Apple today seeded the fifth beta of the upcoming watchOS 8 update to developers for testing purposes, with the update coming two weeks after Apple released the fourth watchOS 8 beta.
To install watchOS 8, developers will need to download the configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once installed, watchOS 8 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. It's not recommended to install watchOS 8 on a main Apple Watch as the software may be unstable at this early date.
watchOS 8 has several new features that are extensions of new features introduced in iOS 15. There are improvements to Wallet that allow it to hold keys for unlocking hotel, car, and home doors, plus Apple will let U.S. users add their IDs to Wallet later this year.
Apple overhauled the Home app, and for the Workout app, there are new Tai Chi and Pilates workout types, and the Breathe app has been renamed to Mindfulness thanks to a new Reflect session that invites users to get into a positive state of mind. When sleeping, the Apple Watch now measures respiratory rate.
Focus mode from iOS 15 syncs to the watch so users can stay on task, and in the Messages app, Scribble, dictation, and emojis can be combined within the same message, making it easier to communicate. Dictated text can be edited, and GIFs can be sent right from the watch.
There's a new Portrait watch face, and the Photos app has been updated with support for Memories and Featured Photos. A new Find My app lets items be located right on the wrist, and there are also new updates for Music, Weather, Timers, and more, along with a new Contacts app.
New bipartisan antitrust legislation that targets Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store was today introduced by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal, Marsha Blackburn, and Amy Klobuchar.
The Open App Markets Act [PDF] is meant to create "fair, clear, and enforceable rules" that will protect competition and strengthen consumer protections. According to the three senators, Apple and Google have "gatekeeper control" of the two main mobile operating systems and their app stores, allowing them to dictate the terms of the app market.
Under the terms of the bill, which applies to companies that own or control an App Store with more than 50,000,000 users, Apple would not be able to require developers to use its own in-app purchase system, and it would be required to allow developers to distribute apps through alternative app stores.
Apple would need to provide "readily accessible means" for iPhone users to install third-party apps or app stores outside of Apple's own App Store, and it would need to let customers choose third-party apps and app stores as their defaults while also hiding standard Apple apps.
Other wording in the bill would prevent Apple from retaliating against developers that decided to distribute apps using alternative means, and Apple would also not be allowed to unreasonably preference its own apps. The company would need to provide developers with access to operating system interfaces, development information, and hardware and software features.
In a statement, Blumenthal said that the legislation would break the competitive hold that Apple and Google have over the app market while providing mobile users with more control over their devices.
"This legislation will tear down coercive anticompetitive walls in the app economy, giving consumers more choices and smaller startup tech companies a fighting chance. For years, Apple and Google have squashed competitors and kept consumers in the dark--pocketing hefty windfalls while acting as supposedly benevolent gatekeepers of this multi-billion dollar market. I'm proud to partner with Senators Blackburn and Klobuchar in this breakthrough blow against Big Tech bullying. This bipartisan bill will help break these tech giants' ironclad grip, open the app economy to new competitors, and give mobile users more control over their own devices."
Blackburn said that Apple and Google's refusal to allow for third-party App Stores is a "direct affront to a free and fair marketplace, and Klobuchar said that the legislation levels the playing field and will ensure an "innovative and competitive marketplace."
In an interview with Reuters, Blumenthal said that he found the "predatory abuse" of the two companies "deeply offensive on so many levels." He said that he expects companion legislation in the House of Representatives "very soon."
Update: In a statement to MacRumors, Apple reiterated its commitment to ensuring that apps are delivered to customers in a way that is safe and trustworthy.
"Since our founding, we’ve always put our users at the center of everything we do, and the App Store is the cornerstone of our work to connect developers and customers in a way that is safe and trustworthy. The result has been an unprecedented engine of economic growth and innovation, one that now supports more than 2.1 million jobs across all 50 states. At Apple, our focus is on maintaining an App Store where people can have confidence that every app must meet our rigorous guidelines and their privacy and security is protected."
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.
Apple has begun selling a new third-party accessory for its MagSafe ecosystem, a folding stand from OtterBox priced at $39.95. The hinged stand includes a recessed area to house a user-provided MagSafe Charger and a slot for routing the cable through the stand and out the back.
