MacRumors

Amazon is discontinuing its line of "Halo" health and fitness bands, Amazon announced today (via Bloomberg). The first Halo band was introduced in August 2020, and it was positioned as a low-cost competitor to the Apple Watch.

The Halo wristband had no watch face, instead offering a sensor wrist worn sensor module with an accelerometer, temperature sensor, heart rate monitor, two microphones, and an LED indicator light. It was used alongside an app that displayed the health data collected from the band.

Priced at $99, the band had no GPS, WiFi, cellular connectivity, or Alexa integration, and some features were locked behind an Amazon Prime subscription. Amazon included a 3D body scan feature and a feature for analyzing speech, both of which were criticized for their invasiveness. The scanning function asked users to change into minimal clothing to let their smartphone camera see their body, while the tone readings used the always-on microphones.

Amazon eventually expanded to the Halo View, Halo Band, Halo Rise, and accessories, all of which are being discontinued.

The Amazon Halo line will no longer be supported as of July 31, 2023, and Amazon is refunding all customer purchases and subscriptions that were made in the preceding 12 months. Amazon is informing customers about the upcoming discontinuation via email.

Halo customers will need to download any data that they want to keep from the app by August 1, 2023.

United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized more than 1,000 pairs of counterfeit AirPods Pro 2 devices from Washington Dulles International Airport back in March, the CBP announced yesterday.

Four shipments bound for Fairfax County, Virginia were inspected on March 15, and investigators found the 1,000 knockoff AirPods and 50 fake Apple Watches. The products were shipped from China, and counterfeiters would have made more than $290,000 selling the goods at Apple's suggested retail price had they been genuine.

The counterfeit Apple products were seized on March 29, but no one has been charged in the case.

"Unscrupulous manufacturers and vendors illegally profit on the sale of substandard counterfeit products at the expense and safety of American consumers," said Christine Waugh, CBP's Acting Area Port Director for the Area Port of Washington, D.C. "Customs and Border Protection urges consumers to protect their health and wallets by buying authentic consumer goods from reputable or authorized vendors."

The CBP says that during fiscal 2022, it seized close to 21,000 shipments containing counterfeit goods that violate the U.S. Intellectual Property Rights enforcement program.

Popular Apple accessory maker Belkin recently introduced the Connect 4-Port USB-C Hub, which is the company's first U.S. product made from post-consumer recycled plastics (PCR). Belkin in January announced plans to transition to more environmentally friendly material for its products, and the launch of the hub is part of that effort.

The Connect 4-Port USB-C Hub is made from 72 percent PCR in its product housing, a transition that was made without impacting the quality or the safety of the accessory. Made to be compact, the hub includes four USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports, and it supports pass-through charging of up to 100W. USB-C headphones and speakers are supported, and it works with Apple's Macs and iPads.

Belkin says that its new USB-C hub is the only hub on the market able to deliver a maximum of 10Gb/s, which is 2x faster than other available hubs. It's also using Fast Role Swap (FRS) in an effort to prevent data loss and interruption of device connections when adding or removing a power source from the hub.

Belkin's Connect 4-Port USB-C Hub is priced at $52 and it can be purchased from Amazon. Belkin also sells it directly for $45, but it is out of stock at the current time.

Apple today released the third beta of macOS Ventura 13.4 to its public beta testing group, allowing the general public to try out the software ahead of its official launch. The third macOS Ventura 13.4 public beta comes two weeks after Apple seeded the second public beta and a day after the beta was provided to developers.

Public beta testers can download the macOS 13.3 Ventura update from the Software Update section of the System Preferences app after installing the proper profile from Apple's beta software website.

The macOS Ventura 13.4 beta adds a new beta installation method where developers and public beta testers can opt-in to receive beta updates without the need for a profile to be installed. For developers, an Apple ID needs to be associated with a developer account to get access to a developer beta, while public beta testers need to sign up on Apple's public beta website with their ‌Apple ID‌ and then elect to receive beta updates using the System Settings app.

