MacRumors

Twitter in November debuted a new ephemeral tweet option called "Fleets," with the feature designed to compete with Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, Snapchat, and more.

Fleets apparently did not catch on, because Twitter today announced that Fleets are being discontinued as of August 3, which is less than a year after the feature launched.

Twitter says that it had hoped Fleets would help people "feel more comfortable joining the conversation on Twitter," but there hasn't been an increase of people joining Twitter with Fleets as Twitter expected.

We're evolving what Twitter is, and trying bigger, bolder things to serve the public conversation. A number of these updates, like Fleets, are speculative and won't work out. We'll be rigorous, evaluate what works, and know when to move on and focus elsewhere. If we're not evolving our approach and winding down features every once in a while - we're not taking big enough chances. We'll continue to build new ways to participate in conversations, listening to feedback and changing direction when there may be a better way to serve people using Twitter.

Going forward, Twitter says that it will use what it learned from Fleets to focus on creating other ways for people to "join the conversation" and will find new ways to address "what holds people back from participating on Twitter."

Twitter also plans to test updates to the Tweet composer and camera that will incorporate Fleets features like text formatting, full screen camera for photo taking, and GIF stickers.

Apple's AirPlay 2 and HomeKit features have been rolling out to a number of smart TVs, and as of today, the functionality is available on 2020 Toshiba and Insignia 4K UHD Smart Fire TVs.

‌AirPlay‌ 2 is designed to allow iPhone, iPad, and Mac users to stream content to an AirPlay-compatible device, and with built-in support in Toshiba and Insignia TVs, an Apple TV is not required to use ‌AirPlay‌ 2.

‌AirPlay‌ 2 also works across multiple devices for a whole home audio experience, and can be used for streaming TV shows, music, photos, and more to the television set.

With ‌HomeKit‌, smart TV owners can control their television through Siri voice commands or through the Home app on ‌iPhone‌, ‌iPad‌, or Mac. ‌Siri‌ and the Home app can be used to turn the TV on or off, adjust the volume, and switch the TV input to another device.

To use ‌HomeKit‌, the TV needs to be added as a ‌HomeKit‌ accessory, which can be done by going to the Settings menu on the TV, selecting Display and Sounds, and choosing the ‌AirPlay‌ and ‌HomeKit‌ option. From there, instructions are available on the setup process.

‌AirPlay‌ and ‌HomeKit‌ are available on the Toshiba 4K UHD Smart Fire TV with Dolby Vision (2020 model) and the Insignia 4K UHD Smart Fire TV (2020 model).

Apple today seeded the third developer beta of macOS Monterey, the newest version of the macOS operating system. The third beta comes nearly three weeks after Apple released the second macOS Monterey beta.

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

As with all new betas, Apple recommends not installing the new macOS update on a primary machine because it is early release software and could have bugs.

macOS Monterey introduces Universal Control, a feature that lets a single mouse, trackpad, and keyboard be used across multiple Mac or iPad devices, plus there's a new AirPlay to Mac feature.

Safari has been redesigned with a new tab bar and support for Tab Groups, and FaceTime has gained spatial audio, a Portrait Mode on M1 Macs, and Voice Isolation for cutting out background noise. There's also a new SharePlay ‌FaceTime‌ feature that lets Apple users watch TV, listen to music, and share their screens with one another.

Shared With You, a separate feature, keeps track of the music, links, podcasts, news, and photos that people are sent in Messages, highlighting it in the relevant apps. Notes has a new Quick Note feature for jotting down thoughts, and collaboration is easier with mentions and an Activity View.

The Shortcuts app from iOS is now available on the Mac, and Focus helps people stay on task by cutting out background distractions. There's an updated Maps app with a whole slew of new features, and with Live Text, Macs can now detect text in photos or provide details on animals, art, landmarks, plants, and more in images.

Mail Privacy Protection hides IP and prevents tracking through invisible pixels, and iCloud Private Relay keeps Safari browsing protected. There are many other new features in macOS Monterey, with a full rundown available in our macOS Monterey roundup.

Apple today seeded the third betas of iOS and iPadOS 15 to developers for testing purposes, with the updates coming almost three weeks after Apple released the second betas.

