MacRumors

Apple today seeded the sixth beta of a new tvOS 12 operating system to developers for testing purposes, one week after releasing the fifth beta and two months after introducing the new software at the 2018 Worldwide Developers Conference.

Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV, the tvOS 12 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV using a profile that's installed through the Xcode software. Subsequent betas can be downloaded via the software update mechanism on the Apple TV.

tvOS 12 introduces support for Dolby Atmos sound, which was activated in the second beta. Apple says that when tvOS 12 launches this fall, iTunes will be home to the largest collection of Dolby Atmos-supported movies. Customers that have previously purchased movies that gain Dolby Atmos support will see free upgrades to their titles, much like the rollout of 4K support.

Building on single sign-on, a new zero sign-on feature will further simplify the cable authentication process. With zero sign-on, the Apple TV can detect a user's broadband network and automatically sign them into supported apps they receive through their accompanying cable subscription.

Zero sign-on will be available for Charter Communications customers this fall and will expand to additional cable providers in the future.

Aerial screensavers now include location information and there are new screensavers captured in collaboration with the International Space Station.

Other improvements tvOS-related improvements include AutoFill passwords from iPhone, an Apple TV Remote automatically added to Control Center on the iPhone or iPad, and Apple TV support on Home control systems like Control4, Crestron, and Savant.

tvOS 12 is available for developers and public beta testers to work out bugs and other issues ahead of a fall public launch.

Update: Apple has made a new version of tvOS 12 available for its public beta testing group.

Apple today seeded the sixth beta of an upcoming watchOS 5 update to developers, one week after releasing the fifth beta and two months after introducing the software at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

To install the beta, you'll need the proper configuration profile, which can be obtained through the Apple Developer Center. Once the profile is in place, the watchOS 5 beta can be downloaded using the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software Update.

To install the update, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery, it must be placed on an Apple Watch charger, and it has to be in range of the iPhone. It's best to install the beta on a secondary device instead of a primary device as betas have bugs to be worked out.

watchOS 5 is a major update to the watchOS operating system, introducing Activity Competitions so you can compete on workouts with friends, Walkie-Talkie with push-to-talk functionality for quickly communicating with the people you talk to most, and auto workout detection to make it easier to start and stop workouts if you forget.

Other new features include an improved Siri watch face with support for third-party apps through Siri Shortcuts, a dedicated Apple Podcasts app, new Workout types that include Yoga and Hiking, new features for runners, WebKit support for viewing some web content on Apple Watch, and enhanced notifications, which will make notifications on the Apple Watch interactive.

watchOS 5 is only available to developers and will not be provided to public beta testers (because there's no way to downgrade Apple Watch software), so non-developers will need to wait until the software is officially released in the fall to try it out.

The watchOS 5 update runs on all Series 1, Series 2, and Series 3 Apple Watch models, but it is not available for the first-generation "Series 0" Apple Watch models.

What's new in watchOS 5 beta 6: Apple says that today's beta makes the status of Walkie-Talkie invitations clearer. Once you've sent an invite, you'll be notified if it's accepted. As a result of this change, you may need to remove your Walkie-Talkie contacts and re-add them so they "reflect the correct invitation state."

Apple also says that pairing with an iPhone can take up to five minutes, and Voice Shortcuts will not be immediately available. The Apple Watch Series 1 will also not show reminders to start a Walking Workout in this beta.

MoviePass is restructuring its subscription model once again, today announcing that it will not be raising prices for its subscribers and instead return to its traditional $9.95/month price tag while limiting how often users can go to the movies every month. Effective August 15, subscribers will transition to the new model upon their renewal and from then on be able to see three movies every month at $9.95.

The move follows negative responses that the company received after it announced its intention to raise the base subscription price to $14.95/month just last week. These users will also gain access to up to a $5.00 discount on any additional movie tickets purchased after they see their three allotted movies in any given month.

