iOS 16, codenamed "Sydney" and set to be previewed at WWDC in June, will feature "significant" improvements to notifications and new health-tracking features but will not a feature major redesign of iOS, Bloomberg'sMark Gurman said today.
In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman writes that he is not expecting a major redesign of iOS but that instead, the next version of iOS will include enhancements to notification and new health-tracking features.
On the iOS side, I'm looking for some fairly significant enhancements across the board, including an update to notifications and new health-tracking features.
I'm not expecting an end-to-end redesign of iOS's interface, even though it hasn't changed much since iOS 7 nearly a decade ago. But there might be a new iPadOS multitasking interface.
Gurman said today that watchOS 9 may feature "major upgrades to activity and health tracking." No details are known of what macOS 13 will include, including what it will be called. macOS Big Sur featured a major redesign and was followed by a less significant update with macOS Monterey.
Staying on the Mac side of things, however, Gurman did today reiterate that Apple is working on several new Macs, including a new redesigned MacBook Air, a revamped 13-inch MacBook Pro, an updated 24-inch iMac, and a new Mac mini. For a complete rundown of what Apple could announce at WWDC this year, see our detailed roundup.
Some owners of the new Studio Display are facing issues when attempting to update Apple's newest monitor to its latest firmware, causing some customers to be told by Apple Support to bring in their display for repair at an Apple Store or authorized repair center.
A growing thread on the Apple Support forum (1, 2) includes owners of the Studio Display reporting that as they try to update the display, they're being presented with an error message that reads "Apple Studio Display firmware update could not be completed. Try again in an hour. If the problem persists, contact an authorized Apple service provider." According to users on the thread, reconnecting the display to another Mac and/or restarting the monitor does not address the issue.
Users on the MacRumors Forums are also reporting similar problems, with some being told by Apple Support to bring in their display for repair. Apple's Studio Display does run iOS, and users can update it through System Preferences on macOS.
Following reviews of poor webcam quality, Apple has promised a new update in the future that addresses poor camera quality. That same update could include a patch for the issue being experienced by users when trying to update their Studio Display.
It took until April to get official word, but we finally have a few details on the 2022 edition of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. WWDC will once again be a free online event for all developers, and we can expect to see lots of software announcements and perhaps a few hardware ones too, if we're lucky.
Other news this week included the start of a new cycle of operating system betas with iOS 15.5, macOS Monterey 12.4, and more, as well as some fresh rumors about the iPhone 14 Pro Max and AirPods Pro 2, so read on for details on these stories and more!
As usual, expect Apple to unveil its latest software platforms, including iOS 16 for the iPhone, iPadOS 16 for the iPad, macOS 13 for the Mac, watchOS 9 for the Apple Watch, and tvOS 16 for the Apple TV. Hardware announcements sometimes occur at WWDC too, with rumors suggesting that a new Mac Pro with Apple silicon may be previewed this year.
Apple Releases First iOS 15.5 Beta: Here's Everything New
Five Years Ago, Apple's Uncharacteristic Apology Set the Stage for the Mac's Renaissance
Five years ago, the Mac lineup was in a bad state. Over three years had passed since Apple had redesigned the Mac Pro with a sleek but constrained "trash can" enclosure, while the iMac, MacBook Air, and Mac mini had also gone years without updates.
Budget Phone Comparison: Apple's iPhone SE vs. Samsung's Galaxy A53 5G
Apple in March came out with the updated 2022 iPhone SE, a budget iPhone that's equipped with 5G. Samsung also recently came out with its own budget 5G smartphone, the Galaxy A53 5G, so in one of our latest videos, we compared the two to see how they measure up.
In short, the A53 5G is offering up a better feature set, but it can't match the iPhone SE in terms of lifespan and build quality.
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.
Every year we like to take a fresh look at the different shortcut options that are available to use with the Shortcuts app on iOS devices and Mac, just to see what's new. We've found several useful shortcut options and rounded them up for MacRumors readers.
