MacRumors

Juno, an app designed for watching YouTube on the Vision Pro, has been removed from the App Store, developer Christian Selig said today. Back in April, YouTube emailed Selig and said that Juno was violating the YouTube Terms of Service and the YouTube API by modifying the native YouTube.com web user interface, and used YouTube trademarks and iconography that could be confusing to customers.

juno removed from app store
In response, Selig switched from using the embed player to the website player, made it clear that Juno was an unofficial YouTube viewer, and explained to YouTube that as a web viewer, Juno is not using YouTube APIs. At the same time, though, YouTube filed a complaint with the ‌App Store‌, and Selig went on to warn customers that he would not fight Google on any decision regarding Juno.

Juno has now been removed from the ‌App Store‌ by Apple in response to YouTube's complaint. Selig says that he does not agree with the decision because Juno is a simple web view and that that modifies CSS to make the player look more "visionOS like," but he does not plan to appeal the decision.

juno 1 1 youtube
Selig, for those unaware, was the developer of the Reddit app Apollo, and he faced a public fight with Reddit over its third-party API changes and fees last year. The dispute ultimately ended up with Apollo shutting down. According to Selig, Juno was just a fun hobby project.

Juno was a fun hobby project for me to build. As a developer I wanted to get some experience building for the Vision Pro, and as a user I wanted a nice way to watch YouTube on this cool new device. As a result, I really enjoyed building Juno, but it was always something I saw as fundamentally a little app I built for fun.

YouTube does not have a dedicated app for the Vision Pro, which is why Selig designed and released Juno last February. Prior to when the Vision Pro launched, YouTube said that it would not develop a Vision Pro app, nor would it allow the YouTube iPad app to run on the headset. With Juno removed, those who want to watch YouTube on Vision Pro will need to use Safari.

Juno for YouTube was priced at $4.99, and Selig says that customers who purchased the app should still be able to use it even though it's been removed from the ‌App Store‌.

Related Roundup: visionOS 2
Tag: YouTube
Related Forum: Apple Vision Pro

Home Depot today launched new Smart Glass Door options that are able to transform from clear glass to opaque glass with a smartphone app, providing versatility for customers who want to be able to block light or people from seeing inside a home at select times of the day.

home depot smart door
The Smart Glass Doors are made by Feather River Doors and are powered through Hubspace, a smart home app that integrates with several products sold by Home Depot, including light bulbs, ceiling fans, blinds, outlets, and locks.

The Smart Glass Doors can be controlled with an app that's available on the iPhone, but there is no HomeKit integration or support for Siri, which is a major downside for people who have a ‌HomeKit‌ setup. There is, however, support for Alexa and Google voice control.

When activated, the glass in the door is able to change from clear to privacy, which is a more opaque look. The glass is laminated for energy efficiency, and the door itself is made from fiberglass filled with high density polyurethane foam. It is unpainted, so it can be painted to match a home.

There are several models with different amounts of glass, with pricing that starts at $800. The doors will be available in select Home Depot stores starting on October 28.

Apple will hold a new "Mindful Month" Apple Watch Activity Challenge that is set to take place on October 10. It is meant to bring awareness to caring for mental health.

apple watch mindful month activity challenge

Let's bring awareness to all the ways we can take care of our mental health. On October 10, record 10 mindful minutes with any app that adds to Health to get this award.

Like all Activity Challenges, the Mindful Month event will come with animated stickers that can be used in the Messages app.

mindful month 2024 4

mindful month 2024 3

mindful month 2024 2

mindful month 2024 1
Mindful Month appears to be a new addition to the Apple Watch Activity Challenge lineup. Apple's last Activity Challenge took place in August for National Park Day.

Apple plans to release new MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini models with the M4 series of chips "this year," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

apple silicon mac lineup wwdc 2022 feature purple
Gurman initially said these Macs would likely be announced during a virtual event this October, but he has been more vague about the timing lately, with wording such as "in the coming weeks" and now merely "this year." In any case, it is clear that he expects the first Macs with M4 chips to be introduced before the calendar turns to 2025.

