Apple Maps is now displaying COVID-19 testing locations across the United States, a feature that Apple began implementing earlier in April.
When opening up the search interface in Maps, COVID-19 testing is now the first option in the list, and tapping it brings up all of the testing sites in your local area.
Tapping on one of the testing site entries provides a link to the hospital or testing site's website with specific information on how testing is done, such as whether a doctor's referral or an appointment are required to have the testing conducted.
Apple on April 11 launched an online portal allowing healthcare providers, labs, hospitals, and other businesses to register as COVID-19 testing locations. The Apple Maps team reviews each application before allowing approved sites to be displayed on Apple Maps. As pointed out by Engadget, the testing site list is available in all U.S. states and Puerto Rico.
Apple in early April updated the Maps app to prioritize searches for groceries, food delivery, pharmacies, hospitals, and urgent care, and these categories also show up with COVID-19 testing sites.
Apple today updated its Apple Support app for the iPhone and the iPad, introducing a revamped layout with Dark Mode support and improved navigation.
According to Apple, the app features an all new customized user interface and smarter solutions for more topics using step-by-step troubleshooting, along with Dark Mode.
The app also now features an easier way to find support for not only Apple products, but also Apple services, and it brings improved chat and call experiences.
Apple's full notes for the update are below:
All new customized user interface, including Dark Mode support
Get smarter solutions for even more topics using guided, step-by-step troubleshooting
It's now easier to find support for all of your Apple services and subscriptions
New and improved chat and call experiences
The Apple Support app is Apple's dedicated app for getting support on an iPhone or iPad, and it can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
How to migrate from Wunderlist to Microsoft To Do:
1. Download the Microsoft To Do app. 2. Sign in with your Microsoft account. If you don't have one, you can create one using an existing email address (like Gmail). 3. Click on the pop-up in Microsoft To Do, or head to Settings and select Import. It'll direct you to the Wunderlist importer.
Microsoft acquired Wunderlist in 2015 and launched its own To Do app with many of the same features a few years later, including folders, subtasks, file attachments, list sharing, notes, reminders and due dates, and a dark mode.
Amazon has introduced a few new discounts on the 2018 iPad Pro, with one particularly notable sale on the 64GB Wi-Fi 12.9-inch model. You can get this iPad Pro for $799.00, down from $999.00 right now on Amazon, a best-ever price among the major Apple resellers online.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
There are a few improvements on the 2020 iPad Pro models compared to those from 2018, like upgraded internals and camera, but for anyone mainly shopping with price in mind, opting for a 2018 model could be worth it to save money. At $799.00, this price is now the cheapest entry level price point a new model of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro from 2018 has ever been.
There are a few other notable discounts for the 2018 iPad Pro, which we've rounded up below. The 256GB Wi-Fi 12.9-inch model is $944.00 at Tiger Direct, down from $1,149.00, which is another lowest price. For 11-inch 2018 models, the best deal right now is at Best Buy, where you can get the 64GB Wi-Fi iPad Pro for $699.99, down from $799.00.
If you're still mainly looking for 2020 iPad Pro deals, we recently rounded up a few of these. One of the best all-around discounts is for the 128GB cellular 12.9-inch iPad Pro, priced at $1,098.25 on Amazon, down from $1,149.00. For even more iPad deals, head to our full Best Deals guide for iPad. In that guide we track the best discounts online for iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro.
DJI this week announced the Mavic Air 2, a new foldable drone that features 8K functionality, a larger 1/2" camera sensor for higher resolution photos and videos, and upgraded flight modes. The Mavic Air 2 can also stay in the air longer thanks to better battery life.
The company said that this is the first drone in the Mavic family to offer 4K video at 60fps and 120 Mbps. The drone supports HDR video, 4X slow motion in 1080p at 120fps or 8x slow motion in 1080p at 240fps. It can record images with up to 48-megapixels and has a mechanical 3-axis gimbal to create stable footage.
