MacRumors

UK-based tech company Nothing plans to launch a smartphone in the US to directly compete with Apple's iPhone, according to a new report out today.

In an interview with CNBC, Nothing CEO Carl Pei said the startup is in "early conversations" with American cellular carriers about launching a new phone in the US, but he stopped short of naming any of the carriers or the phone model.

Nothing in July launched its Phone 1 smartphone in over 40 markets, including the UK, Japan, India, and countries in mainland Europe. At the time, the company said it had no plans for a widespread release of the Phone 1 in the US.

"The reason why we didn't launch in the US is because you need a lot of additional technical support, to support all the carriers and their unique customizations that they need to make on top of Android," Pei explained in an interview with CNBC. "We felt that we weren't ready before."

"Now we are in discussions with some carriers in the US to potentially launch a future product there," said the Chinese-Swedish entrepreneur.

Pei also acknowledged that it won't be easy for his company to compete with Apple on its own turf. "There's a challenge with Android where iOS is just becoming more and more dominant. They have very strong lock-in with iMessage, with AirDrop, especially among Gen Z. So that's a rising concern for me," he said.

"There might be a time where Apple is like 80% of the overall market and that just does not leave enough space for Android-based manufacturers to keep playing," Pei added.

Nothing has sold over 1 million products to date globally, with its Ear (1) earbuds selling 600,000 units and the Phone (1) reaching 500,000 shipments.

The company expects its revenues to jump more than tenfold in 2022 — from about $20 million in 2021 to an estimated $250 million this year, according to figures shared with CNBC. However, the firm is still losing money, which Pei says is partly due to the foreign currency exchange.

"We pay a lot of our COGS [cost of goods sold] in USD but we make money in pounds, in euros, in Indian rupees — so everything devalued against the USD," said Pei. "The goal is to be profitable in 2024."

Update 12/5: "Phone (2) isn't launching anytime soon," Pei said in a tweet, shortly after this article was published. "We're focused on doing a few things well, and won't churn out dozens of products a year like many others." Pei's comments suggest that if the "future product" planned for the US market is the Nothing Phone 2, it won't arrive for a while yet.

In addition to a deal on AirPods Pro 2, today we're also seeing Black Friday prices return for both the 2022 iPad and iPad Air. You'll find all of these sales on Amazon and a few are matched at Best Buy.

iPad (2022)

Starting with Apple's new 10.9-inch iPad, you can get the 64GB Wi-Fi model for $399.00 in all four colors, down from $449.00. This was a sale that became super rare over Black Friday and only B&H Photo had it for a short time.

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

Every other model of the 2022 iPad is on sale at $50 off as well. You can get the 256GB Wi-Fi iPad for $549.00, the 64GB Cellular iPad is on sale for $549.00, and the 256GB Cellular is on sale for $699.00. Nearly every model has all colors at a discount.

iPad Air (2022)

Moving to the new iPad Air, the 64GB Wi-Fi model has hit $499.99, down from $599.00. This one is available in all five colors except Pink, and it's an all-time low price that's even beating the low prices we saw on Black Friday.

Similar to the iPad, the 2022 iPad Air is also seeing massive discounts across many of its different configurations, all at $99 off. The 256GB Wi-Fi iPad Air is on sale for $649.99 and the 64GB Cellular iPad Air is on sale for $649.99. Only Best Buy has the 256GB Cellular model at $99 off.

Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.

Amazon this weekend has returned with its popular Black Friday price on Apple's AirPods Pro 2, available for $199.99, down from $249.00. As of writing, only Amazon is offering this sale.

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.

The further we get into December, the harder it will be to get AirPods (and all Apple products) in time for Christmas Day delivery. With this in mind, the AirPods Pro 2 today have a December 14-15 delivery date, so if you held off for Black Friday we recommend making your purchases soon.

Head to our full Deals Roundup to get caught up with all of the latest deals and discounts that we've been tracking over the past week.

Mass shipments of Apple's long-rumored AR/VR headset may be delayed until the second half of 2023 due to unspecified "software-related issues," according to the latest information shared today by tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Kuo said mass shipments of components for the headset are still likely to begin in the first half of 2023, but he believes that mass shipments of fully assembled headsets may not begin until the second half of the year. This delay could result in the headset launching in the second half of 2023, even if Apple announces it earlier in the year.

WWDC 2023 in June would be an opportune time for Apple to announce the headset, along with an SDK for developers to create AR/VR apps for the device.