The folding design is convenient for travel and lets you set your desired angle for nightstand viewing, video calls, and more in either portrait or landscape orientation. When folded completely back into a horizontal position, it can serve as a traditional Qi charger for non-MagSafe devices such as AirPods or other smartphones.
At $39.95 for the stand and an additional $39.00 for Apple's MagSafe Charger, it's not an inexpensive charging solution, but the removable charger setup does offer flexibility to only use the stand when needed.
Apple today seeded new betas of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 to public beta testers, allowing non-developers to download and test the new updates ahead of their fall release. The latest public betas come two weeks after Apple released the previous public betas and are equivalent to the fifth developer betas released yesterday.
Public beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program can download the iOS and iPadOS 15 updates over the air after installing the proper certificate from the Public Beta website.
iOS 15 adds new features for FaceTime, tools for reducing distractions, updated notifications, and privacy enhancements. FaceTime supports SharePlay for watching TV, listening to music, or screen sharing with friends, while a Shared with You feature keeps track of the songs, website links, pictures, and more that friends send you.
Focus is designed to help keep you on task by cutting out notifications you don't want while you're busy, and there's a new notifications summary feature that prevents you from being inundated with unimportant notifications throughout the day.
Safari has a redesigned look with a compact tab bar that's located at the bottom of the screen, plus Tab Groups let users save open tabs for later. Maps has a new zoomed out globe view and a new 3D view in select cities, plus there's more road detail and an AR-based walking direction feature.
The Wallet app will support IDs and more kinds of keys in iOS 15, and Photos gains updates to Memories and a new Live Text feature that uses on-device intelligence to recognize the text in an image, making it searchable and copyable. Spotlight is better than ever, and processing for Siri requests is now done directly on device.
Mail Privacy Protection in the Mail app stops senders from seeing your IP address and knowing if you've opened up an email, and an App Privacy Report gives you details on how often apps use permissions like camera and location access.
There are a ton of other new features available in iOS and iPadOS 15, with full details available in our roundup.
Apple has released a new macOS Big Sur 11.5.2 update, delivering unspecified bug fixes for Mac users running the latest major operating system version. The update comes a little over two weeks after Apple released macOS 11.5.1.
The new macOS Big Sur 11.5.2 update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Preferences.
We'll update this article if we learn more about fixes included in macOS 11.5.2.
Popular to-do app Things reached version 3.14 today and gained several additional note-related features: Bullet Lists, Markdown support, Find in Text, and Things Cloud "Fractus."
Things has supported bullet lists before now, but you can now nest lists by inserting spaces in front of a bullet, and character lines now line up with the text of the previous line, thanks to the use of a fixed-width font.
When editing bullet lists, Things will now make the process a little easier by automatically stripping out "double bullets" during copy-paste.
Meanwhile, there's a new Find in Text option that augments the existing search by searching specific notes. The option can be activated using the key shortcut Shift-Command-F, and is aimed at making it easier to narrow down a search in particularly long notes.
In addition, Things now recognizes a wide range of commonly used Markdown syntax, making it easier to structure and style notes.
Lastly, Things Cloud "Fractus" is a new way of syncing text. Until now, each time the user modified a note – say to insert or remove a few words – the entire note would be synced again across all their devices.
With Things Cloud "Fractus", however, only the fragments of text that are modified get synced, which should improve the speed and efficiency of the sync, and allow for smarter resolution of conflicts.
Samsung today unveiled a series of new products at a virtual event, including the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 foldable smartphones, Galaxy Buds 2 wireless earbuds, and Galaxy Watch 4 smartwatch. We've provided a high-level summary of the new products below for Apple users who are interested in learning about the latest competition.
Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Flip 3
A key new feature of the Fold 3 is an uninterrupted 7.6-inch inner display with a 4-megapixel camera embedded under the screen, whereas the Fold 2 had a hole-punch camera. This is in addition to a trio of 12-megapixel rear lenses and a 10-megapixel front camera. The outer 6.2-inch display on the Fold 3 now supports up to a 120Hz refresh rate for smoother content, whereas only the inner display was 120Hz capable on the Fold 2.
Samsung said the Fold 3 and the Flip 3 have more durable designs, with both devices featuring stronger aluminum frames, IPX8-rated water resistance, tougher Gorilla Glass Victus display glass, and a new protective display film made with a stretchable PET material, which Samsung says makes the inner display 80% more durable than previous devices.
