MacRumors

Apple Wallet was designed to allow users to easily place payment options like credit cards, debit cards, and gift cards alongside tickets and passes from companies like Fandango and EventBrite. However, Politico Europe has decided to try to use the app to deliver news to its readers, reports NiemanLab (via AppleInsider).

As a part of its coverage of the EU Referendum [next week's nationwide vote in which the U.K. decides whether to leave or stay in the European Union], Politico has started to test Apple Wallet as a news distribution channel via a new tool it calls EU Referendum Tracker. With the tool, which is available only on Apple devices, readers can opt in to receive live polling and results data, as well as breaking news alerts, which appear on the back of the pass.

Although the pass is largely used for the EU Referendum, the news organization has been experimenting with breaking news alerts. Earlier today, it pushed a breaking news alert about the death of British politician Jo Cox.

Kate Day, Politico's editorial director of growth, told NiemanLab that the news site turned to Apple Wallet in an effort to experiment with sending news notifications without developing and maintaining its own app. Currently, Apple only allows websites in Safari to send breaking news alerts on macOS. Politico chose the EU Referendum specifically because they believe users are more open to push notifications if they sign up for the specificity of a topic rather than general news.

Politico considered platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger for its project, but thought WhatsApp had scaling issues for publishers while Facebook announced its bot program after Politico began work on the Apple Wallet project. The experiment is a joint effort with ad agency Digitas LBI, which used Apple Wallet to deliver news about the U.K. general election in 2015.

Day told NiemanLab that although Apple Wallet was an unusual choice for breaking news notifications, the limitations allowed Politico to focus and simplify what they wanted to do and get across with the notifications.

The Politico Europe EU Referendum Tracker can be signed up for at Politico's website while on an iPhone.

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 today announced the debut of a selection of new features and resources available to developers to help them test, optimize, and analyze their iOS, watchOS, and tvOS apps.

Apple’s TestFlight beta testing platform has been updated with support for iOS 10, watchOS 3 and tvOS 10, so developers can begin testing apps incorporating new features like SiriKit immediately and providing betas to beta testers.

The update, originally released on June 13, adds features like a 3D Touch Quick Action to all apps so beta testers can get feedback on new features quickly.

Apple has also updated its App Analytics feature with data on App Store Impressions, allowing developers to tell how many times an app’s icon has been viewed in App Store search results, the Featured section of the App Store, the Top Charts, and the App Store product page.

Today’s developer news also highlights a new support page outlining how to optimize for App Store search, with tips like choosing accurate keywords, using a simple and memorable app name, correctly using App Store categories, and more.

iOS 10, watchOS 3, tvOS 10, and macOS Sierra will be released to the public in the fall following an extended beta testing period.

Apple previewed iOS 10 earlier this week with new rich notifications that enable iPhone users to view photos and videos, listen to audio, or respond to messages directly within notification bubbles. If you receive an iMessage, for example, you will be able to reply to the conversation without leaving the Lock screen.

Apple has also provided developers with the ability to update existing notifications with new information, or delete them, which should help declutter the Lock screen and Notification Center. But many apps still generate multiple notifications, such as every photo, video, or message you receive on Snapchat.

MacRumors forum member chrf097 explains:

The problem with this current system is that notifications become easily cluttered. An active group chat can result in hundreds of individual notifications. For example I'm in a group chat of friends with about 12 active people, and I have to leave it muted anytime I choose not to participate, due to the amount of notifications that collect. In addition, this means that important information can get lost in the sea of notifications.

The solution, as seen in his concept below, could be to follow in Android's footsteps by collapsing notifications on a per-app basis.

The new design would save valuable screen space and allow you to glance at your Lock screen or Notification Center notifications much quicker. But collapsed notifications could inhibit the rich notification experience, so it would work best if collapsed notifications could be toggled on or off on a per-app basis in Settings.

Apple seeded the first beta of iOS 10 to developers earlier this week, and a public beta will be available in July. The free software update will officially be released in the fall for most devices compatible with iOS 9, excluding the iPhone 4s, iPad 2 and 3, original iPad mini, and fifth-generation iPod touch.

