MacRumors

Keepsafe is a company behind privacy-focused iOS apps like Photo Vault, Blur for iMessages, Unlisted, and Secure VPN Proxy. Today the company expanded its suite of secure apps with the launch of "Keepsafe Browser," an app that enables users to browse the web privately [Direct Link].

The company says Keepsafe Browser ensures that all internet browsing history is kept private, and the app prevents third-party trackers from being able to target users. This means that users will be protected from ads, social networks, analytics, and content services built for targeting users online.

“Since its founding, Keepsafe has been on a mission to restore privacy to people’s daily lives,” says Zouhair Belkoura, co-founder and CEO of Keepsafe. ”Understanding the range of current privacy issues people today face, Keepsafe’s Browser leads industry competitors with its discreet web browsing privacy controls.”

Like other Keepsafe apps, users can lock access to the app using a unique entry code, which can also be tied into the iPhone's biometric security (Touch ID or Face ID) or Android Fingerprint. As long as you have the code set up and toggle on Touch ID/Face ID in settings, the request for Apple's security features will appear after you open the app in place of the code keypad entry field.

Privacy controls include secret tabs that forget session data after they are closed, meaning that all cookies, caching, and URLs will be deleted. There are also normal tabs that store cookies and URLs locally so that users can quickly return to their favorite websites and remain logged in to their accounts on those sites. In the tab switcher screen, private tabs have a slightly blurred purple hue over them as well.

Many developers have updated or tested out private browsing modes in iOS apps recently, including YouTube's test of an "incognito mode" for its mobile app. Prior to that, Firefox updated its iOS app with default tracking protection in both regular and private browsing sessions, and last November Mozilla launched spin-off iOS app "Firefox Focus" built around secure web browsing.

Apple has its own incognito mode alternative called Private Browsing in Safari, which prevents a user's browsing history from being saved, while also asking websites not to track users. At WWDC, the company detailed how privacy and security protections will be improved for users in iOS 12 and macOS Mojave, including support for automatic strong passwords. With this feature, Safari automatically creates, autofills, and stores passwords, and flags if they've been reused to make it easier for users to create unique passwords for each login.

For Keepsafe, the company's new Keepsafe Browser app is available for free on iPhone and iPad [Direct Link].

Yahoo today announced the launch of a new Yahoo Mail website optimized for mobile devices, allowing users to access their inboxes without having to download an app on their iPhone or Android smartphone (via TechCrunch).

On the website for the new mobile web experience, Yahoo says that its users will have access to swipe gestures to easily mark messages as read or delete them completely, organizable folders, auto-suggest email addresses, and customizable themes.

According to senior director of product management for Yahoo Mail, Joshua Jacobson, the company built the new mobile web service for users who don't want to download an app that takes up more storage on their device.

“We’ve heard loud and clear from users that they’re not always ready to make the big leap to downloading an app that takes up any storage space on their phone,” said Joshua Jacobson, senior director of product management for Yahoo Mail.

“People with high-capacity phones may want to save that space for photos or videos, while others with entry-level smartphones may just have limited space from the get-go. Further, some folks share devices or borrow a family member’s to access their email. This is all especially true in developing markets.”

The mobile web launch also ties into a new app for Android Go, which touts a smaller download size on the Android software that's tailored for cheaper devices. With the new Yahoo Mail versions, Yahoo is aiming at both storage-concerned users and those in emerging markets where low-cost devices are popular.

The company hopes to boost stagnated user growth, which sits at 227.8 million active users per month, an increase from about two million from one year ago. As TechCrunch points out, Yahoo's user base is far smaller in comparison to Google's Gmail client, which reported 1.4 billion users in April.

As the company grows Yahoo Mail, just over a week ago it announced that it will be permanently discontinuing Yahoo Messenger on July 17, 2018. At the time, Yahoo said its reason for shutting down Messenger was to focus on "building and introducing new, exciting communications tools" that will be a "better fit" for its customers.

Adobe Scan, Adobe's document scanning app, was updated today with a new feature that lets users capture business cards and convert them into phone contacts.

AI enhancements courtesy of Adobe's Sensei machine learning platform enable the app to recognize a business card when placed in view of the phone's built-in camera. Once the card is recognized, the app presents a "Save Contact" button to the user.

Tapping the new option captures the information on the business card including the name, company, phone number, email address, and any image, and automatically imports it into the user's contacts.

Adobe's Sensei AI also gets to work on the original scan of the business card, automatically correcting for shadows, perspective distortion, and even cropping out any fingers holding the card in the captured image.

Along with the AI-focused update to Adobe Scan, Adobe also announced some new PDF creation tools today for Microsoft Office 365.

New shortcuts in the ribbon of Microsoft's Word, Excel, and PowerPoint web apps let users convert documents into PDFs (and vice versa) with optional password protection. Likewise, Adobe PDF archiving, conversion, and distribution tools are also now available from within OneDrive and SharePoint.

Adobe Scan can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Apple Pay today launched in Poland, according to reports from several MacRumors readers who are living in the country and Polish Apple site ThinkApple. iPhone, iPad, and Mac users in Poland are now able to add eligible cards to the Wallet app for use with Apple Pay.

• BGZ BNP Paribas
• Bank Zachodni WBK
• Alior Bank
• Raiffeisen Polbank
• Nest Bank
• mBank
• Bank Pekao
• Getin Bank

Visa and Mastercards from the above listed banks will work with Apple Pay, and several MacRumors readers have been able to successfully add their cards to their iPhones.