The Fold 3 is Samsung's first foldable smartphone with support for the S Pen, which comes in two options specifically for the device: S Pen Fold Edition and S Pen Pro. Samsung says both styluses feature a specially engineered retractable tip with "force limit technology" to protect the Fold 3's inner display from scratches and damage.
Powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888, the Fold 3 runs Android 11 and is equipped with a 4,400 mAh battery, 256GB or 512GB of storage, and 12GB of RAM. The device is available in three colors: Phantom Black, Phantom Green, and Phantom Silver.
The smaller and less expensive Flip 3 sports a 6.7-inch inner display that now supports 120Hz, and an expanded 1.9-inch outer display. The device is also powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888 and is equipped with a 3,300 mAh battery, 128GB or 256GB of storage, 8GB of RAM, dual 12-megapixel rear cameras, a 10-megapixel front camera, and more.
The Fold 3 and Flip 3 start at $1,799.99 and $999.99 respectively. Both devices are available for pre-order starting today, and they will launch on August 27 starting with select markets, including the United States, Europe, and Korea.
The key attraction of Samsung's new Galaxy Buds 2 is active noise cancellation for just $149.99, making them much lower priced than the AirPods Pro, which retail for $249 but are frequently on sale for less at some retailers.
Samsung said Galaxy Buds 2 offer up to five hours of battery life with active noise cancellation enabled, and like the AirPods Pro, they are recharged in a wireless case. Galaxy Buds 2 are the lightest and smallest Galaxy Buds earbuds to date and they will be available in four colors: Graphite, White, Olive, and Lavender.
Galaxy Watch 4
Last up is the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, powered by a new version of Wear OS that was jointly developed by Google and Samsung. In many ways, this feels like the best shot at an Android-based competitor to the Apple Watch, with the new user interface seemingly drawing some inspiration from watchOS's honeycomb grid view for apps.
Samsung said the Galaxy Watch 4 comes with an array of health and wellness features, including blood pressure measuring, atrial fibrillation and irregular heartbeat detection, blood oxygen measuring, and the ability to calculate body composition. A new Body Composition feature gives users a better understanding of their general health and fitness, with key measurements like skeletal muscle, basal metabolic rate, body water, and body fat percentage.
Tech specs for both Galaxy Watch 4 models include an Exynos W920 processor, 16GB of internal storage, 1.5GB of RAM, up to 40 hours of battery life, IP68-rated water and dust resistance, Bluetooth 5.0, and more.
The standard Galaxy Watch 4 has an aluminum casing with 40mm and 44mm display size options, while the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic has a more premium stainless steel design with 42mm and 46mm sizes. Both watches are available for pre-order in select markets starting today, with retail availability starting August 27. Pricing starts at $249.99 for the Galaxy Watch 4 and at $349.99 for the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic.
One of the biggest hurdles for customers looking to switch between Android and iOS is their inability to transfer their WhatsApp chats between the two different ecosystems. Now, that's coming to an end, as WhatsApp has officially announced that it will easily allow users to transfer their chats between Android and iOS.
As reported first by Engadget, WhatsApp used airtime during Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event to announce the new feature. WhatsApp tested the feature for the past few weeks and said it was difficult to implement due to "end-to-end encryption," requiring added assistance to make it work.
The feature will first arrive on Android devices, specifically Samsung smartphones, allowing users to initially transfer chats from iOS to Samsung smartphones. The transfer will include the chat itself, photos, videos, and voice memos, and should be available to Samsung users in the "coming weeks." WhatsApp has not said when the feature will arrive for a wider range of WhatsApp devices and on iOS.
BlueJeans Telehealth has today announced that it will integrate with Apple's Health app to give more contextual information to healthcare providers.
BlueJeans Telehealth is a HIPAA-ready virtual care system that provides a way for healthcare providers to meet with their patients via a video call, integrating with the workflows of clinical teams to replicate the experience of onsite encounters.
The BlueJeans Telehealth app will now allow patients to share specific categories of health data from Apple's Health app, including heart rate, ECGs, step count, mobility data, sleep, and falls, with their healthcare provider during telehealth appointments, via HealthKit.
Patients can specifically control which encrypted health data they wish to share while supplying healthcare providers with additional information to give more informed advice.