Work on macOS Ventura is winding down as Apple prepares to shift its focus to macOS 14, the as-of-yet-unnamed next-generation version of macOS that we expect to see introduced this June at WWDC.

Apple today seeded the third betas of upcoming iOS 16.5 and iPadOS 16.5 updates to public beta testers, allowing non-developers to test out the software head of its official launch. The third public betas come two weeks after the second public betas, and a day after Apple provided the betas to developers.

Those who have signed up their accounts for Apple's free beta testing program can enable the beta by opening up the Settings app, going to General, selecting Software Update, tapping on Beta Updates, and selecting the iOS 16 Public Beta option.

iOS 16.5 appears to be a relatively minor update, and few changes were found in the first developer beta. There is a new Sports tab located in the Apple News app, and Siri can now be asked to start a screen recording.

Development on iOS 16 is slowing down as Apple prepares for the upcoming June debut of iOS 17, the next-generation version of iOS.

While the latest rumors claim Apple dropped its plans for solid-state buttons on iPhone 15 Pro models, the upcoming devices are still expected to feature a customizable "Action" button in place of the traditional Ring/Silent switch.

According to 9to5Mac, Apple-certified accessory makers are currently working with CADs showing the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will feature two mechanical volume buttons, and an additional mechanical button that replaces the Ring/Silent switch. Like the "Action" button on the Apple Watch Ultra, users would be able to assign the new button to system functions like Ring/Silent, Do Not Disturb, or Flashlight.

Mechanical buttons move when pressed, while solid-state buttons would rely on Taptic Engines inside the iPhone to simulate the feeling of movement. Apple analyst Jeff Pu believes solid-state buttons have been postponed until the iPhone 16 Pro next year due to unspecified "design issues" encountered during iPhone 15 Pro development.

Apple has included a Ring/Silent switch on every iPhone since the original model in 2007, so the switch's removal would still be a fairly significant change this year. The standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models are still expected to have the switch, however, as the "Action" button is rumored for iPhone 15 Pro models only.

The new CADs also reveal that the rear camera bump on iPhone 15 Pro models will not protrude quite as much as the publication initially expected.

Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 15 lineup in September.

Astropad Studio, the app that is designed to turn the iPad into a drawing tablet for a Mac, is today gaining a major new networking feature that will cut down on latency.

Peer-to-peer networking will allow an ‌iPad‌ to connect directly to a Mac using a wireless connection, which Astropad says will cut latency in half by bypassing the router. No cable between the two devices will be necessary, so this is a function that improves the wireless connectivity between two devices.

Astropad Studio users can take advantage of peer-to-peer connectivity even when a WiFi connection is not available

According to Astropad, peer-to-peer functionality removes the uncertainties of WiFi for artists who rely on Astropad Studio, introducing smooth and low latency drawing. Peer-to-peer connectivity works with all Astropad Studio features, including Apple Pencil integration, touch gestures, shortcuts, and more. I

Peer-to-peer is limited to Mac users and it is not available for those who use Astropad Studio with a PC. It requires an iOS device with iOS 13 or later and a Mac running macOS 10.15 or later.

Peer-to-peer networking is a free update for all current Astropad Studio users. Astropad Studio is priced at $99.99 per year, with a 14-day free trial available for testing it out, but there is a 20 percent discount through May 19. More information on the feature can be found on Astropad's blog.

Microsoft today announced it is beginning to roll out iPhone support to the Phone Link app on Windows 11. In a blog post, the company said this functionality will be available to all Windows 11 users around the world by mid-May.

With the Phone Link app for Windows 11 and the Link to Windows app for iOS, iPhone users can make and receive phone calls, send and receive text messages, and view notifications directly on their PC. Notably, this means Windows 11 kind of supports iMessage, although there are several limitations, including a lack of support for group chats, photos, videos, and conversation history beyond the current chat session.