Apple CEO Tim Cook first promised to expand Apple Pay to Poland during Apple's earnings call covering the second fiscal quarter of 2018. At the time, he also said Apple Pay would come to Ukraine and Norway, with the payments service yet to launch in the latter country.

Following the launch of Apple Pay in Poland, Apple Pay is available in more than 20 markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong, France, Russia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, UAE, Brazil, and Ukraine.

Apple Pay in stores is available on the iPhone 6 and later and all Apple Watch models. Apple Pay on the web and in apps is available on the iPhone 6 and later along with the iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 4, all iPad Pro models, and Macs with Touch ID or an accompanying iPhone or Apple Watch.

The Australian government today fined Apple $9 million for misleading some customers into believing they could not have their iOS devices fixed by Apple if they had been previously repaired by a third-party repair shop, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

Today's ruling comes after the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) launched an investigation into Apple after the ACCC received complaints over "error 53," issues.

Error 53, widely publicized in 2016, caused some iPhone 6 users who had the Home buttons on their iPhones fixed by a non-Apple technician using non-original parts to see their iPhones bricked following a software update.

When the error code first surfaced, Apple said that error 53 was a protective security feature meant to prevent "malicious" third-party components from potentially compromising a user's iPhone, but after public outcry, Apple released a software update restoring functionality to bricked iPhones. Following the software update to unbrick iPhones, Apple claimed that the error 53 issue was meant to be a factory test and never should have impacted consumer devices.

Amid error 53 investigations led by the ACCC, Apple admitted that between February 2015 and February 2016, at least 275 Australian customers had been told in store or over the phone that they could not have their iPad or iPhone fixed if it had been repaired by a third party, such as in the error 53 situation.

Apple's refusal to provide repairs to Australian customers who had previous repairs done by third-party shops violates Australian Consumer Law, according to an Australian Federal Court.

When it learned of the ACCC's investigation, Apple launched an outreach program that has compensated approximately 5,000 consumers who were affected by error 53. Apple's Australian arm is also improving staff training to make sure its stores comply fully with Australian Consumer Law, and Apple will now provide new devices as replacements instead of refurbished devices if a customer requests one.

In the United States, Apple was hit with a lawsuit over error 53, but it was dismissed after the company restored full iPhone functionality through a software update and reimbursed customers who had paid for out-of-warranty device replacements.

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.4.1 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the second tvOS 11.4.1 beta and three weeks after releasing tvOS 11.4, an update that introduced support for AirPlay 2.

Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the new tvOS 11.4.1 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that's installed using Xcode.

No new features or changes were discovered in the first two tvOS 11.4.1 betas, suggesting the update focus on fixes for bugs that have been discovered since the release of tvOS 11.4.

Apple's tvOS updates have historically been minor in scale, and Apple does not often provide us with detailed notes outlining what's new. We'll update this post should anything be found in the third beta.

Apple's work on tvOS 11 is winding down as the company is now focusing on tvOS 12, which was unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference in early June.

Update: Apple has also made the third beta of tvOS 11.4.1 available to its public beta testing group.

On Saturday, Beyoncé and Jay-Z launched a new collaborative album called "Everything is Love" exclusively to Tidal subscribers, the streaming service that Jay-Z owns. Just under two days later, Everything is Love has now launched on Apple Music, Spotify Premium, and Amazon Music Unlimited, making this a very short timed exclusive for Tidal (via Variety). In two weeks, the album will be available on Spotify's free tier.

In relation to Apple Music, The Carters have had a somewhat rocky relationship with Apple's streaming music service. Beyoncé's "Lemonade" album never launched on Apple Music and remains available for Apple customers only as a $17.99 paid download in iTunes. Although Jay-Z quietly removed many of his albums from Apple Music in April 2017, most eventually came back, and his own album "4:44" had one week of Tidal exclusivity before appearing on Apple Music last summer.

Tidal has had a rough couple of months as well, beginning with a report last December that claimed the company was facing money problems due to "stalled" user growth, and could run out of working capital in six months. Nearly six months later, Norwegian news site Dagens Næringsliv reported that Tidal was months behind on its royalty payments to record labels.

Furthermore, Tidal last month confirmed to its customers that it was investigating a "potential data breach" on the platform. The company said it had gone so far as to hire an "independent, third party cyber-security firm" to find out what happened. It's still unknown how widespread the potential breach was and what aspects of Tidal users' data might have been compromised. Tidal CEO Richard Sanders said that the company would share the results of the security firm's discoveries "once completed."

Amid the turmoil, Tidal exclusives have grown short or ended completely, as with Kanye West's latest album "ye," which launched on Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal on the same day. In 2016, West launched "The Life of Pablo" as a Tidal exclusive, but eventually allowed the full album to stream on Apple Music and other services.

Years later, West reportedly sought to end Tidal's exclusivity rights over his new music and break from the service. West claimed he was owed "more than $3 million" because his album "resulted in 1.5 million new subscribers to Tidal, for which he was supposed to get a bonus", but Tidal never paid. At the time of those claims, sources close to West said the artist successfully ended exclusivity rights with Tidal and cited "Tidal's failure to honor its financial obligations."

Tidal's subscriber base isn't known, but it is believed to be much smaller than Apple Music (50 million including those on free trials) and Spotify Premium (75 million). Major exclusives like The Carters' new album likely help increase the company's paid subscriber count for both its $9.99/month standard sound quality tier and $19.99/month Hi-Fi tier, despite the short exclusivity window. Still, with a 30-day free trial and no confirmation of subscriber numbers, it's unclear how many new users will stick around.

Tidal subscribers will have one advantage over other users, since the bonus track "Salud" remains a Tidal exclusive.