MacRumors

Apple's Head of Privacy, Erik Neuenschwander, has responded to some of users' concerns around the company's plans for new child safety features that will scan messages and Photos libraries, in an interview with TechCrunch.

When asked why Apple is only choosing to implement child safety features that scan for Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), Neuenschwander explained that Apple has "now got the technology that can balance strong child safety and user privacy," giving the company "a new ability to identify accounts which are starting collections of known CSAM."

Neuenschwander was asked if, in retrospect, announcing the Communication Safety features in Messages and the CSAM detection system in iCloud Photos together was the right decision, to which he responded:

Well, while they are [two] systems they are also of a piece along with our increased interventions that will be coming in Siri and search. As important as it is to identify collections of known CSAM where they are stored in Apple's iCloud Photos service, it's also important to try to get upstream of that already horrible situation.

When asked if Apple was trying to demonstrate to governments and agencies around the world that it is possible to scan for illicit content while preserving user privacy, Neuenschwander explained:

Now, why to do it is because, as you said, this is something that will provide that detection capability while preserving user privacy. We're motivated by the need to do more for child safety across the digital ecosystem, and all three of our features, I think, take very positive steps in that direction. At the same time we're going to leave privacy undisturbed for everyone not engaged in the illegal activity.

He was asked if Apple had created a framework that could be used for law enforcement to scan for other kinds of content in users' libraries and if it undermines Apple's commitment to end-to-end encryption.

It doesn't change that one iota. The device is still encrypted, we still don't hold the key, and the system is designed to function on on-device data... The alternative of just processing by going through and trying to evaluate users data on a server is actually more amenable to changes [without user knowledge], and less protective of user privacy... It's those sorts of systems that I think are more troubling when it comes to the privacy properties — or how they could be changed without any user insight or knowledge to do things other than what they were designed to do.

Neuenschwander was then asked if Apple could be forced to comply with laws outside the United States that may force it to add things that are not CSAM to the database to check for them on-device, to which he explained that there are a "number of protections built-in" to the service.

The hash list is built into the operating system, we have one global operating system and don't have the ability to target updates to individual users and so hash lists will be shared by all users when the system is enabled. And secondly, the system requires the threshold of images to be exceeded so trying to seek out even a single image from a person's device or set of people's devices won't work because the system simply does not provide any knowledge to Apple for single photos stored in our service. And then, thirdly, the system has built into it a stage of manual review where, if an account is flagged with a collection of illegal CSAM material, an Apple team will review that to make sure that it is a correct match of illegal CSAM material prior to making any referral to any external entity. And so the hypothetical requires jumping over a lot of hoops, including having Apple change its internal process to refer material that is not illegal, like known CSAM and that we don't believe that there's a basis on which people will be able to make that request in the U.S. And the last point that I would just add is that it does still preserve user choice, if a user does not like this kind of functionality, they can choose not to use iCloud Photos and if iCloud Photos is not enabled, no part of the system is functional.

Neuenschwander continued that for users who are "not into this illegal behavior, Apple gain no additional knowledge about any user's cloud library," and "it leaves privacy completely undisturbed."

See TechCrunch's full interview with Neuenschwander for more information.

The 2022 iPhones and Macs may feature chips built on the 3nm process, as Apple's leading chip supplier, TSMC, is planning to begin mass production for ‌3nm‌ chips destined for Apple in the second half of next year, according to a preview of an upcoming report by DigiTimes.

The paywalled preview of the full report, which will be published tomorrow, reads:

TSMC is on track to move its 3nm process technology to volume production in the second half of 2022 for Apple's devices, either iPhones or Mac computers, according to industry sources.

Earlier in June, TSMC was reportedly beefing up capacity to begin production of 3nm chips, but ‌DigiTimes‌ at the time refrained from mentioning Apple as a potential initial beneficiary of the new process. Today's preview directly means that just two years after unveiling chips based on the 5nm process, Apple may plan to make a direct jump to ‌3nm‌ as soon as next year.