"We are now creating a framework to provide the vast majority of subscribers with what they want most – low cost, value, variety, and broad availability – and to bring some moderation to the small number of subscribers who imposed undue cost on the system by viewing a disproportionately large number of movies," said MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe. "We believe this new plan is a way for us to move forward with stability and continue to revitalize an entrenched industry and return moviegoing to everyone’s financial reach.”

MoviePass has had a turbulent summer, beginning with the introduction of Peak Pricing in July, rolling out Ticket Verification to all users, and restricting major film releases from its subscribers for the first two weeks of release. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal today, MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe confirmed that all of these changes are now being abandoned.

After one week of analyzing customer responses and internal debate, Mr. Lowe said MoviePass is abandoning those changes. The price increase and restriction on new releases are being revoked, there will be no surcharges, and users will no longer have to upload photos of tickets they buy to prove they are not committing fraud.

“We’ve been whipsawing people back and forth,” said Mr. Lowe. “I think we’ve got it now.”

This means that the three films subscribers will be able to see each month will "include many major studio first-run films." The company says that about 85 percent of its subscribers already only see three or fewer films per month, leading to the decision to install the new plan for its entire subscriber base.

Still, it's a major change in comparison to what MoviePass announced one year ago this month, allowing users to see one movie per day every month at $9.95. The new model is akin to what MoviePass was before it surged in popularity last year, when it offered price tiers like $50/month for six movies.

Microsoft today announced that it is joining Disney's expanded Movies Anywhere service, allowing customers who purchase films on Xbox and Windows 10 to link their content to Movies Anywhere (via The Verge). Thanks to the new addition, this means that any supported movie you purchase through Microsoft Movies & TV will now also be available on other linked Movies Anywhere accounts, including iTunes.

Digital retailers supporting the service now include iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, VUDU, Google Play, FandangoNOW, and Microsoft Movies & TV. Movies Anywhere supports films from Disney, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, and Warner Bros., meaning that most of the latest releases can be found on the service.

If the films you purchase come from these studios, and you have your Microsoft and iTunes accounts connected to Movies Anywhere, you'll be able to sync purchases between the two platforms.

Microsoft Movies & TV now supports Movies Anywhere! Purchase Movies Anywhere eligible films from Microsoft Movies & TV and watch on supported platforms: Xbox, Windows, iOS, Android, and streaming devices. Sync your accounts to access your entire Movies Anywhere library on Microsoft Movies & TV, no matter where you purchased.

As a bonus for syncing your Microsoft Movies and TV account with Movies Anywhere, the companies are gifting X-Men: Days of Future Past to its customers for a limited time. Head to Microsoft's FAQ page for more information on how to link the two accounts.

Disney originally expanded Movies Anywhere from "Disney Movies Anywhere" last October, growing the service into an app that accumulates the user's entire library of films, not just those from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm. Movies Anywhere launched only in the United States, and as of Microsoft's partnership with the platform it is still limited only to U.S. customers.

Apple has removed the entire libraries of five Infowars podcasts from the Apple Podcasts platform, Buzzfeed News reported on Sunday.

Among the podcasts removed from Apple's iTunes index are "War Room" and "The Alex Jones Show", hosted by the controversial U.S. radio host and conspiracy theory peddler.

Apple does not host the podcasts per se but is responsible for running the directory for users of its stock Podcasts app. In explaining its decision to remove the five shows, Apple provided Buzzfeed with the following statement:

"Apple does not tolerate hate speech, and we have clear guidelines that creators and developers must follow to ensure we provide a safe environment for all of our users," a company spokesperson said.

"Podcasts that violate these guidelines are removed from our directory making them no longer searchable or available for download or streaming. We believe in representing a wide range of views, so long as people are respectful to those with differing opinions."

In terms of reach and discoverability, the removal of the shows is just the latest in a number of blows for Alex Jones' Infowars series. Last month, Facebook suspended the host's personal profile for 30 days for what it said was hate speech and bullying, while Spotify removed several episodes of Jones' shows last week for violating its hate content policy.

Infowars was founded by Jones in 1999 and the host has garnered a large following, promoting various conspiracy theories including that the September 11 attacks were staged by the U.S. government.