Internet Radio Search - Internet Radio Search is designed to allow you to search for, select, and play various internet radio stations.
Play Entire Current Album - If you're playing an Apple Music song and you want to listen to the entire album, this is the shortcut to get. It finds the album that the currently playing track belongs to and then plays the full album.
Search On - Search On is a search anything tool. When you run the shortcut, it provides a sheet of options, so you type in what you're looking for and then you can choose to search Google, YouTube, Reddit, Instagram, Amazon and other sources.
Shazam++ - Shazam++ lets you Shazam a song and then open it on your favorite music platform, giving you a quick way to listen to Shazamed content on any music service of your choice. It also provides artist, album, and song info, lyrics, sharing tools, and more.
iPod Shuffle - iPod Shuffle creates a random 100 song shuffle list of the songs you have added to Apple Music over the years. You can select different timeframes, such as the past year, past two years, or past three years.
Redditer - Redditer is a simple shortcut that lets you go directly to your favorite subreddit.
Built-in Sounds - This shortcut plays the Background Sounds built into iOS devices, but you don't need to go to the Accessibility settings to get to them.
Open App on Apple TV 1 - This simple shortcut is designed to wake up your Apple TV and launch the app that you select, such as the TV app.
Do you have a favorite Shortcut? Let us know in the comments and we may feature it in a future video.
Apple may be planning to introduce a two-port 35W USB-C charger in the near future, based on a leaked support document that was found by 9to5Mac. The support document was apparently only on Apple's site for a brief time, but there was a clear mention of the unreleased charger.
Apple's current 30W power adapter
As there is no dual USB-C port power adapter available right now, it may be something that Apple has in the works. 35W would charge or power a wide range of Apple devices, from the MacBook Air to iPads, iPhones, Apple Watch, and the HomePod. For the iPhone and the iPad, it would be powerful enough to accommodate fast charging.
The power adapter will support the following modes: 5VDC/3A or 9VDC/3A or 15VDC/2.33A or 20VDC/1.75A, and it will provide 35W of total charging power, not 35W for each USB-C port.
Use the Apple 35W Dual USB-C Port Power Adapter and a USB-C cable (not included) to charge your device. Connect a USB-C cable to either port on the power adapter, extend the electrical prongs (if necessary), then plug the power adapter firmly into the power outlet. Ensure the power outlet is easily accessible for disconnecting. Connect the other end of the cable to your device.
There is no word on when this accessory might launch, but it could possibly be the GaN power adapter that Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple was working on in early March. Kuo said that Apple is working on a "30W power adapter" that has a new form factor design, with the company planning to introduce it at some point in 2022.
He said that the charger will use gallium nitride or "GaN" technology, allowing for a smaller, lighter form factor because of improved power efficiency. Apple's first GaN charger (140W) launched last year alongside the MacBook Pro.
Other accessory companies like Anker and Belkin have been making GaN chargers for some time now, and they offer several multi-port options.
Package tracking app Deliveries is losing functionality because shipping companies are not willing to provide the shipping data that the app needs to work, according to developer Mike Piontek.
In a blog post penned earlier this week, Piontek said that Deliveries is no longer able to maintain the same service that it used to provide because it relies on shipping companies, and "without their help" the app is not able to work the way that customers expect.
In time, the Deliveries app will likely stop showing direct tracking information in the app for additional services. Delivery date, map route, and other details will not be available, nor will notifications about status changes. To see tracking information, customers will need to use the "View Online" button to see tracking information on the shipping company's website.
According to Piontek, Deliveries understands that the app will become less useful to users, but the Deliveries team will aim to keep making it as useful as possible for those who continue to use it.
At the current time, Deliveries seems to be able to show shipping information from major U.S. shipping companies like the United States Postal Service and UPS, but over the course of the last few months, Amazon deliveries have stopped working.
Deliveries used to be able to track Amazon shipments just from an order link, but that is no longer possible. Tracking either does not work, or it requires logging in to Amazon with a login and password, which is a hassle. The app also recently stopped working with FedEx tracking numbers, and there are also complaints about DHL shipments not being able to be tracked.
