MacRumors

When Apple announced macOS Catalina at the Worldwide Developers Conference and unveiled its new Catalyst feature that would allow iPad apps to be easily ported over to the Mac, Twitter was one of the upcoming apps shown off.

macOS Catalina launched on Monday, and as of today, the Twitter for Mac app is now available. macOS Catalina is required to download and use the new app, as it is built using Catalina technologies.

Twitter discontinued its prior Twitter for Mac client more than a year ago, which wasn't a popular decision with Twitter users. At the time, Twitter said that it was ending support for the app to focus on a Twitter experience consistent across platforms, and recommended Mac users use Twitter on the web.

Because Apple's Catalyst initiative makes it easier for apps designed for iOS to be brought to the Mac, Twitter has decided to reintroduce its Mac app, which shares similarities with the Twitter for ‌iPad‌ app.

Design wise, it's in line with the iPhone and ‌iPad‌ apps, but Twitter in June said that it has all of the features that users expect from a Mac app such as multiple windows, window resizing, drag and drop, dark mode, keyboard shortcuts, notifications, and more.

Twitter for Mac can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Apple's worldwide Mac shipments were down in the third quarter of 2019, according to new preliminary Pc shipping estimates shared this afternoon by Gartner.

During the quarter, Apple shipped an estimated 5.1 million Macs, down from 5.3 million in the third quarter of 2018, marking a 3.7 percent drop in shipments. Apple's marketshare also declined slightly, dropping from 7.9 percent to 7.5 percent.

Apple continues to be the number four PC vendor in the world, ranking below Lenovo, HP, and Dell, but above Acer and Asus. Lenovo was the number one vendor during the quarter, shipping an estimated 16.8 million PCs for 24.7 percent market share.

HP came in second with 15.3 million PCs shipped for 22.4 percent market share, while Dell was third with 11.3 million PCs shipped and 16.6 percent market share. Acer shipped 4.2 million PCs for 6.2 percent market share, while ASUS shipped 3.8 million PCs for 6.5 percent market share.

Apple's decline in Mac sales follows refreshes of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines this year, but comes as the iMac, Mac Pro, and ‌iMac‌ Pro continue to go without an update. Apple is planning to release an updated ‌Mac Pro‌ at some point this year.

The drop in Mac sales comes amid slight growth for the overall worldwide PC market. A total of 68.1 million PCs were shipped during the quarter, a 1.1 percent increase from the third quarter of 2018.

Apple saw slight growth in Mac shipments in the United States in Q3 2019. Apple shipped a total of 2.186 million Macs during the quarter, up from 2.182 during the third quarter of 2018, a 0.2 percent increase.

HP was the number one PC vendor in the United States, shipping 4.4 million PCs. Dell came in at number two with 4 million PCs shipped, while Lenovo was third with 2.2 million PCs. Microsoft and Acer trailed Apple in the United States.

IDC also released its own shipment estimates this afternoon, noting an even steeper decline in sales for Apple. According to IDC, Apple shipped 5 million Macs during the quarter, down from 5.3 million, a decline of 6.1 percent.

In IDC's rankings, Apple falls below Lenovo, HP, and Dell, also coming in as the number four worldwide PC vendor, which is up from fifth place last year. IDC's data also suggests overall worldwide PC market growth of 3 percent percent rather than the 1.1 percent growth noted by Gartner.

Apple could see some growth in Mac sales next year following the release of the new ‌Mac Pro‌ and rumors suggesting a new 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ is on the horizon.

It's important to note that data from Gartner and IDC is based on estimates, and while Apple used to provide specific breakdowns of Mac sales, the company is no longer doing so and there will be no way to confirm shipment estimates going forward.

The first beta of iOS 13.2 brought a handful of changes like Deep Fusion support, Announce Messages With Siri and HomePod handoff options, but iOS 13.2 beta 2 introduces even more significant changes.

There are new emoji and new Siri privacy settings as we outlined earlier today, but there are also some other smaller changes worth highlighting.

- Rearrange Apps - The "Rearrange Apps" option that pops up when 3D Touching or using a Haptic Touch on an app icon is now "Edit Home Screen."

- Delete Apps From Home Screen - There's a new option to delete apps right from the Home screen when pressing on them with a ‌Haptic Touch‌ or 3D Touch.

- New Emoji - iOS 13.2 beta 2 includes support for the Unicode 12 emoji with characters like yawning face, sloth, waffle, falafel, otter, and tons more.

