MacRumors

There are quite a few changes coming to the Maps app in iOS 13, which gives Apple Maps a feature set that more closely mirrors some of the tools and functionality available in more robust mapping apps like Google Maps.

The most interesting and notable change in Maps is the new Look Around feature, which is Apple's answer to Google's Street View function. Look Around lets you get a street level look at what's around you (or what you search for) in the Maps app.

Look Around leverages all of the Maps-related data collection that Apple has been doing, which has ranged from in-car data gathering for many months to data collecting on foot in select cities.

Look Around in the main ‌Apple Maps‌ view can be used wherever a pair of binoculars are shown. Tapping that delves into a close-up street level view of the location in a little card, which you can tap again to use the feature full screen.

Tapping around on the display lets you move through the Look Around area, and tapping on an area far in the distance does a neat zooming maneuver that's fun to watch. Notable points of interest, such as restaurants and businesses, are highlighted with identifying icons.

Look Around is limited to areas where a car can go because it's using data captured from a 360 degree camera on a vehicle. That means you can't zoom into areas like parks or beaches, for example, but Apple could add this function in the future since the company is collecting data on foot too.

As with Google Maps, personal information like license places and faces is blurred out to protect people's privacy.

Right now, Look Around is limited to select areas in the United States such as parts of California and Nevada, but Apple plans to expand availability after iOS 13 is released. It is expected to be available across the United States in 2019, and other countries in 2020.

Maps in iOS 13 has a "Favorites" option, which lets you search for specific locations and add them to a favorites list. Favorites are Home and Work by default, but you can add any location.

Tapping one of your favorite options brings up directions to that spot straight away, making the Favorites list the best place for the places that you travel to on a regular basis. Siri Suggestions is also used here to suggest places that you visit a lot that you might want to add.

There's also a new "Collections" feature where you can aggregate different locations, such as restaurants you want to try or places that you might want to visit.

All of your Collection lists can be shared, so you can make up lists of places for friends and family visiting you in your city and then share it with them, for example.

Apple on stage mentioned a revamped Maps interface in iOS 13, but this appears to have been largely referring to changes that the company already started implementing in iOS 12.

There are, however, some noticeable changes to the main Maps interface even in areas where updated iOS 12 maps have already rolled out, such as a view of road hazards and traffic conditions that are normally only visible when turn-by-turn directions have been inputted. Traffic in iOS 13 is visible on the main map.

Apple's iOS 13 website specifically mentions more realistic details for roads, beaches, parks, buildings, and more, but it's not entirely clear if all of this is new.

Both Collections and Favorites are nice additions to ‌Apple Maps‌ that make it more useful, and Look Around is a fantastic new tool for getting a close look at what's nearby.

macOS Catalina does away with the iTunes app, a longtime staple of the Mac operating system, which, unsurprisingly, has left many with questions on just how that's going to work.

To answer questions about the imminent sunsetting of iTunes, Apple has created a support document that explains all of the upcoming changes.

Apple is planning to split iTunes into three apps in macOS Catalina: Music, Podcasts, and TV, which, when combined, will replicate much of the functionality that's currently available through iTunes in macOS Mojave and earlier versions of macOS.

One of the most frequent questions concerns device management and syncing, which is currently done through iTunes. In Catalina, Apple is transitioning device management functionality to the Finder app, and when you plug an iOS device into your Mac, it will be listed as an available device on the left side of the window, with all of the same controls and information.

The Music app is going to feature all of the music that you've imported or purchased, and the iTunes Store is still going to be available in the Music app for making music purchases. Apple Music will also be available in the Music app right alongside your purchased music or music ripped from CDs and other sources. iTunes Music purchases will also continue to be available on iOS.

Likewise, TV shows and Movies that you've purchased or rented from iTunes will be listed in the upcoming Apple TV app, and it will also be used for future purchases and rentals.

All of your subscribed podcasts will be transitioned over to the Podcasts app, while audiobooks can be purchased and accessed in the Apple Books app for Mac.

iTunes Gift Cards and iTunes credits will be usable in the new TV and Music apps and in the App Store, so there's no significant change there.

