MacRumors

Readdle has updated PDF Expert with Handoff support, allowing users to start working on iPhone or iPad and easily pick up on Mac where they left off.

To transfer a PDF document from an iPhone or iPad to Mac, click on the Handoff button in PDF Expert for Mac and select the file. Handoff will automatically transfer the PDF document to the desktop, including all annotations and edits. The iPhone or iPad must be on the same Wi-Fi network as the Mac.

PDF Expert is a popular iOS app for reading, annotating, signing, editing, and merging PDF documents. Readdle launched a Mac version of the app last November, which was selected as an "App of the Year" runner-up by Apple in 2015. Readdle is now working on PDF Expert for Mac 2.0, which will include OCR and PDF text editing.

PDF Expert 5 for iOS is $9.99 on the App Store, while PDF Expert for Mac is on sale for $19.99. Readdle says the Mac version is currently 70% off and will return to its regular $59.99 price tomorrow. A free seven day trial is also available. PDF Expert for Mac 2.0 will be a free update for existing users.

Apple has rolled out a small but notable update to the Radio tab in Apple Music, removing the static Beats 1 logo at the top of the landing page and replacing it with a new UI that dynamically updates to the currently-airing live radio show (via 9to5Mac). In addition to the title, the tab will update with new artwork and the airing location of the show.

The change also brings more direct UI cues for users to navigate through the Radio tab, with a "Listen Now" button under the currently airing show and the less-hidden option to "Explore Beats 1."

The app also gave users the opportunity to explore more information by delving into a secondary menu that listed live shows and upcoming hosts and interviews on Apple's radio channel. Some might not have even known about the auxiliary menu, since there was no UI hint to its existence - tapping anywhere on the Beats 1 logo launched it. Now "Explore Beats 1" should help guide more users to the scheduling menu.

Anyone on iOS 9.2.1 -- or the beta iOS 9.3 seed -- should see the Beats 1 update, but a quick multitasking-enabled close of Apple Music will help it show up if you aren't seeing it. As of writing, no similar update was seen on the Mac version of Apple Music.

An Apple patent application that could turn the Apple Watch into a fully fledged medical device was published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday.

The application, titled "Care event detection and alerts", envisions a hardware system with the ability to monitor the surrounding environment for events that would require assistance from medical professionals, police, fire rescue or other emergency services.

In one example, the device could be programmed to monitor a user's heart for arrhythmia and send out an alert to a spouse or emergency responder in the event of detection.

As noted by AppleInsider, the Apple Watch is not specifically mentioned in the document, but the device would likely fit the requirements of the system's goals, thanks to its advanced sensors and monitoring hardware.

In practice, a wearable and a host device could work in combination to detect a care event. For instance, an iPhone's accelerometer might detect a sudden change in acceleration in tandem with a loss of heart rate detection on an Apple Watch, signaling a cardiac arrest.

When a care event is detected, an alert is sent out by the system to a "care list", or predefined set of recipients established by the user or included in a device preset.

The patent application notes that fine tuning of the system would be necessary to prevent false alarms, and that building a hierarchy into the care list could allow for a staggered escalation of response. For example, a user's spouse or family might be included in the first level for contacts for mid-severity crises, while the highest level could be saved for emergency responders in high-severity cases.

Prior to Apple unveiling the Apple Watch, reports indicated the device would come with 10 sensors to track health and fitness data. Many of these features were ultimately dropped by Apple because of inconsistency issues, leading some healthcare professionals to find the wearable disappointing in this regard. However, should it ever come to fruition, the system described in this latest patent could go some way to answering similar criticisms in the future.

Mobile security company Lookout released an app yesterday that alerts Apple Watch users if they are about to leave their iPhone behind.

The iOS and Apple Watch app uses the Bluetooth connection of an Apple Watch to keep tabs on a user's iPhone location, so that if the wearer steps out of range of their phone, the app automatically buzzes their watch.

Lookout can also make an iPhone in silent mode emit a loud alarm or "scream" to help the owner find the device, even if it is out of Bluetooth range, by way of a local Wi-Fi connection.

If an iPhone has been misplaced but is within Bluetooth range, the user can consult Lookout's distance meter display that shows how far away they are from the device. As they move around, the bar changes color to indicate if they're getting "warmer" or "colder" in relation to the phone's location.

