MacRumors

Apple today seeded the fourth betas of upcoming iOS 15.5 and iPadOS 15.5 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming one week following the release of the third betas.

Developers can download iOS 15.5 and iPadOS 15.5 through the Apple Developer Center or over the air after the proper profile has been installed on an iPhone or iPad.

iOS 15.5 and iPadOS 15.5 are minor updates compared to prior iOS 15 point releases, and there are a limited number of changes. Apple may be releasing an Apple Classical app at some point in the near future and there are references to it in the beta, but it is not yet available. Apple is using the iOS 15.5 update to lay the groundwork for functionality that will let developers of "reader" apps add a link to an external website for the purpose of signing up for and managing accounts outside of the App Store.

There are also minor changes to Apple Pay Cash, with Apple adding Request and Send options, and Apple is making some changes to the iTunes Pass that used to be available in the Wallet app. We have a complete list of changes in our iOS 15.5 guide.

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming macOS Monterey 12.4 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new update coming a week after the release of the third macOS Monterey 12.4 beta.

Registered developers can download the beta through the Apple Developer Center and after the appropriate profile is installed, betas will be available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences.

According to Apple's release notes, Universal Control in the new iPadOS 15.5 and macOS Monterey 12.4 updates is not compatible with machines running macOS 12.3 or iPadOS 15.4, so Apple suggests that as a workaround, users should update their ‌Universal Control‌ devices to the new betas.

When paired with a Studio Display, macOS Monterey 12.4 supports new 15.5 Studio Display firmware, which improves the quality of the webcam on the machine.

There are also new betas for macOS Big Sur 11.6.6 and the macOS Catalina 2022-005 security update.

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming watchOS 8.6 beta to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming a week after the release of the third beta.

To install ‌‌‌watchOS 8‌‌‌.6, developers will need to download the configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once installed, ‌‌‌watchOS 8.6 can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software update.

To update to new software, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery life, it must be placed on the charger, and it needs to be in range of the ‌‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌‌.

We don't yet know what's included in the watchOS 8.6 update, and no new features have been discovered in the beta so far.

Apple today updated its WWDC 2022 website for developers, providing more information on the Apple Park Special Event that the company is hosting on June 6, 2022. A small number of developers will be invited to the campus to watch the WWDC 2022 keynote, and developers will be able to apply to attend Monday, May 9.

We're hosting a special all-day experience at Apple Park on June 6 to kick off WWDC22. Gather with others in the developer community to watch the keynote and State of the Union videos alongside Apple engineers and experts, explore the all-new Developer Center, and so much more. We can't wait to connect in person.

Apple says that it will be an all-day experience at ‌Apple Park‌, including the keynote and State of the Union. Developers will also be invited to explore the Developer Center, among other activities. Apple last year said that it was building a dedicated Developer Center on the ‌Apple Park‌ campus, though few details have been provided about it.

The ‌Apple Park‌ event is free, and all members of the Apple Developer Program and Apple Developer Enterprise Program can apply to attend. Invitations will be allocated through a random selection process and cannot be transferred.

Submissions will be accepted from Monday, May 9 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time through Wednesday, May 11 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time. Developers will be notified of their status by Thursday, May 12 at 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

Longtime Ford engineer Desi Ujkashevic has left the company and opted to join Apple to work on the Apple car project, reports Bloomberg. Ujkashevic has been with Ford for over 30 years, and she has expertise in safety systems, engineering design deliverables, body interior engineering, and more.

Before to departing Ford for Apple, Ujkashevic served as the Global Director of Ford's Automotive Safety Engineering Office, but prior to that, she was an Engineering Director. From Ford's website:

In her previous role, she was the Engineering Director for North American Vehicle Programs where she was responsible for Engineering for Car and Utility Programs managing engineering design deliverables including achievement of cost, profit, quality, and timing objectives. Prior to this, Desi was the Global Director, Interiors Engineering where she led the Strategy, Program execution, Quality and launch for Interiors on all Global Programs. Previous to this, Desi completed a 3-year international assignment in Germany, serving as Ford's Director of Engineering for Body Systems and Design Operations.