Prior to when these changes were made by shipping companies, Deliveries was a very useful package tracking app, but for many, it may no longer be worth the $4.99 per year subscription price.
Google today announced it is partnering with iFixit to make do-it-yourself repairs available for Pixel smartphones in select regions.
Starting later this year, genuine Pixel parts will be available for purchase on iFixit's website for the Pixel 2 through Pixel 6 Pro, as well as future Pixel models, in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and European Union countries where Pixel smartphones are available, according to Google. Batteries, displays, cameras, and other parts will be available both individually and as part of iFixit toolkits.
"If we're going to build a sustainable electronics industry, consumers must have options to repair products themselves," said iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens. "Google is making repair more affordable and accessible, even in places without repair shops. We are committed to enabling repairs at a place and time of your choosing."
iFixit said it will be continuing to write its step-by-step repair guides for Pixel smartphones, with guides for the Pixel 5a, 6, and 6 Pro in progress.
In November 2021, Apple also announced that it would be launching a self-service repair program in the United States in early 2022, followed by additional countries throughout the year. Apple said the initial phase of the program would focus on the most commonly serviced parts for all iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 models, such as displays, batteries, and cameras, and expand to Macs with M1 chips later in the year.
Apple has yet to launch its self-service repair program or publicly share any further details since its initial announcement.
An all-time low price on the white version of Apple's 12.9-inch iPad Pro Magic Keyboard has returned to Amazon this week, available for $293.00, down from $349.00. The keyboard is in stock and sold directly from Amazon, and only the US English version of the accessory is receiving the discount.
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.
This is a second-best deal on the 12.9-inch Magic Keyboard, and for the white color option it's the lowest price we've ever seen. Only Amazon is offering this sale, and you won't need any coupon code to see the deal.
This is the new 2021 model of the Magic Keyboard, so it's been optimized to fit the slightly thicker 2021 12.9-inch iPad Pro with mini-LED display, but it also fits the 2018 and 2020 models. It features a full QWERTY keyboard, trackpad, USB-C port for charging, backlit keys, and a floating cantilever design.
The iPad Pro attaches magnetically to the keyboard with passthrough charging for the iPad Pro via its Smart Connector, and the Magic Keyboard provides front and back protection when closed.
Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.
WhatsApp is changing the way the platform handles media sent over chats with disappearing messages enabled, reports WABetaInfo.
Going forward, WhatsApp will no longer automatically save images and other visual media to your iPhone’s Photos library if they appear within a chat thread that has disappearing messages turned on. The "Save to Camera Roll" option is now automatically turned off for disappearing chats, meaning images, videos, and GIFs won't be saved even if the general auto-save setting is enabled.
The previous default of saving images from disappearing chats to the Photos app was a discrepancy given the privacy focus of disappearing messages, so the change is likely to be welcomed by those who depend on the feature to share sensitive media.
Having said that, WhatsApp users can still manually save media that appears in disappearing chats they’ve received, or even take a screenshot of the chat thread, so what you send using the feature can still be potentially saved by the recipient after the message has disappeared.
In another change coming to WhatsApp and highlighted by WABetaInfo, the drawing interface is being tweaked so that the blur tool appears at the bottom of the screen, where it will sit alongside two new drawing pencils.
The change to the way WhatsApp handles media in disappearing messages is rolling out now to all users on iOS, but it’s not clear when the drawing interface tweaks will come out of beta and be made available to the chat platform’s wider user base.
Following the March 31 release of iOS 15.4.1, Apple has stopped signing iOS 15.4, the previously available version of iOS that came out earlier in March. As iOS 15.4 is no longer being signed, it is not possible to downgrade to that version of iOS once you've installed iOS 15.4.1.