If an iPhone has been left a greater distance away, the app displays a map showing the device's last known location using its GPS signal (note that continuous use of this feature is likely to significantly impact iPhone battery life). The facility is similar to that found in Apple's Find My iPhone app, although Apple has yet to release an app for Apple Watch from which to use the location service.

Lookout for iPhone is available for free on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Apple VP Eddy Cue says the U.S. government could force Apple to secretly implement surveillance technology in its devices if the FBI's current demands in the ongoing iPhone encryption dispute are met.

The company's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services made the ominous prediction during an interview yesterday with U.S.-based Spanish-language TV network Univision, a transcript of which was provided by Apple to Business Insider.

In the extensive interview, the Apple executive reiterated a number of arguments offered by the company over the last weeks, but Cue put special emphasis on the risk of facing a slippery slope that could invite more insidious demands should the FBI get its way and be provided a backdoor to iPhone users' data.

"When they can get us to create a new system to do new things, where will it stop?" Cue asked. "For example, one day the FBI may want us to open your phone's camera, microphone. Those are things we can't do now. But if they can force us to do that, I think that's very bad. That should not happen in this country."

The Apple VP offered a fresh analogy to explain the company's issue with the FBI's demand, likening it to giving someone a key to the back door of your home.

What they want is to give them a key to the back door of your house, and we don't have the key. Since we don't have the key, they want us to change the lock. When we change the latchkey, it changes for everyone. And we have a key that opens all phones. And that key, once it exists, exists not only for us. Terrorists, criminals, pirates, all too will find that key to open all phones.

Cue also accused the FBI of being out of step with other government agencies, stating that the Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, who is responsible for the NSA, "wants encryption to continue getting more and more secure, because he knows that if we create some way to get in, criminals and terrorists will get in. They don't want that."

Cue explained that Apple engineers are continually working to make its devices more secure, and that people should not view the current case as Apple versus the government, but rather an example of Apple's attempts to keep the public safe from criminals and other dangerous actors.

It's Apple engineers against terrorists, against criminals. They are the people we are trying to protect people from. We are not protecting the government. We want to help. They have a very difficult job, they are there to protect us. So we want to help as much as possible, but we can not help them in a way that will help more criminals, terrorists, pirates.

He also underlined the U.S. government's recent poor record of keeping the public's information – and even that of its own employees – secure, arguing that "the only way we can protect ourselves is to make the phone more safe."

Cue is the second Apple executive this week to publicly comment on the case, following Craig Federighi's Monday op-ed in The Washington Post in which he criticized the FBI for wanting to turn back the clock to a less-secure time.

Apple has officially opposed an order that would require it to help the FBI break into the iPhone used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook and will now face off against the government in court on March 22.

Eddy Cue's full interview can be read on the Univision website.

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.

With the 2016 March Madness college basketball tournament set to begin on March 15, the NCAA has updated its March Madness app with new features for iOS, the fourth-generation Apple TV and Apple Watch.

The brand new Apple TV app comes with a significant feature for basketball fans: the ability to watch two games side-by-side in a split-screen interface. The feature, which is exclusive to Apple TV, also allows users to switch the audio from both the games, allowing basketball fans to hone in on exciting matches easier than before. Lisa Estrin, NCAA Digital's senior UX lead, told Variety that the Apple TV was the "perfect" platform for the feature.

"We believe Apple TV is the perfect platform to experiment with this and bring the two together in a shared environment," said Lisa Estrin, senior UX lead, NCAA Digital, at a Los Angeles showcase for Apple TV apps hosted by Apple earlier this week. "We look forward to more collaboration in the future."

The iOS version of the app received several new features, including AirPlay and Google Cast support. In addition to multitasking support, iPad users will also see a redesigned version of the app with an "immersive" new experience that features a new game timeline, up-to-the-minute stats and curated highlights from Twitter and Instagram. The March Madness app has also been made available for Apple Watch, allowing users to receive alerts for their favorite teams and quick access to scores and the tournament schedule.

All versions of the NCAA March Madness app require logging in with TV provider credentials to stream games.