Kuo previously claimed that Apple planned to unveil the headset at a January media event and begin mass shipments in the second quarter of 2023. Kuo is unsure whether the delay would result in the January announcement being pushed back, but he did note that an overly lengthy period between a media event and mass shipments can hurt sales.

Apple's headset is expected to be an expensive, niche product, with Kuo forecasting that the company will ship fewer than 500,000 headsets in 2023.

Apple has "fully resumed" advertising on the Twitter social network, Twitter CEO Elon Musk said today during a two-hour Twitter Spaces chat highlighted by Bloomberg. Musk also confirmed that Apple is Twitter's largest advertiser.

Just five days ago, Musk accused Apple of hating "free speech," "making moderation demands," and ceasing ad spending, causing a slew of press coverage about a potential battle brewing between Apple and Twitter. Musk publicly claimed that Apple had "mostly stopped" offering ads on Twitter and that it had also threatened to "withhold Twitter from its App Store."

Then, two days after making those statements, Musk met with Apple CEO Tim Cook, and ended up reversing course. After the meeting, Musk said that there had actually been a "misunderstanding" about Twitter potentially being removed from the ‌App Store‌, and Cook "was clear that Apple never considered doing so."

Musk said that Cook had shown him around Apple Park and that the two had a "good conversation," which apparently led to Apple resuming its Twitter ads. Apple had not confirmed that it had stopped ad spending on Twitter, nor has it said anything about Musk's comments today. Following the Twitter Space discussion, Musk tweeted to "thank advertisers for returning to Twitter."

Apple is consistently one of Twitter's top advertisers, and the ad spending reportedly exceeds $100 million annually.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News 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.

iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max, iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, and iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models feature a LiDAR Scanner next to the rear camera that can be used to measure a person's height instantly in Apple's preinstalled Measure app.

To measure a person's height, simply open the Measure app, point your iPhone at the person you want to measure, and make sure they are visible on the screen from head to toe. After a brief moment, a line should appear at the top of the person's head with their height measurement. You can choose to have the measurement displayed in feet-and-inches or in centimeters in the Settings app under Measure → Measure Units.

The app measures a person's height from the floor to the top of their head, hair, or hat. You can even measure the seated height of a person in a chair.

The circular shutter button in the bottom-right corner allows you to take a photo of the person with their height measurement and share it with them.

The feature is not available on iPhones without a LiDAR Scanner.

With Black Friday and Cyber Week shopping events winding down and the calendar flipping over to December, our attention is starting to turn to 2023 and all of the Apple news we're expecting to see.

This week saw an alleged benchmark leak for an "M2 Max" chip expected to make an appearance in upcoming Macs like the MacBook Pro early next year, as well as fresh rumors about the iPhone 15 coming later in the year.

Other news included Apple's annual App Store Awards, the high-profile launch of the Oceanic+ diving app for Apple Watch Ultra, and our look at some of the other things in Apple's pipeline that we're hoping to see in the fairly near future, so read on for all of the details on these stories and more!

'M2 Max' Performance Revealed in Leaked Benchmark

Alleged benchmark results for Apple's as-yet-unannounced M2 Max chip surfaced on Geekbench this week, offering a first look at the chip's potential performance gains and specs.

The benchmark is likely for a future MacBook Pro. If accurate, the listing indicates the M2 Max chip will have a 12-core CPU option and can be configured with 96GB of RAM, whereas the M1 Max chip has a 10-core CPU and is available with up to 64GB RAM.

Given that Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company's product lineup is "set" for this holiday season, the first Macs with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips are expected to be announced in 2023.

iPhone 15 Said to Feature 'State-of-the-Art' Camera Sensor

Apple's next-generation iPhone 15 models will be equipped with Sony's newest "state-of-the-art" image sensor, according to a report this week from Japanese publication Nikkei Asia.

The report said the sensor can "capture more light and reduce overexposure or underexposure in certain settings," which should result in improved Night mode photos and other benefits for iPhone 15 cameras.

Man Robbed After Buying 300 iPhones at Apple Fifth Avenue

An unnamed 27-year-old man who purchased 300 iPhones from Apple Fifth Avenue this week was robbed shortly after leaving the store, according to New York radio station 1010 WINS.

The man was reportedly carrying 300 iPhone 13 devices in three bags and walking to his car at 1:45 a.m. when another car pulled up next to him and demanded that he hand over the iPhones, leading to a fight in which one of the bags containing 125 iPhones worth $95,000 was taken.