Apple could introduce collapsible notifications in a future iOS 10 beta, although changes will more likely be limited to minor tweaks and enhancements.

Despite announcing a handful of new additions to iOS 10 earlier in the week at WWDC, Apple kept silent on whether or not a much-requested "Dark Mode" would be coming to its mobile operating system this year, although it did announce a similar feature would be hitting Apple TV.

Yesterday, developer Andrew Wiik shared a few screenshots of what appears to be an early form of Dark Mode running on the first beta of iOS 10 inside Xcode. Wiik's tweet shows darkened versions of Messages, while a responding user corroborated his finding with pictures of Clock, Safari, and iTunes.

The Clock app is known to have gotten a darkened redesign in iOS 10, and a shot of iBooks is also included, but a reading-enabled "Night Mode" has been around since iOS 8. iTunes also presently uses a darkened scheme in its iOS app but, according to beta tester Mac Aficionados on Twitter, the system wide Dark Mode provides a unified darkened hue across all apps in comparison to what used to be an app-specific colorway with varying levels of black.

In a Reddit post sharing the screenshots, Wiik mentioned that "Apple has implemented the feature it just isn't available for us users yet." He went on to hope that "this won't be an iPhone 7 exclusive."

The potential for Dark Mode's inclusion in iOS has been around for a while now, but picked up steam thanks to speculation in a few concept videos shared earlier in the Spring. Closer to WWDC, possible hints from a few evasive Siri responses -- alongside additional concept images -- fueled more rumors than ever that the feature would be announced by Apple during its keynote.

Case designs, drawings, and renders for the "iPhone 7" and "iPhone 7 Plus" have been propagating online for several months now, with most agreeing that the 2016 smartphone will adopt the same design language of the iPhone 6s. Apple is still expected to introduce a few new exclusive features on this year's iPhone, possibly including a Smart Connector, dual-lens camera, redesigned antennae bands, and no 3.5mm headphone jack.

Some of these additions -- mainly the dual-lens camera -- are rumored to be solely found on the iPhone 7 Plus, while the existence of others are still debated as we move closer to September and the expected reveal of each handset. Today, designer Mathijs Schrauwen (via iPhoned) [Google Translate] has imagined these rumors into an iPhone 7 rendering, alongside the newest information coming out of WWDC regarding the feature-packed additions of iOS 10.

Schrauwen's designs show off the expected dual-lens camera system of the new iPhone, housed inside a small pill-shaped enclosure along with a horizontally aligned flash. The back also honors the rumor that Apple will realign the antennae bands from the current design, which cut across the back of the iPhone. The designer went for a Space Gray look, contrasting recent, questionable rumors that Apple might ditch the color in favor of a kind of "Deep Blue."

Thanks to iOS 10's nixing of the "Slide to Unlock" feature, placing more emphasis on Touch ID than ever before, Schrauwen also includes a touch-sensitive Home Button in his renderings. This falls in line with recent sketchy reports that the iPhone 7 could possibly be the first iPhone model without a physical Home Button.

The back of the new design renders double down on the Smart Connector rumor that is one of the more contested reports for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, with the earliest rumors saying it was coming in 2016, and newer ones contradicting that news. iPhoned also alleges that Schrauwen's designs remove the 3.5mm headphone jack, which is one of the more widely believed rumors, but none clearly show the bottom of the device.

Besides the hardware specifics, the renders are interesting insights into what a new generation iPhone might possibly look like running iOS 10. Schrauwen depicts screens running apps like Watch and Messages, and performing basic duties in the new widgets view. Instead of a downward swipe to access widgets in Notification Center, iOS 10 places them on the left-most screen of both the Lock screen and Home screen.

There's been a lot of news surrounding iOS 10 and all of its new features coming out of WWDC this week, with new details on apps like Messages, Photos, and the nuances of the redesigned Lock screen getting heavy attention. You can catch up with all the news you may have missed in the MacRumors iOS 10 tidbits post, and check out our most recent video, centering around the robust additions to Messages.

Facebook has included a secret soccer game in the latest update to its Messenger app to celebrate Euro 2016 and Copa America.

