MacRumors

Payments company Square today announced the launch of a new point-of-sale hardware device called "Terminal," which combines NFC, credit/debit card swiping, and chip-based payments all in one piece of hardware. Like Square's other devices, Terminal supports Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other mobile wallets using near-field communication.

Square says Terminal can be used alongside an existing point-of-sale solution or as its own standalone payment processing system. Terminal also has an all-day battery, Wi-Fi and Ethernet internet connections, an offline mode, quick setup, fraud prevention, and is fully mobile so it can be used on a countertop or taken directly to customers. In terms of pricing, businesses will have to pay one transaction rate of 2.6% + 10¢ for every payment, and Square promises no hidden fees.

“We love how the hardware, payments, and printer are all part of one device,” said Fabrice Borg, manager of Prive by Laurent D Salon in New York, NY. “Square Terminal makes for a more seamless and professional experience when we bring the terminal to our customers and they can pay for their services right from the salon chair.”

Square first launched its original NFC reader back in November 2015, allowing any business to introduce Apple Pay support to their checkout process. Over the years the company expanded into the United Kingdom, introduced new point-of-sale devices like the Square Register, and updated the swipe-based Square Reader with a Lightning connector.

The newest version of the popular Tweetbot Twitter app for iOS devices launched this morning, introducing a revamped look for the app along with several new features.

Tweetbot 5's new look better matches the redesigned Mac version of Tweetbot that was introduced back in May, with redesigned profiles, tweet status details, timeline, and more. The app also adopts the new Tweetbot app logo that first debuted for Mac.

The updated version of the iOS app includes a revamped Dark Mode that looks great on Apple's lineup of OLED iPhones, and GIFs and videos can now be set to autoplay. Autoplay is turned on when updating, but can be adjusted within the settings of the app.

Built-in support for GIF service GIPHY adds a new GIF button to the compose window for quickly searching for and then adding a GIF to a tweet. Descriptions can be added to an image when creating a tweet, and Tapbots has added haptic feedback support.

Full release notes for the update are below:

- GIF support in compose view (Powered by Giphy).
- Redesigned profiles.
- Redesigned tweet status details.
- New iconography and app icon.
- Optimized dark theme for OLED displays.
- Support for haptic feedback.
- Auto video playback in the timeline (which can be disabled in the settings).
- Ability to add descriptions to images when composing.

Tweetbot can be downloaded from the App Store for $4.99. The new update is free for existing users. [Direct Link]

Startup Beddr today launched the "SleepTuner," the first FDA-registered consumer sleep wearable that helps to assess and improve sleep quality. SleepTuner is a small accessory (about the size of a postage stamp) with Bluetooth Low Energy that attaches to your forehead to measure sleep duration, track heart rate, optimize nighttime breathing, and improve oxygenation, all viewable when synced to the compatible iOS app.

Specifically, SleepTuner was built to help accurately measure oxygen and breathing overnight in order to determine if the user suffers from sleep apnea, a disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. Beddr says that its tracker includes "the essentials of a traditional sleep lab" to measure blood oxygen levels, heart rate, sleep position, and stopped breathing events.

To use, SleepTuner is attached to the forehead by a hypoallergenic disposable adhesive, which the company says avoids the pitfalls of rival options that have numerous wires and other attachments. The device has a 50 mAh battery that provides up to 20 hours of continuous test time, and is rechargeable. SleepTuner has optical sensors and a 3-axis accelerometer to gather sleep data, which is saved in the Beddr Cloud until the user syncs it with the iOS app in the morning.

Once synced, the app gathers data from SleepTuner over the course of its use, providing users with helpful insights like determining their optimal sleeping position, overall sleep quality, pointing out how often they wake up, highlighting night-to-night improvements, and more.

Beddr compares SleepTuner to a few other sleep-tracking capable products on its website, including Apple Watch Series 4 and Beddit:

SleepTuner is available to pre-order on Beddr's website for $149, including the sensor, 12 adhesive strips, a charging cable, and a protective case. The device will begin shipping next month.

In iOS 12, Apple added several new ways for users to control how and when they receive app notifications, including the ability to group notifications and change their behavior on the fly with Instant Tuning. A lesser known feature in this subset of options is called Critical Alerts. So what are they exactly?

The idea behind Critical Alerts is that if specific apps have crucial information that shouldn't be ignored – notifications related to health, home security, or public safety, for example – then you'll be alerted regardless of your other device settings.