Apple has already reportedly booked TSMC's entire production capacity for 4nm chips for Apple silicon Macs. That report, however, has no timeline as to when Macs with 4nm chips may debut.

The A14 Bionic chip, first introduced in an updated iPad Air and later put into the iPhone 12 series, is built on the 5nm process. Compared to earlier processes, the smaller architecture provides improved performance and increased energy efficiency. For this year's iPhone, Apple will use an enhanced version of the 5nm process.

The full report tomorrow is likely to offer more color surrounding Apple's plan to roll out chips built on the ‌3nm‌ process. We'll be sure to let MacRumors' readers know if the new report shares anything of significance.

Apple plans to launch a new MacBook Air with a mini-LED display and several color options around mid 2022, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today in a research note obtained by MacRumors. These details line up with previous rumors about the new MacBook Air from sources like Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and YouTube tech personality Jon Prosser.

Kuo said the new MacBook Air will feature an "all-new design" with a similar form factor as the next MacBook Pro models, which are also expected to feature a mini-LED display and flatter top and bottom edges. Previous rumors have suggested the new MacBook Air will also feature a faster Apple silicon chip and a MagSafe-branded magnetic power cable.

Kuo said it is not yet certain whether the existing M1 MacBook Air will be discontinued after the mini-LED model enters mass production, and this could have an effect on pricing. If the M1 MacBook Air is discontinued, Kuo said the mini-LED model will probably start at the same $999 price. If the M1 MacBook Air does remain available for purchase alongside the mini-LED model, Kuo believes it could receive a price cut.

Chinese manufacturer BOE will supply the mini-LED displays for the new MacBook Air, whereas LG, Sharp, and Foxconn subsidiary GIS will supply mini-LED displays for the upcoming MacBook Pro models, according to Kuo.

Apple last updated the MacBook Air with the M1 chip in November 2020.

To alleviate a severe blood shortage, the American Red Cross has teamed up with Apple to offer a 4-month Apple Music trial to those who donate blood, platelets, or plasma during the month of August.

Blood donors will need to donate blood from August 1 to August 31 to get the free 4-month Apple Music special, which will be delivered by email. The trial is limited to new ‌Apple Music‌ subscribers who have not tried the service yet.

Those who donate before August 15 will also be entered to win a VIP journey to the Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee.

Appointments to donate blood can be made through the Red Cross website.

(Thanks, Phil!)

Twelve South today announced a new addition to its PlugBug charger lineup with the launch of the PlugBug Slim, a new 20W USB-C charger that's useful for travel with its thin design.

Priced at $24.99, Twelve South describes the PlugBug Slim as a space-saving charger that's 0.67 inches thick (17mm), so it better blends into the wall and fits into tight spaces where furniture might be close to an outlet.

The prongs of the PlugBug Slim are designed to fold down so that it can be tucked into a pocket or slipped into a bag or purse when on the go, and there's a small light at the bottom to let you know when your device is charging.

The PlugBug Slim is a GaN charger, and while there are many GaN charging options on the market now with compact designs, there are fewer that have focused on a slimmer profile for small spaces. At 20W, the PlugBug Slim works with the iPhone models and offers fast charging, charges up the iPad, and supports the HomePod mini.

Twelve South's PlugBug Slim can be purchased from the Twelve South website for $24.99.

Two popular Japanese prepaid money cards will be gaining support for Apple Pay later this year, allowing the cards to be added to the Wallet app for contactless payments using an iPhone or Apple Watch where accepted, it was announced today.

The cards set to gain Apple Pay support include Seven & I's Nanaco card and AEON's WAON card, as noted by Ata Distance. The blog, which focuses on mobile payment and transit cards in Japan, believes it will likely become possible to add the cards to the Wallet app shortly after the public release of iOS 15, which is expected in September.

As part of its Apple Pay announcement, Seven & I said it has issued around 74 million Nanaco cards that are accepted at around 800,000 retail locations in Japan, including 7-Eleven and Ito-Yokado stores. Likewise, AEON said it has issued over 87 million WAON cards that are accepted at more than 840,000 retail locations across the island country.