Ujkashevic first joined Ford in 1991, and worked her way up the ranks over the years. She had a hand in the development of the Ford Escape, Explorer, Fiesta and Focus, plus she worked on electric vehicles. Ujkashevic has a wealth of expertise that will benefit the Apple Car project, and she could be involved in helping Apple develop safeguards for its electric vehicle.

Bloomberg has previously said that Apple wants the Apple Car to be safer than cars from Tesla and Waymo, with backup systems to avoid driving system failures.

Apple has been regularly hiring from Ford and other automotive companies for the past several years as it works to develop a fully autonomous vehicle. The Apple Car project has faced ongoing leadership issues and Apple's goals have shifted several times, but the latest rumors suggest that Apple is on track to deliver a car sometime in the next decade.

Apple is said to be aiming for a 2025 launch, but issues with the car development could push the project back to as late as 2028.

Justine Ezarik, known as iJustine on YouTube, today shared an inside look at the Apple Fitness+ studio in Santa Monica, California. As part of the tour, Ezarik interviewed Apple's head of fitness Jay Blahnik and a few Fitness+ trainers.

British GQ also visited the Fitness+ studio and interviewed Blahnik and Apple's operations chief Jeff Williams, who oversees the Apple Watch team. According to the publication, the 23,000-square-foot building is outfitted with numerous aerial camera rails and lighting rigs, along with robots that aid in filming the workout videos.

Launched in December 2020, Apple Fitness+ features a library of workout videos, with new content added weekly. The subscription-based service is available through the Fitness app on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV in over 20 countries, with pricing set at $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year in the United States. While completing a workout, Apple Watch metrics like heart rate and calories burned are shown on screen.

"We had always been thinking about what a service like this would look like if it was built around Apple Watch at the center," Blahnik told British GQ. "And so we kept leaning into many of the things we've learned with Apple Watch, which is that people want it to be unintimidating. It needs to be friendly. It needs to be motivating."

Up to 30 new workouts and meditations are added to Fitness+ each week, according to Apple. Workouts range from five minutes to 45 minutes in length, with categories including high-intensity interval training (HIIT), yoga, strength, pilates, treadmill walking, treadmill running, rowing, dancing, cycling, core exercises, and mindful cooldowns.

Amid the process of Apple employees returning to in-person work using a hybrid schedule, a group of employees represented by "Apple Together" are protesting the company's current hybrid working policy.

Last month, corporate Apple employees in the United States began returning to their offices, ending a two-year work from home policy that Apple implemented during the pandemic. Employees at locations like Apple Park and Infinite Loop were given a deadline of April 11 to return to in-person work.

Apple is not forcing employees to return to the office five days a week, and has instead adopted a gradual return strategy and a hybrid home/office work policy. Apple employees were required to work from the office at least one day per week by April 11, at least two days per week by May 2, and will be required to work in-person at least three days per week by May 23.

When the three-day in-office work policy is enacted on May 23, employees will be required to be in the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with most able to work remotely on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Now, a group of Apple employees represented by "Apple Together" have penned a letter addressed to the company's executive team. It argues that Apple's hybrid working pilot "does not recognize flexible work and is only driven by fear."

The letter claims that Apple has hampered communication while strengthening the company's siloed structure, diminishing the "serendipity" that it said would be restored by returning to in-person work. Secondly, it argues that in-person collaboration simply is not needed every week or every month, and that Apple's hybrid working pilot is "one of the most inefficient ways to enable everyone to be in one room, should the need arise every now and then."

Now we ask you, the executive team, to show some flexibility as well and let go of the rigid policies of the Hybrid Working Pilot. Stop trying to control how often you can see us in the office. Trust us, we know how each of our small contributions helps Apple succeed and what's required to do so. Our direct managers trust us and in many cases would happily let us work in a more flexible setup. And why wouldn’t they, we've successfully done so for the last two years. Why don't you?

Or as Steve said: "It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do." Here we are, the smart people that you hired, and we are telling you what to do: Please get out of our way, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, let us decide how we work best, and let us do the best work of our lives.

It goes on to say that Apple's policy of three days in the office and two days working from home is a "smokescreen" that offers "almost no flexibility at all." The letter also attacked the "huge waste of time as well as both mental and physical resources" caused by commuting and claimed that Apple's current working policies have "a negative impact on diversity."