Health data can be selected within the pre-visit patient landing experience or through the televisit tile during the session. Once synced, the healthcare provider will be able to see, expand, and interact with the Apple Health app data, allowing them to observe trends and highlight data on-screen for the patient.
MacRumors and Anker have partnered this week to give our readers a chance to save on six of Anker's best charging accessories. This time, the devices on sale include USB-C chargers, wireless chargers, and a high capacity portable power station.
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.
All of the codes below will expire on Sunday, August 22, so you have about a week and a half to shop our new exclusive sale with Anker on Amazon. All accessories in this sale require a discount code to see the savings, with the exception of the PowerWave Magnetic Pad in the Black colorway, which has an on-page 20 percent coupon that you can clip to get the discount.
Items on sale include Anker's MagSafe-compatible PowerWave Magnetic Pad, which will work with the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max. At just $15.99 in Black and $16.79 in White, this is nearly half of the current price of the first-party MagSafe Charger on Amazon.
Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.
Popular password management app 1Password today previewed the "next generation" of its app, 1Password 8, featuring a more contextual user interface, redesigned menus, improved password generation, and more.
The new update is a considerable update, featuring refinements that make it easier for users to track, manage, and keep an eye on potentially vulnerable passwords. One of the first changes relates to shared password vaults, where 1Password 8 will now offer more visual representation for what passwords are being shared with who.
You'll also notice an indicator next to each shared vault, making it easier to see which vaults are private and which are shared. No guesswork. And items show who they're being shared with.
Throughout the app you're in more control, with more contextual information available at all times. Try dragging-and-dropping an item from a personal vault to a shared vault. When you do, 1Password will show you who will gain access to the item so there's no doubt about what's happening.
Taking some inspiration frm macOS Spotlight, 1Password 8 includes a more powerful search bar, allowing users to be more granular with the search terms based on tags, websites, and more. An important aspect of any good password management app is the oversight of your passwords and their vulnerabilities. 1Password 8 is promising more advanced password oversight with an improved version of Watchtower. The new version includes a new editing experience with "a powerful new password generator, smart suggestions, and simpler file attachments."
On top of front-end user refinements, 1Password is promising improved speeds with its upcoming Mac app alongside continued improvements on end-to-end encryption.
You won't see this change but you'll feel it. The app is incredibly responsive across the board, from unlocking to adding accounts to searching your items — especially when combined with native support for Apple Silicon and all the speed improvements that brings. We're talking breaking-the-warp-barrier speed.
Apple today shared a new "Today at Apple" session on YouTube, exploring how to shoot and edit looping videos in the Clips app, with the help of director Romain Laurent and Jahmyra from Today at Apple.
Viewers are encouraged to get involved simply with an iPhone and the Clips app, but may also wish to take advantage of a selfie stick or tripod.
The session covers how to make a simple loop video, match your movement, add an unexpected feature, finalizing looped videos, top takeaways, and export videos.
Apple says its free Today at Apple sessions are meant to inspire hands-on creativity in photography, art, design, video, coding, music, and more using Apple products and accessories like the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Pencil. Initially hosted exclusively at Apple Stores, the sessions started to be offered online during the global health crisis, and Apple also started uploading sessions to YouTube last month.
Apple announced earlier this year that, with iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, the Find My Network will be able to locate AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. Now, it has emerged that this will be achieved by tethering the AirPods to a specific Apple ID, with an unusual system of covering the AirPods Pro's speaker holes to remove the linked account.
First spotted by 9to5Mac, iOS 15 developer beta five code has confirmed that, to work with Apple's Find My Network, AirPods Pro and AirPods Max will need to be tethered to an Apple ID. This means that even if a user connects someone else's AirPods to their device, they will remain tethered to the owner's Apple ID.
To remove the configured Apple ID and disable connection to the Find My Network, such as when passing the AirPods to a new user, owners will have to follow a number of manual steps similar to the process for untethering an AirTag.
For AirPods Max, users need to hold down the Active Noise Cancelation button at the same time as the Digital Crown for 12 seconds. For AirPods Pro, users have to cover the interior and exterior grilles with their fingers while pressing the button on the stem three times in sequence.
Support for the Find My Network will likely come via an AirPods Pro and AirPods Max firmware update alongside iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 later in the fall. First and second-generation AirPods will not support the Find My Network.