Apple Pay continues to expand to more issuers around the world, including ING in Belgium and FNB in South Africa earlier this month.

Amid the ongoing controversy around Apple's plans to implement new child safety features that would involve scanning messages and users' photos libraries, Facebook's former security chief, Alex Stamos, has weighed into the debate with criticisms of multiple parties involved and suggestions for the future.

In an extensive Twitter thread, Stamos said that there are "no easy answers" in the debate around child protection versus personal privacy.

Stamos expressed his frustration with the way in which Apple handled the announcement of the new features and criticized the company for not engaging in wider industry discussions around the safety and privacy aspects of end-to-end encryption in recent years.

Apple was invited but declined to participate in these discussions, and with this announcement they just busted into the balancing debate and pushed everybody into the furthest corners with no public consultation or debate.

Likewise, Stamos said that he was disappointed with various NGOs, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), for leaving little room for discussion in their public statements. The NCMEC, for example, called Apple employees that questioned the privacy implications of the new features "the screeching voices of the minority." "Apple's public move has pushed them to advocate for their equities to the extreme," Stamos explained.

Stamos urged security researchers and campaigners who were surprised at Apple's announcement to pay closer attention to the global regulatory environment, and speculated that the UK's Online Safety Bill and the EU's Digital Services Act were instrumental in Apple's move to implement the new child safety features.

One of the basic problems with Apple's approach is that they seem desperate to avoid building a real trust and safety function for their communications products. There is no mechanism to report spam, death threats, hate speech, NCII, or any other kinds of abuse on iMessage.

He also said that Apple does not have sufficient functions for trust and safety, and encouraged Apple to create a reporting system in iMessage, roll out client-side ML to prompt users to report something abusive, and staff a child safety team to investigate the worst reports.

Instead, we get an ML system that is only targeted at (under) 13 year-olds (not the largest group of sextortion/grooming targets in my experience), that gives kids a choice they aren't equipped to make, and notifies parents instead of Apple T&S.

Stamos said that he did not understand why Apple is scanning for CSAM locally unless iCloud backup encryption is in the works, and warned that Apple may have "poisoned" opinion against client-side classifiers.

I also don't understand why Apple is pushing the CSAM scanning for iCloud into the device, unless it is in preparation for real encryption of iCloud backups. A reasonable target should be scanning shared iCloud albums, which could be implemented server-side.

In any case, coming out of the gate with non-consensual scanning of local photos, and creating client-side ML that won't provide a lot of real harm prevention, means that Apple might have just poisoned the well against any use of client-side classifiers to protect users.

Nevertheless, Stamos highlighted that Facebook caught 4.5 million users posting child abuse images, and that this is likely only a proportion of the overall number of offenders, by scanning for images with known matches for CSAM.

The upcoming 2021 iPhones will feature a spate of new camera features tailored for professional users, including ProRes for videos, Portrait Mode for video, and design updates by the means of a smaller notch, according to a new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

According to Gurman, Apple plans to include Portrait Mode video in this year's iPhone lineup, which will allow users to record videos with an added bokeh effect behind the subject. Apple released Portrait Mode with the iPhone 7 Plus, but it's since remained exclusive to photos. It's worth noting that with iOS 15 this fall, FaceTime will be gaining Portrait Mode for all compatible devices.

Apple first added Portrait mode to the iPhone 7 Plus in 2016, and it quickly become a fan favorite. The feature can put a person in sharp focus while blurring the background in what is known as a bokeh effect. For the new iPhones, Apple plans to add this same technique to video with a feature internally dubbed Cinematic Video. Like with still photos, the iPhone's depth sensor will create the effect and allow users to change the amount of blur after recording.

Alongside Portrait Mode video, Apple is also planning to bring ProRes for videos to the iPhone, which will allow users to record video in a higher quality format and offer more editing controls. Similar to how ProRaw for photos is exclusive to only the higher-end iPhone 12 models, Bloomberg says that ProRes may also be exclusive to only the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Additionally, Apple is also planning a more advanced iteration of standard photo filters for photographers with its upcoming iPhones. Instead of applying a filter to the entire photo, the upcoming iPhones will precisely apply "changes to objects and people across the photos using artificial intelligence."