Apple last updated the MacBook Pro and iMac lines during a virtual event on October 30 last year, while the Mac mini was last updated in January last year.

Notably, the M4 chip already exists in the latest iPad Pro models, which launched in May. Geekbench 6 benchmark results showed the M4 chip offers up to 25% faster multi-core CPU performance compared to the M3 chip found in several current Macs. The M4 chip is available with up to a 10-core CPU, whereas the M3 chip has an 8-core CPU. Apple has yet to announce higher-end M4 Pro and M4 Max chips.

Below, we reiterate what has been rumored for these first M4 Macs.

MacBook Pro

m3 mbp space black
Apple plans to announce updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips in the coming weeks, according to Gurman. No design changes have been rumored for the laptops this year, with improvements such as an OLED display and thinner design not expected until 2026 at the earliest.

Apple last redesigned the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro in 2021, and the latest models with M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips were released last October.

iMac

M4 iMac Feature Teal
Apple also plans to update the iMac with the M4 chip in the coming weeks, according to Gurman. No design changes are expected for the desktop computer.

An unanswered question: Will the Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad accessories for the iMac finally switch from Lightning to USB-C this year?

Mac mini

M4 Mac mini Black Ortho CoolerA concept of a smaller Mac mini

Gurman expects the Mac mini to be updated with M4 and M4 Pro chips in the coming weeks, and he said the desktop computer will be redesigned to become nearly as small as an Apple TV. The new Mac mini will apparently lack USB-A ports, and instead feature five USB-C ports, including two on the front of the computer.

This would be the Mac mini's first major redesign since 2010.

Related Roundups: iMac, MacBook Pro, Mac mini
Related Forums: iMac, MacBook Pro, Mac mini

Apple plans to release a new iPhone SE with Apple Intelligence support, new iPad Air models, and an updated Magic Keyboard for the iPad Air at some point "early next year," according to a report today from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

iPhone SE 4 Thumb 1
The next iPhone SE will have a similar design as the iPhone 14, including an edge-to-edge screen with a notch, according to Gurman. This means the device will likely support Face ID, whereas the current iPhone SE has a Touch ID button. As mentioned, he also expects the device to support Apple Intelligence, which is currently available on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and any of the new iPhone 16 models.

The new iPad Air models will apparently have "internal improvements," but Gurman did not provide any specific details. He also expects an updated version of the Magic Keyboard for both the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air, with some of the new features previously introduced on the latest iPad Pro version of the keyboard.

ipad air gradient
March and April are common months for Apple to announce new iPhone SE and iPad Air models, with a virtual event or press releases both possibilities.

Apple last updated the iPhone SE in March 2022, while the iPad Air lineup was last updated in May this year with the M2 chip and a first-ever 13-inch model.

Related Roundup: iPad Air
Buyer's Guide: iPad Air (Buy Now)
Related Forums: iPad, iPhone

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming visionOS 2.1 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming a week after Apple seeded the second visionOS 2.1 beta.

visionOS 2 Feature 1
Registered developers are able to opt into the betas by opening up the Settings app on their device, going to the Software Update Section, tapping on the "Beta Updates" option, and toggling on the Developer Beta. Note that an Apple ID associated with a developer account is required to download and install the beta.

There's no word yet on what's included in visionOS 2.1, but there are visionOS 2 features that Apple has not yet released, such as the option to use a larger ultrawide screen for the Mac Virtual Display and support for Multiview for MLS and MLB games.

Related Roundup: visionOS 2
Related Forum: Apple Vision Pro

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming watchOS 11.1 update to developers for testing purposes. The third beta comes a week after Apple released the second watchOS 11.1 beta.

watchOS 11 Activities Day of the Week
To install the ‌‌watchOS 11‌.1 update, developers need to open the Apple Watch app, go to the Software Update section under "General" in Settings, and toggle on the ‌‌watchOS 11‌‌ Developer Beta. An Apple ID linked to a developer account is required.

