cooler Chroma can be purchased from the Razer website for $60.

Twitter has rolled out playback of recorded Spaces to all iOS, Android, and web users, the company today announced.

The ability to listen to a recording of a Twitter Space is now available to all users, making the company's live discussion rooms work more like traditional podcasts. Users can only listen back to Spaces that hosts have actively selected to be recorded.

Some hosts on Android and iOS now have the ability to record their Spaces by tapping "Record Space" before selecting "Start a Space," allowing all users to listen to it even once it has finished. Users who join a Space that is being recorded will see a "Rec" button with a red dot at the top of the Space view, and once it has ended, users can share the recording on Twitter.

Previously, Spaces only functioned as live audio discussions with no ability to listen again once it had ended. Twitter has been progressively adding more features to Spaces in recent months, such as Ticketed Spaces that allow creators to charge for access to a live discussion.

Amazon today has Apple's 11-inch iPad Pro Magic Keyboard for $249.99, down from $299.00. This is the 2021 model in White, and it's available for delivery before Christmas as of writing.

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.

This is one of the lowest prices we've ever tracked on this model of the Magic Keyboard, and the previous Amazon low was around $284.00. The Magic Keyboard features a trackpad and floating cantilever design, and is also compatible with the fourth generation iPad Air.

Amazon also has the 12.9-inch iPad Pro Magic Keyboard, but stock is quickly dwindling on this model. You can get it for $299.99, down from $349.00. There was a very rare discount on this accessory last month, when it was available for $242.99, but that hasn't returned and at this point isn't likely to resurface.

Shoppers should note that for the 12.9-inch model, the sale price won't be seen until you get to the checkout screen. At that point, Amazon will automatically apply a $29.99 coupon to your order. Similar to the 11-inch, this one is only available in White.

Be sure to visit our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more Apple-related products and accessories.

Apple CEO Tim Cook "secretly" signed an agreement worth more than $275 billion with Chinese officials, promising that Apple would help to develop China's economy and technological capabilities, The Information reports.

In an extensive paywalled report based on interviews and purported internal Apple documents, The Information revealed that ‌Tim Cook‌ personally forged a five-year agreement with the Chinese government during a series of in-person visits to the country in 2016. The need to push for a closer alliance with the Chinese government reportedly came from a number of Apple executives who were concerned about bad publicity in China and the company's poor relationship with Chinese officials, who believed that Apple was not contributing enough to the local economy.

Alleged internal documents show that Cook "personally lobbied officials" in China over threats made against Apple Pay, iCloud, and the App Store. Cook set out to use a "memorandum of understanding" between Apple and a powerful Chinese government agency called the National Development and Reform Commission to formally agree to a number of concessions in return for regulatory exemptions. The 1,250-word agreement was written by Apple's government affairs team in China and stewarded by Cook as he met with Chinese officials.

In May 2016, Cook announced that Apple would be investing $1 billion in the Chinese ride-hailing startup Didi Chuxing in a pointed attempt to mollify authorities, the report added. Shortly after, Cook, Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, and government affairs head Lisa Jackson met with senior government officials in Zhongnanhai, the central headquarters of the Communist Party of China.

Cook's negotiations led to the successful signing of the multibillion-dollar agreement, quashing a number of regulatory actions against the company with exemptions and enabling access to the Chinese market, in return for significant investments, business deals, and worker training in the country.

The agreement included a pledge from Apple to help Chinese manufacturers develop "the most advanced manufacturing technologies," "support the training of high-quality Chinese talents," use more components from Chinese suppliers, sign deals with Chinese software firms, collaborate with research in Chinese universities, and directly invest in Chinese tech companies, as well as assistance with around a dozen Chinese government causes. If there were no objections from either side, the deal would be automatically be extended for an additional year until May 2022, according to the agreement.

Apple vowed to invest "many billions of dollars more" than its current expenditure in China, including on new retail stores, research and development facilities, and renewable energy projects. Other internal documents reportedly showed that Apple's pledge amounted to more than $275 billion in spending over a period of five years.

The Information suggests that Apple is heavily reliant on Cook for international negotiations and speculates that it could face difficulties dealing with government affairs when Cook stands down as the company's CEO.

For more information, see The Information's full report.

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.

Amazon has returned Apple's AirPods 2 to their Black Friday price of $99.99 this week, down from $129.00. Since the end of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we've seen nearly all AirPods models briefly return to their best prices of the year, but as of writing all other sales have since ended, proving the importance of striking while the iron is hot in regards to these markdowns.