The Mavic Air 2 weighs about 570 grams and features new motors, electronic speed controllers, enhanced battery technology, and an aerodynamic design. DJI said that all of this helps provide a maximum flight time for the new drone of up to 34 minutes. While it's in the air, OcuSync 2.0 transmission technology delivers HD video to a connected smartphone at a maximum distance of 10km.
When connected to an iPhone or Android device, users will be able to take advantage of DJI's updated Fly app, which has more advanced functionality. This includes new in-app editing features for videos and photos, all of which DJI described as user-friendly so that anyone can pick up the DJI Fly app and interact with the Mavic Air 2.
More features of the Mavic Air 2 include:
HDR photos: Mavic Air 2 automatically captures seven varying exposures of the same photograph, merging them together to bring out a highly dynamic image.
Hyperlight: Hyperlight is designed for low-light scenarios, taking multiple photographs and merging them to bring out a clear image with less of the noise which usually occurs in low-light scenes.
Scene Recognition: Mavic Air 2 can recognize five categories of scenes including sunsets, blue skies, grass, snow, and trees, then optimize settings to make the photograph pop by bringing out the highest degree of color, detail, and tones.
ActiveTrack 3.0: Select a subject for Mavic Air 2 to automatically follow. The third iteration of ActiveTrack uses state-of-the-art mapping technology and new flight path algorithms to offer improved subject tracking and obstacle avoidance, along with the ability to quickly re-engage the subject if it temporarily moves behind an object.
Point of Interest 3.0: Set an automated flight path around a specific subject. The updated iteration improves surface recognition to better dynamically track subjects.
Spotlight 2.0: Found in professional DJI drones, Spotlight locks a subject in the frame while the user has free operation of the drone’s movement.
The company also mentioned the safety features of the Mavic Air 2 in its announcement post, including obstacle sensors on the front and rear of the drone. Additional sensors and auxiliary lights on the bottom of the drone assist with automatic landing, and geofencing features help keep the Mavic Air 2 away from high-risk flying locations.
Due to current shipping restraints happening across numerous industries, the Mavic Air 2 is available today in China, while other regions will be able to pre-order the drone today with an expected shipping date in mid-May.
The Mavic Air 2 will be available in two purchasing options: a standard package with the Mavic Air 2, one battery, one remote controller, and all the required wires and cables for $799. Then there's the Fly More option with all items from the standard version as well as a shoulder bag, ND filters, charging hub, and 3 batteries for $988.
There are several DJI drones available to purchase on Apple.com, but it's not clear yet if the Mavic Air 2 will launch on Apple's website soon.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with DJI. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
This week, Anker's newest accessory discount event is being hosted on Anker.com instead of on Amazon. The company is calling its sale the "Stay Smart At Home" event, offering up to 48 percent off wall chargers, cables, hubs, wireless chargers, and portable batteries.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Anker. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
One of the highlights in the sale is the PowerCore Slim 10,000 mAh portable battery at $20.00, down from $26.99. You can also double the battery capacity and opt for the PowerCore 20,100 mAh model for $32.01, down from $45.99. We've rounded up many of the deals below, but be sure to head to Anker.com for the full list of products on sale right now.
A bug has been discovered in Apple's macOS Image Capture app that needlessly eats up potentially gigabytes of storage space when transferring photos from an iPhone or iPad to a Mac.
Discovered by the developers of media asset management app NeoFinder and shared in a blog post called "Another macOS bug in Image Capture," the issue occurs when Apple's Mac tool converts HEIF photos taken by iOS to more standard JPG files.
This process happens when users uncheck the "Keep Originals" option in Image Capture's settings, which converts the HEIC files to JPG when copied to Mac. However, the app also inexplicably adds 1.5MBs of empty data to every single file in the process.