Once beta updates have been activated, ‌‌watchOS 11‌‌.1 can be downloaded under the same Software Update section. To install software, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery life and it must be placed on an Apple Watch charger.

It's not yet clear what new features are included in the watchOS 11.1 update at this time, as the update primarily focuses on Apple Intelligence, and ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features are not available on watchOS.

Update: Apple has temporarily pulled the third beta of watchOS 11.1.

Related Roundup: watchOS 11
Related Forum: Apple Watch

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming tvOS 18.1 beta to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming a week after Apple seeded the second tvOS 18.1 beta.

apple tv 4k new orange
Registered developers are able to download the tvOS 18.1 update by opting in to the beta through the Settings app on the Apple TV. A registered developer account is required.

tvOS software releases are usually minor in scale compared to other operating system updates, focusing primarily on smaller improvements rather than outward-facing changes. We don't know what's included in tvOS 18.1.

Apple shares some information on tvOS releases in its tvOS support document, which is updated after each tvOS launch, but Apple does not provide notes during beta testing.

Though we don't always know what's new in tvOS betas, we let MacRumors readers know when new updates are available so those who are developers can download new software upon release.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Popular camera app Halide was today updated with new features for the Camera Control button available on the new iPhone 16 models. Halide already supported opening the app with Camera Control, but now users can also make adjustments.

halide camera app
Using the Camera Control's touch and swipe-based gesture support, Halide users can adjust focus and exposure, and lock their settings in place. The dedicated "Locked" adjustment makes sure that no settings can be disturbed from accidental swipes on the Camera Control button, and it is designed for people who do not want to use manual adjustments.

The Exposure setting allows users to set an exposure bias that exceeds what's possible with Apple's Camera app (-/+ 6 EV vs. 2), and Focus allows for manual focusing on a subject or scene using the Camera Control button. Halide says that Focus provides a smooth manual focus experience with the iPhone.

In addition to these changes, Halide has added a quicker way to capture a photo. Halide takes the photo when the Camera Control button is pressed, while the Camera app from Apple takes the image when the button is released. The difference is minor, but fractions of a second can sometimes make a difference.

Halide says that the quick snap feature works well with the 48-megapixel ProRAW Zero Shutter Lag feature in the app, as well as with Process Zero, an option that Halide added to take 12-megapixel images with no AI and minimal processing.

Halide can be downloaded from the App Store. The app is priced at $2.99 per month, $19.99 per year, or $59.99 for a one-time purchase. [Direct Link]

Tag: Halide

Over the past year and a half or so, some owners of the 24-inch iMac with the M1 chip have encountered horizontal lines abruptly appearing on the computer's screen. There are complaints about this issue across the Apple Support Community, MacRumors Forums, Reddit, iFixit Answers, and several other websites, but it is unclear how many customers are affected in total, or what the underlying cause of the problem is.

M1 iMac Horizontal Lines
The lines continue to appear on the screen even after the iMac is restarted, and no other solutions have been identified, according to the complaints.

Many affected users said the lines began appearing on the screen around 18 to 24 months after they purchased the iMac. As a result, the affected iMac units are often no longer covered by Apple's standard one-year warranty at the time the issue begins, unless the customer purchased extended AppleCare+ coverage. Some customers who contacted Apple about the issue said the company offered them an exemption, resulting in their iMac being repaired for free, but other customers said they had to pay for service.

One symptom commonly mentioned is the top-right corner of the iMac becoming hot to the touch after the issue begins, but there is no confirmed cause.

Given that these complaints have been continuously popping up for nearly two years now, there may be a hardware issue with this particular iMac model, which launched in May 2021. We have not seen widespread complaints about this issue affecting the iMac with the M3 chip, although that model was released less than a year ago.

Apple offers service programs for some hardware issues, but it is unclear if it will ever launch one for this iMac issue. We have reached out to Apple for comment on this matter, and we will update this story if we receive a response.

