MacRumors

Apple today seeded the seventh beta of the upcoming watchOS 8 update to developers for testing purposes, with the update coming one week after Apple released the sixth 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.

The non-profit watchdog group Campaign for Accountability today released a report revealing "major weaknesses" in Apple's App Store child safety measures that allow minors to easily access adult content such as pornography and gambling.

As part of its Tech Transparency Project, the watchdog group said it set up an Apple ID for a fictitious 14-year-old user and used it to download and test 75 apps in the App Store across several adult-oriented genres: dating, hookups, online chat, and casino/gambling. Despite all of these apps being designated as 17+ on the App Store, the investigation found the underage user could easily evade the apps' age restrictions.

Among the findings presented included a dating app that presented pornography before asking the user's age, adult chat apps with explicit images that never asked the user's age, and a gambling app that allowed the minor to deposit and withdraw money.

The investigation also identified broader flaws in Apple's approach to child safety, claiming that Apple and many apps "essentially pass the buck to each other" when it comes to blocking underage users. The report added that a number of apps design their age verification mechanisms "in a way that minimizes the chance of learning the user is underage," and claimed that Apple takes no discernible steps to prevent this.

"Apple claims that it maintains a tight grip over App Store creators to protect consumers from harmful content, but it hasn't even put up the most obvious safeguard to keep underage users safe," said the Campaign for Accountability's executive director Michelle Kuppersmith, in a press release accompanying the investigation. "If Apple already knows that a user is under 18, how can it let the user download adult apps in the first place?"

The investigation concluded that Apple has created an ecosystem that is much more dangerous for minors than the company advertises. More details and methodology can be found on the Tech Transparency Project website.

Update: In response to the findings, Apple said the App Store has proved to be a safe and trusted place to discover and download apps for over a decade, adding that parental control features built into iOS and iPadOS allow parents to choose what apps children can download, how long they can spend each day on specific apps and websites, and ensure children can only buy or download apps appropriate for them.

For its investigation, the watchdog group did not activate parental controls on the hypothetical 14-year-old user's iPhone.

Apple today announced that it is celebrating 105 years of America's national parks with a series of initiatives that will help customers learn more about them.

"With every passing year, our national parks only become more precious," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "We're honored to play a small role in helping even more people explore the parks, learn about their history, and renew their love and appreciation for the planet we share."

As was announced earlier this week, Apple is donating $10 to the National Park Foundation for each purchase made with Apple Pay on Apple.com. The promotion will last through August 29, but it is limited to the first 100,000 transactions with a $10 minimum purchase.

Apple is providing unique park-related content in Apple Maps, the App Store, the Apple TV app, Apple Podcasts, Apple Books, and Apple Music.

In ‌Apple Maps‌, Apple is offering 24 curated Guides from the National Park Foundation that will help people experience and discover national parks. In the ‌App Store‌, Apple is spotlighting the National Park Service app as its App of the Day in addition to highlighting Essential Apps for Hikers.

The ‌Apple TV‌ app features a collection of Watch Now content that celebrates the history of national parks, and it spotlights shows like "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" and documentaries like "Free Solo."

Apple Books features a collection of park-related books, Podcasts has a collection of shows focused on exploring and celebrating the outdoors, and ‌Apple Music‌ features a new "Nature Awaits" playlist.

Apple will also host a National Parks Activity Challenge on August 28, which will see Apple Watch owners rewarded with a special achievement badge for doing a hike, walk, run, or wheelchair workout of a mile.

According to Apple, its contributions to the National Park Foundation have funded youth programs over the years, including the Mosaics in Science Diversity Internship Program.

Apple is currently testing new Face ID hardware that could allow users to unlock their iPhone while wearing a mask or foggy glasses, according to leaker Jon Prosser.

Via his website FrontPageTech.com, Prosser explained that Apple is testing more advanced ‌Face ID‌ hardware using a case that fits snugly around an ‌iPhone‌ 12. The case allows the ‌iPhone‌ to bypass its built-in ‌Face ID‌ system to use that of the case instead.

Prosser believes that the prototype ‌Face ID‌ array matches the exact layout depicted in CAD files of the iPhone 13 from earlier this year. This is because the prototype ‌Face ID‌ hardware in the case is considerably narrower than that of the ‌iPhone‌ 12, which would line up with the slimmer notch that is expected on the ‌iPhone‌ 13 models.

The external ‌Face ID‌ hardware was apparently needed due to large-scale tests that were being performed to collect as much data as possible. This is said to have allowed Apple to give a large number of employees new hardware without distributing an unreleased ‌iPhone‌.

Participating employees were asked to wear combinations of face masks and glasses in a range of conditions to test the new hardware. Employees were simply asked to perform the tests but were not told what specific changes had been made to the ‌Face ID‌ sensor array in the case.

