MacRumors

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.

• How to Enable Disappearing Messages in WhatsApp
• How to Stop WhatsApp Auto-Saving Images and Video to Your iPhone's Camera Roll

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 was a major update featuring support for unlocking an iPhone while wearing a mask, new emoji characters, Universal Control on the iPad, and tons more.

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 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.

Samsung and Oppo are planning to transition to custom silicon chips to rival Apple's A-series chips in the iPhone, according to recent reports.

Earlier this year, Chinese smartphone brand Oppo launched its first custom silicon chip, the MariSilicon X image processor, in the Find X5. Now, the company's chip design team is developing an application processor (AP) and an entire custom System on Chip (SoC) for future Oppo devices, IT Home reports. Like Apple's custom silicon chips, Oppo is looking to TSMC to manufacture its chips.

IT Home suggests that Oppo will launch its custom AP, manufactured with TSMC's 6nm process, in 2023. This will reportedly be followed by a full SoC, integrating the AP and modem, manufactured with TSMC's 4nm process, in 2024. The chips may not be comparable to offerings from Qualcomm and Mediatek in terms of efficiency and fabrication processes, but they could be adopted in entry-level mobile products first before increasing market penetration over time.

Meanwhile, iNews 24 reports that Samsung smartphone chief Roh Tae-moon told a company town hall meeting that "we will make an AP unique to the Galaxy." The push toward custom silicon chips is reportedly being driven by GPS issues and poor thermal performance caused by the Exynos 2200 chip in Samsung's latest Galaxy S22 series of smartphones. Samsung hopes that it will be able to mirror Apple in taking multiple considerations into account with its custom chips instead simply of putting performance at the forefront.

The movement is seemingly part of a trend of increasing ambition from Android smartphone brands to rival Apple more directly and become the world's biggest smartphone brand, with Oppo laying out plans to aggressively compete in the high-end smartphone market and Xiaomi pledging a "war of life and death" against Apple.

Incase today announced the launch of new Woolenex case options for the AirTag and the AirPods 3. The Incase Key Clip with Woolenex is designed for the ‌AirTag‌, and it is a lightweight, form-fitting case that covers the ‌AirTag‌ in Woolenex and adds a TPU snap enclosure with key ring.

The Incase Key Clip comes in graphite gray and blush pink, and it has an open front and back window to allow for signal and sound output.

Incase's Woolenex Case for AirPods 3 is a made from the same material, and is meant to protect the AirPods case from scuffs and scratches. Underneath the Woolenex, there is a lightweight injection-molded polycarbonate shell to add durability and protection from impact. The case comes in asphalt gray, cobalt blue, and deep red, and it has a matching strap.

Woolenex is Incase's lightweight fabric blend that is used for a wide variety of accessory case options. Incase says that the material is woven from two thicknesses of polyester fiber to create a slim, strong material that offers abrasion and weather resistance.

Along with these two Woolenex accessories, Incase is also introducing the Reform Sport Case for the third-generation AirPods. Available in black and rose coral, the case features a two-layer design with a hard exterior shell and a soft interior to protect the AirPods case from drops.

The Incase Key Clip with Woolenex for ‌AirTag‌ is priced at $19.95, the Woolenex Case for AirPods is priced at $34.95, and the Reform Sport Case for AirPods is priced at $39.95. All three accessories can be purchased from the Incase website and directly from Apple's online store.

China's BOE Technology is preparing to supply Apple with OLED displays for future iPad and MacBook models, The Elec reports.

In preparation for Apple's supply requirements, BOE will build a Gen 8.6 OLED display panel production line at its B16 factory in Sichuan Province, China, according to The Elec. The new production line will reportedly open toward the end of 2024. The company plans to rival South Korea's Samsung Display and LG Display in supplying Apple with OLED panels for future ‌iPad‌ and MacBook models.

Both Samsung and LG are said to use Gen 6 production lines for their first OLED panels for iPads, before using Gen 8.5 production lines for various Apple devices set to debut after the launch of the first ‌iPad‌ model with an OLED display. Gen 8.5 production lines yield more OLED panels per substrate than Gen 6 lines and is therefore more cost effective.

BOE is also testing two-stack tandem OLED technology, which can offer increased brightness and longevity. This makes two-stack tandem OLED displays more suitable for devices like iPads and MacBooks, since they are often used for a longer period of time than smartphones.

The Elec reaffirmed that Apple is planning to introduce its first ‌iPad‌ models with OLED displays in 2024. A previous report situated the launch of the first MacBook with an OLED display in 2025, depending on the success of new 11- and 12.9-inch OLED iPad Pro models from the previous year.

Apple has recently implemented several changes to the App Store that allow for outside payment options and linking to external websites for purchase purposes. As part of these changes, Apple in iOS 15.5 is adding support for and warnings about external purchases.