Previously, all AirPods devices appeared in the Find My app, but were not remotely locatable using the Find My Network like an AirTag, which uses low-energy Bluetooth to feed a device's location back to the owner via nearby iPhone or iPad.
Mozilla has announced the public release of Firefox 91, featuring an enhanced version of its Total Cookie Protection for individual websites.
When you browse the web on your devices, websites will often leave cookies on your system so that they can remember you and what your preferences are.
Some cookies are genuinely useful, as they allow sites to save your personal information (such as your login credentials) so that you don't have to keep entering it every time you visit. However, for the same reason, cookies can pose a privacy risk because of the information they hold about you.
To combat this, Total Cookie Protection makes sure websites can't track users across websites by partitioning data storage into one cookie jar per website.
With Enhanced Cookie Clearing, when a user empties a cookie jar for an individual website, the entire jar is emptied, including any tracking data set embedded from another website, such as Facebook.
Firefox no longer shows individual domains that store data. Instead, it lists a cookie jar for each website visited, making it easier to identify and remove all data a website has stored locally, while also removing any leftover data from third parties embedded in that site.
For Enhanced Cookie Clearing to work, Strict Tracking Protection (Settings -> Privacy & Security) needs to be enabled. Enhanced Cookie Clearing will then be used when using "Clear cookies and site data" in the identity panel (the lock icon) or in the Firefox preferences.
In addition, there's a new "Forget About This Site" option in the History menu that deletes a site from history along with any cookies and caches for it.
Apple this week dropped its long-standing lawsuit against Corellium, the security research company that provides security researchers with a replica of the iOS operating system, allowing them to locate possible security exploits within Apple's mobile operating system, The Washington Postreports.
While Corellium offers a replica of the iOS operating system that runs on the iPhone, the security research firm says that it benefits Apple if anything. By providing security researchers with access to the same operating system that runs on millions of devices, security experts can find security vulnerabilities and potential exploits more efficiently, leading them to be fixed by Apple.
Citing court documents, The Washington Post reports that Apple and Corellium have agreed on a confidential settlement to bring the lawsuit to an end. Despite Apple's grievances with Corellium, however, the settlement does not include Corellium suspending the sale and distribution of tools used by security researchers.
Likely fueled by the lawsuit and the discussion around security research on iPhone, Apple last year launched a program that would give security researchers access to specially configured iPhones for researching security vulnerabilities and exploits.
Apple this week began selling refurbished 8th-generation iPad models through its online store in the United States for the first time since the device was released last year. As usual, the refurbished models are discounted by approximately 15% compared to brand new models, with pricing starting at $279 for the 32GB model versus $329 new.
Apple says its certified refurbished iPad models are thoroughly inspected, tested, cleaned, and repackaged in a new white box, with a Lightning cable, power adapter, and manuals included in the box. A refurbished iPad also comes with a new battery and a new outer shell, making it virtually indistinguishable from a brand new iPad.
Introduced in September 2020, the 8th-generation iPad features a 10.2-inch Retina display and the A12 Bionic chip with a Neural Engine.
Refurbished iPads are covered by Apple's standard one-year warranty. This coverage can be extended with an AppleCare+ for iPad plan, available for a one-time fee of $69 or $3.49 per month for 24 months in the United States.
Apple also started selling refurbished 2020 iPad Pro models this week. While certified refurbished iPads represent a decent opportunity for savings straight from Apple, better deals are sometimes available from resellers like Amazon and Best Buy. Be sure to monitor our Apple Deals roundup for the latest discounts on Apple products.
Apple today released the fifth betas of iOS and iPadOS 15 to developers, introducing additional tweaks to the new operating system that's launching this fall.
As we get further into the beta testing process, the changes that are introduced are getting smaller as Apple begins to finalize its design plans for the update. Today's beta focuses on small changes and refinements to iOS and iPadOS 15 features.
Weather App Icon
The design of the Weather app icon has been tweaked slightly. It's a darker blue than the prior version.
iOS 15 b4 Weather app icon on left, iOS 15 b5 Weather app icon on right
Safari Reload Icon
In Safari, when the address bar is collapsed while in the full web page view, the reload icon has been removed from the URL bar. The reload icon still shows in the standard view.