The new hardware reportedly allows iPhones to unlock with ‌Face ID‌ while wearing a mask, without the aid of an Apple Watch, and with foggy glasses.

While Prosser highlighted the striking similarity of the case's ‌Face ID‌ hardware with the expected smaller notch on the upcoming ‌iPhone‌ 13, it is not clear if this improved ‌Face ID‌ will arrive with the ‌iPhone‌ 13 or a future ‌iPhone‌ model.

The tests were apparently conducted recently, so Prosser suggested that if the improved ‌Face ID‌ is not immediately available with the ‌iPhone‌ 13, it could be introduced with a later software update.

Prosser elected to not share the images of the alleged prototype unit due to identifying marks found on it and shared a number of renders based on the images instead.

Starting with iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey, users with a paid iCloud+ storage plan can personalize their iCloud email address with a custom domain name, such as johnny@appleseed.com, and the feature is now available in beta.

iCloud+ subscribers interested in setting up a custom email domain can visit the beta.icloud.com website, select "Account Settings" under their name, and select "Manage" under "Custom Email Domain." Users can send and receive email with up to five custom domains, while family members can each have up to three email addresses per domain.

After entering a custom domain on the iCloud website, users can add email addresses that they currently use with the domain. Users can also create new email addresses after they have finished setting up the domain with iCloud, according to Apple. Note that any custom email addresses must not be in use with another Apple ID.

For those who missed the announcement back at WWDC in June, iCloud+ is Apple's new branding for paid iCloud storage combined with new features like iCloud Private Relay and Hide My Email. iCloud+ features are included with iCloud storage plans at no additional cost, with prices remaining set at $0.99 per month for 50GB of storage, $2.99 per month for 200GB of storage, or $9.99 per month for 2TB of storage in the United States.

The ability to use a custom email address for iCloud is not to be confused with Hide My Email, a separate iCloud+ feature that allows users to create unique, random email addresses that forward to their personal inbox so they can send and receive email without having to share their real email address.

(Thanks, Tommaso Armstrong!)

The iPhone has failed to serve as a gateway product to the Mac, Apple TV, and HomePod for over 50 percent of ‌iPhone‌ users, while the iPad, Apple Watch, and AirPods have seen considerably better popularity among ‌iPhone‌ owners, according to data gathered by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP).

The CIRP investigation sought to ascertain the extent to which ‌iPhone‌ users have bought other Apple devices, given the fact that Apple seeks to cross-sell its entire product line to its core customers.

The study highlighted a contrast between personal computers and tablets for most ‌iPhone‌ owners. While almost all ‌iPhone‌ users have a computer, only a 41 percent share of these users have a Mac, with the majority having a Windows or Google Chrome device instead. On the other hand, of the ‌iPhone‌ users that have a tablet, 84 percent own an ‌iPad‌.

The Apple Watch and AirPods have also seen significant uptake from ‌iPhone‌ owners. Of the two-thirds of ‌iPhone‌ owners who have a smartwatch, three-quarters of those have an Apple Watch. Similarly, 40 percent of ‌iPhone‌ users have true wireless earbuds, and over half of these are AirPods.

Apple has seen the least success with the ‌Apple TV‌ and the ‌HomePod‌ among existing ‌iPhone‌ users. 69 percent of ‌iPhone‌ owners have a TV streaming device, such as a Google Chromecast, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV, which is more than those that have a smartwatch, but only one-quarter of these are ‌Apple TV‌ devices.

Likewise, of the 45 percent of ‌iPhone‌ users that have a smart speaker, just 21 percent have a ‌HomePod‌. CIRP noted that the ‌HomePod‌ has the lowest penetration into the ‌iPhone‌ buyer population as well as the lowest share of ownership in the category, among all six products analyzed in the study.

Overall, while Apple has succeeded in selling mobile devices to existing ‌iPhone‌ owners, including iPads and direct ‌iPhone‌ accessories such as AirPods or Apple Watches, the company has struggled to encourage a majority to buy Macs and home devices such as the ‌Apple TV‌ and ‌HomePod‌.

CIRP based its findings on a survey of approximately 900 Apple customers in the United States that purchased an ‌iPhone‌ in the twelve-month period ending in June 2021.

Facebook today announced updates coming to Facebook Messenger as the app and service celebrates its tenth birthday. The new features include a new game, tighter integration with Facebook Pay, message effects, and more.

For Messenger users in the United States, Messenger now allows you to receive cash gifts directly within the app. This is being enabled thanks to Facebook Pay, and when cash is received, it comes wrapped in a gift with virtual balloons.