To that end, Critical Alerts override the Do Not Disturb feature if you have it enabled on your iPhone or iPad, and will even arrive with an audio alert when your device is muted.

Naturally, the Critical Alerts feature is going to have limited use – you'd only want appropriate apps to have access to it (think glucose monitoring or weather warning apps) which is why Apple requires that developers apply for an entitlement to support them.

For that reason, there aren't a whole lot of apps that support these alerts just yet, but if you do come across one that advertises Critical Alerts, you still get to choose whether to enable them or not. Here's how.

How to Disable or Enable Critical Alerts in iOS 12

1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap Notifications.
3. Select the app from the list that you want to enable/disable Critical Alerts for.
4. Toggle the Critical Alerts switch on/off.

Spotify has announced a major update to its mobile apps for users with a Premium subscription to the service, including an overhauled radio feature and changes to the onscreen navigation controls and search functions.

Paying Spotify users can now search an artist and song to generate a unique radio station that can be saved for offline listening.

Like the service's Discover Weekly and other user-tailored playlists, Spotify says the endlessly playing radio streams are personalized to the user's own musical tastes.

But unlike the old radio stations, the new Artist Radio playlists don't have thumbs up/thumbs down buttons as they rely more heavily on Spotify's personal listening algorithms, and Spotify says they will be regularly updated to keep things fresh.

As for the other changes, the navigation controls at the bottom of the interface now consist of Home, Search, and Your Library. While Home is where recommendations live, the redesigned Search screen opens with Top Genres at the top and Browse All buttons below.

The mobile app update is a global update rolling out today to all premium subscribers on both iOS and Android devices.

On our MacRumors YouTube channel, we have an ongoing video series that's designed to highlight new, interesting, and useful iOS apps that we think are worth downloading and checking out.

There are so many apps in the iOS App Store that it can be hard to find new apps and it's also easy to overlook great apps that are a bit older. Our app lists include both new and old apps that we recommend and have personally tested out.

• Grimvalor ($5.99) - We like to include at least one game in our iOS app roundups, and this month's recommendation is Grimvalor, from the team that developed popular game Swordigo. GrimValor is a traditional hack n' slash platformer with solid virtual controls, great graphics, and plenty of content to get through. As with most games of this type, the idea is to fight monsters, explore dungeons, and gather loot to progress through the story. Grimvalor costs $5.99, and there are no additional in-app purchases.
• Habitica (Free) - Habitica is an app that uses gamification to motivate you to adhere to desired habits and reach goals by letting you level up a character by accomplishing a series of user-defined tasks. It's basically a to-do list that comes with a custom avatar that levels up as you finish what you're working on. You can fight monsters, unlock armor, pets, and skills, and complete quests by meeting your goals. Habitica is free to download, but there are optional in-app subscriptions for unlocking features.
• Sorted (Free) - Sorted is a task management app that's designed to let you schedule events, tasks, and notes into a timeline, with a built-in feature that creates a full daily schedule for you. Sorted has flexible controls for scheduling, with options for folders, lists, and tags for organization. Sorted is free to download, but unlocking all of its features costs $14.99.
• Sip (Free) - Sip News, an app from Product Hunt, is designed to deliver news in an easily digestible format. You see one news headline at a time in the app, and you can tap on either side of the screen to scroll through the relevant details of the story. Sip sends you a notification whenever it has something that might be of interest, and there's also a repository of older news stories for you to look through.
• Entale (Free) - Entale is a unique podcasts app that's designed to pull you further into audio stories by adding pictures, links, quotes, and more to a medium that's traditionally limited to the spoken word. It's a neat way to get additional reference information on the content discussed in your favorite podcasts.

Have a favorite iOS app? Let us know down in the comments. We're always looking for new iOS app ideas for this video series, and we'll check out all of your recommendations. You can also check out our recommendations from previous months here, and don't miss our similar Mac app series featuring some great Mac apps.

Caviar, a site known for creating extravagant, expensive replacement casings for Apple's iPhone models, today announced the launch of its latest custom creation, an iPhone XS with a built-in skeleton watch.

The Grand Complications Skeleton collection, inspired by luxury watches, features iPhone XS and XS Max models in titanium, pink gold, and black and gold, all of which have mechanical watch components included right in the casing.

The front of the iPhone has been left untouched, but the back features a mechanical watch with an accurate Swiss watch mechanism complemented by intricate guilloche work and matching engravings.