All messages appear as gray bubbles in the Phone Link app, meaning iMessages and SMS text messages cannot be differentiated on a PC. In addition, messages are only delivered to a PC while the iPhone is connected via Bluetooth. Microsoft says the iPhone must be running iOS 14 or later, and this feature is not available for the iPad or Mac.

All in all, this is a rather clunky workaround to Apple's lack of true iMessage support on Windows, but it's better than nothing for iPhone users with a PC. Microsoft had been testing iOS support for the Phone Link app in beta since February.

Apple's 2022 iPad is seeing multiple discounts today on Amazon, with savings across nearly every model of the tablet. Below you'll find record low prices across both Wi-Fi and cellular models of the 10.9-inch iPad, some of which require you to head to the checkout screen in order to see the markdowns.

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

Starting with the 64GB Wi-Fi iPad, you can get this tablet for $399.00, down from $449.00. It's available in three colors at this price, which is the best price we've ever tracked on the 2022 iPad. The Silver and Blue colors require you to head to checkout in order to see the discounted price.

The 256GB Wi-Fi iPad is on sale for $539.99, down from $599.00, and it's available in two colors: Blue and Silver. This is a new low price on this tablet, beating the previous record by about $10.

Moving to the cellular options, you'll find the 64GB cellular iPad on sale for $549.00, down from $599.00. Amazon has three colors of this iPad on sale at this best-ever price, and they're all in stock and ready to ship out today directly from the retailer.

Lastly, the 256GB cellular iPad is on sale for $699.00, down from $749.00. This one is only available in Yellow, and can be delivered as soon as April 28 for most places in the United States.

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

The U.K.'s antitrust regulator has announced it will block Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard over concerns the deal would be anticompetitive in the cloud gaming market.

In a press release announcing the block, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had prevented Microsoft's proposed purchase of Activision over concerns the deal would lead to "reduced innovation and less choice for U.K. gamers over the years to come."

The CMA carefully considered whether the benefit of having Activision's content available on Game Pass outweighed the harm that the merger would cause to competition in cloud gaming in the U.K. The CMA found that this new payment option, while beneficial to some customers, would not outweigh the overall harm to competition (and, ultimately, U.K. gamers) arising from this merger, particularly given the incentive for Microsoft to increase the cost of a Game Pass subscription post-merger to reflect the addition of Activision's valuable games.

Microsoft entered into a $68.7 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard, one of the most popular video games publishers in the world, in January 2022. The studio is the maker of hit games such as Call of Duty, Candy Crush, World of Warcraft, and more.

If the purchase for Microsoft had been allowed to go ahead it would have seen several of Activision's games move to Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft's gaming subscription service.

Microsoft already enjoys a powerful position and head start over other competitors in cloud gaming and this deal would strengthen that advantage giving it the ability to undermine new and innovative competitors," said Martin Coleman, chair of the independent panel of experts who conducted the investigation.

Microsoft engaged constructively with us to try to address these issues and we are grateful for that, but their proposals were not effective to remedy our concerns and would have replaced competition with ineffective regulation in a new and dynamic market.

Cloud gaming needs a free, competitive market to drive innovation and choice. That is best achieved by allowing the current competitive dynamics in cloud gaming to continue to do their job.

Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard was approved by regulators in several other countries including Brazil, Chile, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, and South Africa, but the company still needs the approval of the U.K.'s CMA and the European Union to complete the deal.

The EU Commission has until late May to announce its decision. Microsoft has already said that the company will appeal the CMA's decision. If it fails, Microsoft will owe Activision $3 billion in break-up fees.

Separately in the United States, Microsoft is facing additional regulatory blowback from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which sued to block Microsoft's Activision Blizzard purchase last year. The investigation is still ongoing.

Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass is available on the iPhone and iPad through Safari, but not the App Store. While Apple does allow all-in-one gaming subscription services to be on the platform, every game offered on the service must be submitted individually for approval through the ‌App Store‌ review process.