To play the game, called "Keepy Up", update the iOS Messenger app and send a friend a soccer ball emoji, then tap the emoji in the chat thread to launch the game, the aim of which is to keep the ball in the air.

The game can be started again using the same emoji in the same thread, and high scores are posted in the chat window.

Facebook's previous secret game was basketball-themed to celebrated March Madness and the new NBA season. The game proved a bit hit with users, having since been played over 1 billion times, according to the company.

Earlier this month, Facebook also added 1,500 new emojis to Messenger in order to cater for the diversity of its user base.

Facebook Messenger is a free download for iPhone and iPad on the App Store. [Direct link]

An interesting leak has emerged online this morning that suggests Samsung is about to bring a new type of light notification technology to the rear case of its smartphones.

Android phones often come with a separate notification LED on the front of the handset that alerts users to missed messages and calls. Otherwise, notifications are usually assumed to relate to the display of a mobile device.

However, leaked specs and images that appeared on Dutch mobile tech site Galaxy Club show a new type of notification system for the back of a phone that Samsung is calling 'Smart Glow'.

The system features a luminous ring that runs around the handset's rear camera lens and which lights up to alert users, glowing different colors depending on the function in use.

For example, the ring of light will glow to indicate that the rear camera has detected a face, allowing the user to take a selfie with the superior-quality rear lens.

The Smart Glow technology may also be used to communicate alerts when the handset has been placed face down on a surface, allowing users to choose specific colors to indicate particular notification types. Colors will also show when the battery is running low or when it has reached a full charge.

The website suggests that the notification system will appear in the Samsung Galaxy J2, due to launch in India later this year. The feature has yet to be officially announced by Samsung, so the likelihood of its appearance in the company's flagship phones like the Galaxy Note 7 remains unknown.

The idea that Apple might one day try something similar with a future iPhone is not impossible. The most obvious candidate for the implementation of a rear notification system is the iconic Apple logo that appears on the rear of every iPhone.

The same logo on a MacBook lid glows whenever the laptop is opened, and speculation that Apple planned to use a lighted logo on its phones has existed ever since iPhone 6 leaks began appearing showing a chassis cut-out and the use of an embedded logo.

Those rumors were never realized, although third-party hacks do exist that allow iPhone 6 owners to make the logo on their handsets light up using LEDs.

Early rumors for next year's so-called "iPhone 8" suggest the Cupertino company won't debut a spec-bumped, internally upgraded "iPhone 7s", but a completely overhauled handset with major design changes and new, next-generation features, like wireless charging, a Touch ID-equipped OLED display, and no home button.

At its Worldwide Developer Conference earlier this week, Apple announced a raft of updates to notifications and the way that developers are able to present them to users in iOS 10. No hardware announcements accompanied the conference, however.

Update: One of our forum members has noted that a setting in iOS 9's Accessibility options enables visual notifications on an iPhone using the rear LED flash. To use the setting, open the Settings app, tap General -> Accessibility, and Toggle LED Flash for Alerts to ON.

During a live streaming event at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, Nintendo today hinted at an official launch timeframe for Pokémon GO, a highly anticipated augmented reality game that will allow users to catch Pokémon in the world around them.

In a call between Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, and Niantic Labs, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto showed off the Pokémon GO Plus device, which is a Bluetooth wearable accessory that will allow players to get alerts for nearby Pokémon without the need to keep a close eye on their iPhones.

During the presentation, Miyamoto mentioned that the GO Plus device will ship by the end of July, and because the accessory is dependent on the game, Pokémon GO will also need to launch during that same timeframe. As TechCrunch points out, this isn't concrete launch information, but it does narrow down the potential launch window.

The Pokémon GO Plus, which Nintendo will sell for $35, will flash green when a Pokémon is nearby, and it's also able to throw Poké Balls to catch Pokémon that can be transferred to an iPhone.

Pokémon GO is currently being tested in several countries around the world, and many details have leaked out about the game. When walking around, users will come across Pokémon hidden in the wild and will receive a notification whenever a Pokémon is discovered.

Using an iPhone, players will aim a Poké Ball at a Pokémon to capture it. Poké Balls, Pokémon Eggs, and other accessories will be obtainable at "PokéStops," which are located in places like public art installations, historical markers, and monuments.