According to Caviar, the watch built into the customized iPhones is wound manually through a crown that's included on the right side of the casing.

"We've been keeping this development as a secret for a long time, that's why now we're especially happy to present it to your attention. We ourselves are fascinated by the idea of meeting of the heritage of the past and the achievements of the future in the body of one device. We got used to thinking that a smartphone is all we need today and this is our whole life. But in fact, our life is not limited by the technologies only. The passage of time, majestic and implacable is still worth watching by real hands. The watch is, if we may say so, the beginning of the progress, the mechanism, from which everything has begun. This is why a mechanical watch today is a real luxury."

Caviar is limiting the Grand Complications Skeleton iPhones to 99 pieces in each colorway, with each iPhone numbered via an engraving on the side of the device.

More details on the new Grand Complications Skeleton collection can be found on Caviar's website. The new iPhones are priced starting at $6,320 for a 64GB titanium iPhone XS model and go up to $8,080 for a black and gold iPhone XS Max with 512GB storage.

Caviar also sells a range of other customized luxury iPhones made from unique materials and with intricate designs.

Microsoft is testing a version of its Cortana app for iOS and Android devices that features a major interface overhaul and new features, according to Windows Central.

The updated app, which is being tested by beta testers, features a user interface that's focused on conversational experiences with Cortana, along with support for music and podcast suggestions, and a focus on setting reminders, timers, and meetings.

For those unfamiliar with Cortana, it is Microsoft's personal assistant, available on Microsoft devices and other devices through iOS and Android apps. It is equivalent to Apple's Siri, Samsung's Bixby, and Google's Google Assistant.

Full release notes for the new features in the current beta are below:

- An update to the UI enabling conversational experiences with Cortana and a new place to manage and set up your Cortana devices

- Listen to music and podcasts on the go. Just ask Cortana to play your favorite tunes and podcasts with Spotify, iHeartRadio, and TuneIn on your phone or through a paired Bluetooth device

- Stay organized and on task. Set reminders, timers and create meetings with your voice

- Join your next Skype or Teams meeting by simply asking Cortana. You can also manage your calendar or send a quick email by voice

Following the beta testing period for the app, the new features with the redesigned interface will roll out to the official Cortana for iOS app. Cortana for iOS can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Last week, The Information's Wayne Ma reported about a sophisticated fraud scheme in which organized thieves would buy or steal iPhones, remove valuable components like the processor or logic board, swap in fake components, and return the purposefully-broken iPhones to receive replacements they could resell.

One of Apple's countermeasures was to develop diagnostic software that its retail employees could use to quickly detect fake parts in iPhones, the report said. To evade this tactic, however, many fraudsters started to intentionally disable the iPhones so they couldn't be turned on and subjected to diagnostics.

Fraudsters even went as far as obtaining Apple customer records, including serial numbers, for iPhones that had already been sold in China. In some cases, the incorrect serial numbers would be etched on the back of the iPhones.

To combat the use of stolen serial numbers, The Information reported that Apple came up with a screening method known as "Zombie Check" internally that tested whether serial numbers for the broken iPhones held for inspection were also associated with iPhones still using Apple's online services like iCloud.

According to an internal Apple document obtained by MacRumors, the tool was initially limited to China, but Apple began rolling it out to Apple Authorized Service Providers around the world in February 2018.

The aptly-named Serial Number Reader is a simple tool with a Lightning connector on one end and USB-A on the other. It is used to validate the serial number of an iPhone 6 or newer that will not power on by retrieving it directly from the logic board, although a source said it doesn't always work.

To use the tool, a technician connects the end with the Lightning cable to the iPhone and the end with the USB cable to a Mac running macOS 10.8.5 or later. Then, the technician launches the companion Serial Number Reader app on the Mac and the iPhone's serial number should appear in most cases.

The tool can retrieve serial numbers from iPhones that have been damaged in a variety of ways, including units with a non-functional display. Liquid damage is also no obstacle, so long as the liquid is no longer leaking out of the device.

Apple's internal document states that "serial number validation ensures warranty and service eligibility associated with a serialized device is appropriately applied." The document adds that "validation ensures Apple only offers warranty service on genuine Apple products," thwarting fraudsters.

Apple's efforts appear to be working. Apple's annual Form 10-K indicates that, in 2017, Apple's warranty expenses decreased to $4.32 billion from $4.66 billion a year earlier. The serial number tool, it would appear, is quite effective.