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 AirPods 2 with Wired Charging Case currently have a December 12 shipping estimate for free delivery, but they could be delivered as fast as tomorrow in the United States. As it was for all previous post-Black Friday AirPods deals, we aren't sure if this season-best price will return before Christmas, so buy now if you've been waiting.

We track sales for every model of the AirPods in our Best AirPods Deals guide, so be sure to bookmark that page while you shop around for the wireless headphones.

Eve today announced the launch of its third-generation Eve Room, a HomeKit-enabled indoor air quality monitor that now comes with Thread support. Eve Room is designed to track air quality, temperature, and humidity.

Design wise, the updated Eve Room looks similar to the existing second-generation Eve Room, with an e-ink display that shows the current room conditions. The major new addition is Thread integration for better connectivity with other smart home products. According to Eve, it now offers 10 products that work with HomeKit over Thread.

Eve CEO Jerome Gackel said that Thread has been "a spectacular success" for Eve, and in the "not too distant future," a Thread network will be "just as common as Wi-Fi." Eve Room is designed to join a Thread network automatically, and it works with both Bluetooth and Thread. Note that for Thread connectivity, a device that serves as a Thread Border Router is required, such as the HomePod mini.

Eve Room is able to detect volatile organic compounds in the air, which can be harmful to people and pets. It also provides temperature readings and allows users to keep track of humidity. Data can be viewed on the device itself, and it also syncs to the Eve app.

The third-generation Eve Room is available from the Eve website for $99.95.

Google has added the ability to join one-on-one Google Chat voice and video calls from within the Gmail app, the company has announced.

Before now, it was possible to make calls from within the Gmail app on iOS and Android, but users had to send an invite to a Google Meet video conferencing call, which was more convoluted and limiting.

In future, however, users will be able to tap new phone and video icons that appear in the upper right corner of individual one-on-one chat screens in the Google Chat section of the app.

In addition, users who initiate a call from the Google Chat app will now be redirected to the Gmail app, highlighting Google's intention of putting the Gmail app at the center of its communication platforms.

The call feature is rolling out from December 6 for everyone with Google Workspace, G Suite, or personal Google accounts.

(Via The Verge.)

New detailed CT scan images of the first-generation AirPods, AirPods Pro, and third-generation AirPods have revealed in detail what internal design changes Apple had to accomplish to include new features in every generation while continuing to miniaturize internal components.

The first-generation AirPods, announced in 2016, serve as the main design inspiration for the AirPods Pro and third-generation AirPods. The CT scan shows that the internal battery is the largest component in the first-gen AirPods, taking up the entire space of the long stem. In the earpiece, Apple's H1 chip finds its home and, at the bottom, a single downfacing microphone.

With the AirPods Pro, Apple's first update to the AirPods since their launch, the company had to completely rethink the internal structure and placement of components. Perhaps the most striking and noticeable change highlighted by the scans is the location of the battery.

The AirPods Pro nixed the long-stem design from the AirPods and Apple's classical EarBuds. Instead, Apple cut the stem to make the entire body shorter, meaning fitting a battery to provide sufficient charge into the smaller stem proved a challenge.

To counter this, Apple placed the battery in the head of the AirPods Pro. In the head, which grew in size compared to the first-gen AirPods, Apple also miniaturized different components into a single PCB, or printed circuit board, to allow for a smaller footprint. The AirPods Pro also included Adaptive EQ, which was enabled thanks to a third, new microphone placed in the head of AirPods Pro in front of the speaker.

In the stem, Apple also repositioned the microphones compared to the initial AirPods, now placing them higher and not directly coming out of the bottom of the stem. The removal of the battery from the stem of AirPods Pro allowed Apple to include force touch sensors, allowing users to squeeze the AirPods Pro to pause music, invoke Siri, and more.

The third-generation AirPods announced this past fall takes heavy inspiration from the AirPods Pro design but is a mix between the standard AirPods and the AirPods Pro in how it's internally built. Unlike the AirPods Pro, which features a primarily bare stem, the CT scan shows the third-generation AirPods' stem full of components and a few distributed sensors, similar to the first-gen AirPods. Like the AirPods Pro, the battery remains in the head of the AirPods alongside new skin-contact sensors.

Moving forward, Apple is expected to adopt an entirely new approach with the next-generation AirPods Pro, which will dispense with a stem altogether. The design and engineering lessons Apple has learned thus far with AirPods, such as being able to fit the battery in the head of the AirPods instead of the stem, are likely to come into greater play with the new AirPods Pro destined for launch in 2022.