Related Roundup: iMac
Buyer's Guide: iMac (Buy Now)
Related Forum: iMac

We're just one week out from Amazon Prime Day, and today we're already tracking a big collection of deals from popular brands including Anker and Jackery on Amazon. These deals include portable power stations, which are high-capacity portable batteries that can provide backup power to a wide variety of devices, from laptops to RVs.

anker jackery blueNote: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

For the Anker deals, you'll need to have a Prime membership in order to see some of these discounted prices, while others require an on-page coupon to be clipped before you see the final deal price. In regards to the Jackery discounts, some of these also require an on-page coupon in order to see the deal prices.

Anker

Jackery

Head to our full Deals Roundup to get caught up with all of the latest deals and discounts that we've been tracking over the past week.

Related Roundup: Apple Deals

When you shoot video on iPhone 16 models, multiple formats like Spatial Audio and Stereo are recorded to allow more audio customization. If you record video with Spatial Audio turned on, you can later edit the video sound — to reduce background noise to focus on the person speaking on camera, for example.

audio mix iphone 16
Spatial Audio is automatically enabled on all iPhone 16 models when you record video. Spatial Audio produces a more realistic and immersive audio recording, but it also allows you to edit the sound of your video later in the Photos app using the new Audio Mix feature.

Audio Mix uses machine learning to identify and separate background audio and speech, allowing you to choose one of the following options to remix your video's sound:

  • Standard: Play the original audio you recorded.
  • In-Frame: Reduce sounds and voices from sources not visible in the video frame.
  • Studio: Reduce background sounds and reverb, to make it sound more like you’re recording in a professional studio.
  • Cinematic: Put all the voices onto a front-facing track and leave environmental noises in surround, like the audio in movies.

Editing With Audio Mix

The following steps show you how to edit the audio of a video captured on iPhone 16:

  1. Open the Photos app on your iPhone.
  2. Open a video, then tap the Edit icon (it looks like three sliders).
  3. Tap Audio Mix, then choose one of the following: Standard, In-Frame, Studio, and Cinematic.
  4. Drag the slider below the mix options to increase or decrease the effect and background noise levels.
  5. Tap Done to finish.

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That's all there is to it. On iPhone 16 models, when you record video with Spatial Audio or Stereo, wind noise is automatically reduced while recording. You can turn off this this setting by going to Settings ➝ Camera ➝ Record Sound, then turning off Wind Noise Reduction.

Related Roundups: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro

Apple's budget-friendly iPhone SE is set for a major overhaul with a fourth generation model expected to launch in spring 2025. The upcoming model will mark a significant departure from its predecessors, adopting several features from higher-end iPhones while maintaining its position as the most affordable new model in Apple's lineup.

iPhone SE 4 Thumb 2
According to recent reports, the iPhone SE 4 will sport a design reminiscent of the iPhone 14, featuring a larger 6.1-inch OLED display. This marks a substantial increase from the current model's 4.7-inch LCD screen and brings the SE line in line with Apple's flagship devices in terms of display technology.

The move to OLED is part of Apple's broader strategy to phase out LCD displays across its iPhone lineup. This shift will impact longstanding suppliers like Japan Display and Sharp, who have primarily provided LCD panels for previous SE models.

In terms of performance, the iPhone SE 4 is rumored to be powered by the A18 chip, which debuted in the iPhone 16 series last month. The device is also expected to make the switch from Touch ID to Face ID, marking the end of the road for the iPhone's physical Home button.

Other notable upgrades include:

  • USB-C port, replacing the Lightning connector.
  • Action button, a feature introduced with the iPhone 15 Pro.
  • Apple-designed 5G modem.
  • 48MP rear camera, up from the current 12MP sensor.
  • 8GB of RAM, double the current model's 4GB.

The increase in RAM is particularly significant, as it will enable the iPhone SE 4 to support Apple Intelligence, the company's suite of AI features, which are expected to begin rolling out with the release of iOS 18.1 later this month. This inclusion would make the SE 4 the most affordable iPhone capable of running these advanced AI features (something last year's standard iPhone 15 models are unable to do).