- New Emoji Picker - When using a multi-person emoji, there's a new skin tone picker that lets you select a different skin tone for each person.

- Siri Privacy Splash Screen - When you first install iOS 13.2, there's a new splash screen that lets you opt out of sharing ‌Siri‌ and Dictation audio recordings with Apple.

- Delete Siri History - In the ‌Siri‌ section of the Settings app, there's a new ‌Siri‌ and Dictation option that lets you delete all of the ‌Siri‌ and Dictation history associated with your iPhone from Apple's servers.

- Audio Recordings - In the Analytics and Improvements section of the Privacy portion of the Settings app, there is a new toggle to opt out of sharing your audio recordings with Apple for the purpose of improving ‌Siri‌.

- AirPods Animation - In the last beta, we found images that reveal the design of the third-generation AirPods. This beta includes an animation that will walk users through changing the noise cancelation options on the new AirPods. Noise cancelation is one of the features expected to be included with the new earbuds.

- Video Recording - When capturing video on the new ‌iPhone‌ 11 and 11 Pro models, you can change the resolution and the frames per seconds settings of the video directly in the Camera app. To do so, tap on the small icons that are located at the top left of the interface. Resolution and FPS can be changed independently depending on where you tap.

Know of a feature that's new in iOS 13.2 beta 2 that we left out? Make sure to let us know in the comments and we'll update this article.

Today's iOS 13.2 beta introduces a new option that allows iPhone and iPad users to delete their Siri and Dictation history and opt out of sharing audio recordings, features that Apple promised after being called out for its ‌Siri‌ quality evaluation processes.

Earlier this year, it was discovered that Apple hired contractors to listen to a small percentage of anonymized ‌Siri‌ recordings to evaluate ‌Siri‌'s responses with the purpose of improving the assistant's accuracy and reliability.

A report from one of those contractors who spoke to The Guardian said that the employees working on Siri "regularly" heard "confidential details" while listening to the audio recordings. The contractor also criticized Apple for not making it clear to consumers that some of their ‌Siri‌ recordings were being used for evaluation purposes.

Following the report, Apple suspended its ‌Siri‌ grading practices and told users that it would introduce tools allowing them to opt out of sharing their audio recordings.

iOS 13.2 brings multiple Siri-related privacy features as promised. When installing iOS 13.2, there's a new splash screen to opt out of sharing audio recordings, with Apple clearly explaining how those recordings are used.

Help Improve Siri and Dictation by allowing Apple to store and review audio of your Siri and Dictation interactions on this iPhone and on any connected Apple Watch or HomePod. You can change this later in the settings for each device.

This data is not associated with your Apple ID, and will only be stored for a limited period.

In the Privacy section of the Settings app, there is indeed an option to turn off the "Improve ‌Siri‌ & Dictation" setting, plus there's a new setting in the ‌Siri‌ section of the Settings app that lets recordings be deleted entirely.

Delete Siri & Dictation interactions currently associated with this iPhone from Apple servers. Data that has been sampled to help improve Siri and Dictation is no longer associated with this iPhone and will not be deleted.

In addition to these new ‌Siri‌ and Dictation-related privacy features added in iOS 13.2, Apple also says that it is making further changes to its human grading process that will minimize the amount of data that reviewers have access to.

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming iOS 13.2 update, and the beta adds new emoji characters that are part of the Unicode 12 emoji release.

Apple previewed its new emoji earlier this year, and now the new options are set to roll out when iOS 13.2 becomes available. Unicode 12 adds 59 new emoji characters, 75 when gender variations are counted, and 230 when gender variations and skin tones are counted.

Orangutan, sloth, otter, skunk, and flamingo are the new animals included in the update, while new food items include garlic, onion, waffle, falafel, butter, oyster, beverage box, maté, and ice cube.

New faces, gestures, and poses include yawning face, pinching hand, person kneeling, person standing, and new people holding hands options that are both gender and skin tone inclusive.

Several new accessibility-related emojis are included, such as ear with hearing aid, deaf person, mechanical arm/leg, person with cane, person in wheelchair, guide dog, wheelchair (manual and motorized), and probing cane.

Other miscellaneous emoji include Hindu Temple, auto rickshaw, parachute, ringed planet, diving mask, yo-yo, kite, safety vest, sari, one-piece swimsuit, briefs, shorts, ballet shoes, banjo, diya lamp, axe, drop of blood, bandage, stethoscope, chair, razor, white heart, and circles and squares in various new colors.