The CT scan images were provided by "Scan of the Month," a website that takes popular products and puts them under a CT scan to uncover how they're designed and built. This month's AirPods website is a fun and interactive experience for those interested and can be found here.

WhatsApp says it is rolling out a new option that makes disappearing messages the default behavior for all new chats on the end-to-end encrypted messaging platform.

It's been over a year since WhatsApp launched its disappearing messages feature, which allows messages, photos, and videos to be marked to disappear after seven days. The feature can be enabled for direct messages and in groups by members with administrator privileges.

The latest development of the feature lets users set all new messages to disappear by default, giving them the choice to move away from the accustomed world in which there's a permanent digital record of everything that's said. From the company's blog post:

Today we are excited to provide our users with more options to control their messages and how long they stick around, with default disappearing messages and multiple durations.

WhatsApp users will now have the option to turn on disappearing messages by default for all new chats. When enabled, all new one-on-one chats you or another person start will be set to disappear at your chosen duration, and we've added a new option when creating a group chat that lets you turn it on for groups you create. This new feature is optional and does not change or delete any of your existing chats.

In addition to the default option, WhatsApp is also adding two new durations for disappearing messages: 24 hours and 90 days, as well as the existing option of 7 days.

To turn on disappearing messages by default for all new individual chats, go to WhatsApp Settings -> Account -> Privacy -> Default message timer, and then select a duration.

When someone chooses to switch to default disappearing messages, WhatsApp will display a message in their chats that tells people this is the default they've chosen, to make it clear that it's nothing personal.

Apple is reportedly increasing iPhone shipments by 30% for the first half of next year with the larger goal of exceeding 300 million iPhone shipments in 2022, according to a new report from DigiTimes Taiwan.

The report, citing persons familiar with the matter, said that Apple is hoping to challenge its target of shipping 300 million iPhones in 2022. Shipments for the first half of the year for the iPhone 13 lineup will increase by 30%, according to the report, but the entire year's performance will also be impacted by the launch of the iPhone 14 in the fall.

Bloomberg reported earlier this month that Apple was informing its suppliers to lower production of the iPhone amid lower demand. iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro availability had initially been unreliable due to high demand coupled with the ongoing chip shortage. Today's report suggests that Apple is expecting demand to rebound in early 2022, and furthermore, is expecting a bigger year overall fueled by the iPhone 14 in the fall.

With the launch of iOS 15, Apple changed Siri functionality and removed features that were heavily relied on by low vision and blind iPhone users. ‌Siri‌ commands that provide details on phone calls, voice mails, and sending emails are no longer working, and Apple has yet to fix the issue.

We first shared details on this problem in September, shortly after the launch of iOS 15. Prior to the launch of the update, low vision users were able to ask ‌Siri‌ to play voicemails, check call history, check recent calls, and more, commands that no longer work.

We have received ongoing complaints from ‌iPhone‌ users who are missing this key ‌‌Siri‌‌ functionality, or their relatives who are attempting to help them navigate the changes. The ‌‌Siri‌‌ feature removals have also been documented on the AppleVis forums for blind and low vision users of Apple products, and complaints have continued to pile up on the Apple Support Communities. One user explains the issue:

Siri is 'unable' to read missed calls or call last missed call all of a sudden. i use this feature everyday due to visual impairment and since this morning siri has replied with "i cant help with that" when asking for missed calls, call last missed call etc. i rely on this feature heavily and suddenly siri is unable to do this. please can someone help. no settings have been changed and others iphones are having the same issue too.

Asking ‌Siri‌ to provide details on recent phone calls or voicemails now results in the following response: "I can't help with that, but you can ask me to open the Phone app." Asking about email results in a similar response about ‌‌Siri‌‌ being unable to help.

MacRumors reader Joshua got in touch with us and explained that the change makes the iPhone almost unusable for his mother, and he's frustrated with Apple's lack of help.

For many fully blind people (like my blind mom) this makes their phone almost unusable, because they can't ask Siri who has called, and they can't ask Siri if they have voicemail. (Their official "workaround" for voicemail, in fact, is calling the old-school carrier voicemail number, to check your voicemail over the phone.)