"Of course, this is a colossal waste of space," said the NeoFinder team, "especially considering that Apple is seriously still selling new Macs with a ridiculously tiny 128 GB internal SSD. Such a small disk is quickly filled with totally wasted empty data.
"With just 1000 photos, for example, this bug eats 1.5 GB off your precious and very expensive SSD disk space."
NeoFinder's developers say they discovered the bug by "pure chance" when working on improving the metadata capabilities of NeoFinder using a hex editor, and provided an example shot of what the end of individual JPG files look like in hex, post-transfer.
MacRumors was also able to replicate the issue in macOS 10.14.6 and later using an online hex editor. It's worth noting that the bug only occurs when transferring photos from Apple devices, not when importing photos from digital cameras using Image Capture.
NeoFinder's team says it has notified Apple of the bug, and the developers suggest anyone plagued by the issue can try using a new beta version of the third-party utility Graphic Converter, which includes an option to remove the unwanted empty data from the JPEG files.
Popular writing app Ulysses received its eighteenth major update today, adding some notable new features and bringing full mouse and trackpad support on iPadOS.
As mentioned, version 19 of Ulysses adds native support for Apple's new iPad mouse and trackpad features, which were announced on March 24 as part of iPadOS 13.4.
What that means in practice is that the round cursor changes shape or shifts out the way as it moves across different interactive elements in the Ulysses interface. The cursor will also turn into an "I-beam" over text for the purpose of editing.
Meanwhile, Ulysses users now have the ability to indicate selected texts or notes as "material," or things they've written or collected in the app that aren't meant to be part of a final text.
Thanks to a visual marker, material "sheets," as they’re called in the Ulysses terminology, are easy to recognize. By default, content marked as material is excluded from export and statistics.
In Ulysses 19, the developers have also improved the compatibility of Ulysses keywords in Markdown files. They can now be written out at the end of a text and marked with a hash. This allows Markdown editors such as Bear Notes or iA Writer to interpret them as keywords as well. Conversely, Ulysses will now recognize keywords in Markdown files and make them usable in the app.
Elsewhere on iPad and iPhone, Ulysses 19 adds the ability to embed external folders from locations in the Files app, such as cloud storage providers or Git clients, and edit the contained files with Ulysses. Users also now have the option to export single backups of their text libraries and import them back into Ulysses.
Other additions and improvements in this version include new search filter criteria such as "has goal," "has note attachment" or "is material," a new editor font called SF Mono, improved initial download performance when syncing with Dropbox, and a new toilet paper group icon.
Coinciding with the release of Ulysses 19, the developers are set to open a beta program for Ulysses 20. “We're working on a few awesome new features that need thorough testing, at best with a large number of participants," said Marcus Fehn, Ulysses' creative head of development.
Ulysses can be downloaded for free on the App Store and the Mac App Store, with version 19 rolling out to existing users today. After a 14-day trial period, a subscription is required to unlock the app on all devices. A monthly subscription costs $4.99, while a yearly subscription is $39.99.
Students can use Ulysses at a discounted price of $11.99 per six months. The discount is granted from within the app. Ulysses is also included in Setapp, the subscription-based service for Mac applications created by MacPaw.
WhatsApp has upgraded its end-to-end encrypted video call feature, which now allows groups of up to eight participants to chat together, up from the previous limit of four.
WhatsApp has been gradually developing its group video call capabilities through beta builds, as rival video call services like Zoom, FaceTime and Skype have exploded in popularity amid the ongoing stay-at-home measures. At the same time, Facebook has released Messenger Rooms, enabling up to eight people to join in on a group call.
There are two ways to initiate an encrypted group voice or video call in WhatsApp with up to eight people (that's seven other people including yourself). Just make sure that you and anyone you want to call has updated to version 2.20.50 of WhatsApp, or it won't work.
The easiest way to initiate a call is to open an active group chat and tap the Video Call or Phone Call button in the top right corner of the screen. If the group has more than eight participants, you'll be asked which contacts you want to call, otherwise the call will initiate automatically.