Apple Announces 2022 App Store Award Winners

Apple this week announced its 2022 App Store Award winners, highlighting the 16 best apps and games selected by Apple's editorial team. Each winner will receive a physical App Store award that is modeled after the design of the ‌App Store‌ logo.

Apple also announced the winner of its first-ever Apple Podcasts Award and introduced a new highlight reel feature for the 2022 edition of Apple Music Replay.

Apple Announces Oceanic+ App Now Available for Apple Watch Ultra

Apple this week announced that the Oceanic+ app is now available for the Apple Watch Ultra. Designed by Huish Outdoors in collaboration with Apple, the app serves as a dive computer for recreational scuba diving at depths of up to 40 meters/130 feet.

Apple already offers a basic Depth app on the Apple Watch Ultra. For experienced scuba divers looking for more advanced data, the Oceanic+ app is a useful tool.

Apple Still Has These 5 Things to Release Heading Into 2023

The calendar has turned to December and that means Apple has only one month left to fulfill its promises of releasing an Apple Music Classical app and expanding its self-service repair program to Europe before the end of 2022. Delays are always possible, of course, so the plans could be pushed back to 2023.

In any case, we have put together a list of five things that Apple still has to release over the next several months.

MacRumors Newsletter

Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.

So if you want to have top stories like the above recap delivered to your email inbox each week, subscribe to our newsletter!

Apple today filed a patent infringement lawsuit against AliveCor, a company that has developed the ECG "KardiaBand" designed for the Apple Watch, among other ECG-focused products. AliveCor and Apple are already in the midst of a legal battle following an ITC complaint and antitrust lawsuit that AliveCor filed last year

According to Apple, AliveCor's product line has not been successful with customers, and the company's "failures in the market" have led it to "opportunistic assertions of its patents against Apple." Earlier this year, AliveCor submitted an International Trade Commission complaint against Apple in an attempt to get an import ban on the Apple Watch, and the judge ruled in AliveCor's favor.

Apple says that while it is appealing the ruling, it is using this new patent infringement filing to "set the record straight as to who is the real pioneer," putting a stop to AliveCor's "rampant infringement that unlawfully appropriates Apple's intellectual property." From the filing:

Apple is the pioneering innovator, having researched, developed, and patented core, foundational technologies before AliveCor came into existence. AliveCor's litigation campaign is nothing more than an attempt to siphon from the success of Apple technologies it did not invent, all the while selling products that rely on foundational ECG innovations that Apple patented years before AliveCor came to be.

The complaint cites several Apple patents related to the heart rate and ECG functionality in the Apple Watch, which Apple says AliveCor's KardiaMobile, KardiaMobile Card, and Kardia app infringe on.

Apple claims that AliveCor's patent infringements are causing Apple irreparable harm, with Apple aiming for a permanent injunction to stop further infringement, as well as damages and legal fees.

AliveCor first filed an antitrust suit against Apple back in May 2021, accusing Apple of "monopolistic conduct" for the launch of the ECG functionality in the Apple Watch. AliveCor claims that Apple saw the success of its KardiaBand and decided to "corner the market for heart rate analysis on Apple Watch."

The company has also filed patent infringement lawsuits accusing Apple of coping AliveCor's cardiological detection and analysis technology.

Apple's full complaint against AliveCor can be read on Scribd.

Update December 13: iOS 16.2 and related updates are now available.

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Apple in late October began testing iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 updates, providing betas to both developers and public beta testers. As of now, we've had four total betas, with the fourth beta having been released earlier this week. iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 are expected before the end of the year, and we thought we'd try to narrow down the launch timeline.

With only four betas released since October, iOS 16.2 still has some testing time remaining before we can expect a release. At the very least, we'll have a release candidate before iOS 16.2 is launched, but there is a possibility we'll also see another beta too.

We typically see five or more betas before a release candidate, but timelines get crunched during the holiday season. Last year, Apple seeded just four betas of iOS 15.2 before the RC and subsequent launch, so we could see something similar this year. If that's the plan, Apple could provide us with the release candidate version of iOS 16.2 next week, likely on Tuesday, December 6.