Registered developers can download the profile for the iOS and iPadOS betas from the Apple Developer Center, and once the profile is installed, beta updates will be available over the air. It's best to install iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 on a secondary device because this is early release software that could have issues.

iOS 15 is a major update that introduces a slew of new features focused on cutting down on distractions and spending more time with friends and family.

FaceTime has a revamped interface with new SharePlay features for listening to music, watching videos, and sharing your screen with your friends and family members, and in Messages, if something like a url, photo, news article, or song is shared with you, you can see the content in Apple's dedicated apps.

Focus lets you create custom notification modes that hide irrelevant apps and notifications when you're doing things like working or spending time with your family so you can better focus on the activity at hand, and there's a new notification summary that de-prioritizes less important notifications so you're not constantly inundated with information.

Maps has a new 3D view in select cities that lets you see 3D landmarks, there are immersive AR directions when walking, and driving directions are better than ever, especially at complex interchanges.

Safari now supports Tab Groups for improved organization, and extensions can be used in Safari for iOS devices for the first time. Later this year you'll be able to add your ID card to the Wallet app in some U.S. states, and Apple is making it easier to add key cards for hotels, smart home locks, and more to the Wallet app.

Spotlight is better than ever and can bring up more tailored search results, and Photos has a "Live Text" feature that lets you take a photo of something with text like a receipt to translate it into typed text on your iPhone. ‌Photos‌ can also identify landmarks, books, plants, and pets, so you can snap a photo of a plant and get information on what it might be.

Apple has also added multiple privacy improvements, such as a new App Privacy report coming to the ‌iPhone‌ that will let you know how often apps access sensitive info like your location, a Mail feature that hides your IP address, and Siri processing that's done on device.

For a complete overview of everything that's new in iOS 15, we have a dedicated roundup that walks through all of the new features.

Apple today seeded the third beta of the upcoming watchOS 8 update to developers for testing purposes, with the update coming almost three weeks after Apple released the second watchOS 8 beta.

To install ‌watchOS 8‌, developers will need to download the configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once installed, ‌watchOS 8‌ 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. It's not recommended to install ‌watchOS 8‌ on a main Apple Watch as the software may be unstable at this early date.

watchOS 8 has several new features that are extensions of new features introduced in iOS 15. There are improvements to Wallet that allow it to hold keys for unlocking hotel, car, and home doors, plus Apple will let U.S. users add their IDs to Wallet later this year.

Apple overhauled the Home app, and for the Workout app, there are new Tai Chi and Pilates workout types, and the Breathe app has been renamed to Mindfulness thanks to a new Reflect session that invites users to get into a positive state of mind. When sleeping, the Apple Watch now measures respiratory rate.

Focus mode from iOS 15 syncs to the watch so users can stay on task, and in the Messages app, Scribble, dictation, and emojis can be combined within the same message, making it easier to communicate. Dictated text can be edited, and GIFs can be sent right from the watch.

There's a new Portrait watch face, and the Photos app has been updated with support for Memories and Featured ‌Photos‌. A new Find My app lets items be located right on the wrist, and there are also new updates for Music, Weather, Timers, and more, along with a new Contacts app.

TikTok has become the first non-Facebook app to reach three billion downloads worldwide across iOS and Android, according to Sensor Tower.

Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data reveals that the app, including its Chinese iOS version called Douyin, was the most downloaded and highest-grossing non-game app globally in the first half of 2021, reaching 383 million first-time installs and an estimated $919.2 million in consumer spending.

TikTok's adoption has accelerated in 2021 with first-time downloads increasing by two percent from the fourth quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021 to reach 177.5 million, and increasing by 16 percent from the first quarter of 2021 to the second quarter of 2021 to reach 205.4 million. This is the most growth the app has experienced since its record-breaking quarter at the start of 2020, when it had more than 315 million installs.

New downloads of TikTok declined by 38 percent year-over-year from almost 619 million in the first half of 2020, but this is partially due to the app's removal from app stores in India. Even so, consumer spending in TikTok increased by 73 percent from $530.2 million in the year-ago period.

The app has now been installed more than three billion times, making it the fifth non-game app to do so. The other four apps that have achieved three billion installs are, WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram, all of which are owned by Facebook.

In the second quarter of 2021, TikTok had its biggest quarter-over-quarter growth in consumer spending since the second quarter of 2020, increasing by 39 percent from $384.7 million in the first quarter of 2021 to $534.6 million in the second quarter of 2021.