Alternatively, you can initiate a WhatsApp group call including anyone in your contacts list. Simply follow the steps below.
Launch WhatsApp and select the Calls tab at the bottom of the screen.
Tap the Call icon in the top-right corner.
Select New Group Call at the top of the contact list.
Add up to seven participants by tapping on them in your contacts.
When you've added the participants, tap the Video Call button (the camera icon) or the Audio Call option (the phone icon) to initiate the call.
If any of the participants you chose are using an older version of WhatsApp, you'll be notified and the call won't connect until they've all updated.
Westpac has become the last of Australia's big four banks to announce Apple Pay support for its customers. The country's oldest bank revealed on Tuesday that it had enabled the new service, following similar moves by ANZ, the Commonwealth Bank, and National Australia Bank.
"We are pleased to announce that Westpac customers can now use Apple Pay to make fast and secure payments. This comes at an important time for our customers, who are looking for an alternative to cash," Westpac Group chief executive of consumer David Lindberg said.
"We have seen a significant increase in customers using digital banking in recent weeks as more Australians stay at home. With the introduction of Apple Pay, it will now be even easier for customers to pay for goods and services in stores, via apps or online without the need for a card or wallet."
As noted by ZDNet, Westpac actually announced the adoption of Apple Pay across several of its financial services providers back in December, but regular Westpac customers were told they had to wait until June 2020.
Westpac's Apple Pay support includes compatibility with eftpos (electronic funds transfer at point of sale), the local payments scheme and national debit card system accepted across the country. The technology makes it possible for retailers to directly receive funds from a customer’s bank account via their debit card through a secure Australian payment network.
Westpac was one of several banks that collectively tried to negotiate with Apple to gain access to the NFC chip within Apple's devices to allow their own payments services to work on iOS devices alongside Apple Pay.
The banks argued that access to the NFC chip in the iPhone would allow them to offer competing wallets, which would lead to increased competition and consumer choice in digital wallets and increased innovation and investment in digital wallets.
However, Apple does not allow third-party access to the NFC chip because of security concerns, and the company put pressure on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to deny the banks the right to negotiate a deal, which was the eventual outcome.
The banks involved in the dispute resisted implementing Apple Pay throughout the attempts at collective bargaining, although Apple Pay has been available in Australia for quite some time through partnerships with American Express and ANZ.
Deirdre O'Brien, Apple's vice president of retail and people, today told Apple employees that "many more" Apple Stores are set to start reopening in May.
O'Brien made the comments during a weekly video update shared with staff, according to Bloomberg. "We are continuing to analyze this health situation in every location, and I do expect we will reopen up many more stores in May," O'Brien told staff. Apple did not specify which stores would be reopened, or the regions where the stores would reopen first.
In March, Apple's retail chief Deirdre O'Brien said that Apple planned to begin opening some stores worldwide in the first half of April, and one lone store in South Korea was indeed opened again on April 18 for repairs and purchase pickups. No other stores have reopened at this time, and a separate retail source said told MacRumors that Apple is aiming to open stores in North America by mid-June.
When stores start reopening, Apple will take into account local conditions and recommendations. Some states in the U.S. have already begun relaxing their social distancing guidelines and allowing businesses to reopen, while others have extended shelter-in-place orders.
Texas, Georgia, and Tennessee, for example, are letting stay at home orders expire, while the Bay Area, where Apple is located, has extended its shelter-in-place order through the end of May. Apple will need to follow state restrictions and guidelines as stores begin to reopen.
All Apple Stores outside of Greater China (and the reopened South Korea location) have been closed since March 14. Over the course of the last few weeks, retail employees have been returning to work through training and meetings at home, while others have been handling online and phone support technical requests.
Though it is a budget device with a single-lens camera, the iPhone SE features support for Portrait Mode, enabled through the powerful A13 chip in the smartphone.