Joshua got in contact with Accessibility Support and received a non-answer about calling in to be added to the official engineering report as an "affected user" and to fill out Feedback Assistant, but he said he previously submitted a Radar and got no response. Other users on the Apple Support Communities are becoming increasingly upset with Apple. From user Maboc:

Not understanding how Apple cannot have this resolved by now. Taking away a critical functionality for the disabled, the inability for sight impaired to now check for missed calls and messages via Siri and no response or action does not speak well for this Support Community or Apple itself. We purchased a new iPhone 13 for my aging, sight impaired mother at the recommendation of the School for the Blind. Apple being a leader in the Accessibility feature field. Can no-one offer a timeline for a fix out there? HELLO APPLE???!!!???

We asked Apple when a fix might be coming or if the removal of the ‌Siri‌ functionality was intentional back in September, but we never heard back. Apple's lack of effort to address this issue for blind and low vision users is disappointing from a company that is usually on the forefront of accessibility.

Update: It appears that Apple is going to be addressing these ‌Siri‌ issues in the iOS 15.2 update, which is available to developers and public beta testers at this time. In iOS 15.2, the missing call, email, and voicemail ‌Siri‌ features have been reintroduced and are functional.

The SD card reader slot on the new 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models is not functioning as expected with some SD cards, according to multiple reports on the MacRumors forums.

In a long complaint thread, MacRumors readers have detailed the issues that they're having with some SD cards, and there seems to be little consistency between reports and affected SD cards. Some SD cards crash and can't be accessed, while some have unusually slow transfer speeds. MacRumors reader Wildc^t explains the issue:

Same issues with 14" M1 Pro. Just seems to be super flakey and inconsistent. Half the time it'll recognize the card successfully (though it takes anywhere from 30s to 1m) and half the time it'll throw an error. These are all Sandisk Ultra cards, both XC and HC, that were formatted in my camera. I tried reformatting them w/ the MBP and that didn't seem to make a difference. All my cards work as expected in my 3 other USB card readers.

In some situations, there's just an error message when attempting to use the SD card, sometimes Finder crashes, and sometimes the SD card takes many minutes to be accesible. From MacRumors reader 2Stepfan:

It's very frustrating. I was hoping that import from SD card including preview of images would be quick on my new 14" MBP. I have a fairly new 64GB SD card which had been working fine. But Photos on the MBP using the internal SD card slot takes minutes to show photos and sometimes crashes half way through. Sometimes the Finder crashes too.

Based on the thread, formatting does not appear to be the issue, though it could be a factor. There also does not seem to be a common thread between which cards work and which do not, but multiple users have reported that using an SD card reader over USB-C works when the SD card slot does not. From MacRumors reader wilberforce:

I tried many cards, and could find no pattern of brand, size, type, format, age. Seems to be completely random. The only thing that is consistent is that if a card works, it always works, and if a card does not work properly it never works properly. Reformatting, even to all other possible formats, makes no difference. Sandisk, Sony, Samsung, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, UHS-I, UHS-II, micro-SD, FAT32, exFAT, makes no difference. 100% of my cards work perfectly via a dongle.

Some readers who have contacted Apple have been told that the company is aware of the issue and that a fix is coming in a future software update, but it is not clear if this is a hardware issue or a software issue. Some users who had problems replaced their MacBook Pro and did not continue to have issues, so it's not known exactly what might be going on.

Many of the reports are about older SD cards and there may be a particular issue with some 128GB cards, but for the most part, complaints are all over the place in terms of SD card brand, speed, and capacity.

One user reported that the macOS Monterey 12.1 beta had fixed the issue, but another person on Reddit said that the most recent beta did not address it, so we also don't know if macOS Monterey 12.1 might have a fix.

Those affected who are unable to use their SD cards with the SD card slot can access their cards by using an SD card reader dongle, which is not an ideal solution but at least provides a way to get SD card content onto an M1 Pro or M1 Max Mac.

Location tracking service Life360 has been selling the precise location data of tens of millions of its users, according to a new report shared by The Markup.

Life360 bills itself as a "family safety platform" app that is meant to allow family members to keep tabs on one another with tracking software that's installed on smartphones, and there are both Android and iPhone apps.

The software is used by 33 million people around the world, and apparently, Life360 is selling location data from both children and adults to a dozen data brokers that then provide the data to other third parties. Two former Life360 employees said that Life360 is one of the largest sources of data in the industry, expressing concern for how the data is used and the lack of safeguards to prevent misuse.

The employees said that Life360 does not take precautions to ensure that location histories cannot be traced back to individuals. The most obvious user identifying information is removed, but Life360 does not aggregate data or reduce precision to preserve privacy.