In the prior beta, the reload icon was shown in both views that are demonstrated in the screenshot above. In the current beta, it only shows in the standard view.
iPadOS 15 Safari
In iPadOS 15, today's beta changes the shading of the tab interface in Safari in an effort to make it more clear which tab is the active tab.
iPadOS 15 Home Screen Settings
In the Settings app under Home Screen & Dock, there's now an option on the iPad to use large icons.
With the feature enabled, icons take up more space on the screen so there's less empty area, and it's also easier to tap on the app icon that you need.
Control Center Camera Icon
Apple in an earlier beta refined the icon for the Camera app, and in iOS 15 beta 5, the camera icon in the Control Center is using the newly updated icon rather than the old icon.
Design wise, the new icon does away with the shutter button.
Old camera icon on left, new camera icon on right
Control Center Sound Recognition Icon
Apple has also changed the icon for the Sound Recognition feature in the Control Center. It was previously a sound wave in a square, but now it is a sound wave with a little magnifying glass search icon.
iPhone Power Off
When turning off the iPhone, there's now a tappable warning that the iPhone will remain findable after it's turned off. If you tap on it, there's an option to "Temporarily Turn Off Finding."
Splash Screens
Apple has added new splash screens with feature descriptions for apps like Photos, Reminders, Home, and Maps.
Background Sounds
There's a new option to turn off Background Sounds when an iPhone is locked, which can be found under Settings > Accessibility > Audio and Visual> Background Sounds.
TestFlight Info in App Store
When you look up an app in the App Store, if you have the TestFlight version installed from a developer, the App Store listing will display the TestFlight version that you have installed and will offer a link to open the TestFlight app.
Legacy Contacts
According to Apple's release notes for the update, Legacy Contacts has been removed in beta 5 and will be re-added in a later update.
Other New Features
Know of something new in the beta that we left out? Let us know in the comments below.
Last week, Apple previewed new child safety features that it said will be coming to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac with software updates later this year. The company said the features will be available in the U.S. only at launch.
A refresher on Apple's new child safety features from our previous coverage:
First, an optional Communication Safety feature in the Messages app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac can warn children and their parents when receiving or sending sexually explicit photos. When the feature is enabled, Apple said the Messages app will use on-device machine learning to analyze image attachments, and if a photo is determined to be sexually explicit, the photo will be automatically blurred and the child will be warned.
Second, Apple will be able to detect known Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) images stored in iCloud Photos, enabling Apple to report these instances to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a non-profit organization that works in collaboration with U.S. law enforcement agencies. Apple confirmed today that the process will only apply to photos being uploaded to iCloud Photos and not videos.
Third, Apple will be expanding guidance in Siri and Spotlight Search across devices by providing additional resources to help children and parents stay safe online and get help with unsafe situations. For example, users who ask Siri how they can report CSAM or child exploitation will be pointed to resources for where and how to file a report.
Since announcing the plans last Thursday, Apple has received some pointed criticism, ranging from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden claiming that Apple is "rolling out mass surveillance" to the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation claiming that the new child safety features will create a "backdoor" into the company's platforms.
"All it would take to widen the narrow backdoor that Apple is building is an expansion of the machine learning parameters to look for additional types of content, or a tweak of the configuration flags to scan, not just children's, but anyone's accounts," cowrote the EFF's India McKinney and Erica Portnoy. "That's not a slippery slope; that's a fully built system just waiting for external pressure to make the slightest change."
The concerns extend to the general public, with over 7,000 individuals having signed an open letter against Apple's so-called "privacy-invasive content scanning technology" that calls for the company to abandon its planned child safety features.
At this point in time, it does not appear that any negative feedback has led Apple to reconsider its plans. We confirmed with Apple today that the company has not made any changes as it relates to the timing of the new child safety features becoming available — that is, later this year in updates to iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, and macOS Monterey. With the features not expected to launch for several weeks to months, though, the plans could still change.
Apple sticking to its plans will please several advocates, including Julie Cordua, CEO of the international anti-human trafficking organization Thorn.
"The commitment from Apple to deploy technology solutions that balance the need for privacy with digital safety for children brings us a step closer to justice for survivors whose most traumatic moments are disseminated online," said Cordua.
"We support the continued evolution of Apple's approach to child online safety," said Stephen Balkam, CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute. "Given the challenges parents face in protecting their kids online, it is imperative that tech companies continuously iterate and improve their safety tools to respond to new risks and actual harms."
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.