Apple routinely stops signing older versions of software updates after new releases come out in order to encourage customers to keep their operating systems up to date, so it is not unusual that iOS 15.4 is no longer being signed.
iOS 15.4.1 added a fix for a battery drain issue on the iPhone, but more importantly, it addressed AppleAVD issue that could allow an application to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. Apple said this exploit may have been actively exploited, so it is a good idea to update to iOS 15.4.1 if you have not done so already.
Apple has also stopped signing tvOS 15.4 and HomePod 15.4 software.
Apple's first Apple TV+ live sports content is set to premiere tomorrow with the debut of "Friday Night Baseball." Apple inked a deal with Major League Baseball to the rights for the 2022 season, with games set to air each Friday.
Ahead of the first game, Apple announced that baseball fans can access exclusive related programs like "Countdown to First Pitch" and "MLB Daily Recap" starting today in the Apple TV app. There is a new "Major League Baseball" heading in the Apple TV+ section of the TV app that serves as a hub for all Friday Night Baseball-related content.
The section features daily coverage, highlights, expert analysis, classic games, and more, with this content exclusive to Apple TV+ subscribers. The actual Friday Night Baseball games are available through the Apple TV app with no subscription required.
Friday Night Baseball will officially begin tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, which is when the New York Mets will face off against the Washington Nationals. After that, Apple will show the Houston Astros versus the Los Angeles Angels at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
Apple today announced its broadcast team, which will feature Melanie Newman (play-by-play), Chris Young (analyst), Hannah Keyser (analyst), and Brooke Fletcher (reporter) at 7 p.m. ET, and Stephen Nelson (play-by-play), Hunter Pence (analyst), Katie Nolan (analyst), and Heidi Watney (reporter) at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Pre and postgame coverage will be hosted by Lauren Gardner, with a group of rotating analysts and former MLB players like Carlos Peña, Cliff Floyd, and Yonder Alonso.
Friday Night Baseball games will be available in United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced in March 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari.
Safari Technology Preview release 143 includes bug fixes and performance improvements for Web Inspector, CSS Container Queries, CSS Cascade Layers, Subgrid, CSS, JavaScript, Rendering, Web Animations, SVG, Scrolling, WebAuthn, WebGL, HTML, Web API, Media, Accessibility, File System Access, and Web Extensions.
The current Safari Technology Preview release is built on the Safari 15.4 update and it includes Safari 15 features introduced in macOS Monterey.
Apple's aim with Safari Technology Preview is to gather feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. Safari Technology Preview can run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download.
Tom Hiddleston, best known for his role as "Loki" in the Marvel series of movies, is set to star in an upcoming Apple TV+ show called "The White Darkness."
The series is based on David Grann's nonfiction work of the same name, which chronicled the Antarctic expeditions of British explorer and army officer Henry Worsley. Worsley journeyed across Antarctica in 2008, leading an expedition to pioneer a route through the Transantarctic Mountains. He also returned in 2011 and 2015.
Apple's TV show will tell Worsley's story, with Hiddleston set to executive produce and star as the main character.
"The White Darkness" is inspired by the true life account of Henry Worsley, a devoted husband and father, a former soldier, a man of deep honor and sacrifice, but also a man deeply obsessed with adventure, manifesting in an epic journey crossing Antarctica on foot. Starring Hiddleston as Worsley, this is a spellbinding story of courage, love, family and the extremes of human capacity.
Hiddleston was most recently in the "Loki" TV series on Disney+, and he also stars in Apple TV+ series "The Essex Serpent," which will debut in May. "The White Darkness" is being developed by Soo Hugh, who also worked on Apple TV+ series "Pachinko."
Apple in February announced an upcoming "Tap to Pay on iPhone" feature designed to allow compatible iPhones to accept payments through Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets, with no extra hardware required.
When Apple first introduced Tap to Pay, Stripe was announced as the sole partner, but Apple this week expanded to include another partner, Adyen. Dutch payment processing company Adyen announced the partnership in a press release, and said that it is planning to work with Apple to offer Tap to Pay on iPhone for its U.S. customers later this year.