Life360 CEO Chris Hulls told The Markup that data is an "important part of the business model" that allows Life360's core services to be offered for free.

"We have no means to confirm or deny the accuracy" of whether Life360 is among the largest sources of data for the industry, Life360 founder and CEO Chris Hulls said in an emailed response to questions from The Markup. "We see data as an important part of our business model that allows us to keep the core Life360 services free for the majority of our users, including features that have improved driver safety and saved numerous lives."

An engineer who worked for X-Mode, a location data provider, said that the raw location data received from Life360 was one of its "most valuable offerings" because of the "sheer volume and precision of the data." Life360 has sold data to X-Mode, Cuebiq, Arity, Safegraph, and others that provide location data to other services. Life360 discloses some of the data sharing in its privacy policy, but there are companies that it does not list.

Data partners are only publicly disclosed when partners request transparency or there's "a particular reason to do so," Hulls said. He did confirm that X-Mode buys data from Life360 and that it is one of "approximately one dozen data partners." Hulls added that the company would be supportive of legislation that would require public disclosure of such partners.

Some of the data providers only use aggregated location information sourced from Life360. Cuebiq, for example, users aggregated data to track COVID-19 "mobility trends" with the CDC. X-Mode has provided the Life360 data to the U.S. Department of Defense, and SafeGraph has also provided it to the CDC.

Life360 does make it clear in the fine print of its privacy policy that data is sold, but people may not be aware of how the data is distributed after it's provided to data brokers. "Families probably would not like the slogan, 'You can watch where your kids are, and so can anyone who buys this information,'" Duke Tech Policy Lab fellow Justin Sherman told The Markup. There is also an opt-out feature, but not all users may be aware of it.

Life360 is an app that's primarily used by parents to track their children and teenagers, and it has raised privacy concerns for its invasiveness. Life360 has said that it does not share the location data of users under 13, but data from children over 13 and adults is fair game.

Tile, a company that makes Bluetooth-based trackers that compete with Apple's AirTags, is being acquired by Life360 in a deal that's worth $205 million. Life360 says that Tile will allow it to provide an "all-encompassing solution" for locating pets, people, and things with the Tile purchase, a claim that is alarming given the privacy concerns raised in today's report.

More information on Life360's user tracking and how the data is used can be found in The Markup's full report.

Update: According to Life360 CEO Chris Hulls, there was "significant misinformation" in the article published by The Markup. Hulls points specifically to a quote that the site shared that did not offer a complete picture of what was said in the interview. Where Life360 was asked about whether it was among the largest sources of data for the industry, The Markup shared the following: "We have no means to confirm or deny the accuracy" of whether Life360 is among the largest sources of data for the industry.

Hulls provided the full quote, which is as follows:

"We have no means to confirm or deny the accuracy of that statement. However, the vast majority of mobile applications - including some which are many times larger than Life360 - collect, use, and share data in various ways. Our level of participation in the ecosystem is likely commensurate with the size of our user base. As The Markup itself has reported, there are almost two billion devices that are connected to the mobile phone location data market. Based on this data, at maximum, with approximately 30 million active users, we account for a very small portion of the overall market.

Similarly, from a revenue perspective, we are almost certainly one of the smaller companies involved in the broader industry as the market is estimated to be over $10 billion and we generate approximately $20 million."

The United States Justice Department is investigating Apple for antitrust issues, and Roblox is an area of interest for prosecutors attempting to put together a case, reports The Information.

Investigators are looking for situations where Apple is unevenly enforcing rules for app developers, and Roblox is an area of interest because of the way the app works. Roblox is an online gaming platform that allows its users to play and program games that can be played with others.

Roblox users can create a variety mini games that can be accessed within the main Roblox app, and during the Epic v. Apple trial, Epic argued that Apple had given Roblox a "free pass" while preventing other apps from doing something similar.

Epic Games equated Roblox to the ‌Epic Games‌ Store, an app that would serve as a third-party alternative to the App Store, offering users access to games without paying Apple's fees. As Epic offers access to major games created by other developers, it's not quite the same as the Roblox games created by Roblox users, but the Roblox app is now in the spotlight.

After coming up in the Epic v. Apple trial, Roblox altered its website to clarify that it offers "experiences" instead of "games," a change made after ‌App Store‌ executive Trystan Kosmynka explained that Roblox did not violate ‌App Store‌ rules because Apple did not view Roblox content "as a game." Kosmynka said that the "experiences" within Roblox were similar to "the experiences in Minecraft," another game where users can build mini game-like content.