Though iTunes is gone in macOS Catalina, all of the iTunes functionality is available through the Music, Podcasts, Books, and upcoming TV apps, so in practice, there are few changes for end users. In many ways, the split makes a lot more sense than having all of those features in one spot, and most users should be able to adjust to the changes quickly.

In iOS 13, the Home app has received a few notable updates that will make it easier than ever to control and identify your HomeKit devices.

The main Home app screens are the same in iOS 13, but the control options for specific ‌HomeKit‌ devices have been revamped and streamlined. Available controls vary by device, but in general, the change makes options you check or use frequently (such as various light colors) easier to access.

With ‌HomeKit‌ lights, for example, there's a main display with brightness controls front and center (as it was before), but now, if lights have multiple colors, you'll see a selection of favorites at the bottom rather than having to tap on the color button at the bottom. Settings have also been hidden away a bit and are now accessible from the corner.

Small changes like these have been made for all device types, putting the information that you need at the forefront. There are also several new icons for different ‌HomeKit‌ types such as water sensors, motion sensors, and air quality sensors, making it easier to identify what's what at a glance.

Certain devices, such as the Hue Motion Sensor, will display more information in one place rather than splitting up information. In iOS 12, for example, there are separate ‌HomeKit‌ entries for the motion sensing portion of the Hue sensor, the light measurement, and the temperature measurement, which is confusing and clutters up your Home app. In iOS 13, these are all combined into one.

Controls for your ‌HomeKit‌ devices are also now shown in a card-style view so you can swipe them away to get back to the main Home app screen, which is an improvement over the full screen view in iOS 12.

Notably, your AirPlay 2 devices can be used in ‌HomeKit‌ Scenes and Automations for the first time in iOS 13, a major change from what's possible in iOS 12.

With automations support, your ‌AirPlay‌ 2 devices like the HomePod can be set to do things like play music when you arrive home, or turn off when you leave. You can also have music come on when a ‌HomeKit‌ sensor detects something like motion, or at a specific time of day.

In scenes, ‌HomePod‌ and other ‌AirPlay‌ 2 devices can be paired with other ‌HomeKit‌ devices, so you can do something like have your ‌HomePod‌ and lights come on all with one button press or Siri command.

Controls for speakers in Scenes and Automations include Play Audio, Pause Audio, Resume Audio, Don't Change What's Playing, Use Current Volume, and Set Custom Volume.

These new controls for ‌AirPlay‌ 2 devices will apply to everything from ‌HomePod‌ and Apple TV to HomeKit-enabled third-party TV sets and speakers, providing new ways to integrate audio devices into your home.

Apple also announced other HomeKit-related changes that are worth noting. In-home security cameras are becoming increasingly important, but these introduce privacy concerns related to unauthorized access. Apple has a solution -- a new Secure Video feature.

Secure Video is a new ‌HomeKit‌ API that offers on-device video analysis, sending an encrypted stream to iCloud, so you can be sure that no one is spying on your in-home security cameras. Companies like Logitech and Arlo plan to release cameras that use this technology.

Apple is also adding ‌HomeKit‌ support to routers from companies like Linksys, Eero, and Charter/Spectrum for the first time in iOS 13. With ‌HomeKit‌ controls, users will be able to prevent accessories from accessing their entire home networks.

All of these ‌HomeKit‌ and Home app features will be available in iOS 13, which is limited to developers right now. Apple plans to release a public beta in July, and the software will see an official launch in the fall.

On the latest episode of the Mac Power Users podcast, hosts David Sparks and Stephen Hackett had the opportunity to speak with Apple product manager Doug Brooks about the all-new Mac Pro, unveiled at WWDC 2019 earlier this week.

The new Mac Pro is an absolute powerhouse with up to 28-core Intel Xeon processors, up to 1.5TB of RAM, up to 4TB of SSD storage, and the option for the "world's most powerful graphics card" in the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II. Brooks said this performance will ensure the ‌Mac Pro‌ remains capable well into the future:

When we look at things like 8K workflows, that's not the norm today. There's definitely people doing it at the high end. But we want to make sure we're ready for it and have the performance throughout the system to deliver on that.