Despite these substantial upgrades, Apple is expected to maintain the iPhone SE's position as a budget-friendly option. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman suggests the device will likely be priced between $400 and $500, in line with previous models.

As for timing, multiple sources, including Gurman and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, point to a spring 2025 release. Given that all previous iPhone SE models were announced in March, a March 2025 launch seems highly probable. Apple suppliers are reportedly gearing up to begin mass production in October of this year, setting the stage for an early 2025 release.

Related Forum: iPhone

One of the major new software-based camera features in the iPhone 16 models is support for a wider range of Photographic Styles, complete with more granular controls to make for a setup where you can create a customized look for all of your images.

photographic styles iphone 16
Photographic Styles isn't a feature that's quite as easy to use as something as simple as a filter, so we thought we'd delve into how it works and how to get the most from it.

Available Photographic Styles

Photographic Styles aren't new, but with prior iPhone models, there were only four options: Rich Contrast, Vibrant, Warm, and Cool. On the ‌iPhone 16‌, there are several more pre-set styles to choose from.

  • Cool Rose
  • Neutral
  • Rose Gold
  • Gold
  • Amber
  • Standard (No edits)
  • Vibrant
  • Natural
  • Luminous
  • Dramatic
  • Quiet
  • Cozy
  • Ethereal
  • Muted Black and White
  • Stark Black and White

All of the styles have varying Tone, Color, and Palette settings, that correspond to brightness, saturation, and effect intensity.

How Photographic Styles Work

According to Apple, on the ‌iPhone 16‌ models, Photographic Styles adjust specific colors in select parts of your photos to adjust the overall look.

The first five Photographic Styles are tuned for skin undertones, including Cool Rose, Neutral, Amber, Rose Gold, and Gold. Cool Rose accentuates cool pinkish undertones, while neutral neutralizes warm undertones. Amber, Rose Gold, and Gold accentuate those specific tones. These can be fairly subtle, depending on the settings you choose.

Other Styles are closer to what you get with a filter, adding more dramatic effects that impact the mood of the image.

Setting Up and Customizing Your Style

When you've taken at least four photos with the ‌iPhone 16‌ camera, you can go to Settings > Camera > Photographic Styles to set the base tone that you want to use for all of your images.

You can pick from the skin tone-focused options, which include Cool Rose, Neutral, Amber, Rose Gold, and Gold. You'll see the different effects across four images, and you can adjust the intensity to begin with.

After you've selected a favorite undertone, you can further refine the look by dragging a finger over the touchpad, which changes the brightness and saturation. The slider changes the overall intensity.

Once you've set your Photographic Style, it's automatically applied to all of your images and it is the default value for your photos.

If you want to turn it off, you can go to Settings > Camera > Photographic Styles > Reset to Standard.

Real-Time Previews

In the Camera app when you go take a photo, if you tap on the touchpad icon, you can select a different undertone or mood style. Swiping changes the Photographic Style, and the controls below can be used to customize the look.

The option to use customized Photographic Styles in real-time lets you preview what an image will look like with different effects before you even take it.

You can access Photographic Styles from the Camera Control button too. Press Camera Control once to open the Camera app, then light press to bring up the Camera Control menu. Swipe until you get to Styles or Tone, then light press again to select it. From there, you can make adjustments by swiping. To get back to the menu to select another option, use a light double press.

Editing After a Shot

You can add or adjust a Photographic Style after an image has been captured, so it's not something that you need to do in the moment. This is the first time that Apple has allowed Photographic Styles to be edited after the fact - earlier versions of this feature only allowed the Style to be applied when taking an image.

To edit a Photographic Style, go to the Photos app, tap on the three bars to enter the editing interface, and then tap on Styles. You can select any of the styles and then adjust it using the touchpad.

The touchpad's X axis adjusts color, while the Y axis adjusts tone. The slider adjusts overall intensity or Palette. A Tone setting of 0, a Color setting of 0, and a Palette setting of 0 result in a "Standard" photo that has no Photographic Style applied, so that's a good starting point to better understand exactly what each style is changing.