A full list of emoji that are included in the update can be found on the Emojipedia site. It's not entirely clear yet when iOS 13.2 will come out because we're only at the second beta, but it could see a late October or early November release.

Apple today released the second betas of upcoming iOS and iPadOS 13.2 updates to developers, a week after seeding the first betas and two weeks after the release of iOS 13.1.

iOS and iPadOS 13.2 can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or over the air after the proper developer profiles have been installed.

iOS 13.2 introduces Deep Fusion for the cameras in the iPhone 11 and ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro models. Deep Fusion is a new image processing system that uses the A13 Bionic and the Neural Engine. Deep Fusion takes advantage of machine learning techniques to do pixel-by-pixel processing of photos, optimizing for texture, details, and noise in each part of the image.

The feature is aimed at improving indoor photos and photos taken in medium lighting, and it's a feature that will automatically activate based on the lens being used and the light level in the room.

In both iOS 13.2 and iPadOS 13.2, Apple has reintroduced the Announce Messages with Siri feature, which lets ‌Siri‌ read incoming messages without having to unlock the ‌iPhone‌. The feature works with the second-generation AirPods and the Beats Pro.

The betas include new privacy settings for Apple's upcoming Research app, a new Transfer to HomePod toggle in the Settings app to turn on ‌HomePod‌ handoff, an updated volume bar in Control Center that displays AirPods and Beats icons, and an option to display multi-function HomeKit products as multiple tiles or a single tile.

Also discovered in the first beta of iOS 13.2 was an icon that divulges the design of Apple's third-generation AirPods, expected in 2020. The AirPods have a fresh look with a body that resembles the current AirPods, but with rubber tips, likely for the rumored noise cancelation feature.

Additional details on what's new in iOS 13.2 can be found in our iOS 13.2 tidbits article.

Update: Apple has also seeded the new iOS and ‌iPadOS‌ 13.2 betas to its public beta testing group.

Apple has pulled an app from the App Store that Hong Kong protestors have been using to track police movements, saying it violates the company's guidelines and local laws.

Apple approved HKmap Live last week after reviewing its decision to initially reject the app from the ‌App Store‌.

However, on Wednesday Apple was criticized by Chinese state media for its decision to make the app available. "Letting poisonous software have its way is a betrayal of the Chinese people's feelings," said the People's Daily.

The app has since been delisted from the ‌App Store‌ and Apple has issued the following statement:

We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to discover apps. We have learned that an app, HKmap.live, has been used in ways that endanger law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong. Many concerned customers in Hong Kong have contacted us about this app and we immediately began investigating it. The app displays police locations and we have verified with the Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau that the app has been used to target and ambush police, threaten public safety, and criminals have used it to victimize residents in areas where they know there is no law enforcement. This app violates our guidelines and local laws, and we have removed it from the App Store.

In a series of tweets, the developers of HKmap Live said they disagreed with Apple's claim that the app endangered law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong, and argued that "there is zero evidence to support CSTCB's [the Hong Kong Police Force’s Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau] accusation that HKmap App has been used to target and ambush police, threaten public safety, and criminals have used it to victimize residents in areas where they know there is no law enforcement."

Earlier on Thursday, Apple also removed the app of news outlet Quartz from China's ‌App Store‌. The news organization told The Verge that Apple has removed its mobile app after complaints from the Chinese government, and said it had received a notice from Apple that the app "includes content that is illegal in China."

Demonstrations in Hong Kong began in March in response to an unsigned legal bill that threatened to allow extradition to mainland China. Since then, the protests have to expanded to demand that the city state retains its broader democratic rights. The special administrative region maintains separate governing and economic systems from that of mainland China under the principle of "one country, two systems".

Update 12:30 p.m.: In an internal Apple memo, Tim Cook notes that the removal of HKmap Live was a difficult decision but argues that the app was being for illegal purposes and in violation of ‌App Store‌ rules.

It is no secret that technology can be used for good or ill. This case is no different. The app in question allowed for the crowdsourced reporting and mapping of police checkpoints, protest hotspots, and other information. On its own, this information is benign. However, over the past several days we received credible information, from the Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau, as well as from users in Hong Kong, that the app was being used maliciously to target individual officers for violence and to victimize individuals and property where no police are present. This use put the app in violation of Hong Kong law. Similarly, widespread abuse clearly violates our App Store guidelines barring personal harm.

