MacRumors

Apple has added an XcodeGhost question and answer page to its Chinese website today that explains what the malware is, how some users may be affected and next steps the company is taking to ensure that developers and end users alike are protected against malicious software going forward.

Apple claims that it has no evidence to suggest that XcodeGhost has been used for anything malicious, such as the transmission of personally identifiable information, stipulating that the code is only able to deliver some general information about apps and system information.

Nevertheless, Apple says it is working closely with developers and will soon list the top 25 most popular apps impacted by XcodeGhost on its Chinese website. The company will also be alerting users to let them know if they have downloaded apps that could have been compromised. Many affected apps have since been updated and are no longer infected by XcodeGhost.

Relevant portions of the Apple FAQ for users:

How does this affect me? How do I know if my device has been compromised?
We have no information to suggest that the malware has been used to do anything malicious or that this exploit would have delivered any personally identifiable information had it been used.

We’re not aware of personally identifiable customer data being impacted and the code also did not have the ability to request customer credentials to gain iCloud and other service passwords.

As soon as we recognized these apps were using potentially malicious code we took them down. Developers are quickly updating their apps for users.

Malicious code could only have been able to deliver some general information such as the apps and general system information.

Is it safe for me to download apps from App Store?
We have removed the apps from the App Store that we know have been created with this counterfeit software and are blocking submissions of new apps that contain this malware from entering the App Store.

We’re working closely with developers to get impacted apps back on the App Store as quickly as possible for customers to enjoy.

A list of the top 25 most popular apps impacted will be listed soon so users can easily verify if they have downloaded the latest versions of these apps. After the top 25 impacted apps, the number of impacted users drops significantly.

Customers will be receiving more information letting them know if they’ve downloaded an app/apps that could have been compromised. Once a developer updates their app, that will fix the issue on the user’s device once they apply that update.

We’re working to make it faster for developers in China to download Xcode betas. To verify that their version of Xcode has not been altered, they can take the following steps posted at

iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users should also read our XcodeGhost FAQ to learn more about the malware and how to keep yourself protected.

Apple also outlined steps for developers to validate Xcode using Terminal on OS X.

Following last week's disclosure of new iOS malware called XcodeGhost, which arose from malicious versions of Xcode hosted on third-party servers, Apple has outlined instructions for developers to ensure the version of Xcode they are using is valid.

When downloading Xcode from the Mac App Store, or Apple's website so long as Gatekeeper is enabled, OS X automatically checks the app's code signature and validates it against Apple's code. If you must obtain Xcode elsewhere, follow these steps:

To verify the identity of your copy of Xcode run the following command in Terminal on a system with Gatekeeper enabled:
spctl --assess --verbose /Applications/Xcode.app

where /Applications/ is the directory where Xcode is installed. This tool performs the same checks that Gatekeeper uses to validate the code signatures of applications. The tool can take up to several minutes to complete the assessment for Xcode.

The tool should return the following result for a version of Xcode downloaded from the Mac App Store:
/Applications/Xcode.app: accepted
source=Mac App Store

and for a version downloaded from the Apple Developer web site, the result should read either
/Applications/Xcode.app: accepted
source=Apple

or

/Applications/Xcode.app: accepted
source=Apple System

Any result other than ‘accepted’ or any source other than ‘Mac App Store’, ‘Apple System’ or ‘Apple’ indicates that the application signature is not valid for Xcode. You should download a clean copy of Xcode and recompile your apps before submitting them for review.

Apple issued a statement in response to XcodeGhost over the weekend, noting that it has removed all infected apps it is aware of from the App Store and is working with developers to ensure they are using a legitimate version of Xcode.

"We’ve removed the apps from the App Store that we know have been created with this counterfeit software. We are working with the developers to make sure they’re using the proper version of Xcode to rebuild their apps."

XcodeGhost affected dozens, and possibly hundreds, of App Store apps. iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users should read what you need to know about XcodeGhost to learn more about the malware and how to keep yourself protected.

With the launch of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus a few days away, the first reviews for the new devices have begun appearing online today. Many reviewers touted Apple's inclusion of the new 3D Touch technology and the overall performance enhancements that were brought in thanks to the A9 processor. One of the biggest points of attention given in a number of the reviews, however, was the 12-megapixel camera, which has the ability to capture Live Photos and shoot 4K video.