Adyen will work with enterprise customers and commerce platforms that include Lightspeed Commerce and NewStore, expanding the number of businesses that will be able to take advantage of Tap to Pay.
Tap to Pay on iPhone is set to compete against existing iPhone payment solutions for merchants such as Square. It will let small businesses accept NFC contactless payments through supported iOS apps with an iPhone XS or newer. When checking someone out, the merchant will ask the customer to hold their own iPhone, Apple Watch, digital wallet, or contactless card up to the merchant's iPhone to complete a payment quickly and easily.
The new payment feature is set to debut in the United States later this year, and though Apple has not yet provided a concrete release date, that new partners are being added suggests we could see a launch in the not too distant future.
Apple today shared a new App Store study that it commissioned from economists at Analysis Group, with the report highlighting the success of third-party developers on the App Store. The study comes as Apple is facing concerns about the prioritization and dominance of its apps on the App Store as well as regulatory pressure to open up iOS to sideloading and alternate app store options.
Apple's aim is to offer up facts on the ecosystem the App Store has created and the content that developers are creating for it. The first part of the study focuses on the numerous ways that developers can reach consumers outside of the App Store, through non-iOS devices like other smartphones, PCs, and consoles and through other digital marketplaces.
The second part of the study focuses on the growth of the App Store over time (there are now 1.8 million apps), 99.9 percent of which are third-party apps as the study is quick to point out that Apple has just 60 apps that are competing with third-party apps.
The final part of the study focuses on the breadth of third-party apps that are available as alternatives to Apple-created apps, and it points out that for many categories like social networks, food, travel planning, and dating services, third-party apps are the only option as Apple does not compete in these categories. It also points out that across most app types, Apple's apps are "eclipsed in popularity and account for a relatively small share of usage."
As an example, the top apps in each App Store category are listed and compared against Apple apps. In the U.S., Spotify is 1.6x more popular than Apple Music among Apple users in terms of daily active users or time spent in the app, and Netflix is 17x more popular than Apple TV+, and Apple's share among TV apps has never exceeded four percent in the countries included in the study. "Apple's own apps are rarely the most popular app of a particular type, and account for a small share of app usage," reads the report.
Apple's share of most app categories falls below 40 percent, according to the study, and is often lower. When it comes to communication apps like Phone, Messages, and others, Apple has a 41 percent share in the U.S. because it competes with WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and others, and for the maps category, it has a 36 percent share. In the TV category, it has a three percent share, and in the reading category, it has an eight percent share.
The study takes a deep dive into several app categories where Apple competes, including communication, reading, music streaming, mapping, TV and video streaming, games, health and fitness, and news.
Apple in the newsroom article on the study pulls out several specific report highlights that it found notable:
Third-party apps are the only options for consumers for entire types of apps, including social networking, dating services, travel planning, and food and drink.
Leaders in app types often vary across countries, with many regional leaders outperforming their globally competitive counterparts.
Third-party apps are the most popular among iPhone users in most regions for major app types, including music streaming, TV and movie streaming, reading, communication, and mapping apps.
Across many app types, Apple's own apps account for a relatively small share of app usage among iPhone users. This is the case even though some Apple apps are preinstalled to enable core functionality of the device.
iPhone users often use multiple apps within a single category, especially apps for communicating, reading the news, watching videos, or navigating -- underscoring how easily users can switch between apps and the breadth of opportunity for developers.
Apple also uses the newsroom article to point out the wide range of tools that it makes available to developers, along with the investments that it makes in the "next generation of developers" with tools like Everyone Can Code, App Development in Swift, and Swift Playgrounds.
Apple said that it does not expressly plan to provide this data to regulators like those developing the Digital Markets Act in Europe, but it is a public study and the company hopes regulators will take notice of the data and facts made available.
All of the data used for the study was sourced from Data.Ai (App Annie), and it looked at metrics like active users, time spent in apps, and total number of downloads. Though the data was sourced from a third-party measurement tool because Apple has limited data of its own, the company did say that it is partnering on the study and thus the data was within the realm of what's reflected in the internal information that Apple does have access to.