Globally, consumer spending in TikTok has now passed $2.5 billion. Only 16 non-game apps have accrued more than $1 billion in gross revenue since 2014, and only Tinder, Netflix, YouTube, and Tencent Video have reached more than $2.5 billion.

The British network carrier BT has today announced that EE will offer 5G connectivity anywhere in the UK by 2028 as the company set out its plans for the future.

3G services offered by EE, BT Mobile, and Plusnet will be phased out by 2023, by which time the company will have built a new 5G core network. 3G usage has been in steady decline in recent years, now representing less than two percent of all data traffic over the EE network. The legacy 3G spectrum will be used to enhance 5G capacity in the future.

By the mid-2020s, BT will fully integrate fiber, Wi-Fi, and mobile network infrastructure for more secure and reliable connectivity. This will be "the UK's first fully converged network," which will allow BT to build next-generation fiber and 5G networks simultaneously.

To extend mobile coverage, EE is expanding 4G connectivity deeper into rural areas, adding over 4,500 square miles of new coverage by 2025. In parallel EE's 5G network, which launched two years ago, will grow to cover half of the UK population by early 2023, four years ahead of the British Government's target. 5G is expected to surpass the geographic reach of 4G to become the UK's largest digital network by 2028, providing a signal to over 90 percent of the UK's landmass.

To reach its goals, BT will deploy its recently obtained 700MHz 5G spectrum to the majority of EE sites. It will also use Neutral Host systems to support better 4G and 5G coverage in busy environments like airports, stadia, and campuses. Portable cells in a fleet of rapid response vehicles will provide temporary mobile connectivity to customers when they need it, and BT is also intending to use more air and space technologies, including drones and Low Earth Orbit satellites, having signed an early agreement with satellite internet company OneWeb last month.

Apple today announced that its free "Today at Apple" creative sessions are expanding to YouTube, as reported by CNET.

The first session on YouTube was uploaded today and explores how to draw yourself as a "Peanuts" character in the Pages app using an iPad and Apple Pencil with the help of Apple TV+ series "The Snoopy Show" storyboard artist Krista Porter and Apple retail employee Anthony. Apple plans to upload additional sessions to YouTube over time.

"Today at Apple" sessions were initially hosted exclusively at Apple Stores, although they started to be offered online during the pandemic. New sessions being uploaded to YouTube will further expand the free creativity program to a larger audience, allowing anyone to learn how to create art, music, and more using Apple hardware and software.

In addition to YouTube, some "Today at Apple" videos are available on Apple's website.

Apple today announced it has deployed more than $1 billion towards affordable housing initiatives across California over the last 18 months, helping thousands of people in the state become homeowners for the first time.

In partnership with the California Housing Finance Agency, Housing Trust Silicon Valley, and Destination:Home, Apple said the the $1 billion in funding has helped support new housing development and construction, assisted first-time buyers to purchase homes, and expanded programs to reduce homelessness.

This milestone is part of Apple's overall $2.5 billion commitment to combat the California housing crisis, with the state having some of the United States' most expensive residential markets, including the Bay Area where Apple is headquartered. To date, Apple says it has supported affordable housing efforts across 25 counties in the state.

Apple's commitment includes a series of initiatives over several years, including a $1 billion affordable housing investment fund with the state of California, a $1 billion first-time homebuyer mortgage assistance fund, $300 million in Apple-owned land made available for affordable housing, a $150 million Bay Area housing fund, and $50 million to support Destination: Home's efforts to address homelessness in Silicon Valley.

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.

Rockley Photonics, an Apple supplier, has today unveiled an advanced digital sensor system that is likely to come to the Apple Watch to enable a wide range of new health tracking features.

The company today revealed a full-stack, "clinic-on-the-wrist" digital health sensor system, enabling wearable devices to monitor multiple biomarkers, including core body temperature, blood pressure, body hydration, alcohol, lactate, and glucose trends, and more.

The technology uses a miniaturized chip solution with optical sensors that provide continuous, non-invasive monitoring of various biomarkers, in an attempt to overcome many of the challenges associated with wearable health monitoring and avoid the need for invasive sensors that must perforate the skin.

Many wearables use green LEDs to monitor heart rate, but Rockley's sensor uses infrared spectrophotometers that can detect and monitor a much wider range of biomarkers to dramatically increase the functionality of wearable devices. The sensor generates lasers to non-invasively probe beneath the skin to analyze blood, interstitial fluids, and layers of the dermis for specific constituents and physical phenomena.