Cook provided no details on specific incidents tied to HKmap Live.

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.

The Apple Card comes with a Disaster Relief Program, according to a MacRumors reader who lives in Houston and recently experienced some flooding from tropical storm Imelda.

Apple sent MacRumors reader Frequeniquity an email suggesting that he apply for the program after Apple detected that he "may have been affected by a natural disaster."

Emails sent out by Apple, which were also received by another MacRumors reader, offer the following benefits:

• No interest for two months, starting with the month you enroll. After two months, your standard purchase APR will apply.
• You can skip the payment due in the month you enroll.
• If your account is in good standing, you will remain current while enrolled.
• If your account is past due, your account will not go further delinquent while enrolled. However, your account will remain paste due until you make all of your past due payments and your ability to make new purchases may continue to be restricted.

According to the email sent out to ‌Apple Card‌ users, those interested in applying for the Disaster Relief Program should contact an ‌Apple Card‌ Specialist after receiving an email.

Apple appears to be sending out these emails to customers who have addresses registered in areas where a natural disaster has occurred, and presumably this will be a benefit offered to all ‌Apple Card‌ users who are experiencing issues like floods, fires, earthquakes, and other issues.

macOS Catalina, which came out on Monday, is the newest version of the operating system that runs on the Mac. Catalina brings some significant changes, including the removal of the iTunes app, a new Sidecar feature, an updated Find My app, and more.

In our latest YouTube video and in the article below, we're going to go over some must-know macOS Catalina features that will be useful to those who have just updated and want to familiarize themselves with the changes.

• No More iTunes - Apple removed iTunes in macOS Catalina, splitting it up into three new apps: Music, TV, and Podcasts. These three apps offer all of the functionality that was previously in iTunes, so you can still get to your music library, access TV shows and movies you purchased, and listen to your favorite podcasts. You can still make iTunes Store purchases, too.
• Finder Syncing - Since there's no iTunes app, you won't use iTunes to manage your devices that are plugged in. Instead, when you plug in an iPhone or iPad to your Mac, you'll see it in the left side of the Finder window where you can get to all the same controls you had in iTunes.
• Apple Watch Password Authentication - You've long been able to unlock a Mac with an Apple Watch, but in macOS Catalina, the Apple Watch can also be used to authenticate passwords or approve app installations when you double tap on the Side button. This is especially handy on Macs that don't have Touch ID. Get to the settings by opening up System Preferences and choosing the Security and Privacy section.
• Sidecar - ‌Sidecar‌ is a new feature in macOS Catalina that lets you use your ‌iPad‌ as a secondary display. The easiest way to activate ‌Sidecar‌ is to click on the AirPlay icon on the Mac. If you have a Sidecar-compatible ‌iPad‌, it will show up in the list of available devices. ‌Sidecar‌ is limited to newer Macs and on the ‌iPad‌, it only works with iPads that support the Apple Pencil. Make sure to check out our Sidecar guide for more info.
• iPad Apps for Mac - Apple in macOS Catalina introduced new "Catalyst" developer tools that are designed to make it easier for developers to port their ‌iPad‌ apps to the Mac, which means you can expect some of your favorite iOS apps to be available on the Mac. Catalyst apps are still rolling out, but some high-profile options are already available like GoodNotes 5, Carrot Weather, HabitMinder, and more.
• Find My - There's a new ‌Find My‌ app on the Mac, which brings a dedicated app for finding friends and devices for the first time. ‌Find My‌ combines ‌Find My‌ Mac and ‌Find My‌ Friends, so it's the one-stop shop for whatever you're looking for. ‌Find My‌ even lets you find your Mac when it's closed and has no WiFi connection by leveraging a Bluetooth connection to other iPhones and Apple devices that are nearby. The new ‌Find My‌ capabilities give you a better chance of finding a lost or stolen device.
• No More 32-Bit Apps - macOS Catalina does not support 32-bit apps, which means some older apps might not work after upgrading. This mostly only applies to apps that haven't been updated in a long time, but it's still something that may take users by surprise. For more info, make sure to check out our 32-bit Mac app guide.

Many of the apps on the Mac have been overhauled with new features. Reminders, for example, has a whole new look and an easier to use interface, while Photos has a new view that organizes everything by day, month, or year. Notes lets you share folders for the first time, and there's a Picture by Picture option in Safari.

For a full rundown on all of the features that you'll find in macOS Catalina, take a look at our macOS Catalina roundup.