Adjusting the Color to the left desaturates, while dragging it to the right deepens color. Dragging Tone up makes the image brighter, while dragging it down makes it darker.

You can change the Photographic Style setting at any point, and it is a non-destructive edit so it's not permanent. If you want to get back to a normal, unedited photo, choose the Standard setting.

Photographic Styles are entirely distinct from the ‌Photos‌ app Adjust section where you can tweak exposure, brilliance, highlights and shadows, contrast, brightness, saturation, vibrance, warmth, tint, and more.

HEIF Only

If you have your ‌iPhone‌ set to take JPG images instead of HEIF, you won't be able to use Photographic Styles. You need to have HEIF turned on. In the Camera section of the Settings app, HEIF can be enabled by going to Formats and choosing "High Efficiency" instead of "Most Compatible."

Preserve Settings

By default, the Photographic Style that you set up using the Settings app will be used automatically. If you select a different Photographic Style when you're taking a photo, it will use that only until you close the Camera app.

If you want the Photographic Style you selected in the Camera app to be the new default, you need to go to Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings and toggle on Photographic Style. With this turned on, your ‌iPhone‌ will preserve your last used Photographic Style rather than reset to your default.

Photographic Styles and Older iPhones

Older iPhones do not support the new touchpad and adjustment settings for Photographic Styles, but if you take an image on an ‌iPhone 16‌ and then edit it on an older phone, you can see the touchpad to make further adjustments.

Related Roundups: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro

Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser that was first introduced in March 2016. Apple designed ‌Safari Technology Preview‌ to allow users to test features that are planned for future release versions of the Safari browser.

Safari Technology Preview Updated Feature 1
‌Safari Technology Preview‌ 204 includes fixes and updates for Accessibility, CSS, Forms, JavaScript, Service Workers, Web API, Web Driver, Web Extensions, and Web Inspector.

The current ‌Safari Technology Preview‌ release is compatible with machines running macOS Sonoma and macOS Sequoia, the newest version of the Mac operating system.

The ‌Safari Technology Preview‌ update is available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences or System Settings to anyone who has downloaded the browser from Apple's website. Complete release notes for the update are available on the Safari Technology Preview website.

Apple's aim with ‌Safari Technology Preview‌ is to gather feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. ‌Safari Technology Preview‌ can run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while it is designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download and use.

Fortnite creator Epic Games today filed a lawsuit against Google and Samsung, accusing the two companies of anticompetitive behavior that discourages Android users from downloading games and apps outside of the Google Play Store.

play store google
At issue is a Samsung feature called Auto Blocker, which is designed to prevent Galaxy devices from installing applications from unauthorized sources. Enabled by default, Samsung says that Auto Blocker keeps users safe from unknown apps and malware, but it does disable sideloading.

With Auto Blocker, when users attempt to install an app from an unknown or unauthorized source, they'll receive a pop-up alert letting them know that installation was prevented. Auto Blocker can be overridden during the setup of a Galaxy device, and there is also an option to temporarily remove it. Auto Blocker was first introduced last October, and ‌Epic Games‌ says that the feature is in fact a "coordinated effort" to block competition in app distribution.

"Auto Blocker cements the Google Play Store as the only viable way to get apps on Samsung devices, blocking every other store from competing on a level playing field," says ‌Epic Games‌.

‌Epic Games‌ is accusing Samsung and Google of creating Auto Blocker with the purpose of undermining the result of the Epic Games v. Google lawsuit, where a nine-member jury agreed that Google had an app store monopoly and that Google's agreements with OEMs were anticompetitive.

When speaking to journalists earlier today (via The Verge), ‌Epic Games‌ CEO Tim Sweeney said that he did not have proof that Google and Samsung had colluded on the Auto Blocker feature, but he is hoping to find evidence during the document discovery process. He also did not ask Samsung to make ‌Epic Games‌ an authorized source for games.