To manage the heat that comes with this performance, Brooks said the new ‌Mac Pro‌ has a so-called "low-impedance airflow system" that moves a lot of air through the system and cools the machine "very effectively":

The past Mac Pro tower had nine fans. We wanted to kind of simplify and make the thermal system a lot more elegant. It's what we call a low-impedance airflow system. If you look through the heatsink… the fin spacing is pretty wide. We're able to move a lot of air through the system, get a lot of heat exchange with these big fans… they tend to move a little slower so they don't create a lot of noise, but can move quite a bit of air through the system to cool the system very effectively.

Brooks said that sound from the new ‌Mac Pro‌ under a desk measures around 10 decibels, making it quieter than an iMac Pro or the current ‌Mac Pro‌ on a desk, which he said are both already "virtually silent" at around 12 decibels.

Brooks also reflected on the new ‌Mac Pro‌'s optional wheels:

You realize you have this thing next to you and there's a handle there. It's perfect to just grab… what if I just wanted to slide it out a bit to get access to the top boards or spin it around for the back. The feet have material on the bottom… it's really easy to slide around. It's like, what if this thing had wheels?

Apple supposedly used G-sensors to ensure that the new ‌Mac Pro‌ would be able to withstand reasonable amounts of shock and vibrations while being wheeled around in production trucks and other professional environments.

Another notable tidbit was that, like many other Apple products, the new ‌Mac Pro‌ was kept in a "stealth enclosure" during testing in Apple's labs to ensure that its design remained a secret until it was announced. This was certainly effective, as the new ‌Mac Pro‌'s design was a complete surprise.

The entire interview can be listened to on the Mac Power Users podcast at Relay.FM.

At its WWDC keynote on Monday, Apple unveiled its new login feature that will allow users to sign into apps and websites using their Apple ID. As part of iOS 13, Apple will require all apps that use third-party sign-in options to include its Sign In With Apple button.

The feature has been largely welcomed as a more secure alternative to similar sign-in services offered by Facebook, Google, and Twitter, since it authenticates the user with Face ID or Touch ID, and doesn't send personal information to app and website developers.

However, one detail in Apple's updated Human Interface Guidelines is raising eyebrows – Apple is asking developers to position its Sign In with Apple button more prominently by putting it above all other rival sign-in options.

The guidelines are regarded as suggestions about how developers should build their apps, rather than mandatory requirements. Even so, many developers believe that following the guidelines gives their apps the best chance of passing Apple's approval process. Curiously, Apple is also asking developers to place its Sign In with Apple button above other options on websites, an area over which it wields no review power.

The suggestions come at a time when developers and rivals have claimed some of Apple's business practices, such as taking up to a 30 percent commission on apps sold through its App Store, are unfair and anticompetitive, and amount to operating the platform as a monopoly.

In the EU, antitrust regulators are looking into claims by Spotify that it is using the ‌App Store‌ to deliberately disadvantage other app developers. Meanwhile in the U.S., the Department of Justice was recently given the go ahead by the Federal Trade Commission to launch a probe into Apple's business practices, as part of a broader review of antitrust concerns in relation to large technology companies.

In an interview yesterday with CBSNews, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that scrutiny of Apple's business practices was "fair" and a good thing for large companies, but claimed the company is not a monopoly in any of the markets it operates in.

Apple in iOS 13 introduced a new "Optimized Battery Charging" feature, which is designed to extend the total battery life of your iOS device.

Found in the Battery section of Settings under "Battery Health," the optional toggle learns from your personal habits and waits to finish charging all the way up until you need your iPhone.

For example, if you often charge your phone up at night while you sleep, Apple might charge it to 80 percent right away, but wait until an hour or so before you wake up to charge the remaining 20 percent.

That keeps your ‌iPhone‌ at an optimal capacity for battery health, rather than keeping it close to 100 percent on the charger.

Avoiding topping up the battery continually while it sits on the charger reduces the amount of time that your device spends at maximum capacity, and over time, this could extend the life of your battery.

Battery health has been a hot topic over the course of the last year, after Apple was found throttling the processor speeds of iOS devices with degraded batteries to prolong device life as long as possible.