Users will be able to choose from several styles to apply to their photos, including one for showing colors at either a warmer or cooler temperature while keeping whites neutral. Another option will add a more dramatic look with deeper shadows and more contrast, and the company is planning a more balanced style for showing shadows and true-to-life colors with a brighter appearance.

Gurman today also reconfirmed that the upcoming iPhones will feature a faster A15 chip, a smaller notch, and new display technology that will enable a higher 120Hz refresh rate. Gurman had previously noted that on the higher-end models of the iPhone 13, Apple might also introduce always-on capabilities similar to the Apple Watch.

Apple display supplier Samsung is in the early stages of preparing its production line for OLED displays that are expected to be used in future models of the MacBook Pro, according to new information shared today by The Elec.

The report says that Samsung Display has begun early development of a new production process for OLED displays. This new production capacity will be used by Apple for future OLED MacBooks, according to the report.

DigiTimes has reported that Apple is tentatively scheduled to release a 16 to 17-inch MacBook Pro with an OLED display in 2022. Apple is also reportedly planning a 10.9-inch iPad and 12.9-inch iPad Pro with OLED displays for the same year.

Apple just this year released a new ‌iPad Pro‌ with a mini-LED display and is expected to be just weeks away from launching updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with similar display technology. ‌DigiTimes‌ said that Apple would allow ‌iPad‌ and MacBook models with OLED and mini-LED displays, which are considerably different technologies, to coexist within their respective product lineups.

Apple currently uses OLED displays in its flagship iPhones, Apple Watch models, and the Touch Bar in the current MacBook Pros. The company has yet to expand OLED technology to other products.

Vodafone is bringing back roaming charges for U.K. users traveling in Europe, the second mobile operator do so post-Brexit after originally saying they had no plans to re-introduce them.

New and upgrading customers on "selected plans" will be charged at least £1 per day to use their mobile phone in EU destinations.

The rules will change for new and upgrading customers from Wednesday, August 11, though the charges will not apply until January, BBC News reports.

"Existing customers will not be impacted by these changes while they remain on their current price plan, and roaming in the Republic of Ireland will still be included for all customers," Vodafone said.

After January, affected customers will pay £2 a day to use their allowance in Europe, or £1 if bought in an eight or 15-day bundle. Fair-usage limits of 25GB of roaming data a month apply.

Before the U.K. formally exited the European Union, mobile customers generally didn't have to worry about roaming charges when using their phone in the EU, with most phone tariffs counting calls, texts, and data used in EU countries as equivalent to domestic use since 2017.

However, when the EU trade deal was signed in December 2020, mobile operators were once again able to charge customers when traveling in Europe with "transparent and reasonable rates."

EE was the first operator to announce new roaming charges in June. EE's charges go into effect in January 2022, and at first, only apply to new EE customers or customers upgrading their plan and contract from July 7, 2021.

Originally, EE, O2, Three, and Vodafone, representing the largest mobile operators in the U.K., stated they had no plans to reintroduce roaming charges after Brexit, but all have since announced changes, some under a "fair use" clause. O2 allows a roaming limit of 25GB, with any data used over that charged at £3.50 per gigabyte, while Three has cut its data limit from 20GB a month to 12GB.

Parallels Desktop 17 was released today, bringing native support for Windows 11 and macOS Monterey to both Intel and Apple silicon Macs, as well as a range of performance and compatibility improvements.

It's worth noting from the off that the versions of Windows that Parallels 17 can run on an M1 Mac are currently limited to the Insider Previews for Windows 10 and Windows 11, due to their compatibility with ARM-based hardware. However, Parallels has promised that when Windows 11 is officially released to the public, the virtualization software will be able to run it.

With that caveat, for both ‌M1‌ and Intel systems, Parallels 17 resumes Windows and Linux up to 38% faster compared to the previous version, and benefits from a sixfold increase in OpenGL graphics processing and up to a 25% improvement in 2D graphics performance, according to the company.