Apple's mixed-reality headset is now in the "final sprint" and "supply chain delivery stage," Taiwan's Economic Daily News reports.

GIS, a subsidiary of Foxconn, is apparently included in the device's supply chain to provide lens lamination. GIS already laminates iPad displays for Apple and boasts a high yield rate. Until now, Foxconn was thought to have been excluded from the headset's supply chain, with China's Luxshare serving as the sole assembler.

GIS is believed to be operating a dedicated production line for the headset's lens lamination at a plant in Chengdu, China. In line with other reports, the supplier's production line mobilization schedule indicates that Apple's mixed-reality headset will be unveiled at WWDC in June as expected, before launching sometime in the following months. GIS has publicly said that it will begin shipping metaverse-adjacent devices to customers in the second quarter of 2023, which runs from April to June.

GIS's involvement apparently lays the groundwork for Foxconn to participate more widely in the second-generation Apple headset's supply chain. In February, it was reported that Foxconn is hoping to supply the cheaper model in Apple's second-generation headset lineup.

Smart lighting company WiZ has rolled out Matter support to its smart bulbs, lamps, and plugs, making them compatible with Apple Home for the first time (via HomeKitNews).

The new app, WiZ v2, brings support to accessories that were manufactured in early 2021 or later, and lets users migrate products to the new smart home standard, after which they can be added to any Matter-compatible platform, including Apple Home.

Existing WiZ product owners need to make sure they have the latest version of the WiZ app from the App Store and that their product firmware is up to date. In the app, go to Settings -> Integrations -> Matter, and then follow the steps to get new Matter codes for individual devices.

WiZ products that are updated to support Matter will also work with Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Samsung SmartThings over a Wi-Fi network, rather than relying on a cloud connection, as was previously the case.

Up until now, the only way to get WiZ lights to work with HomeKit devices was by using Siri Shortcuts or non-officially using a workaround like HomeBridge. WiZ is owned by Signify, which also owns Philips Hue, but the latter, more expensive brand has had its Matter compatibility update delayed.

Matter is an internet of things standard that is designed to improve interoperability of smart devices between brands, so ‌‌HomeKit‌‌ devices can work with other smart home devices from Google, Amazon, and others. Matter works over Wi-Fi and Thread, with Wi-Fi allowing smart home devices to communicate with the cloud and Thread offering an energy efficient and reliable mesh network in the home.

Update: HomeKitNews says the update appears to only be for North American users so far, but we've yet to see confirmation whether this is the case.

For the last several years, Apple has debuted a new pride Apple Watch face and band during WWDC, and while the company has not yet announced a new design for this year, we already know what it's going to look like.

As shown in the above image, Apple's 2023 Pride watch face and band will stick with a rainbow of colors, but dispersed in confetti-like pill shapes that are vaguely reminiscent of the iPhone 14 Pro's Dynamic Island. As with previous Pride styles, it's likely the watch face will animate when interacted with.

The images were discovered on Apple's servers by @aaronp613 and @nicolas09F9, before being swiftly pulled, suggesting Apple unintentionally made them accessible on its back end.

Apple participates in the San Francisco Pride Parade every year in support of the LGBTQ community. Apple employees march in the parade, Apple creates dedicated t-shirts, and also hosts other celebrations throughout the month of June.

Apple announced its last Pride band designs in May 2022, with new Pride Edition Sport Loop and Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop options available.

Apple intends to bring iPhone-style Lock Screen customizations to iPads with the launch of iPadOS 17, claims a leaker who has shared accurate details in the past.

According to the Twitter account holder @analyst941, Apple will not only bring over to iPad models the custom Lock Screen options it introduced to iPhones in iOS 16, but it also plans to include additional updates being added in iOS 17.