Recently, the show has been heavily criticized for promoting the theory that many gun massacres reported by the U.S. media are faked by left-wing forces in order to usher in more stringent gun control measures.

Jones is currently being sued in Texas by two parents of children murdered in the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, after the host claimed the massacre was one such hoax. The Connecticut attack, which took place in 2012, left 26 children and adults dead.

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.

Well-known accessory company RAVPower has launched a new series of promo codes this week, available exclusively to MacRumors readers. This crop of codes includes savings on fast wireless charging mats, portable chargers, and car chargers, all of which we've listed below. If you find something you like be sure to make your purchase before the codes expire in one month, on Sunday, September 2 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Note: It appears that Amazon will occasionally default the seller option to a third-party and not Sunvalley Brands (RAVPower's parent company). To ensure that the codes work, double check that the displayed seller is Sunvalley Brands, and if it isn't then click the "Used & New" button at the top of the product page, find Sunvalley Brands, and then click Add to Cart.

• 40W Dual USB Car Charger - $10.49 with code RUMORSVC7, down from $13.99

• 10,000 mAh Portable Solar Charger - $19.99 with code RUMORS10K, down from $29.99

• Fast Wireless Charger with HyperAir - $21.99 with code RUMORS134, down from $29.99

• 16,750 mah Portable Charger - $21.99 with code RUMORSPB010, down from $34.99

• 20,000 mAh USB Battery Pack - $26.99 with code RUMORSPB006, down from $39.99

• 25,000 mAh Portable Solar Charger - $39.99 with code RUMORS25K, down from $52.99

• 26,800 mAh USB-C Portable Charger - $45.99 with code RUMORSPB067, down from $58.99

In other deals, Costco today kicked off a notable sale for its members on Apple's HomePod smart speaker, marking the device down to $299.99 in White and Space Gray, from a regular price of $349.99. While HomePod has been available at a cheaper price point thanks to sitewide sales at eBay and other retailers, this is one of the lowest straight discounts for a new version of the smart speaker we've seen, particularly compared to its current full retail price at places like Best Buy and Walmart.

At AT&T, customers can get the iPhone SE 32GB for free when they buy the smartphone on AT&T Next and add a new line of service onto their plan. AT&T says this is a limited-time offer and is not available for customers upgrading from an existing smartphone. Head over to AT&T to find out more information on the offer before it expires.

As the new school year approaches, more companies are opening up back-to-school sales for customers and today the latest addition to this list is Brydge. Under this sale, users can get the Brydge 9.7 for iPad at $99.99, down from $129.99, and the Brydge 7.9 for iPad mini at $39.99, down from $99.99. Check out Brydge's back-to-school sale page for the full list of discounted items, also including portable batteries, cases, and more.

Lastly, Best Buy has a nice deal of the day going on today for anyone looking to add another Bluetooth speaker into their home, with the retailer marking down the Beats Pill+ to $113.99, compared to its $129.99 price tag at places like Target and Walmart.

Anyone who is interested in jumping into the Alexa ecosystem -- or add more products to their existing set-up -- should also take a look at Best Buy's 2-day Amazon sale, with savings on Echo Show ($129.99, down from $229.99), 2nd-Gen Echo ($69.99, down from $99.99), Fire TV Cube ($89.99, down from $119.99), and more.

Head over to our full Deals Roundup for more of this week's ongoing sales and discounts.

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Tech Armor to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win Tech Armor Lightning Earbuds that come equipped with an extra Lightning port so you can listen to music while your iPhone is plugged in and charging.

Apple removed the headphone jack from the iPhone 7, and since then, iPhones require headphones that work via Lightning, over Bluetooth, or with a Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter. These Lightning headphones from Tech Armor are ideal for all devices without a headphone jack, and they also work with iOS devices that are still equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack.

With rumors suggesting the 2018 iPad Pro models won't feature a headphone jack either, 3.5mm headphone jacks may be further phased out, making Lightning headphones like these even more useful. Lightning headphones can be inconvenient, but the sound quality is better and the addition of a port on Tech Armor's solution fixes the charging problem.