In one of its two in-depth reviews on the iPhone 6s, The Verge simply called the new smartphone's camera, "the best camera most people will ever own." Still, the site thought that the overall camera improvement from the iPhone 6's 8-megapixel offering was a "mild" update in the grand sense, given that most customers probably won't be able to tell the difference between the two unless they were side-by-side. Not to mention that most people will be using the camera on its simplest terms for social media.

Pocket-lint noted the front-facing camera's 5-megapixel upgrade also has some improvements that are worth mentioning. The site described the new flash feature -- which turns the entire iPhone screen into a camera flash -- works quite well and provides impressively dynamic color palette to match the lighting situation, from "bright clean whites to creamy tones."

Pointing out that the iPhone 6s rear camera upgrade is the first resolution improvement made to an iPhone since the iPhone 4 in 2011, The Telegraph called the new 12MP camera "a necessity." Impressed with the better and more accurate autofocus and bump in pixel density, the site found photos taken with the camera to have "greater depth of field, richer, more accurate colour and greater detail."

Aside from today's reviews, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus have also been used in a few high-profile photo shoots in recent days, including the above photos from TIME, a set from Sports Illustrated shot at recent San Francisco Giants games, and even a few pictures from New York Fashion Week taken by Vogue. Video footage taken with the 4K-enabled iPhone 6s rear camera is also appearing online, with popular YouTuber Casey Neistat trying out the high-quality format for his latest vlog.

iFixit has posted a hardware teardown of the new fourth-generation Apple TV, providing a closer look at the set-top box's A8 chip, flash storage, redesigned power supply with a larger heat sink and other logic board components. The website also provided a teardown of the accompanying Siri Remote.

Under the hood, the new Apple TV features a dual-core, 64-bit Apple A8 chip with 2GB of SK Hynix LPDDR3 SDRAM, custom Apple memory controller, SK Hynix NAND flash storage, Universal Scientific Industrial Wi-Fi module and SMSC USB 2.0 to 10/100 Ethernet controller.

Apple TV 4 Components List

Apple A8 APL1011 SoC

SK Hynix H9CKNNNBKTBRWR-NTH 2 GB LPDDR3 SDRAM

Universal Scientific Industrial 339S00045 Wi-Fi module

SMSC LAN9730 USB 2.0 to 10/100 Ethernet controller

Apple 338S00057 custom memory controller

Texas Instruments PA61

Fairchild Semiconductor DF25AU 010D 030D

DP2700A1

SK Hynix H2JTEG8VD1BMR 32 GB NAND Flash

NXP 1112 0206 5271B4K

V301 F 57K C6XF G4

The new Apple TV also has a larger heat sink, which is likely a contributing factor to the set-top box's taller form factor. The redesigned power supply is rated at 12V at 0.917A, compared to the third-generation Apple TV's rating of 3.4V at 1.75A. The heat sink is situated above the heat-sensitive logic board.

The teardown of the Siri Remote reveals a ST Microelectronics low-power ARM Cortex-M3 MCU, Qualcomm CSR1010 Bluetooth radio, Texas Instruments low-power digital signal processor, the same Broadcom touch screen controller used in the iPhone 5s/5c and iPad Air, 410 mAh battery and a few other chips.

iFixit gave the new Apple TV a strong repairability score of 8 out of 10, with ten being the easiest to repair, because it has only a few major components, a replaceable power supply and standard Torx screws. It also found the Siri Remote has a wide gap, making it easy to pry apart for repairs.

Related Roundup: Apple TV

Tags: iFixit, Siri Remote, Teardown

Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Related Forum: Apple TV and Home Theater

Microsoft has announced that Office 2016 for Mac is now available as a one-time $149.99 purchase without an Office 365 subscription. Office Home & Student 2016 includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote for home use on one Mac. Office 2016 for Mac requires OS X 10.10 or later.

The standalone version of Office 2016 for Mac features offline storage and 15GB of OneDrive cloud storage, but lacks Outlook, Publisher, Access, tablet and phone support, 60 minutes of Skype calling, instant updates and technical support included with the Office 365 version.

Office Home & Business 2016 for Mac is also available for $229.99 and includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook on one Mac. Comparatively, subscription-based Office 365 Personal and Office 365 Home cost $69.99 per year and $99.99 per year respectively.

Office Home & Business 2016 for Windows is also now available through Office 365 for between $69.99 and $99.99 per year, or as a one-time $229.99 purchase. Office Professional 2016 for Windows is also available with Publisher and Access for $399.99. Windows 7 or later is required.