With that in mind, we could see an iOS 16.2 launch the week of December 12. The week of December 19 is also a possibility if there are more betas on the horizon, but that's during Hanukkah and close to Christmas. Last year's iOS 15.2 launch happened on Monday, December 13, after Apple provided the fourth beta on December 2 and the RC on December 7.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has said we can expect iOS 16.2 in mid-December, which would line up with the week of December 12 estimate. Apple has confirmed that some of the features in the update, such as the Freeform app, are indeed coming before the end of the year. Apple is expected to introduce Emergency SOS via Satellite in the UK on December 13, which could when the iOS 16.2 update will come out.

We can even expect to see initial betas of iOS 16.3 before December ends.

Most Notable Features

iOS 16.2 is a major update that adds a number of notable new features to the iPhone and the iPad, with the biggest changes outlined below.

• Freeform App - Freeform is a cross-platform open-ended whiteboard app that can be used for jotting down notes, sketching, drawing, saving links, and more, with built-in collaboration features. It is available in the latest ‌iPhone‌, ‌iPad‌, and Mac betas.
• Stage Manager External Display Support ‌iPad‌ owners who have an M1 or M2 ‌iPad‌ can once again use Stage Manager with external displays. Up to eight apps can be used for multitasking purposes, and there's a useful new option for dragging a window from an ‌iPad‌ to an external display and vice versa. While older iPads can use ‌Stage Manager‌, external display support is limited to Apple silicon models.
• New Home App Architecture - The iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, and macOS Ventura 13.1 updates add support for an updated Home app architecture that Apple is introducing following the debut of Matter. The new app architecture will provide faster, more reliable performance in homes with many smart accessories, but it does require that your entire suite of devices be updated to the latest software.
• Always On Display Updates - For iPhone 14 Pro models, there are two new toggles for disabling wallpaper and notifications when the always on display feature is activated. This cuts down on what's shown on the screen when it is off for fewer distractions.
• Lock Screen Sleep Widget - The Lock Screen has gained a Sleep widget for those who use the sleep functionality on the Apple Watch.
• Lock Screen Medication Widget - There's also a Medication widget that lets you know when you need to take a medication.
• News in the Weather App - When there's relevant weather-related news in your area, such as information about a hurricane or a fire, you will see news headlines in the Weather app.
• 5G in India - iOS 16.2 will bring 5G connectivity to India.

Read More

We have a complete list of all the features that are available in the iOS 16.2 update in our dedicated iOS 16.2 guide.

Goldman Sachs this week updated its Apple Card customer agreement to reflect the credit card's upcoming Daily Cash savings account feature, which was expected to launch with iOS 16.1 but appears to have been delayed.

"To enable new ways to use Daily Cash like the upcoming Savings account feature, we are updating the Daily Cash Program section of your Apple Card Customer Agreement," reads an email sent to Apple Card holders this week.

In October, Apple announced that Apple Card users would soon be able to open a new high-yield savings account from Goldman Sachs and have their Daily Cash cashback rewards automatically deposited into it, with no fees, no minimum deposits, and no minimum balance requirements. The account will be managed through the Wallet app on the iPhone.

The savings account was listed in the release notes for the iOS 16.1 Release Candidate, but it did not end up launching with that update. The savings account has not been present in any iOS 16.2 betas, so it's unclear when it will become available, but Goldman Sachs evidently continues to lay the groundwork for the feature's launch.

Once the account is set up, all Daily Cash received from that point on will be automatically deposited into it and start earning interest, unless a user opts to continue having Daily Cash added to their Apple Cash balance. Apple Card provides 2-3% Daily Cash on purchases made with Apple Pay and 1% on purchases made with the physical card.

Launched in 2019, Apple's credit card remains exclusive to the United States. Customers who sign up for an Apple Card and use it to purchase Apple products through December 25 will receive 5% Daily Cash as part of a limited-time promotion.

Google is continuing on with its attempt to convince Apple to adopt the RCS messaging standard, publishing a new "it's time for ‌RCS‌" blog post. Promoted heavily by Google, ‌RCS‌ or Rich Communication Services is a messaging standard that is designed to replace the current SMS messaging standard.

It provides support for higher resolution photos and videos, audio messages, and bigger file sizes, plus it adds improved encryption, cross-platform emoji reactions, and more reliable group chats across different devices. Google has been pushing Apple to adopt ‌RCS‌ for well over a year now, but so far, Apple is not budging.

Google's new blog post points out that this week marks the 30th anniversary of the SMS messaging standard, as the first SMS message was sent on December 3, 1992. Google argues that it's time for an update, calling out Apple for "dragging its heels."