If you're running it on an Apple silicon machine, expect 33% faster Windows startup times, up to 20% better disk performance on Windows 10 Insider Preview, and up to 28% faster DirectX 11 performance.

Elsewhere, Parallels has improved its Coherence mode, which lets you run a windows app without launching the full virtual machine. Coherence will now window shutdowns, updates, and sign-in screens, while drag-and-drop between Windows and Mac apps has been enhanced, with support for dragging text and images between windows, including support for Quick Notes in Monterey.

‌M1‌ users can also now use BitLocker and Secure Boot thanks to a virtualized TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip. Windows 10 will also recognize macOS battery status and turn on battery saving mode when your Mac runs low on battery.

Parallels Desktop 17 has moved entirely to a subscription model, which means the standard edition costs $79.99 per year, while Pro and Business Editions are available for $99.99 per year. Users who purchased a perpetual license for an earlier version of Parallels Desktop can upgrade to Parallels Desktop 17 for $49.99. A free trial is available to download from the Parallels website.

Apple today began offering refurbished versions of the second-generation 11-inch iPad Pro and fourth-generation 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ models that were originally released in March 2020.

Pricing starts at $609 for the 11-inch iPad Pro models, which Apple says is a savings of $90. Pricing on the 12.9-inch models starts at $749, a $200 discount.

The 2020 ‌iPad Pro‌ models preceeded the M1 ‌iPad Pro‌ models and introduced new camera technology with an included LiDAR Scanner for depth-sensing capabilities. These iPads are equipped with the A12Z Bionic Chip, an iterative update to the A12X chip that was used for the 2018 ‌iPad Pro‌ models.

At the current time, Apple is offering several different colors and capacities, though stock will fluctuate over time. The refurbished 2020 ‌iPad Pro‌ models are being sold alongside older models in the refurbished store.

All of Apple's refurbished iPads are sold with the same one-year warranty that's provided with a brand new device, along with all manuals and accessories. Refurbished devices go through a rigorous testing, repair, repackaging, and cleaning process and are identical to new devices.

In April, Apple debuted the new M1 iMac models with a dedicated Touch ID keyboard, marking the first time that ‌Touch ID‌ was available on a standalone keyboard option. At launch, the Magic Keyboard with ‌Touch ID‌ was only available with the iMac, but last week, Apple made it available to purchase separately from the ‌iMac‌.

For our latest YouTube video, we picked up one of the new ‌Touch ID‌ keyboard models and tested it out with a couple Macs to see just how it works. There are three variants of the keyboard - a standard version without ‌Touch ID‌ for $99, a standard keyboard with ‌Touch ID‌ for $149, and a ‌Touch ID‌ keyboard that also has a numeric keypad, which is priced at $179. We tested the $179 full-size version with numpad.

Because it's designed to work with the M1 ‌iMac‌, the Magic Keyboard with ‌Touch ID‌ is also compatible with other ‌M1‌ Macs, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini. On all of these machines, the ‌Touch ID‌ feature is functional.

Design wise, the Magic Keyboard with ‌Touch ID‌ is similar to prior versions of the Magic Keyboard, but next to the F12 key at the top of the accessory, there's a dedicated ‌Touch ID‌ button with a little fingerprint sensor.

This ‌Touch ID‌ button works the same as the ‌Touch ID‌ button built into ‌MacBook Air‌ and ‌MacBook Pro‌ models, authenticating purchases and replacing a password with biometric authentication. It also serves as a sleep/wake button.

As mentioned before, the Magic Keyboard with ‌Touch ID‌ only works with ‌M1‌ Macs. If you want to use the ‌Touch ID‌ function, it needs to be paired up with one of Apple's latest Macs.

You can use the keyboard with an Intel Mac, but ‌Touch ID‌ is non-functional so it's not worth the cost over a standard keyboard. It's also worth noting that some of the function keys on the new keyboard also don't appear to work well with an Intel Mac. You can remap some of them with Shortcuts, but it's not worth the effort since there's still an option to get a non-Touch ID version of the Magic Keyboard.