Currently, iPad users running iPadOS 16 lack access to any of the Lock Screen customization tools iPhone users enjoy, leaving much of the screen unused. But if the latest rumor is accurate, iPadOS 17 will feature the following options for iPads:

• Lock Screen widgets
• Wallpaper types such as Photo Shuffle, Emoji, and Weather
• Photo tints and styles
• Wallpaper depth effect
• Clock style customization
• Lock Screens linked to Focus Modes
• Wallpapers gallery

On Tuesday, a separate rumor claimed that iOS 17 will bring new Lock Screen font size options to iPhones, as well as a button to share custom Lock Screen designs with other iPhone users. Leaker @analyst941 claims iPadOS 17 will also share "tuned up" Lock Screen customizations new to iOS 17, which could be a reference to the same tweaks.

The anonymous source behind this rumor leaked accurate information about the iPhone 14 Pro's Dynamic Island on the MacRumors Forums before the device was announced last year. The same tipster leaked alleged details about new solid-state buttons coming on the iPhone 15 Pro models, but they have since withdrawn the claim and now agree with other sources that the new buttons have been pushed back to next year's Pro models.

In addition, @analyst941 earlier this month claimed several other new features could be coming to the iPhone with iOS 17, including improvements to Search, the Dynamic Island, Control Center, and more. However, they do not have a long-term track record with rumors yet, so there is no guarantee the latest information they shared will prove to be accurate.

• iOS 16 Lock Screen Guide: Widgets, Customization Options and More

Apple is expected to preview iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 during the WWDC 2023 keynote on June 5. For more on what to expect in the new software, click the iOS 17 tag below.

Apple's rumored Beats Studio Buds+ appear to have been listed on Amazon today, providing a closer look at new features and changes before they are officially announced. The earbuds are listed with a May 18 release date and a $169.95 price.

Notably, the listing reveals that the Studio Buds+ will be available in a new transparent design option that looks fairly similar to the Nothing Ear (2) earbuds. The earbuds will also be available in Black and Ivory, according to the listing. The overall design of the Studio Buds+ looks largely the same as the original Studio Buds released in 2021.

Beats Studio Buds+ remain a sportier alternative to the AirPods Pro, and have a more compact design without "stems" that drop below the ears.

With 3x larger microphones and air vent changes, the Studio Buds+ will feature up to 1.6× as much active noise cancellation and up to 2× improved Transparency mode as the original Studio Buds, according to the listing. They also provide longer battery life, with the Studio Buds+ advertised as offering up to 36 hours of listening time with the included USB-C charging case, compared to 24 hours for the original Studio Buds.

Studio Buds+ have IPX4-rated water resistance and will be available with XS, S, M, and L ear tip size options to fit a wider range of ears. The earbuds are compatible with both Apple and Android devices and offer features such as one-touch pairing, automatic switching between devices, Hey Siri support, and Find My support.

Beats Studio Buds+ were first discovered in iOS 16.4 code last month, and the earbuds also surfaced in FCC filings last week. It's unclear when Apple plans to announce the earbuds, but it appears they will launch next month.

Update: Amazon has removed the listing for now.

(Thanks, Michael Burkhardt!)

There have long been complaints from developers and App Store users about apps that offer limited functionality and charge high prices in an effort to scam people out of their money, and the latest trend is a glut of ChatGPT apps that have invaded the ‌App Store‌.

Privacy 1st researcher Alex Kleber over the weekend did a deep dive into the Mac App Store after noticing an alarming number of ChatGPT apps from the same handful of developers, and he shared his findings on Medium. As Kleber explains, dozens of copycat OpenAI/ChatGPT apps have popped up on the ‌Mac App Store‌, with "shady" developers "flooding" the ‌Mac App Store‌ with apps that are nearly identical to confuse consumers and shut out other developers.

Searching for OpenAI or ChatGPT on the ‌Mac App Store‌ brings up a long list of apps that are offer much of the same functionality, and as Kleber discovered, there are some developers who are gaming the ‌Mac App Store‌ with keywords, misleading marketing tactics, fake reviews, stolen OpenAI logos, and multiples of the same app.