With the launch of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus just three days away on September 25, the first round of reviews for the new smartphones have begun showing up online. Most sites have been able to experience the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus for about a week, and have largely come away with positive impressions of the devices that bring in some notable improvements to the line, in spite of its "S" generation designation.

The Verge was one of the most positive on their review unit of the iPhone 6s, noting that if it's Apple's job to create a reason for customers to upgrade to a new iPhone each year, they've "done it again" with the new iPhone. Although they note the premium pricing and odd storage tiers, the site believes that 3D Touch will become as necessary as pinching and zooming, and adds to an experience that overall feels like "the best version ever of the best smartphone on the market."

This is one of those potentially huge user behaviors — like swiping, or pinching and zooming — that seem odd or minor at first, but which Apple historically is able to make deeply important and useful. And it’s not just a software tweak. It involved serious re-engineering of the display. It’s the kind of thing that’s Apple’s specialty: the company manages to do new things better, apply them broadly, and make them seem natural, because it has control over both the software and hardware platforms on which its products rest. No other big player does.

The iPhone 6S is the best smartphone out there, period.

Mashable got its hands on an iPhone 6s Plus and noted that its specs and new 7000 series aluminum have crafted a "performance beast" of a smartphone. They also were fans of the improved 12 megapixel camera, saying the 6s Plus easily "wins the battle in full-light images" when compared to last year's iPhone 6 Plus and the Galaxy S6 Edge+. In the end, the site noted that the biggest feature additions include 4K video and 3D Touch, and that just may not be enough of a justification for some users.

Is it a must-have upgrade? No, unless you must have gorgeous 4K video and can't live without the innovative 3D Touch. By sheer volume, iOS 9 probably adds more feature enhancements than the iPhone 6S Plus, and you can get it for free.

This doesn't diminish Apple's accomplishment. Take me, for instance: Now that I’ve had a taste of 4K and Peek and Pop, I don’t know if I can go back.

TechCrunch fell in line with most other opinions as well, calling the camera "truly great" and noting the snappiness of the A9 processor in attempting to zoom in on 4K video footage or generally navigating the device. Another fan of 3D Touch, the site also noted that the comparison of the feature to right-clicking on a desktop computer is perhaps shortsighted, stating that right-clicking is for introducing more actions and complexities and 3D Touch is essentially the opposite. TechCrunch also noted the lightning-fast upgrade that Touch ID has received.

Apple says its new Touch ID sensor is twice the speed of the one in the iPhone 6/6 Plus. I’m sure someone will try to measure it, but I think this one metric is enough: the new fingerprint sensor is so fast that you can no longer tap the home button to wake your screen, because it will unlock instantly.

I pull my iPhone out of my pocket with my finger on the home button to tap it and check my notifications. That behavior is out the window now, because by the time it’s out of my pocket, it’s unlocked. It’s incredibly quick. So quick that I think some people will have issues adjusting. Eventually I had to switch to tapping the power button to wake it so I wouldn’t miss my notifications.

Soon everyone will be able to experience the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus for themselves, as we get closer and closer to the September 25 launch date. Recently, in fact, one lucky woman got her iPhone 6s order in ahead of time and began posting benchmark scores and photos of the device online. Those customers with tracking numbers already distributed for their order can also begin to see exactly which flight is carrying their brand-new iPhone thanks to FlightAware.

Other Reviews: The Verge's Nilay Patel, The Wall Street Journal, Pocket-lint, Bloomberg, and The Telegraph.

Visual designer Adrienne Alpern from San Diego, California is one of the first customers to receive the brand new iPhone 6s, nearly five whole days before the latest smartphone launches in the U.S. and eleven other countries.

Adrienne shared photos of the new iPhone 6s on her Twitter account on Monday afternoon, noting that her pre-order from AT&T arrived much earlier than expected. The all-new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus officially launch September 25.

Apple each year requests that couriers like UPS and FedEx hold new iPhone deliveries until the same day the smartphones become available in stores, but a few lucky customers often receive their devices ahead of time due to logistical error.

Adrienne also shared Geekbench 3 screenshots that show the iPhone 6s has a single-core score of 2292 and a multi-core score of 4293. The iPhone 6s is also benchmarked against several other iPhone and iPad models.

Additionally, she shared a short 4K video shot with the iPhone 6s.
iPhone pre-orders in the U.S. can be tracked with FlightAware and UPS.

Update: We've received full resolution images from Adrienne taken with the iPhone 6s.