That issue spurred Apple to be more forthcoming about overall battery health, providing details about capacity and performance in the Battery portion of Settings. Aside from the new toggle to optimize charging, there are no major changes to the Battery Health feature in the first iOS 13 beta.

Hey Siri, play Old Town Road on Spotify.

Ask that now and Siri will tell you that it cannot play songs from Spotify, but that could change soon. Apple is opening up its SiriKit framework to third-party music, podcasts, audiobooks, and radio apps in iOS 13 and iPadOS, enabling users to use Siri to control audio playback in supported apps.

It will be up to developers to enable this functionality in their apps. We've reached out to Spotify, Amazon, Google, Pandora, Tidal, Overcast, Castro, and several other popular music and podcasts app developers to see if they have plans to support Siri, and we'll update this story if we hear back.

Spotify recently accused Apple of anticompetitive business practices, and its inability to integrate with Siri was one of its complaints. "Apple won't allow us to be on HomePod and they definitely won't let us connect with Siri to play your jams," said Spotify. Going forward, the latter is no longer the case.

The first betas of iOS 13 and iPadOS were seeded to developers on Monday, with public betas to follow in July. The software updates will be widely released in the fall, likely alongside new iPhones in September as usual.

Apple this week announced that iOS 13 and iPadOS will introduce full support for Sony's DualShock 4 controller, which is the main game controller for the PlayStation 4. This announcement, along with confirmation of Xbox One S controller support, is great for iOS gamers, but even more enticing thanks to Sony's existing Remote Play app for iOS.

Released in March, the Remote Play app [Direct Link] lets you connect your iPhone or iPad to your PS4 to stream and play games while away from your living room (but still on a Wi-Fi network, because the app doesn't support cellular connectivity). At launch, the app worked well and provided a sample of what it would be like to play games like Overwatch and Assassin's Creed: Odyssey on your ‌iPhone‌, but the touchscreen controls and lack of full support for certain buttons on existing MFi controllers left many games nearly unplayable.

Now, with iOS 13 and DualShock 4 support, your ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌ will essentially be a portable PS4. You'll encounter all of the usual PS4-related controls, including full support for the console's dashboard, store, and user profiles. You can even allow it access to your iOS microphone to talk to your friends in a party or through game chat.

There are some downsides to the Remote Play app, including the fact that some games are not compatible with it and won't let you stream or control the game from your iOS device. But, for the games that do support Remote Play, users will have a chance to play full console titles right from their ‌iPhone‌.

DualShock 4 and Xbox One S controller support also have the ability to enhance other gaming apps, like the recently released Steam Link app for iOS. Valve's app lets you stream your Steam games to ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌, as long as your mobile device and PC are on the same Wi-Fi network. Once connected, you can use your iOS device to play Steam games, many of which already support DualShock 4 and Xbox controllers.

Microsoft is working on a mobile streaming app of its own, which could come to iOS devices as well. But, as of now, Xbox One gamers have to look into third-party options for streaming to an ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌, like the $11.99 OneCast app [Direct Link]. Similar to Sony Remote Play, OneCast streams Xbox One games to iOS devices that are connected to a Wi-Fi network.

Besides iOS 13 and iPadOS, tvOS 13 is gaining support for the DualShock 4 and Xbox One S controller as well. Apple's support for these controllers will be timed alongside the release of Apple Arcade, an all-new subscription service for iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS that will present users with high-quality games that they can play on-demand while subscribing to the platform.

Apple CEO Tim Cook believes that when it comes to big business, scrutiny is a good thing, but he has denied claims that Apple is a monopoly.

In an extended interview with CBS News, Cook said that because of Apple's size he thought it was "fair" to scrutinize its business practices, but the CEO pushed back hard against claims that the company had a dominant position in any market.

Apple has recently become the target of regulator inquiries and class action lawsuits that have variously questioned its business practices. In the United States, for example, the Supreme Court recently ruled that a class action accusing Apple of operating an App Store monopoly can proceed to trial in a lower court.