The full Analysis Group study on third-party apps on the App Store can be read on Apple's website
Apple today updated its iWork suite of apps, introducing new features for Pages, Numbers, and Keynote on both iOS devices and Mac. These are major version 12 updates, but each app has received only a couple of changes, as outlined below.
Keynote
On iOS, Keynote now features an option to enlarge slides to a maximum zoom level of 400 percent, plus there is a new feature for editing font size more precisely with up to two decimal places.
On Mac, the Shortcuts app can be used to create create or open presentations, rehearse a slideshow, or start presenting.
Numbers
On Numbers for iOS, users can now copy a snapshot of table cells without formulas, categories, or hidden values, plus formulas and cells can be filled with autofill using VoiceOver. Numbers also supports editing font size more precisely with up to two decimal places.
On Mac, Shortcuts can be used to create or open spreadsheets and add rows to a table, plus VoiceOver can be used to create formulas and fill cells using autofill.
Pages
Pages for iOS now features an option to publish directly to Apple Books with file sizes up to 2GB, and there is an option to quickly start writing a new document on iPhone by touching and holding the Pages app icon on the Home screen. Comments can be read and changes can be tracked with VoiceOver, and font size can be edited more precisely.
On Mac, Pages has the same VoiceOver support, plus Shortcuts can be used to create and open documents.
The iWork apps for iOS and Mac are available for free from the App Store and Mac App Store.
WarnerMedia today announced that it will be rolling out a revamped HBO Max app for Apple TV over the next few weeks.
According to Variety and The Streamable, the new tvOS app provides much-needed performance and stability improvements. The updated app is said to look similar to the original version, but it will feature a new main screen view with a scrollable "hero" banner, a new "binge mode" with the ability to skip credits and automatically jump to the next episode in a series, and a simplified account sign-up and sign-in experience.
The new app will also provide users with a new "My Stuff" experience that lets users edit and sort their "My List" and "Continue Watching" lists.
WarnerMedia executive Sarah Lyons said the original HBO Max app for Apple TV was built on the same code base as the existing HBO GO and HBO Now apps in order to get the app to market faster, but the experience was subpar and led to widespread usability complaints from users. The new HBO Max app for tvOS is based on cross-platform technology from You.i, which WarnerMedia acquired in December 2020.
Tom's Guide's Henry T. Casey tested the new app and said it is improved:
The best thing I can say about the new HBO Max app is that I haven't seen the "Oops, something went wrong!" error — which often happened when opening the app after it being in the background — once since I've been testing it. That's been one of my biggest beefs with the app since it arrived, and to not encounter it in the weeks that I've had the app? That's a huge upgrade.
Overall, the new HBO Max app for Apple TV feels more on par with Netflix when it comes to loading times and navigation.
The updated HBO Max app will be rolling out into next week, so the revamped experience might not be available to all users immediately.
Amazon continues to offer record low discounts on Apple's iPad mini 6 lineup, and today these markdowns have reached every Wi-Fi model of the 2021 tablet. Sales start with the entry-level 64GB Wi-Fi iPad mini at $459.00, down from $499.00. This sale can be found at Amazon in every color, and B&H Photo is matching in Purple.
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.
We started tracking this all-time low price on the 64GB Wi-Fi iPad mini a few weeks ago, but this is one of the first times we've seen every color on sale. The iPad mini 6 launched last September with a larger 8.3-inch display, the A15 Bionic chip, support for the Apple Pencil 2, and a USB-C port.
You can also get an all-time low price on the 256GB Wi-Fi iPad mini 6, priced at $599.00, down from $649.00. Amazon is again offering this iPad mini in all four colors: Starlight, Space Gray, Purple, and Pink. B&H Photo is matching the sale in Purple and Starlight.
For even more iPad deals, head to our full Best Deals guide for iPad. In that guide we track the best discounts online for iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro.
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.
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.