Apple has been eager to get employees back in the office and was forced to delay return dates several times. "For all that we've been able to achieve while many of us have been separated, the truth is that there has been something essential missing from this past year: each other," Apple CEO Tim Cook told employees back in June 2021. "Video conference calling has narrowed the distance between us, to be sure, but there are things it simply cannot replicate."

See Apple Together's full "Thoughts on Office-bound Work" open letter for more information.

AgileBits today announced the release of 1Password 8 for Mac with a redesigned interface and several new features.

The popular password manager has been redesigned to better match the look of macOS Monterey, from the sidebar and unified toolbar to the typography and iconography. The new design language extends to 1Password for Safari on the Mac.

1Password 8 improves productivity with a new Quick Access feature. Inspired by the built-in Spotlight search tool on macOS, Quick Access is a floating panel that is always available, providing convenient access to all of your login information. Quick Access works with keyboard shortcuts and suggests the most relevant logins for the active app.

Autofill is now supported within Mac apps and system prompts, including when macOS requests your admin password. The feature can be triggered with the keyboard shortcut ⌘\ in apps like Zoom and Spotify and also works with two-factor authentication codes.

A new Watchtower dashboard provides an all-in-one overview of your overall password strength, detects vulnerable passwords, and more.

1Password 8 for Mac is available to download on the AgileBits website. A subscription is required, with individual pricing set at $2.99 per month for unlimited access across several platforms, including iOS, macOS, Windows, Android, and others.

Apple has asked Foxconn to start recruiting workers to assemble iPhone 14 models earlier than usual amid fears that China's lockdowns could lead to short supply or delays later in the year, United Daily News reports.

Foxconn, Apple's main assembly partner, has reportedly launched a large recruitment drive for its factory in Zhengzhou this week, despite the season normally being off-peak for ‌iPhone‌ production. The company is said to have increased bonuses by 30 percent to attract more workers amid a pressing need to meet Apple's requirements.

Apple's instruction to increase recruitment at this time of year is ostensibly derived from continued strong demand for the ‌iPhone‌ 13 lineup and mounting concern about the impact of lockdowns in China on its ability to meet demand for the ‌iPhone‌ 14 in the second half of the year. Zhengzhou has been largely unaffected by lockdown measures so far, encouraging Foxconn to increase production capacity at the facility.

Apple briefly mentioned supply problems caused by lockdowns in China in its earnings call last week. DigiTimes recently speculated that parts of Apple's supply chain may be severely impacted depending on how long lockdowns persist, potentially even forcing Apple to delay the launch of new ‌iPhone‌ models later this year.

Earlier today, it was reported that Apple supplier Quanta is now gradually resuming production of MacBook Pro models at its Chinese plant following the easing of lockdown restrictions in Shanghai. The measures caused significantly extended delivery times for new MacBook Pro orders.

Amazon today is discounting a collection of Apple's first-party Magic Keyboards for the iPad Pro lineup. Many of the accessories listed below are in stock today and sold directly by Amazon.

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.

Starting with the 11-inch iPad Pro Magic Keyboard, this model is on sale for $249.00 in White and Black, down from $299.00. Compared to previous 2022 sales, this is about $10 higher than sales we tracked a few months ago, but it's still a solid second-best price for the year so far.

Secondly, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro Magic Keyboard has dropped to $299.00, down from $349.00. This sale is also available in both White and Black, although the Black option is seeing a shipping delay of about five days at the time of writing.

In the context of other Magic Keyboard deals from 2022, this is about $7 higher than the all-time low price that we've seen so far this year. So, if you've been shopping for Apple's Magic Keyboard and waiting for a good sale, Amazon's prices today are still the best we've seen in months.

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.

Firefox today announced the launch of Firefox 100, the newest version of the popular browser that serves as an alternative to Safari and Chrome. Firefox 100 brings new features for both mobile devices and the desktop to enhance the browsing experience.

On Macs, Firefox 100 supports High Dynamic Range (HDR) video for higher-fidelity video content. The feature requires a Mac with an HDR-compatible display that's running macOS 11 or later. Also new to the desktop, there are subtitles and captions when using Picture-in-Picture mode. Subtitles and captions are available on websites that support the WebVTT format, such as YouTube, Netflix, and Prime Video.