Code for external purchase support was discovered by 9to5Mac in the iOS 15.5 beta, which came out yesterday. The site says that iOS 15.5 "has full support" for the "External Link Account Entitlement" that Apple recently made available to reader apps.

As of last week, Apple began allowing developers of reader apps to sign up for access to an external link entitlement that will allow the app to offer a link to a website so users can create or manage an account outside of the ‌App Store‌. Reader apps include those that provide digital content like magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, or video as the primary functionality of the app, with Spotify, Netflix, Hulu, and other apps serving as an example.

Apps that receive an External Link Account Entitlement will be able to provide an in-app link that goes to an outside website. So, for example, the Netflix iOS app will be able to provide a link to the Netflix website, where users will be able to sign up for or manage a Netflix subscription.

Apple decided to allow reader apps to offer a link to an external website to settle an investigation launched by the Japanese Fair Trade Commission in early 2021. Apple said that it plans to "make sure users of reader apps continue to have a safe experience on the ‌‌‌App Store‌‌‌," and that it would help developers "protect users when they link to an external website to make purchases," which explains some of the new wording in iOS 15.5.

As an example, 9to5Mac located text that warns a user who deletes an app with external purchases that subscriptions and purchases cannot be managed through the ‌App Store‌, unlike apps that offer subscriptions and content through ‌App Store‌ tools. If, for example, a user subscribes to Netflix through an external link in the Netflix iOS app and then deletes Netflix, the subscription cannot be canceled through the ‌App Store‌ subscription interface and will need to be handled directly by the developer, aka Netflix in the example instance.

"External purchases from 'ExternalPurchase' may still exist," reads the pop up in the beta. "You cannot manage or cancel any external purchases through the ‌App Store‌. For more information, contact the developer."

For some apps with external purchases, Apple will also apparently alert users about the external purchase options and support limitations when the app is first launched, making it clear to users that purchases outside of the ‌App Store‌ will need to be managed outside of the ‌App Store‌.

Apple's guidelines for external links in reader apps are also designed to make a clear designation between the ‌App Store‌ and an external purchase. A link must open in a new browser window on the default browser for the device, for example, rather than in a web view in the app itself. As for protections, links cannot have tracking information or redirects in them, and an app can only link out to a website that it is affiliated with.

We don't yet know when iOS 15.5 will be released, but Apple is accepting requests from reader apps that are interested in using the external link entitlement. Apple's website for link entitlement says that the External Link Account API will be available for reader apps to build and test "in an upcoming beta release of iOS and iPadOS," which appears to be iOS 15.5.

With the release of macOS Monterey 12.3.1 on Thursday, March 31, Apple addressed two critical vulnerabilities that may have been actively exploited in the wild, but as Intego pointed out this week, Apple left macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina users vulnerable.

The macOS Monterey 12.3.1 update fixed a pair of security flaws, including an AppleAVD issue that could allow an application to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges and an Intel Graphics Driver issue that could allow an application to read kernel memory. Apple said that it was aware of reports that these vulnerabilities "may have been actively exploited," aka there are attacks that use these specific security holes.

Apple often provides security updates for macOS Catalina and macOS Big Sur users alongside macOS Monterey updates to make sure that Mac users who continue to run older operating systems remain protected. Apple has not done so in this case, and there are no security fixes for macOS 11 Big Sur or macOS 10.15 Catalina.

macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina are still being supported with updates for notable vulnerabilities, so it is not clear why security fixes have not been released. According to Intego, this is the first time that Apple has not released simultaneous security patches for Big Sur and Catalina alongside fixes provided for macOS Monterey.

Big Sur remains vulnerable to CVE-2022-22675 (the AppleAVD bug), while CVE-2022-22674 (an Intel Graphics Driver bug) likely impacts both Big Sur and Catalina, based on research conducted by Intego.

There are some Mac users who choose to remain on Big Sur or Catalina who could install Monterey to get security fixes, but other Mac users have older hardware that is not able to be updated to Monterey, and these users have no way to address the security flaws that are now publicized.

Intego estimates that around 35 percent of Macs in use today could be affected by one or both vulnerabilities, and Apple has not responded to the site's request for an update on when security fixes might come out for Big Sur and Catalina.

Apple today provided the first beta of an upcoming macOS Monterey 12.4 update to its public beta testing group, with the update coming one day after Apple provided the beta to developers.

Public beta testers can download the macOS Monterey 12.4 Monterey update from the Software Update section of the System Preferences app after installing the proper profile from Apple's beta software website.

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.

No new features have been found in the macOS Monterey 12.4 beta at this time.

Apple today seeded the first public betas of iOS 15.5 and iPadOS 15.5 to its public beta testing group, with the software updates coming one day after Apple provided the betas to developers.

The iOS and iPadOS 15.5 betas can be downloaded over the air after the proper profile from Apple's public beta testing website 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.

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 15.4 guide.