In the US, we're introducing a new way to receive cash gifts directly through Messenger. When a friend sends you a cash gift for your birthday, you'll be notified on Messenger and Facebook with their gift message wrapped and accompanied by virtual balloons. Once you confirm your Facebook Pay details, the cash gift will be instantly deposited into your bank account. To send a birthday cash gift, go to the Facebook mobile app and tap the button that appears alongside your friend's birthday posts in your Facebook News Feed or their profile.

Within the app, Messenger users will now be able to conduct polls within group chats, allowing groups to easily vote on specific topics and play "Most Likely to."

In more celebratory features, Messenger is releasing a new "Messenger is 10!" sticker pack to users, offering fun effects such as purple balloons or candles. Announced previously, users can also utilize "Soundmoji" and message effects to spruce up their chats.

Smaller features include an updated way to share contacts with other friends and family, and a sneak peek at "Word Effects." According to Messenger, Word Effects will be rolling out soon and will let users add specific emoji effects to specific words.

Zoom today announced the latest version of its popular video conferencing app, and one of the key new features is gesture recognition on the iPad, enabling users to use visual gestures to automatically use a corresponding meeting reaction.

The feature currently supports the "Raise Hand" and "Thumbs Up" reactions. If you raise your hand or give a thumbs up in real life, a hand or thumbs up icon will automatically appear alongside your video feed in a Zoom meeting. A raised hand typically indicates that you have a question and would like to be unmuted to speak.

Zoom has also received a new Focus Mode, chat sidebar enhancements, and several other new features, as outlined in the full release notes.

iPad and iPhone users can update to the latest version of Zoom through the App Store.

Apple is preparing to open its first retail store in the Chinese province of Hunan, according to a new official webpage on the company's website, as well as images shared on Twitter.

The official webpage offers no date for when the store will launch; however, its opening could be relatively close given the store is plastered with marketing material in anticipation. Apple is advertising the store with the following tagline [translated]:

The first law to open your mind is that there is no law. In Changsha, it is a great truth not to set limits for Reiki. Apple Changsha welcomes all kinds of whimsical ideas to let go of their hands and feet and break out of their own world.

On its website, Apple offers wallpapers for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac to celebrate the store's opening. The new store will be the first retail store for the Hunan province.

Apple today shared a new "Today at Apple" session on YouTube, exploring how to shoot expressive pet portrait photos, with the help of photographer Sophie Gamand and Jahmyra from Today at Apple.

The playful session encourages participants to use their iPhone at the correct height, tune into the pet's personality, and take a look at showcase pet portraits for inspiration and top takeaways.

Apple says its free Today at Apple sessions are meant to inspire hands-on creativity in photography, art, design, video, coding, music, and more using Apple products and accessories like the ‌‌iPhone‌‌, iPad, Mac, and Apple Pencil. Initially hosted exclusively at Apple Stores, the sessions started to be offered online during the global health crisis, and Apple also started uploading sessions to YouTube last month.

This is the fifth Today at Apple session uploaded to YouTube, with previous sessions looking at drawing yourself as a "Peanuts" character in the Pages app using an ‌‌iPad‌‌ and ‌‌Apple Pencil‌‌, shooting and editing "otherworldly" photos with Night Mode, creating looped videos in the Clips app, and shooting portrait photos.

Google has rolled out picture-in-picture support as an "experimental" feature for YouTube premium subscribers, allowing them to watch video in a small window when the app is closed.

If you're a premium YouTube subscriber looking to try out picture-in-picture, follow these steps:

1. Launch a web browser and sign into your YouTube account at YouTube.com.
   

2. Navigate to www.youtube.com/new.
3. Scroll down to "Picture-in-picture on iOS".
4. Click "Try it out."

Now, when you're in the YouTube app watching a video, return to your Home Screen by swiping up/pressing the Home button, and the picture-in-picture mini player will pop up. Google notes that locking your phone when watching in picture-in-picture mode will pause the video, but you can resume it by using the Lock Screen media controls.

Google in June announced that picture-in-picture support would be rolling out to both premium and non-paying YouTube app users in the U.S., but some people outside the U.S. have been able to get the experimental feature working, so it could be globally available.

• How to Use Picture in Picture Mode on iPhone

However, Google says the feature is only available until October 31. The company doesn't explain what happens after that, but hopefully that's when support rolls out to both paying subscribers and non-paying users, as originally promised. Whether it will still be available globally outside of its "experimental" context remains to be seen, though.

(Via 9to5Google.)

Apple may be planning to launch the iPhone 13 on Friday, September 17 and third-generation AirPods on Thursday, September 30, according to an image of an e-commerce app discovered by Chinese language site IT Home.

The screenshot, originally posted by Weibo account @PandaIsBald, suggests all four ‌iPhone‌ 13 models will go on sale on September 17, followed by the AirPods 3 on September 30.