A new language switching feature allows Firefox to detect a device's language preference and ask whether a user would like to switch to their preferred language, and credit card autofill functionality has now expanded to the UK, France, and Germany.

As for iOS devices, the update brings clutter-free history and clutter-free tabs for better organization, plus it includes new browser wallpapers for personalization. The history feature groups history items by the original item, so you can, for example, find all the websites you visited under a specific search term. History is also now searchable.

To cut down on tab clutter, Firefox for iOS will now focus on recent tabs in the tab tray to make it easier to swap between what's current. When a tab hasn't been visited in 14 days, it is moved to an "inactive state" in the tab tray. In that situation, the tab is available, but out of the way until you need it.

The updated version of Firefox for Macs can be downloaded from the Firefox website, and the iOS version can be downloaded from the App Store. The iOS features will be available later this week.

The UK is set to abandon plans to heavily regulate Apple and other big tech companies using a new competition authority, the Financial Times reports.

In a paywalled report, the Financial Times claims that the British government's new legislative agenda, due to be set out in the Queen's Speech next week, will not include a bill to empower the Digital Markets Unit (DMU). The government announced plans to set up the DMU in 2020, stating that it would grant powers to the body to create a code of conduct that big tech companies have to abide by in the UK or face fines of up to 10 percent of annual turnover. An interim report published by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) earlier this year was intended to focus the DMU's attention, and it was met with an aggressive response from Apple.

While the DMU currently exists with around 60 members of staff, it has no powers beyond the CMA's existing capabilities. The DMU is currently working on a number of investigations, including into the terms of Apple's App Store and Apple and Google's "duopoly" over mobile ecosystems.

Julian Knight, Conservative chair of the House of Commons' Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said if legislation to empower the tech regulator was not included in the Queen's Speech, it would "damage the credibility of the whole enterprise... It would be a hammer blow to the capability of the UK to regulate these sectors."

The government's decision to step back from further regulating big tech is reportedly due to the decision to drop corporate reforms and Prime Minister Boris Johnson's desire to step away from state intervention in the economy.

A statement from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to the Financial Times suggested that powers to "change the conduct of the most powerful tech firms and protect businesses and consumers" are still on the way, but it "could not comment on timelines for potential future legislation."

Apple's ecosystem is increasingly coming under intense scrutiny by governments around the world, including in the United States, Japan, South Korea, the European Union, and more, with a clear appetite from global regulators to explore requirements around app store policies, app sideloading, and interoperability.

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.

Today you can get Apple's AirTag 4-Pack for $84.55 on Amazon, down from $99.00. Only the 4-Pack option is being discounted, and only Amazon is offering this sale on the AirTag.

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.

Discounts on the AirTag 4-Pack have been somewhat rare in 2022, with the last notable sale happening nearly two months ago now. Today's deal is a new all-time low price, but there is a shipping delay of about 10 days at the time of writing.

AirTag provides a way to keep track of your items in the iOS Find My app, with a way to play a sound on the built-in speaker to find something locally or with precision finding when it's farther away. Be sure to visit our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more Apple-related products and accessories.

Update: This article has been updated to reflect the new discount price of $84.55 for the AirTag 4-Pack.

Microsoft Edge has overtaken Apple's Safari to become the world's second most popular desktop browser, based on data provided by web analytics service StatCounter.

According to the data, Microsoft Edge is now used on 10.07 percent of desktop computers worldwide, 0.46 percent ahead of Safari, which stands at 9.61 percent. Google Chrome remains in first place with a dominant 66.64 percent share, and Mozilla's Firefox stands in fourth with 7.86 percent.

As the default Windows 11 browser, the popularity of Edge has crept up in recent months, with the first concrete signs that it would surpass Safari to take second place coming in February, when it was used on 9.54 percent of desktops globally. Back in January 2021, Safari held a 10.38 percent market share, indicating a gradual slippage in popularity over the last 14 months.

Meanwhile, first-placed Chrome has seen its user base increase incrementally over that time, but perhaps surprisingly, Firefox has leaked users since the beginning of the year, despite regular updates and improvements. That suggests Safari's hold on third place isn't in immediate danger, having lost only 0.23 percent share since February, but things could always change fast if Apple decides to introduce sweeping changes to the way Safari works in macOS 13 later this year.