Tech Armor's Lightning headphones, priced at $70, are Made for iPhone certified and plug into the Lightning port of an iPhone or iPad. A Lightning port is built into the inline cable, so you can charge your iPhone or iPad while you're listening to music or playing a game, and they're resistant to tangling.

A microphone is included so you can use the headphones for phone calls, and there's also a remote for controlling the volume, answering/ending calls, or playing/pausing content. Tech Armor includes multiple earbud caps in the package to fit a wide range of ears.

We have ten sets of Tech Armor's Lightning earbuds to give away to MacRumors readers. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winners and send the prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

It's been nearly one year since Disney announced that it will pull all of its movies from Netflix and launch its own streaming service in late 2019, including both TV shows and movies from Marvel and Star Wars. This week, however, Bloomberg reports that the company is facing troubles with the TV rights to the Star Wars film franchise, dating back to a deal it made with Turner Broadcasting in 2016.

Under that agreement, Turner gained the linear basic cable and companion ad-supported on-demand rights to five of the six Star Wars films released between 1977 and 2005 (The Empire Strikes Back to Revenge of the Sith), as well as the new films that began releasing in 2015 (as of now including The Force Awakens, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Last Jedi, and Solo: A Star Wars Story). With these rights, which also includes A New Hope rights inked in a deal with 20th Century Fox, Turner has been airing the Star Wars movies on networks like TNT and TBS, and its deal with Disney grants it the ability to keep doing so until 2024.

Now that Disney is planning its own dedicated streaming service, however, the company wants these rights back so it can be the sole location for users to find and stream the entire Star Wars canon. To do so, Disney has made a "preliminary inquiry" about regaining the rights, but has "met resistance" from Turner, according to people familiar with the matter.

Turner would reportedly want financial considerations and programming to replace the Star Wars films it would lose, but the talks have yet to advance. If Disney doesn't get the rights back, its streaming service would be missing one of the main franchises that many users would be signing up for, although new Star Wars content could appear, such as numerous Star Wars TV shows "specifically" created for the service.

As we get near the launch of Disney's direct-to-consumer app, more of its films have begun disappearing from Netflix, including titles like Finding Dory this month. In regards to Star Wars, Bloomberg reports that Disney's deal with Netflix for recent Star Wars films -- including the currently-streaming Star Wars: The Last Jedi -- will expire "at the end of this year."

Similar to Disney, Apple is on the hunt to fill its own upcoming streaming TV service with an instant catalog of existing shows and potentially even movies. Apple hasn't discussed its streaming service as much as Disney, however, so it's still unclear how it will launch, how much it will be (Disney says its own will be priced "substantially below" Netflix), and when exactly users will be able to watch the first TV shows beyond sometime after March 2019.

At the same time that Disney attempts to negotiate the TV rights to the Star Wars films back into its fold, the company is nearing completion on its $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets, which will provide another influx of content for its streaming service.

Fortnite, the ultra popular multiplayer battle royale game that's available for iOS devices, consoles, and PCs, is expanding to Android today, but Epic Games is launching Fortnite for Android in a unique way that's worth paying attention to.

As outlined by our sister site TouchArcade, rather than releasing the game on Google Play or another Android marketplace, Epic has created its own Fortnite installer that skirts all fees and eschews the Google Play monopoly on apps, letting Android users install the app outside of Google Play.

Google, like Apple, collects a 30 percent fee for apps (and in-app purchases) released through the Google Play platform, and despite the fees, most developers use Google Play anyway because it's simple, streamlined, and easier in terms of app discovery. But, in contrast to the iOS platform, it is possible for apps to be installed on Android devices without Google Play (or the Amazon Marketplace) and that's what Fortnite has done here.

Fortnite is so popular that Epic doesn't need Google Play to get people to download the game, and thus Google won't be getting a cut of in-app purchases from a mobile game that's already brought more than $100 million in revenue on iOS devices.

Fortnite on Android is being distributed exclusively through Epic's Fortnite Installer, which TouchArcade says is basically a third-party App Store that lets you install one app - Fortnite.