The Department of Justice has been taking a look at details brought up by the Epic v. Apple trial and recently asked Roblox and other developers to clarify the difference between a game and an experience. Roblox has been asked to explain why it changed the language on its website.

Apple Arcade appears to be a topic of interest as well, with investigators asking developers whether the ‌Apple Arcade‌ game store has made it more difficult for developers to compete with Apple. The DoJ is also looking into complaints that Apple has restricted location access for third-party apps while still allowing its own apps and services full access to location data.

Back in October, the DoJ accelerated its antitrust probe into Apple, and it is likely that Apple will be facing an antitrust lawsuit. The DoJ is still gathering information at this time, and it's not clear when Apple could face a legal battle.

The ‌App Store‌ is undergoing some changes at the current time that will impact any antitrust investigation. Apple has already agreed to allow developers to use communication methods like email to advertise payment options available outside of iOS apps, and Apple may be forced to make even more drastic ‌App Store‌ updates this week.

In the Epic v. Apple ruling, the judge overseeing the case ordered Apple to stop restricting developers from including "in their apps and their metadata buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms." Apple asked for more time to implement the changes, but was denied. The issue has been kicked over to a the Ninth Circuit appeals court, and if Apple does not get a stay by December 9, the company will need to comply with the original ruling.

With the iOS 15.1 update that launched in late October, Apple added SharePlay, a feature that's designed to let you do more over FaceTime. Using SharePlay, you can watch movies, listen to music, and use apps with friends and family, and we thought we'd give it a try to see how it works.

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The first step with any SharePlay experience is to start ‌FaceTime‌. You can use SharePlay with one person or with multiple people, but everyone needs to have a device running iOS 15.1. SharePlay is also coming to the Mac in macOS Monterey 12.1, but the update is still in beta at this time.

In a ‌FaceTime‌ call, just swipe out of the ‌FaceTime‌ interface and open any app that supports SharePlay, like Apple Music or Apple TV. From there, select a song or a TV show/movie to share with others, and you'll see a prompt to initiate the SharePlay experience.

Each person on the ‌FaceTime‌ call will also see a prompt to join SharePlay, and once all parties have agreed, content is synced between everyone on the call. With apps that include media, such as ‌Apple TV‌, participants have control over media playback so anyone can play or pause the content, with everyone seeing the action.

Volume and closed captioning are controlled individually, and SharePlay is designed to lower the volume of what's playing when someone speaks so you don't miss any commentary. With apps like ‌Apple Music‌, everyone can change the song that's playing or add something to the queue.

It's worth noting that whichever content that's being SharePlayed, each person needs to have access. With ‌Apple TV‌, for example, users need to be subscribed, and the same goes for ‌Apple Music‌. If you try to play a movie that you own from iTunes, the person on the other end needs to own the movie too or it won't work.

Third-party apps support SharePlay too, and we found that one of the best experiences was with TikTok. After opening up the app and initiating the SharePlay experience, all parties involved can scroll through TikTok and watch the same videos with one another.

Again, each person needs to own the app in question for the SharePlay experience. We tried Spotify, but each person on the call needs to be a Spotify premium subscriber to listen together, which is not always an ideal experience. In situations where everyone on the call doesn't own the same media, the content will play for who does own it, and others are able to remain on the ‌FaceTime‌ call to continue to chat.

Twitch, Spotify, TikTok, Apollo, and other apps all support SharePlay, and Apple has said apps like Disney+ and Hulu will work with it too, but we couldn't get these to activate in our testing so support is not yet implemented. Netflix, YouTube, and other apps that might be popular to use with SharePlay also don't have support at this time. We have a dedicated list of apps that work with SharePlay for those interested.

SharePlay can also be used for screen sharing purposes, which is great if you need to help someone with a device issue or if you want to plan something with multiple people. For Apple Fitness+ users, SharePlay allows for group workouts, which is great for long distance workouts together. In our testing, SharePlay was a little bit choppy in just one of our test calls, but overall worked well, and it was definitely processor intensive, so expect battery drain when using the feature.

If you have an ‌Apple TV‌ or another AirPlay compatible device, SharePlay can be AirPlayed to your TV so you can watch content on a bigger screen while remaining on a ‌FaceTime‌ call.

Have you tried out SharePlay? Let us know what you think in the comments.