With an ‌M1‌ Mac, the Magic Keyboard with ‌Touch ID‌ works perfectly, and the function keys are operational offering up controls for adjusting brightness, accessing Do Not Disturb, searching, and controlling media playback.

The ‌M1‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ and ‌M1‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌ already have built-in ‌Touch ID‌ buttons, but the keyboard may be useful if you plan to use one of these machines in clamshell mode with an attached display. It's most useful for the ‌M1‌ ‌Mac mini‌, which does not have a ‌Touch ID‌ button because it does not ship with peripherals.

The Magic Keyboard with ‌Touch ID‌ that comes with the ‌M1‌ ‌iMac‌ is available in multiple colors, but the standalone versions that Apple offers are limited to silver.

Have you picked up one of the new ‌Touch ID‌ keyboards to use with an ‌M1‌ Mac? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Apple Arcade recently surpassed over 200 games available on the subscription-based gaming service, and Apple today previewed two additional titles coming soon. Apple did not provide a specific release date for either game.

"Zookeeper World" from Kiterestu is a new installment in the "Zookeeper" action puzzle game series that will be available exclusively on Apple Arcade. Players will face a variety of challenging match-3 puzzles and collect coins while placing animals, equipment, and plants to increase the zoo's charm to attract more visitors. Players will be able to expand and customize their zoo, upgrade their animals to be unique, and more.

"Zen Pinball Party" from Zen Studios is a pinball game that will feature table designs inspired by DreamWorks Animation and Hasbro brands. Players will challenge their friends and family for the highest score on tables featuring Trolls, Kung-Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, MY LITTLE PONY, Theatre of Magic, Attack from Mars, and more.

In addition, Apple Arcade roleplaying game "Fantasian" from Mistwalker will be receiving a "Part 2" update on Friday. Apple says the latter half of the saga will feature a more quest-driven style of gameplay that can take anywhere between 40 to 60 hours for players to experience. The game was written by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi.

Priced at $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year, Apple Arcade provides access to a catalog of around 200 games without ads or in-app purchases across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV, with additional titles added periodically.

Apple today held a questions-and-answers session with reporters regarding its new child safety features, and during the briefing, Apple confirmed that it would be open to expanding the features to third-party apps in the future.

As a refresher, Apple unveiled three new child safety features coming to future versions of iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, and/or watchOS 8.

Apple's New Child Safety Features

First, an optional Communication Safety feature in the Messages app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac can warn children and their parents when receiving or sending sexually explicit photos. When the feature is enabled, Apple said the Messages app will use on-device machine learning to analyze image attachments, and if a photo is determined to be sexually explicit, the photo will be automatically blurred and the child will be warned.

Second, Apple will be able to detect known Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) images stored in iCloud Photos, enabling Apple to report these instances to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a non-profit organization that works in collaboration with U.S. law enforcement agencies. Apple confirmed today that the process will only apply to photos being uploaded to iCloud Photos and not videos.

Third, Apple will be expanding guidance in Siri and Spotlight Search across devices by providing additional resources to help children and parents stay safe online and get help with unsafe situations. For example, users who ask Siri how they can report CSAM or child exploitation will be pointed to resources for where and how to file a report.

Expansion to Third-Party Apps

Apple said that while it does not have anything to share today in terms of an announcement, expanding the child safety features to third parties so that users are even more broadly protected would be a desirable goal. Apple did not provide any specific examples, but one possibility could be the Communication Safety feature being made available to apps like Snapchat, Instagram, or WhatsApp so that sexually explicit photos received by a child are blurred.

Another possibility is that Apple's known CSAM detection system could be expanded to third-party apps that upload photos elsewhere than iCloud Photos.

Apple did not provide a timeframe as to when the child safety features could expand to third parties, noting that it has still has to complete testing and deployment of the features, and the company also said it would need to ensure that any potential expansion would not undermine the privacy properties or effectiveness of the features.

Broadly speaking, Apple said expanding features to third parties is the company's general approach and has been ever since it introduced support for third-party apps with the introduction of the App Store on iPhone OS 2 in 2008.