Rockley is initially launching its full-stack sensing solution as a wristband that contains the sensor module and communicates with an app and it will be used in a number of human studies in the coming months, but the company suggested that its sensor module and associated reference designs, including hardware and application firmware, will be available for other consumer products.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Apple is the largest customer of Rockley Photonics. The company's filings said that Apple accounted for the majority of its revenue over the last two years and that it has an ongoing "supply and development agreement" with the company, under which it expects to continue to heavily rely on Apple for most of its revenue.

Given the growth of Rockley Photonics and the scale of Apple's partnership with the company, it seems to be highly likely that the company's health sensor technology will be coming to the Apple Watch sooner rather than later, providing the technology lives up to expectations. Rockley has previously said that its sensors could be in consumer smartwatches and other electronics as soon as next year, which could align with the launch of Apple Watch Series 8 models.

Google's designs on its first foldable Pixel phone appear to have ramped up a notch, with the company said to be tapping Samsung to supply ultra-thin glass (UTG) layers for an infolding 7.6-inch device that could launch this year.

According to a new report from The Elec, Google is just one of several mobile makers seeking to secure UTG orders from Samsung, which is currently the exclusive supplier of the glass. Xiaomi, Honor, and OPPO are all believed to be working on foldable phones with UTG.

Samsung's original 2019 Galaxy Fold used polyimide films, but the in-folding screens were susceptible to display creasing and panel breakages, and the company's subsequent folding smartphones, 2020's Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Z Fold 2, both used UTG. The latter has fared better under duress, seemingly proving that almost anything can be bent if you make it thin enough.

The report falls in line with previous suggestions in February that Samsung has been developing in-folding OLED panels to supply to Oppo, Xiaomi, and Google. Last month, The Elec also reported that Samsung would produce foldable displays for Google and other vendors in October, suggesting a "Pixel Fold" release in the fourth quarter of this year.

Documents leaked in August 2020 suggested Google plans to release a foldable pixel phone in Q4 2021. Google confirmed in 2019 that it is developing technology that could be used in foldable devices, although at the time the company played down the prospect of actually launching a foldable, saying it didn't see "a clear use case yet."

However, Google develops the software that has to run on all Android foldable devices, which put it at a distinct advantage when it comes to foldable hardware-software integration.

Market research firm Omdia expects foldable OLED sales to reach US$2.1 billion this year, a 203% increase from 2020. Most of the sales are expected to come through foldable panels made by Samsung Display, and while Apple appears to have not made a firm decision on whether it will launch a foldable smartphone, previous rumors have suggested that Apple has requested foldable display samples from Samsung for testing purposes in a future ‌iPhone‌.

Samsung has historically been a key supplier to Apple, providing the OLED screens for iPhones. The Korean company apparently intends to dominate the foldable display market as a UTG supplier, although the glass it's using in its current foldable phones is actually made by German manufacturer Schott, while U.S.-based Corning is also emerging as a UTG player.

Apple has been known to be working on foldable display technology for some years now, filing multiple patents regarding the technology, and rumors have also floated around LG's potential involvement.

The repeated suggestion of Samsung's involvement and orders being placed by Apple offers a more concrete suggestion that work on a foldable ‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌ is quietly continuing, with some rumors suggesting a release as early as 2023.

Amazon is rolling out end-to-end encryption for video captured by Ring doorbells, after a successful trial in the United States (via BBC News).

Amazon's worldwide adoption of the encryption standard for Ring will mean that video footage from the doorbell cameras is stored on Amazon's servers, but the content won't be accessible to the company and only the user's device on which the video is received will be able to view the files.

Other new security features also set to be added to Ring doorbells include the ability to use two-factor authenticator apps and Captcha images. Amazon bought the US-based firm Ring for around $1 billion in 2018.

Apple offers a similar service for HomeKit-enabled third-party cameras called HomeKit Secure Video, which leverages iCloud to securely stream and store video clips from compatible indoor and outdoor cameras and doorbells, with end-to-end encryption.

HomeKit Secure Video cameras and doorbells are managed through the Home app like other HomeKit accessories. However, despite assurances given in 2018 Amazon's Ring Video Doorbell still does not support Apple ‌HomeKit‌, and there is no indication that it plans to do so in the near future.