- Image 1
- Image 2
- Image 3
- Image 4

Apple began shipping iPhone 6s and 6s Plus pre-orders on Saturday and now FlightAware, a site that offers live flight tracking, has once again begun offering a tool that allows users to track the flights carrying their iPhones after they receive their tracking number. FlightAware also offered the tool last year.

FlightAware says that users who have their UPS tracking number can use their tool to match their "departure scan" with one of the departure times listed in their tool to determine which flight their iPhone is on. The tool will be updated as FlightAware learns more about Apple's shipping strategy for the new phones.

Currently, many flights are on their way to Louisville, Kentucky's Worldport, which is UPS' worldwide air hub. Additional flights are on the way to Ontario, California.

Those who have not received their UPS tracking numbers can track their packages by reference on UPS' website. To do so, users have to fill out the "track by reference" form and input the phone number listed on their Apple account, the zip code its shipping to and country. This tactic may only work with pre-orders made through Apple.

The first iPhone 6s and 6s Plus shipments are expected to arrive Friday, September 25. However, sometimes lucky customers receive their phones early due to shipping errors. Apple has ended launch-day pre-orders and in-store reservations for the two new phones and will not offer walk-in sales for them at Apple Stores in Delaware, Hawaii, Alaska, New Hampshire, Oregon, China, Hong Kong and Japan.

MacRumors readers may also want to join in on the dedicated pre-order threads on the forums, where users are sharing tracking information and socializing while waiting for their new iPhones.

While Apple has ended launch-day pre-orders and in-store reservations for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, the company is suggesting that those customers still intent on purchasing one on launch day visit an Apple retail store Friday for a chance at scoring some of the remaining launch-day stock at those locations. But for customers in four U.S. states, China, Japan, and Hong Kong, these walk-in sales are not an option, notes The Oregonian.

The disclosure was made in a footnote on Apple's press release this morning making a final announcement about Friday's launch plans and reporting record adoption of iOS 9: "iPhone is available by reservation only in China, Hong Kong, Japan and US stores in tax-free states."

The four U.S. states with Apple retail stores that are affected by this policy include Oregon, Delaware, New Hampshire, and Alaska. Montana is the fifth U.S. state without a statewide sales tax, but Apple does not have any retail stores located in the state.

The reason behind the ban on walk-in sales in these states is likely their attractiveness to scalpers.

Because Apple limits the number of unlocked phones, the brokers – sometimes called "sharks" – recruit homeless people and the elderly to wait in line and buy phones on their behalf. The phenomenon lasted for months outside Apple's downtown Portland Apple Store after last year's September launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

While sharks patrol Apple stores all over the country, they are especially visible in Portland. That may be because Oregon doesn't have a sales tax, so sharks operating here can add several percentage points to their profits by getting their phones.

Hong Kong has long been a popular location for iPhone scalpers to operate as they attempt to move gray-market phones into China, but with China having taken on increased importance for Apple and in fact being included in the first wave of iPhone 6s launches, both countries are likely in Apple's crosshairs this time around as it hopes to limit those snapping up limited supplies of the new devices to resell for significant profits.

Apple today seeded the first beta of OS X 10.11.1 El Capitan to public beta testers, just days after first releasing the beta to developers and roughly a week and a half before OS X El Capitan will be released to the public on September 30.

The new beta is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.

The first beta of OS X 10.11.1 introduced support for Unicode 8 and new emoji like taco, burrito, cheese wedge, hot dog, middle finger, and unicorn head. The emoji are also included in iOS 9.1, which is also in testing.

Beyond new emoji, there have been no other outward-facing changes discovered, suggesting OS X 10.11.1 is a minor update that will bring bug fixes and performance enhancements. According to Apple's release notes, the beta offers stability, compatibility, and security improvements.

Apple is speeding up development on its electric car project, reports The Wall Street Journal, giving it a "committed project" label and targeting 2019 as a prospective shipping date. To facilitate a faster launch, Apple will be greatly expanding the number of people working on the car.

The go-ahead came after the company spent more than a year investigating the feasibility of an Apple-branded car, including meetings with two groups of government officials in California. Leaders of the project, code-named Titan , have been given permission to triple the 600-person team, the people familiar with the matter said.

Apple has already been aggressively hiring for its car project, poaching employees from companies like Ford, General Motors, Tesla, Volkswagen, and more. Many of its recent hires have expertise in connected and autonomous vehicle systems.

Though there have been indications suggesting Apple is exploring autonomous vehicles as part of its car project, The Wall Street Journal's sources say the first car Apple releases will not be driverless, with that functionality perhaps coming at a later date.