When it comes to mobile platforms, it's a different story, reflecting Microsoft's lack of a mobile operating system since the demise of Windows Mobile. In StatCounter's analysis, Edge doesn't even make it into the top six browsers on mobile, but first-placed Chrome commands 62.87 of usage share, with Safari on iPhones and iPads taking a comfortable 25.35 percent in second place, 20.65 percent ahead of third-placed Samsung Internet, with 4.9 percent.

Looking at the overall statistics for desktop and mobile, Chrome leads with 64.36 percent, Safari lies in second with 19.13 percent, and Edge stands in third with 4.07 percent of the total market share. Trailing the top three are Firefox, Samsung Internet, and Opera with 3.41 percent, 2.84 percent, and 2.07 percent, respectively, in that order of position.

Safari for desktop has faced complaints from some users in recent years because of bugs, user experience, and website compatibility, causing Apple's Safari team to ask for feedback about how it can improve. At WWDC last year, Apple introduced a radical redesign of its browser, but the changes were met with derision, and Apple eventually rolled many of them back before releasing the final version to the public in September.

With the likes of Brave, Vivaldi, and DuckDuckGo in its rearview mirror, Apple is likely to be wary of making such substantial changes in future versions of its native browser, leading to a focus on bug fixes and performance improvements instead.

Apple today added the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 2 to its vintage and obsolete products list, as it has been more than five years since the devices were last offered for sale.

The ‌iPad Air‌ 2 was first released in October 2014, and was the first ‌iPad Air‌ to feature a Touch ID fingerprint sensor. It also used Apple's A8X processor and had a laminated gapless display, which made it significantly thinner than the original ‌iPad Air‌.

Launched in November 2013, the ‌iPad mini‌ 2 was colloquially known as the Retina ‌iPad mini‌, due to its Retina display with 2048 x 1536 resolution. Otherwise, visually it was identical with its predecessor, though it was slightly heavier and thicker. The tablet used an A7 processor and the M7 coprocessor originally introduced in the iPhone 5s.

The vintage products list features devices that Apple stopped distributing for sale more than five years ago and less than seven years ago. Apple provides service and parts for vintage devices for up to 7 years, or as required by law, but repairs are subject to parts availability.

On a side note, Apple was expected to move 2014's 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air models and the mid-2014 13-inch MacBook Pro from vintage to obsolete at the beginning of May, but the latest update shows that only the two MacBook Airs have currently made the transition.

Apple supplier Quanta is gradually resuming its production of MacBooks at its Chinese plant following the easing of lockdowns in Shanghai, reports DigiTimes.

Order pull-ins are also said to be slowly turning strong at the production facility, according to supply chain sources, which should boost the availability of MacBook Pro models and shorten the extended delivery times that Apple customers have been experiencing in recent weeks.

Several MacRumors readers waiting on ‌MacBook Pro‌ models ordered in March and April had their shipments significantly delayed due to Apple's supply issues. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Quanta is the sole supplier of high-end MacBook Pros, which have seen delivery times increase by three to five weeks since the China lockdowns. Some ‌MacBook Pro‌ configurations currently are not available for delivery until late June running into early July.

Despite the gradual resumption of ‌MacBook Pro‌ production, supply issues are expected to impact product sales in the third quarter of 2022. Apple last week said that lockdown disruptions in China and silicon shortages will continue to make it difficult to make enough product to satisfy strong consumer demand, and this will ultimately affect Apple's June quarter revenue.

Internet provider Frontier today announced the launch of a new promotion that will see the company providing a free Apple TV 4K to new customers who sign up for a new 2 Gigabit Fiber plan.

According to Frontier, customers who opt for the 2 Gig plan will be provided with an ‌Apple TV‌ 4K to enjoy 4K television content. Priced at $150 per month, this is Frontier's highest-priced internet tier, but it also comes with a WiFi 6E-compatible router and extender.

Along with offering customers who sign up for the 2 Gig plan a free ‌Apple TV‌+, Frontier is also providing three months of ‌Apple TV‌+, a promotion that is available to all new and existing Frontier customers regardless of their internet plan.

Frontier's website says that the promotion is available for both new and returning ‌Apple TV‌+ subscribers, so even those who have already tried the service should be able to get three additional months of ‌Apple TV‌+ access.