It is the first of Apple's smartphones to offer Portrait Mode photos created entirely with software techniques rather than hardware, which prompted the developers behind popular iOS camera app Halide to take a deep dive into how it works.
The iPhone SE is equipped the same camera sensor as the iPhone 8, based on a recent teardown done by iFixit, but its camera can do more because it's using "Single Image Monocular Depth Estimation," aka generating Portrait Mode effects using a 2D image.
As Halide developer Ben Sandofsky points out, the iPhone XR is also a single-lens camera with Portrait Mode support, but the iPhone XR gets depth information through hardware. That's not possible on the iPhone SE because the older camera sensor doesn't support the feature.
Halide has discovered that unlike other iPhones, the iPhone SE can take a picture of another picture to attempt to develop a depth map. The app was even able to take a photo of an old slide film, adding depth effects to a 50 year old photo.
A picture of a picture and the resulting depth map from the iPhone SE
The iPhone SE's Portrait Mode is somewhat limited because it only works with people, which is due to the neural network that powers the feature. When a Portrait Mode image without a person is captured, it fails in various ways because it can't create an accurate estimated depth map.
The iPhone XR also limited Portrait Mode to people alone, and using Portrait Mode with other objects requires upgrading to one of Apple's more expensive phones.
According to Halide, depth maps on the iPhone SE (or any phone with Portrait Mode) can be viewed by using the Halide app and then shooting in Depth mode. Halide's full breakdown of the iPhone SE's Portrait Mode can be read over on the Halide website.
Customers who have purchased the new 2020 iPhone SE have found a surprising missing feature - Haptic Touch does not work with notifications.
On the 2020 iPhone SE, long pressing on a notification in the Notification Center or on the Lock screen does not appear to bring up rich notification options to allow iPhone SE users to interact with incoming content.
Rich notifications accessed with Haptic Touch on an iPhone 11 Pro
There have been complaints about the missing feature on Reddit and the MacRumors forums. From Reddit:
I received my SE yesterday and very quickly realized that Haptic Touch is not supported on notifications. I am not seeing this reported anywhere, haven't seen one review mentioning it, no video I watched mentioned it. Haptic Touch works for peek and pop, and on icons on the home screen but if you are on the lock screen or Notification Center and try to long press an email to archive, or a text to quick reply you are out of luck.
On the 6S-XS 3D Touch was the solution, with the XR and 11 series Haptic Touch was the replacement, but this is the first non 3D Touch phone to be released where all the features of Haptic Touch are not fully baked into the OS
With Haptic Touch-enabled devices like the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro, long pressing on a notification in the Notification Center or the Lock screen brings up interactive options based on the app sending the notification. An Apple News notification, for example, brings up options for reading the full story, sharing a story, or saving for later, while an email app might offer options to reply and delete an incoming message without needing to open the app.
In our testing, we were not able to long press on a notification to view these interactive options, as the long press functionality did not work. We also tried on an iPhone 8, which the iPhone SE is based on, but we were able to get the rich notifications to work on that device, which has 3D Touch.
While iPhone SE users cannot long press on notifications on the Lock screen or in the Notification Center, there does appear to be a Haptic Touch option when pressing on an incoming notification when the iPhone is in use.
A Reddit user called Apple Support and was told there was no software update planned to fix the behavior, but Apple Support can be unreliable when it comes to information about new hardware releases.
Update: According to TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino, the lack of Haptic Touch for notifications on the iPhone SE is not a bug and the feature is working as Apple intended.
I have not been able to determine whether there is any technical reason why or not. But it is 'working as intended' currently. I'm probably not an iPhone SE customer due to iPhone 11 camera stuff, but this would stop me from buying one.
— Matthew Panzarino (@panzer) April 27, 2020
Update 2:MacRumors forum members have pointed out that it's possible to slide to the left on a notification and tap on the "View" option as a workaround for the missing Haptic Touch feature.