TouchArcade spoke with Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney, and he said that the company was motivated by "economic efficiency." The 30 percent fee charged by open platforms, he says, is "disproportionate" to the services provided.

The 30% store tax is a high cost in a world where game developersʼ 70% must cover all the cost of developing, operating, and supporting their games. Thereʼs a rationale for this on console where thereʼs enormous investment in hardware, often sold below cost, and marketing campaigns in broad partnership with publishers. But on open platforms, 30% is disproportionate to the cost of the services these stores perform, such as payment processing, download bandwidth, and customer service. Weʼre intimately familiar with these costs from our experience operating Fortnite as a direct-to-customer service on PC and Mac.

Sweeney says that right now, Epic Games is focused on Fortnite and there are no current plans for a full Epic App Store that permanently shuts out Google Play, but he didn't rule it out.

Unfortunately for Epic, Apple's mobile platform is more restrictive than Android and there is no way to make a similar move on iOS devices. The only options for skirting the App Store are jailbreaking or distributing outside of the App Store via Xcode, two practices that Apple heavily frowns upon. F.lux, for example, tried using side-loading to release an iOS app back in 2015, and Apple shut it down quickly.

While Epic Games won't be paying fees on Android, Apple will continue getting its 30 percent cut of all Fortnite in-app purchases, at least for now. TouchArcade editor-in-chief Eli Hodapp suggests that this launch has the potential to put pressure on both Google Play and the App Store if Epic Games releases an alternative Android platform that offers more affordable rates. Epic's Unreal Engine Marketplace, for example, offers an 88/12 split, a much better deal than the 30/70 split Apple and Google provide developers.

For more details on how Fortnite for Android will work, make sure to check out TouchArcade's walkthrough following a hands-on demo with the app install process.

Kévin Eugène, a web developer and UI/UX designer, this week shared a new iOS concept that he calls "iOS Mogi," with the aim of improving the look and functionality of Apple's AI assistant Siri (via Reddit). As Eugène explains in his Medium post on iOS Mogi, his goal was "not to create new commands" or completely re-build Siri, but to display the voice assistant "in a different way" that is "more useful to the user."

This led to iOS Mogi's main concept: Siri as a drop-down notification banner that Eugène describes as "parallel help." The non-intrusive banner doesn't take up the whole screen as Siri does today, allowing the assistant to perform contextually aware tasks in the background while the user does something else. As with all concepts, it's important to remember that Eugène's designs in no way indicate what we'll see with Siri in a future version of iOS.

iOS Mogi also includes a multitasking feature where it's possible to ask Siri to open pages from an app while performing tasks in another app. Eugène gives the example of writing an email and asking Siri to open a conversation from Messages in a drop-down notification, scrolling to find a picture you need, and then dragging and dropping that image directly into the email.

Eugène's version of Siri also allows for "Siri actions" that translate touch gestures into voice commands, like scrolling in Apple Music or editing an email's content in Mail. Without needing to physically interact with an iPhone, Eugène explains that this could be particularly useful for users with a disability, but believes such actions would be of benefit for all iOS users.

The last of Eugène's Siri concepts in iOS Mogi involves saving elements from anywhere in the OS to use in another app, including an improved copy/paste feature. In the concept, users can copy as normal and then Siri saves all items and text copied, which can be viewed by saying "Show me all my saved elements." From here, each element can be edited, copied again to paste in another app, or dragged and dropped into the open app.

The iOS Mogi concept is full of other ideas for Apple's mobile operating system, including updates to Apple Maps, "live notifications," multitasking, ARKit features, and more. Head over to Eugène's Medium post to see the full concept.

Prior to the unveiling of iOS 12 at WWDC in June, we saw a few concepts for future versions of iOS from other graphic designers, including one from Michael Calcada that focused on a "Siri Sight" augmented reality feature for navigating around cities. Another one shared by Álvaro Pabesio focused entirely on Apple Music -- which isn't a priority for Apple's iOS 12 update -- and beefed up the music streaming app with music history stats, a new UI, new profile pages, group playlists, and more.