Asked about Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign and her position that Apple should break up its App Store and other parts of its business, Cook said:

I strongly disagree with that. I think some people would argue, if you are selling a good, then you can't have a product that competes with that good. And I-- I think that's part of what is being argued there. But that-- that's an argument that takes you down the path that, Walmart shouldn't be stocking alternative or house brand. And so this is decades of-- of-- U.S. law here. But I think scrutiny is good, and we'll tell our story to anybody that we need to or that-- that wants to hear it. I-- I feel very confident in-- in our position.

Cook went on to underline the company's user-centric position and claimed that when it comes to privacy and fake news, "we're on the user's side," which is why it curates content on its stores and services.

Asked whether he thought Facebook is an amplifier for fake news, Cook said that he worried about any platform that delivered news in a feed and relied on algorithms to differentiate genuine journalism from fake news.

I don't really believe personally that A.I. has the power today to differentiate between what is fake and what is not. And so I worry about any property that today pushes news in a feed. What we do with Apple News product is we pick top stories, we have people doing it. And so I do worry about people thinking like machines. Not machines thinking like people.

Cook's extended interview covered several other topics, including the potential impact of Chinese tariffs on Apple, his relationship with President Trump, and current U.S. administration polices. You can watch the full interview above and read the full transcript here.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Apple yesterday unveiled iOS 13, the newest version of the operating system designed to run on the iPhone (and the iPad, though the ‌iPad‌ version has been renamed to iPadOS). iOS 13 is an update that introduces a long list of new features and some changes that are quite exciting.

Check out the video below, where we walk through all of the major features that you can expect to see when you upgrade to iOS 13 this fall.

First and foremost, iOS 13, like iOS 12, is an update that brings some much needed under-the-hood performance improvements. Apple has reduced app download sizes by up to 50 percent, leading to improved app update times, and apps launch up to twice as fast. On devices that use Face ID, unlocking with ‌Face ID‌ is 30 percent faster than before.

iOS 13 looks a lot like iOS 12 when it comes to design, with the exception of a new systemwide Dark Mode that turns the entire OS, apps included, dark. ‌Dark Mode‌ can be toggled on at will or set to activate on a schedule.

Many apps got updates, but Photos is the app that got the most significant overhaul. There's a new main view that organizes and curates your ‌Photos‌ library to show you a selection of highlights by day, month, or year. It's a neat way to get a look back at your favorite memories, and you'll notice that videos in this view autoplay.

The image editing interface in ‌Photos‌ has been overhauled to make it easier to make quick tweaks to your images, and there are new Portrait Lighting adjustments for moving the light closer or further away depending on the look you're going for.

The volume HUD has been overhauled and the new volume up/down indicator is less obtrusive, located either at the side of the ‌iPhone‌ or the top depending on the orientation of your device.

Right now, iOS 13 is limited to developers, and Apple warns those who aren't risk takers to wait for the public beta, coming in July, before installing the update. It is indeed riddled with bugs right now and does not offer the best usage experience. It's best to install it on a secondary device.

A new Find My app combines ‌Find My‌ ‌iPhone‌ and ‌Find My‌ Friends, and it is equipped with one of the best new features Apple announced - an option to track your devices even when they're offline by leveraging other nearby iOS devices.

A new Sign In with Apple feature is also a major privacy-protecting change, offering up a convenient way to sign into apps and websites. Your Apple ID authenticates your account with Touch ID or ‌Face ID‌, and apps are even able to generate single-use randomized email addresses so developers and companies never get your real info.

The Maps app features broader road coverage, updated pedestrian data, and more detailed landcover, but the coolest new Maps feature is Look Around, which is basically Apple's version of Google's Street View.

Apple made the Reminders app more useful in iOS 13 with a total revamp, and Messages has a new Profile feature for sharing your name and photo with people. There are a ton of new Memoji customization options, and three new Animoji: a cow, octopus, and mouse. Animoji/Memoji stickers have been added so you can use your Memoji in Messages, Mail, and other apps.

Siri has a new voice, but it doesn't seem super different, and there are updates to CarPlay, AirPods, HomePod, and more. ‌CarPlay‌ has a new interface, ‌HomePod‌ supports Handoff so you can transfer music from an iOS device to the ‌HomePod‌, and with AirPods, you can connect two to a single ‌iPhone‌ to share what you're listening to with a friend.