Google points out that with ‌RCS‌, cross-platform end-to-end encrypted messaging would be available. Features like real-time typing indicators, read receipts, higher-quality photos and videos, and more control over group chats would be standard on both iPhones and Android phones.

All major mobile carriers and manufacturers have implemented ‌RCS‌ support, including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Motorola, Nokia, OnePlus, Samsung, Sony, and others. Apple continues to be the lone holdout, and the company has so far hardly acknowledged Google's attempts to push ‌RCS‌ adoption.

There is no word on if Apple has considered supporting ‌RCS‌, nor when such support might be implemented. In a September interview, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that it is not a priority. "I don't hear our users asking that we put a lot of energy in on that at this point," said Cook.

Cook further suggested an iPhone upgrade to a reporter who mentioned having trouble texting photos to his mother who uses an Android phone. "Buy your mom an ‌iPhone‌," he said.

Google has gone as far as publishing an entire "Get the Message" website on ‌RCS‌ and Apple's lack of adoption for the feature, encouraging Apple customers to ask Apple to "fix what's broken" by switching from SMS to ‌RCS‌. Google has also published anti-Apple ads promoting RCS, but nothing so far has caught Apple's attention.

Apple today in collaboration with artist Zedd announced that a new Remix Session of Zedd's hit dance song "Clarity" is now available in GarageBand.

iPhone and iPad users can now open the GarageBand app and remix "Clarity" with guided instruction from Zedd. The free Remix Session can be downloaded in GarageBand's Sound Library, and Zedd has shared a companion video on YouTube with tips on how to remix the song in a couple of minutes using the app's Live Loops interface.

Live Loops allows GarageBand users to explore all the isolated parts of the Grammy award-winning song, such as vocals, beats, synths, and quickly rearrange and add new elements to the song, with no musical experience required.

"Clarity" is also available in Spatial Audio on Apple Music starting today following the 10-year anniversary of the song's release last month.

Apple's iCloud Mail service is experiencing issues for the second day in a row, and Apple's System Status page says that the service may be slow or unavailable for some users.

The outage began at 5:06 a.m. Pacific Time, and affected users may not be able to access their mail until the issue is resolved, which is the same problem that the service was having yesterday.

Apple has not provided a timeline on when a fix might be available, but we'll update this article when the outage has been addressed. Yesterday's outage lasted for several hours, and has recurred twice now.

Update: Apple says that the outage has been resolved.

Apple has announced that customers who open an Apple Card account between December 1 and December 25 are eligible for an increased 5% Daily Cash on Apple products purchased with the card between those dates at Apple Stores and on Apple.com.

The following purchases with the Apple Card are ineligible for 5% Daily Cash: purchases made with Apple Card Monthly Installments or the iPhone Upgrade Program, wireless carrier financing plans, Apple services, and monthly AppleCare+ payments. Full terms and conditions are listed at the bottom of the Apple Card website.

Apple Card typically offers 3% Daily Cash on purchases completed via Apple Pay at Apple, Nike, Panera Bread, Walgreens, T-Mobile, Exxon Mobil, and Ace Hardware. Other purchases made with Apple Card via Apple Pay are eligible for 2% Daily Cash, and purchases made with the physical Apple Card are eligible for 1% Daily Cash.

Apple's credit card launched in 2019 and is available for approved U.S. customers only.

Technicians in China have developed an arduous modification to eliminate the 24-inch iMac's "chin," achieving an all-screen design.

Io Technology, a group that makes hardware and chip-related modification and repair videos, posted a video that reveals some of the engineering behind the striking ‌iMac‌ modification on Chinese video sharing website Bilibili. It garnered attention on Twitter after being reposted by users like "DuanRui."

2002's ‌iMac‌ G4, which had equal bezels around the display, was cited as an inspiration for the modification. While moving most of the ‌iMac‌'s internal components to the stand like the G4 was initially considered, placing them directly behind the bottom edge of the display was the method eventually chosen to reduce the device's front profile, while retaining most of its thin design.

First, the ‌iMac‌ was disassembled and the display's "chin" area was cut off, with the edges being ground into the same shape as the top. A new rear casing with an enlarged area for the logic board and ports was created digitally and 3D printed for testing, before being machined out of aluminum and anodized. The ‌iMac‌'s components were then placed into the new housing, with some added measures to mitigate increased thermal constraints.

Along with the new casing, a backlit Apple logo made out of laser cut acrylic was added, reminiscent of older MacBook models. Io Technology also created a Space Gray version of the modified 24-inch ‌iMac‌ with black bezels around the display.