NCAA March Madness for iOS is available in the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Update: Games broadcast on CBS cannot be live streamed through the March Madness app even after cable authentication.

Apps that add real-time filters to selfies and videos are growing in popularity, and today Facebook announced the acquisition of the team behind MSQRD, a much-downloaded live filter app available on iOS and Android devices.

First introduced in January of 2016, MSQRD applies live filters to photos and videos captured with the iPhone's front-facing camera. It includes face swapping capabilities, along with a range of filters and masks that include celebrities, animals, and effects like larger eyes or rabbit ears. Filters like these have been gaining popularity in recent months following their implementation in Snapchat last fall.

Apple has made an investment in similar technology, having purchased real-time motion capture firm Faceshift in 2015. Faceshift worked with game and animation studios on technology designed to quickly and accurately capture facial expressions using 3D sensors, which could be used to create real-time video avatars for video chat. It isn't clear what Apple will do with the technology, but it could potentially be incorporated into Photo Booth or FaceTime.

Though the technology has been acquired by Facebook, MSQRD will continue to be available on iOS devices as a standalone product. The app can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

French lawmakers yesterday backed a plan to impose penalties on companies like Apple that deny access to encrypted data during a terrorist investigation.

Under the proposals, a technology company with operations in France would be hit with a €350,000 ($386,000) fine and its executives could be jailed up to five years if it refused to comply with a request to aid investigators in accessing encrypted data. Additionally, every person who refuses to share information relating to an investigation could be sentenced to two years in jail and fined €15,000.

According to Bloomberg Business, the bill amendment that would give legal weight to the power was submitted by opposition party The Republicans, as part of an overhaul of legal procedures in the wake of last year's terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in Paris.

France's lower chamber of parliament cleared the bill on first reading by 474 votes to 32. It will be subsequently reviewed by the Senate once it clears the lower house in the coming months.

"The rule aims to force phone makers to give investigators data and it will be up to the manufacturer to use whatever technique is necessary," Republican lawmaker Philippe Goujon, who proposed the amendment, told Bloomberg. "The target is to have them cooperate. The aim is not to break the encryption – the principle is that manufacturers should cooperate."

Apple is currently fighting a U.S. court order compelling the company to help the FBI unlock the iPhone owned by deceased terror suspect Syed Farook, one of the shooters in the December 2015 attacks in San Bernardino, California. The FBI asked Apple to create a version of iOS that would both disable passcode security features and allow passcodes to be entered electronically, allowing it to then brute force the passcode on the device.

Apple has officially opposed the order, arguing that the FBI is seeking a "dangerous power" that would undermine the security and privacy interests of hundreds of millions of people. In addition, the company argues that the All Writs Act, which the FBI is using in the case, does not give the government a pass to "conscript and commandeer" the company and sets a precedent that could lead to more insidious demands in the future.

Apple's opposition to the order will face off against the government in court on March 22.

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.

Ulysses saw its first universal app for iOS hit the App Store today, bringing the popular distraction-free Mac writing software to the iPhone for the first time.

Ulysses Mobile for iPhone and iPad features cross-platform iCloud synchronization, Spotlight integration, iPad Pro optimizations, and support for 3D Touch, Split View and Slide Over on compatible devices.

Surprisingly, the 2.5 update also brings many of the text editor's desktop features to all iOS devices, including dark and light writing modes, text statistics, writing goals, tools for Markdown, footnotes, code, annotations, and sort/split/merge options for sheets and groups.

Both iPhone and iPad users can now add pictures, links or notes to their text, customize the color palette, and export from Ulysses' unified text library in a range of formats, including DOCX files, ebooks, PDF, and online publishing platform Medium.

Automatic scheduled backups have also made the port, while a sharing extension has been added allowing users to send content from third-party apps directly to the app.

Additionally, desktop and iOS users can now import text created with Word into their Ulysses library, so that text elements such as headings, emphases and footnotes remain intact.

The cross-platform update also brings under-the-hood improvements to the Mac app, enhancing speed, stability, and iCloud integration.

Ulysses Mobile is available on the App Store at an introductory price of $19.99 ($24.99 thereafter) and as a free upgrade for existing users. [Direct Link]

Ulysses for Mac is available on the Mac App Store priced at $44.99. [Direct Link]