HomeKit is coming to routers in iOS 13, plus there's a neat new Secure Video feature that makes sure video recorded is analyzed right on your device and then sent in an encrypted stream to iCloud, so you can be sure no one is spying on your in-home cameras.

A new swipe-based QuickPath keyboard option has been added, and Apple made it easier to edit text with scrolling improvements and smoother cursor movement.

The Health app has a new feature for monitoring hearing health, and there's a new Cycle Tracking option for tracking menstrual cycles. There are also tons of iPad-specific changes, but we'll go over those in a separate iPadOS video coming later this week, now that iOS and iPadOS are somewhat separate operating systems.

Following months of beta testing to work out bugs and refine features, iOS 13 will launch in the fall alongside new iPhones. Make sure to stay tuned to MacRumors because we're going to delve further into iOS later this week, along with Apple's other operating systems for Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and ‌iPad‌.

Dashboard, a longtime Mac feature that Apple has been phasing out for the last few years, has been eliminated in macOS Catalina and it is no longer available for use.

The Dashboard option, first introduced in OS X 10.4 Tiger, used to be a prominent Mac feature, housing sticky notes, a weather interface, a clock, a calculator, and other customizable widgets.

It was disabled by default starting in macOS 10.10 Yosemite, and in the current version of macOS, Mojave, it's still disabled unless you seek it out, enabling it as part of Mission Control or adding it to the Dock.

In Catalina, there is no more Dashboard app at all, as pointed out by Appleosophy. It can't be enabled via Mission Control and there's no sign of it in the operating system, marking its official demise.

While the Mac and iPad remain distinct products, Apple continues to bridge the gap between its desktop and mobile platforms. In 2014, for example, it introduced Continuity features like Handoff and Universal Clipboard that enable more seamless experiences across the Mac, ‌iPad‌, and other Apple devices.

The next step in this process is Project Catalyst, which makes it much easier for developers to extend iPad apps to the Mac.

Starting with macOS Catalina and Xcode 11, developers can create a Mac version of an ‌iPad‌ app using UIKit, an Apple framework that until now was intended solely for iOS apps. Adding macOS support to an ‌iPad‌ app is as easy as opening an Xcode project and clicking the Mac checkbox under General > Deployment Info.

While the Mac version of the app should run after the box is checked, this is not always the case, as the Xcode project may contain code that no longer compiles due to frameworks, APIs, or embeddable content that is incompatible with the Mac, according to Apple's developer documentation:

Most iPad apps are great candidates for adaptation, but a few rely on iPad features that don’t exist on a Mac. For example, if your app's essential features require iPad capabilities like gyroscope, accelerometer, or rear camera, iOS frameworks like HealthKit or ARKit, or the app's main function is something like navigation, it might not be suited for the Mac.

Apple has instructions on how to remedy these compatibility issues.

‌iPad‌ apps ported to macOS run natively on the Mac, utilizing the same frameworks, resources, and runtime environment as traditional Mac apps, according to Apple's developer documentation:

The Mac version of your iPad app supports many system features found in macOS without requiring any effort from you…

- A default menu bar for your app.
- Support for trackpad, mouse, and keyboard input.
- Support for window resizing and full-screen display.
- Mac-style scroll bars.
- Copy-and-paste support.
- Drag-and-drop support.
- Support for system Touch Bar controls.

Apple's updated Human Interface Guidelines are a helpful resource for designing and coding the ideal ‌iPad‌ app for Mac.

If this all sounds familiar, it is because Project Catalyst is Apple's public-facing name for this initiative, which has been referred to by its internal name of Marzipan until now. Apple's plans to allow iOS apps to easily run on Mac were first reported by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman over 18 months ago.

Apple provided us with a first glimpse of Project Catalyst when it brought the ‌iPad‌ versions of its Apple News, Home, Stocks, and Voice Memos apps to the Mac last year in macOS Mojave. Third-party developers are now able to follow suit in macOS Catalina, which will be released to the public in the fall.