For people looking for alternatives, Apple in December began selling Logitech's Circle View Wired Doorbell ($200), one of the first video doorbells with support for ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌.

Starting with iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, which will be publicly released in September, security cameras and video doorbells that support ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌ will detect and notify you when a package has been delivered.

Google has brought in 60-minute group video call limits for Google Meet users with free Gmail accounts, according to recently updated support pages (via 9to5Google).

The Meet service was originally exclusive to paying G-Suite members, but "unlimited" (up to 24 hour) group calls were made available for free to all users with a Google account in April 2020, in order to see off competition from Zoom and to help mitigate the impact of the global health crisis on work and relationship patterns.

The 60-minute limit was originally scheduled to come back into effect at the end of September 2020, but Google moved the deadline to March 2021, and then again to June 30, in response to changing circumstances.

Google will continue to allow non-paying users to make one-on-one calls for as long as they want, but longer group calls will require the $7.99 monthly cost of a Google Workspace subscription for individuals.

Going forward, free Gmail account holders will get a notification at 55 minutes that their Meet group call is about to end. To extend the call, the host can upgrade their Google account. Otherwise, the call will end at 60 minutes.

Google Meet offers many of the features that have made Zoom and Microsoft Teams so popular with both business and non-business users over the last year, including video conferencing for up to 100 participants, the option to schedule meetings, and screen-sharing capabilities.

Anyone interested in using Google Meet can download the Meet iOS app from the App Store or head to meet.google.com to use the web browser version.

Apple is offering an extended four-month free Apple Music trial for serving members and veterans of the U.S. military, provided they haven't been a subscriber to the streaming service before.

‌Apple Music‌ typically offers a three-month free trial for new subscribers, but military can take advantage of a special limited-time offer an get an extra month to try it out.

The offer can be accessed via a special link, spotted by 9to5Mac, which redirects to an authentication page on Apple's website. There, eligible users need to log in with an ID.me account, a third-party service that provides retail discounts to serving military and veterans.

The offer appears to be tied to July 4, and it won't be available for long. The four-month trial is valid for U.S. accounts only and the code expires on August 1, 2021, according to Apple.

Twitter users will soon be able to change who can reply to their tweets after they've posted them, the company has announced.

Limiting who could reply to a tweet was already an option, thanks to a feature rolled out last year, but users had to choose who could reply before posting the tweet. Now they can make that decision after the post has gone live.

Changing the reply options on a posted tweet is simple enough. Tap the ellipsis (thee dots) menu in the top-right corner of a tweet and select "Change who can reply" from the dropdown.

A "Who can reply?" Card will appear, from which you can choose one of the three same options that are available when composing a tweet: "Everyone," "People you follow," and "Only people you mention."

The new option gives users more control over who can interact with their posts, which aims to reduce harassment on the social media platform, although it's not hard to see how it could have the unintended effect of restricting constructive debate and amplifying someone's online "echo chamber." The feature is currently rolling out worldwide on iOS, Android, and the web.

Twitter has recently been previewing a lot more feature ideas before it commits to bringing them to the platform so that it can garner feedback on them. For example, earlier this month it said it was considering letting users post select tweets for "Trusted Friends" only, an idea similar to Instagram's "Close Friends" feature, which lets users share personal Stories more privately.

Apple is looking to boost initial production of this year's iPhone 13 models to 90 million units through the end of the year, an increase of up to 20% over the 75 million units of the ‌iPhone‌ 12 series produced last year, according to Bloomberg's Debby Wu and Mark Gurman.

The report also outlines a number of expectations for the ‌iPhone‌ 13 series, most of which have already been rumored:

• Same four sizes as the current lineup
• September announcement
• At least one model with LTPO display to enable variable refresh rate
• Smaller notch
• Camera upgrades will focus on video, including improved optical zoom
• Upgraded chip based on same 6-core design as current A14
• No in-display Touch ID, although Apple did test the technology for the ‌iPhone‌ 13

In addressing the smaller notch on the ‌iPhone‌ 13, Bloomberg says that while Apple's goal is to ultimately remove the notch entirely, it looks like even the 2022 ‌iPhone‌ will still include one. It is, however, likely to be reduced further in size compared to the ‌iPhone‌ 13's notch.