It's not uncommon to come across several apps with identical or similar names and logos copies of OpenAI icons and colors, claiming to offer advanced AI-powered chatbots or language models. However, most of these apps are nothing but cheap imitations or outright scams that fail to deliver on their promises. These scams not only deceive users but also tarnish the reputation of legitimate developers and hinder the growth of the app ecosystem on the MacOS platform.

Two of the app developers, Pixelsbay and ParallelWorld, for example, share the same parent company in Pakistan and the apps have 99 percent of the same code. They have the same interface and the same paywall, and there is no way to exit out of the paywall popup, something that can be confusing for app users not accustomed to exiting out of an app and restarting it.

All of these ChatGPT apps are charging comparatively high prices by taking advantage of the popularity of chatbots, garnering the developers of the apps a good amount of money.

On the web, ChatGPT is free to use. OpenAI offers a "Plus" program with faster response speeds and priority access to new features for $20 a month. Microsoft's Bing chatbot, based on OpenAI, is free to use, and Google Bard, Google's version of a chatbot, is also free. Most if not all of the sketchily-named and relatively new "ChatGPT" apps in the iOS and macOS App Stores are scammy apps that you should not pay for, and many of them don't even offer the functionality that they promise. Most of these apps have weekly subscription fees, which is a red flag.

There are some exceptions because legitimate apps have integrated ChatGPT features, but most apps built around ChatGPT are taking advantage of ‌App Store‌ users that don't know better.

Kleber is calling on Apple to take a stricter stance against scam apps like these to prevent users from losing money to unscrupulous developers. His full Medium post has a more in-depth look at which apps to look out for and the lengths the developers are going to in order to trick ‌Mac App Store‌ users.

Apple supplier TSMC is "straining" to produce enough of its newest 3-nanometer chips to meet demand for Apple's upcoming devices, according to a report from EE Times. Analysts believe TSMC is having issues with tools and yield, impacting the ramp up to volume production of the new chip technology.

TSMC is manufacturing the 3nm A17 chips that are expected to be used in the iPhone 15 Pro models, plus it is working on Mac-series "M3" chips that are also expected to be built on the ‌3nm‌ process. Arete Research analyst Brett Simpson told EE Times that he estimates TSMC's yields for A17 and M3 processors are at approximately 55 percent, which is appropriate for the stage of development TSMC is at. "TSMC looks on schedule to boost yields by around 5+ points each quarter," he said.

Last week, TSMC CEO C.C. Wei said that while the company has reached "high-volume production with good yield," demand from customers exceeds its ability to supply. During the second half of the year, TSMC will ramp up production of A17 and M3 chips for Apple, while also working on chips for Intel, AMD, and Nvidia.

TSMC's 3-nanometer chip technology is cutting edge, and it is the only company aside from Samsung that is able to manufacture chips on a ‌3nm‌ process. Compared to the current 4nm process used for Apple's iPhone 14 Pro chips, the ‌3nm‌ process brings both speed and efficiency improvements.

Once ‌3nm‌ production is well established, TSMC will move on to 2nm. TSMC is expected to start production on the 2nm node in 2025.

When MacRumors videographer Dan Barbera shares his apps and desktops during videos, he often gets questions about what he's using. Recently, he had an app that adds widgets to the Mac desktop that viewers were curious about, so he thought he'd do a dedicated video on what it is, how it works, and how to use it.

To get widgets on his Mac, Dan is using an app called WidgetWall, which is priced at $9.99 per year (or through Setapp if you use that). WidgetWall works as soon as you download it, putting popular widgets on your desktop, but you can customize what's available, the color, the size, the location, and more.

Available widgets include clock, weather, calendar, calculator, and music, along with a widget for bringing up ChatGPT. You can even add a row of apps that you access often, show off your photos, see your Mac's performance at a glance, and use a sticky note widget.

Make sure to watch the video to see the widget in action, and let us know what you think in the comments below.