Verizon today announced that it will not disconnect individual customers and small businesses unable to pay their bills through June 30.
Service will not be terminated, and no late fees will be collected, a policy that applies to postpaid wireless, residential, and small business customers that notify Verizon of an inability to pay their bills. Those who are experiencing financial trouble and need their fees waived will need to follow Verizon's instructions and fill out a form on the website to avoid fees.
Verizon has been waiving late fees and keeping customers connected since March after signing the FCC's "Keep Americans Connected" pledge.
Verizon has also provided customers with an extra 15GB of hotspot data for free in April and May. Verizon customers with consumer and small business shared data plans, hotspots, and jetpacks have automatically been provided with 15GB of data, which, for May, can be used from May 1 through May 31.
When HBO Max launches on May 27, it will be available on the Apple TV, iPhone, and iPad, and it will be integrated into the TV app, according to Variety.
HBO Max content will be listed in the "Watch Now" feature in the Apple TV app and there will be an HBO Max menu. Universal search and Siri features will work with HBO Max as well.
Apple has also established a deal with WarnerMedia that will see existing HBO Now customers billed through the App Store and HBO subscribers who subscribe through Apple TV channels upgraded to HBO Max at no additional charge.
Previously, WarnerMedia said that only customers who subscribe through the HBO Now website and are billed directly through HBO would get the HBO Max upgrade for free.
The service will be available as a native app on the Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K. Customers with a second or third-generation Apple TV will need to AirPlay HBO Max content from an iOS device to the TV to watch.
New HBO Max customers who have an iPhone, Apple TV, iPad, or Mac will be able to subscribe to the service, priced at $14.99 per month, using in-app purchases on Apple devices.
HBO Max will also be available directly from WarnerMedia, Charter Communications, YouTube TV, and AT&T, which is providing HBO Max for free to some of its customers.
OWC is still discounting Apple's HomePod this week, offering the White HomePod for $204.99 and the Space Gray HomePod for $207.99. This is the current best discount on a new HomePod ($91-$94 off), and the next best price you'll find is at B&H Photo for $279.95.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with OWC. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
OWC's HomePods are new and come in non-retail packaging, meaning you'll receive them in a nondescript box instead of Apple's official packaging. These HomePods are covered under one year of OWC's Fulfilled Limited Warranty instead of Apple's warranty coverage. Both colors of the HomePod are in stock and available to ship today. Free shipping is available with an estimated five to eight business days for the delivery, depending upon your location.
Besides the HomePod, OWC is currently running a sale on refurbished models of the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, iMac Pro, Mac Pro, Mac mini, and more. These computers all include a 14-day return policy, free shipping, and Parallels Desktop Pro Edition for $19 (originally $99.99). The retailer fully inspects each device, and ensures that they will perform reliably even in refurbished condition.
We track the best deals on HomePod every week, so be sure to bookmark our guide if you're on the hunt for solid HomePod discounts.
Update 4/28: This deal has now expired, but the white HomePod is available for $214.88, which remains the current low price on the smart speaker.
The UK's National Health Service (NHS) is moving forward with plans to create an app for tracking coronavirus exposure that does not rely on APIs created by Apple and Google, reports the BBC.
Apple and Google's coronavirus tracking solution is decentralized for privacy purposes, while the UK wants a centralized solution. In the UK's version, the app logs data when people are near one another, using a computer server to determine who to send alerts to when a person is diagnosed with coronavirus.
Apple and Google's coronavirus API, by contrast, does not involve a central computer for routine collection of data and determination of contacts. Instead, only when a person has tested positive for coronavirus and consents to having their data uploaded to servers run by Apple and Google does information leave the user's phone. Once the user identifies his or herself as having tested positive, their anonymized identifiers will be added to the list downloaded by all other users, where any previous contact will be determined on-device.