Further, Sweeney claimed that Epic was filing the lawsuit on behalf of all developers, and not just to get ‌Epic Games‌ special treatment. "If we'd fought Epic v. Apple and Epic v. Google solely on the basis of Epic getting special privileges, perhaps settlement discussions with Apple and Google might have been fruitful," said Sweeney. "But if we did that, we'd be selling out all developers."

Evidence from the Epic v. Apple trial suggests that Sweeney did, at that time, seek a special deal with Apple that would not have been available to all developers. In 2020, Sweeney wrote a letter to Apple asking for permission to add support for third-party payment processors in Fortnite, and it's only when Apple said no that Epic filed a lawsuit against Apple. When questioned about this letter at trial, Sweeney confirmed that he was seeking a special deal for Fortnite and would have accepted it even if Apple didn't offer the same deal to other developers.

Sweeney has suggested multiple times that the lawsuits Epic is filing against Apple, Google, and Samsung are for all developers, but realistically, ‌Epic Games‌ is looking out for its own interests.

‌Epic Games‌ is aiming to have the court force Samsung to remove Auto Blocker as a default device setting. Samsung in a statement to The Verge said that Auto Blocker is a security and privacy feature that users can disable at any time. "We plan to vigorously contest Epic Game's baseless claims," said Samsung. Google called the lawsuit "meritless."

Verizon is currently experiencing a major outage that is affecting many customers across the U.S., including iPhone users. Affected users may be unable to send or receive phone calls, send or receive text messages, or use cellular data.

ios 17 iphone 15 pro status bar sos crop feature2
As a result of the network being down, many affected iPhone users are seeing "SOS" displayed in their device's status bar. In a support document, Apple says that an iPhone displays "SOS" when the device is not connected to a network, but it should still be possible to make emergency calls in the U.S., Australia, and Canada.

In a statement, Verizon said it is "aware of an issue impacting service for some customers" and working to identify and implement a fix.

With any iPhone 14 model or newer, you can use Apple's helpful Emergency SOS via satellite feature to text emergency services when you are in a supported area in the U.S. that lacks cellular and Wi-Fi coverage.

Update 5:00 p.m Eastern Time: Verizon has started restoring service for customers, though it could take some time for the carrier to resolve the issue for all users.

Update 7:18 p.m. Eastern Time: Verizon says the outage has been fully addressed, and all VZW customers should now have service.

Tag: Verizon

Apple's iOS 18 update brings powerful new search functions to the Photos app, allowing you to find specific images with unprecedented precision. Here's how to make the most of its new capabilities.

iOS 18 Photos Feature Chromatic
In iOS 18, the key to effective searching in Photos is using natural language. Instead of simple keywords, try describing the photo you're looking for in detail. The app can now understand complex queries and find images based on specific elements within them.

For example, if you've previously identified friends and family using the People and Pets features, you can search for "Dad smiling" or "Snowy sleeping." The more specific you are, the better your results will be. You can even search for actions or emotions, like "kids laughing at swings" or "couple dancing at wedding."

ios 18 photos search
The new search function is also pretty handy at finding objects and scenes. Try queries like "car next to lake" or "sunset over city skyline." You can combine multiple elements in your search, such as "yellow flowers in vase by window."

For food lovers, searches like "pizza with mushrooms" or "steak and chips on table" can help you find culinary inspirations from your photo library. When searching for people, you can now include details about their appearance or actions. "Mum in green hat with wine glass" or "Emma in wedding dress" are examples of how specific you can get.

photos
The Photos app can even search within videos. If you remember a specific moment in a video but can't recall which one, try describing the scene. For instance, "baby crawling" or "fireworks over lake" can take you directly to that moment.

Note that for these advanced search features to work, the Photos app needs time to index your library. This process happens on your device to protect your privacy, so be patient if searches aren't immediately accurate after updating to iOS 18.

With practice, you'll find that the new search function in Photos can help you rediscover forgotten memories and locate specific images with ease. Don't be afraid to get creative with your searches – you might be surprised at what the app can find.