There have been also other signs pointing towards expanded work on the car project. In May, Apple began looking into secure facilities in the Bay Area where a prototype could be tested, reportedly meeting up with officials at GoMentum Station, a secure test facility for connected and autonomous vehicles. Apple also met with DMV officials in August to discuss California's autonomous vehicle regulations.

It remains unclear if Apple will develop its "Apple Car" from the ground up or if it will team up with an existing auto manufacturer. Rumors have suggested Apple has held discussions with BMW over a potential partnership that would see the BMW i3 used as the basis for the Apple Car, but those talks have reportedly not progressed into a deal.

The Wall Street Journal warns that Apple's 2019 target date might not be the date in which Apple will actually ship the car, instead suggesting it could point towards the date that engineers confirm the main features of the product. It's also possible that given the scope of the project there could be delays, with "people familiar with the project" expressing skepticism that 2019 is a reasonable target date.

In an interview with Stephen Colbert last week, Tim Cook was asked about the car project, but he unsurprisingly avoided the question with a vague statement. "We look at a number of things along the way, and we decide to really put our energies on a few of those," he said.

With four days to go until the launch of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, Apple is no longer offering launch-day delivery of any iPhone 6s or 6s Plus models ordered online and is no longer allowing customers to make reservations for in-store purchases, including through Apple's new iPhone Upgrade Program, on Friday.

While shipping estimates for iPhones 6s Plus models in particular quickly slipped to 2-3 weeks or longer following the start of pre-orders on September 12, many iPhone 6s models remained available for launch day delivery until today.

Customers looking to place online pre-orders for iPhone 6s models that had until recently remained available for launch day are now being quoted 1-2 week shipping with delivery in the range of September 29 through October 6 or later.

Apple's in-store reservation system has been shut down entirely for the remainder of this week and will reopen at 8:00 AM on Saturday, September 26 to allow customers to reserve from each store's daily shipments of iPhones. Apple does still invite customers without reservations on Friday to attempt to purchase an iPhone, but unreserved supplies will likely be tight and lines long.

Apple today released watchOS 2 to the public, making the first major update to the watchOS software available to all Apple Watch owners. The update requires iOS 9 and can be downloaded over-the-air through the Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software Update.

watchOS 2 was originally scheduled to launch on Wednesday, September 16 alongside iOS 9, but Apple delayed the launch in order to address a major bug that was found shortly before the software was set to debut.

As the first significant update to watchOS, watchOS 2 introduces a lot of new features to the Apple Watch, mainly through new developer tools. watchOS 2 brings native apps that run on the watch itself instead of the iPhone, and it lets developers access several sensors and hardware features including the Taptic Engine, heart rate monitor, microphone, and accelerometer.

Along with these features for developers, which will lead to more complex and full-featured third-party apps that run much more smoothly, watchOS 2 also includes new watch faces (photo album and time-lapse), third-party Complications, a tweak that makes the screen stay on for up to 70 seconds when activated, and Activation Lock.

There's also a new Time Travel feature for viewing past and upcoming events in a watch face Complication, and a Nightstand mode that's activated when the watch is charging, displaying the time.

More details on what's new in watchOS 2 can be found in our dedicated watchOS 2 roundup, which includes all of the features the update brings, big and small. Discussion on new features in watchOS 2 is also taking place in our dedicated Apple Watch forum, and we encourage all of our readers to join in with new discoveries and questions about the update.

Apple's iPhone 6s Plus includes a 2750 mAh battery, according to images shared by Taiwanese site AppleClub [Google Translate]. That means the battery in the iPhone 6s Plus is smaller than the 2915 mAh battery found in the existing iPhone 6 Plus.

We've already learned the iPhone 6s has a smaller 1715 mAh battery because it was spotted in a video Apple created to highlight 3D Touch, but there's been no visual confirmation on the iPhone 6s Plus battery until now.

Ahead of the debut of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, rumors suggested both devices would have smaller batteries, which turned out to be accurate. It appears Apple may have adopted smaller batteries in the new iPhones in order to make room for new internal parts like a dedicated Taptic Engine that enables haptic feedback whenever 3D Touch is used.

Though the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus have smaller batteries, overall battery life has not been impacted due to optimizations in the A9 processor in the devices and software improvements. Both devices continue to offer the same battery life as the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus.

Apple's iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will launch this Friday, September 25. Pre-order customers will begin receiving their devices at that time, and Apple retail stores in first wave launch countries will begin selling the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus at that time.