The decentralized approach prevents government entities or malicious people from using server logs to track individuals and identify social interactions, but the NHS argues that a centralized approach will provide more insight into how COVID-19 spreads and it will allow for more control over who receives notifications.
"One of the advantages is that it's easier to audit the system and adapt it more quickly as scientific evidence accumulates," Prof Christophe Fraser, one of the epidemiologists advising NHSX, told the BBC.
"The principal aim is to give notifications to people who are most at risk of having got infected, and not to people who are much lower risk. It's probably easier to do that with a centralised system."
The UK has been pursuing its own tracking solution since before Apple and Google announced plans to build a coronavirus tracking solution that can be utilized by governments and health agencies worldwide.
Both the Apple/Google tracking APIs and the UK's separately developed app use Bluetooth, but without using the Apple/Google API, the NHS's app has to work around Bluetooth privacy limitations that prevent apps from accessing Bluetooth when running in the background.
According to the NHSX (The NHS's digital innovation unit), its engineers have found a way to make the app work "sufficiently well" on iPhones even when the app is not active on the screen. The solution involves waking the app up in the background each time the iPhone detects another device running the same software, with the app then executing code before returning to a dormant state.
This is more battery intensive than Apple's solution, which allows Bluetooth-based communication to happen in the background without an app needing to activate.
Several other countries were also pursuing contact tracing apps that did not use Apple and Google's technology, but have since agreed to adopt the decentralized tracking APIs. Germany, for example, was creating its own app that would use a centralized server design, but Apple refused to support Germany's plan and it saw heavy criticism from scientists. Along with the UK, France is also pursuing a COVID-19 tracking app that uses a centralized server, and has even asked Apple to ease Bluetooth restrictions.
Australia recently released a COVIDSafe app that does not use Apple's APIs, and issues with Bluetooth and Low Power Mode can prevent it from working. The app has to send push notifications to people to remind them to open it every once in a while, and it can cease to work if there are too many other Bluetooth apps running. It also results in more battery drain than normal, and in some situations, such as on public transport, users are instructed to leave the app open and running.
Australia's COVIDSafe app, via ABC News Australia
Apple and Google plan to debut their exposure notification APIs in a beta capacity this week, which will allow public health authorities that have begun developing apps to deploy them. Last week, the two companies announced a number of privacy-focused changes to further protect users and prevent location-based tracking.
New discounts on the 2020 iPad Pro have appeared online this week, offering about $50 in savings on Amazon and other retailers. Since these iPad Pro models just launched last month, deeper discounts haven't yet appeared, but these are solid sales for anyone shopping for the latest iPad Pro.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
To start, the 512GB Wi-Fi 11-inch iPad Pro is $1,043.94, down from $1,099.00. This $55 sale is the lowest we've seen so far on this model, and it's being sold by Expercom on Amazon. The iPad Pro is estimated to be delivered between May 4 and May 6, with the usual discounts for Prime members.
The 256GB model with Wi-Fi is also on sale at Tiger Direct, priced at $849.00, down from $899.00. This is another low price that's beating retailers like Amazon and B&H Photo. Tiger Direct is an Apple reseller that integrated with MacMall recently, providing solid discounts on iPads, Macs, and more.
If you're looking for a larger display, the 128GB cellular 12.9-inch iPad Pro from 2020 is on sale for $1,099.00, down from $1,149.00 on Amazon. This is the first time Amazon has discounted this model, and it's the best price available online this week.
Although it's slightly less of a discount, the 512GB Wi-Fi 12.9-inch iPad Pro is also on sale, priced at $1,264.96. Originally priced at $1,299.00, this $34 discount is still the best markdown you'll find among the major Apple resellers online right now.
For even more iPad deals, head to our full Best Deals guide for iPad. In that guide we track the best discounts online for iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Anker. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
A bug has been discovered in Apple's macOS Image Capture app that needlessly eats up potentially gigabytes of storage space when transferring photos from an 
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with OWC. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