An all-screen iMac design was widely rumored in the run-up to the announcement of the 24-inch ‌iMac‌ in April last year. When the device was finally announced with white bezels and a prominent "chin," some users criticized the design. Nevertheless, it seems likely that the consistent thickness of the ‌iMac‌ and placement of its processor below the screen prevents heat from the chip being directly transferred to the display, which could shorten its life, as well as provides a more suitable place for the power cord.

In a small but significant change to the way the Notification Center works in the latest iOS 16.2 beta, older notifications are now shown by default without having to swipe up.

In the current release as well as earlier versions of iOS 16, users do not automatically see older notifications in the Notification Center like they did in iOS 15, and instead must manually swipe up from the middle to reveal them, if there are any.

In other words, if a new notification is received and the user unlocks and then locks their iPhone without interacting with it, iOS treats it as an old notification and sends it to the Notification Center where it is hidden, which some users say often results in important notifications being missed.

Note that in iOS 16.2 beta 4, the Lock Screen still hides older notifications unless the user swipes up from the middle of the screen. The change to showing older notifications by default only applies to Notification Center, which can be pulled down with a swipe down from the top of the screen when the ‌iPhone‌ has been unlocked.

Whether or not the change will make it into the official release of iOS 16.2, due later this month, is unknown, but if it does, many users will welcome the new behavior as an improvement to the way iOS deals with older notifications.

Password management app LastPass says it is investigating a security incident after an "unauthorized party" compromised its systems on Wednesday and gained access to some customer information.

The information was stored in a third-party cloud service shared by LastPass and parent company GoTo, said LastPass CEO Karim Toubba in a blog post. Toubba said the hackers used information stolen from LastPass' systems in a separate previously disclosed incident that occurred in August of this year. Toubba added in the blog post that "customers' passwords remain safely encrypted."

We recently detected unusual activity within a third-party cloud storage service, which is currently shared by both LastPass and its affiliate, GoTo. We immediately launched an investigation, engaged Mandiant, a leading security firm, and alerted law enforcement.

We have determined that an unauthorized party, using information obtained in the August 2022 incident, was able to gain access to certain elements of our customers' information. Our customers' passwords remain safely encrypted due to LastPass’s Zero Knowledge architecture.

According to a blog post dated August 22, the previous incident saw a threat actor gain access to the LastPass Development environment using a developer's compromised endpoint to steal source code and some proprietary LastPass technical information. LastPass said at the time that its systems "prevented the threat actor from accessing any customer data or encrypted password vaults."

LastPass is currently working to understand the scope of Wednesday's incident and identify what specific information has been accessed. GoTo, formerly LogMeIn, said it was also investigating the incident, although it did not explain whether GoTo users were also impacted by the hack. In the meantime, LastPass products and services remain "fully functional," said Toubba.

With the launch of iOS 16.1, Apple rolled out a Emergency SOS via Satellite, which is designed to allow iPhone 14 owners to contact emergency services using satellite connectivity when no cellular or WiFi connection is available. The feature was put to the test in Alaska today, when a man became stranded in a rural area.

In the early hours of the morning on December 1, Alaska State Troopers received an alert that a man traveling by snow machine from Noorvik to Kotzebue had become stranded. The man was in a cold, remote location with no connectivity, and he activated the Emergency SOS via satellite feature on his ‌iPhone 14‌ to alert authorities to his predicament.

Apple's Emergency Response Center worked with local search and rescue teams and the Northwest Arctic Borough Search and Rescue Coordinator to send out volunteer searchers directly to the GPS coordinates that were relayed to Apple using the emergency function.

The man was rescued successfully and there were no injuries. The area where he was located is remote and on the fringes of where satellite connectivity is available. Apple says that satellite connectivity might not work in places above 62° latitude, such as northern parts of Canada and Alaska, and Noorvik and Kotzebue are close to 69° latitude.

Troopers who helped with the rescue were "impressed with the accuracy and completeness of information included in the initial alert," with the Emergency SOS via Satellite feature designed to ask several questions ahead of when an alert is sent out to expedite rescue missions.

Emergency Satellite via SOS is available to all ‌iPhone 14‌ users, and it can be activated when an emergency situation occurs and there is no WiFi or cellular connection available. The feature is free to use for two years, and Apple has not yet provided detail on how much it will cost going forward.

Satellite connectivity is available in North America at the current time, and it will soon expand to France, Germany, Ireland, and the UK.