Apart from the image, which could be easily faked, IT Home offers no other information to back up the claim, and the website has shared screenshots in the past that turned out to be inaccurate, so the above information should be taken with a hefty dose of salt.

That said, with Apple returning to its traditional September launch timeline, the above dates could easily turn out to be correct. Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives has suggested the ‌iPhone‌ will launch in the third week of September, which would be the week of September 13 to 17. Based on past launch events, September 7, September 14, and September 21 are all likely event dates where we could see the new ‌iPhone‌ models unveiled.

The new ‌iPhone‌ 13 models will focus heavily on camera capabilities, including ProRes and portrait mode for videos. The new handsets will also include a smaller notch, larger batteries, and improved performance. Apple's third-generation AirPods are expected to have a form factor similar to the AirPods Pro, featuring a new case, a shorter stem, and perhaps replaceable ear tips.

Apple supplier Luxshare has reported record revenue and profit in the first half of 2021, thanks largely to the Chinese assembler's increasing involvement in Apple's supply chain.

From a new report by Nikkei Asia:

The Guangdong-based company sometimes called "Little Foxconn," which has been deepening its relationship with Apple and is assembling iPhones for the U.S. technology giant for the first time this year, said first-half revenue grew more than 30% from a year ago to 48.14 billion yuan ($7.42 billion). Net profit was up 22% to 3.08 billion yuan.

In a stock exchange filing, Luxshare said it had achieved the results despite some of its business being postponed due to "multiple external factors" – a reference to the global chip shortage, rising costs of labor and raw materials, and disruptions caused by the global health crisis.

The gains show just how far Luxshare has come since it began its relationship with Apple. In 2013, Luxshare began supplying connectors to Apple before becoming an AirPods assembler in 2017. It added the Apple Watch to its assembly business in 2019.

This month, Luxshare reportedly won 3% of iPhone 13 orders away from Taiwanese rivals Foxconn and Pegatron. Building Apple's premium smartphone is considered to be a major breakthrough for the Chinese company, given that it has never been involved in ‌iPhone‌ production before.

Despite Luxshare's small percentage of ‌iPhone‌ production this year, its involvement has reportedly rattled rival ‌‌iPhone‌‌ suppliers are said to be wary of the Chinese manufacturer's competitiveness and the possibility that it could steal away bigger chunks of orders in the future. As a mark of its intent, the company last year paid $472 million to acquire a Chinese ‌iPhone‌ facility from smaller assembler Wistron.

Apple now has more suppliers from China and Hong Kong than from Taiwan, according to Nikkei, and many will have a role in the manufacturing the ‌iPhone‌ 13 series, which is expected to enter mass production this week.

Apple is expected to announce the ‌iPhone‌ 13 and a new Apple Watch at a digital event next month.

Apple today informed developers that the beta version of TestFlight for Mac is now available and can be used to test Mac apps.

Registered developers can download the TestFlight for Mac beta and can use the app to test their own apps and apps from other developers on macOS Monterey beta 5. TestFlight for Mac, like TestFlight for iOS, will make it simple for developers to test beta versions of macOS apps prior to when they are released.

Apple says that when using this version of TestFlight on macOS Monterey beta 5 or earlier, users will need to quit the beta version of a native Mac app before updating it, as the system will offer a prompt to quit before updating. VoiceOver is also not fully functional in the TestFlight beta.

Apple is soliciting feedback from developers on TestFlight for Mac through the Feedback Assistant available in macOS Monterey. The TestFlight 3.2 beta can be downloaded from the Developer Center, and macOS Monterey is required to use it. The TestFlight app is not available to non-developers at this time.

An Alaska Airlines flight was evacuated on Monday night after a smartphone on the plane caught fire, reports The Seattle Times (via The Verge). A spokesperson for the Port of Seattle said that the device that was burned was a Samsung Galaxy A21.

In an email to The Seattle Times, the Port of Seattle spokesperson said that the phone was "burned beyond recognition," but the passenger who owned the device provided details on the model. "We could not confirm it by looking at the remains of the device," said the spokesperson.

The flight crew extinguished the fire with a battery containment bag, but smoke forced the deployment of the evacuation slides. The smartphone did not catch fire until the flight had landed at the Seattle-Tacoma airport. 128 passengers and six crew members were transported by bus to the terminal, and there were no serious injuries.

On Twitter, a passenger who was on the flight said that the burning smartphone was "like a smoke machine."

There are often isolated incidents of cellular phones catching fire after issues with the battery, but in this cause, the problem could be notable as back in 2016, Samsung was forced to recall its Galaxy Note 7 due to exploding batteries.

At that time, there were multiple reports of Note 7 devices exploding or catching fire while charging, and the device was ultimately banned from all airplanes and flights in the United States.

There has been no evidence that the Galaxy A21 is facing a similar widespread issue at this time.