Players will level up their trainers by capturing Pokémon and there will be Gyms located around the world where battles between Pokémon can take place. As in all Pokémon games, there are hundreds of Pokémon to discover through exploring and evolution.

Today's event revealed a few previously unknown details, including news that Pokémon trading won't be available at launch but could be added to the game at a later time.

Apple on Tuesday hosted a WWDC 2016 session called What's New in Accessibility that provided an overview of new assisitive technologies and features added to iOS 10, macOS Sierra, tvOS 10, and watchOS 3.

Physical and Motor Skills

Switch Control can now be used to interact with the tvOS interface using a single physical button, such as a switch on a wheelchair. There is both a cursor interface that highlights elements on the screen and an alternative interface with an on-screen remote. Accessibility users that already use Switch Control with an iOS device or Mac can automatically use the function on tvOS without re-pairing a switch.

Dwell Control is a new feature for macOS Sierra that enables users to control the cursor on Mac using assistive technologies and hardware like a headband with reflective dots or eye movements. When the cursor dwells on a certain location, a timer appears that expires and invokes a mouse click or other customizable actions.

Vision

Apple has made display and color adjustments and introduced the option to tint the entire display on Mac, Apple TV, and iOS devices, which can significantly increase contrast and reading ability.

Taptic Time is a new VoiceOver feature on watchOS 3 that uses a series of distinct taps from the Taptic Engine to help someone tell time silently and discreetly.

Magnifier is a new systemwide iOS 10 feature that enables users to use the camera to magnify objects in their physical environment. Various color filters, such as grayscale and inverted grayscale, are supported to increase contrast.

Hearing

iOS 10 allows for Software TTY calls to be placed without any additional hardware. The calls work with legacy TTY technology and make it easy to dial a non-TTY number through your carrier’s relay service. There are also built-in TTY-specific QuickType keyboard predictions.

Learning

iOS 10 has a number of enhancements designed to help people with dyslexia. There are improvements to Speak Selection and Speak Screen to help people better understand text that has already been entered, and there is new audio feedback for typing to help people immediately catch mistakes.

Learn more by watching the What's New in Accessibility video or reading the slideshow.

Apple implemented privacy safeguards on iOS long ago so that when an app requests access to your contacts, calendars, photos, or location, a dialog box pops up asking for express user permission. On iOS 9 and previous software versions, however, that safeguard did not extend to a device's media library.

Apple developer Ben Dodson addressed the privacy concern in a blog post in January:

I discovered that there is no privacy prompt when a developer tries to access your library. In fact, they can access all of your music data […] This process happens completely silently and in my tests I was able to loop through a library of 10,000 songs, put all the metadata in a JSON file, and upload it to a server in under 2 seconds!

Apple acknowledged the issue earlier this year, and it has now introduced a new Cocoa key called NSAppleMusicUsageDescription that developers are required to use in all apps which access the media library on iOS 10 or later. This change ensures that users have to grant express permission for an app to access the music library.

NSAppleMusicUsageDescription (String - iOS). This key lets you describe the reason your app accesses the user’s media library. When the system prompts the user to allow access, the value that you provide for this key is displayed as part of the alert.

To protect user privacy, an iOS app linked on or after iOS 10.0, and which accesses the media library, must statically declare the intent to do so. Include the NSAppleMusicUsageDescription key in your app’s Info.plist file and provide a purpose string for this key. If your app attempts to access the media library without a corresponding purpose string, your app exits.

The new requirement will prevent third-party developers from being able to access a user's media library and send data on what's included back to a server without user-granted permission. This includes changes to the media library, which could have been analyzed for advertising or tracking purposes.

Apps that have requested access to your media library are listed in Settings > Privacy > Media Library.

Apple previewed iOS 10 on Monday during its WWDC 2016 keynote, and it has seeded the first beta to developers. A public beta will launch in July ahead of an official release in the fall. iOS 10 is compatible with most iOS 9 devices, excluding the iPhone 4s, iPad 2 and 3, original iPad mini, and fifth-generation iPod touch.

(Thanks, Steve Moser!)