MacRumors

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming macOS Big Sur 11.5 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new beta coming two weeks after the release of the first macOS Big Sur 11.5 beta.

Developers can download the ‌‌‌‌macOS Big Sur‌‌‌‌ 11.5 beta using the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences after installing the proper profile from the Apple Developer Center.

macOS Big Sur 11.5 may be a more minor update focusing on under-the-hood performance improvements and bug fixes for issues that weren't able to be addressed in the macOS Big Sur 11.4 update. No new features were found in the first beta.

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming watchOS 7.6 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new beta coming one week after the release of the first beta.

To install the ‌watchOS 7.6 beta, developers need to download the proper configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once the profile is in place, the watchOS 7.5 beta can be downloaded through the dedicated ‌Apple Watch‌ app on the iPhone by going to General > Software Update.

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

We don't know what's included in the watchOS 7.6 update, and no new features were discovered in the first beta.

If your Apple Card has not been working today, you are not alone. Apple's credit card has been suffering from a widespread outage that has persisted for several hours, according to Apple's system status page.

"Users may not be able to manage their ‌Apple Card‌, make payments, and may not see recent transactions," the page reads.

Launched in the United States in August 2019, the ‌Apple Card‌'s key features include Wallet app integration with color-coded spending summaries, no fees, and up to three percent cashback on purchases, paid out daily. A physical, titanium ‌Apple Card‌ is also available for use at retail locations that do not accept contactless payments.

Update: Apple's system status page says the outage has been resolved.

The App Store ecosystem facilitated an estimated $643 billion in billings and sales in 2020, an increase of 24 percent year-over-year, according to an Apple-commissioned study done by Analysis Group economists. [PDF]

The study, "A Global Perspective on the Apple ‌App Store‌ Ecosystem," comes as Apple awaits a decision in its ongoing trial with Epic Games, much of which focused on App Store policies and fees. ‌Epic Games‌ and other developers have been unhappy with Apple's 30 percent cut, with ‌Epic Games‌ lobbying for alternative app store options while Apple fights to prove the value of the ‌App Store‌ as it exists now.

Analysis Group's research looked at how the ‌App Store‌ ecosystem shifted amid the pandemic in 2020, highlighting the ways Apple's platform helped small developers (those with less than one million downloads and less than $1 million in earnings), as well as exploring how the ‌App Store‌ has benefitted developers over the course of the last five years.

The $643 billion total estimate for 2020 takes into account various app monetization strategies, and 90 percent of the $643 billion comes from sales outside of the ‌App Store‌, which Apple says it collected no commission on. These sales include general retail, travel, food delivery and pickup, ride hailing, and grocery store orders, with physical goods and services representing the biggest category. Basically, when you shop in an app, purchase food delivery, or order a Lyft ride on your iPhone, the study counts that as commerce facilitated by the ‌App Store‌.

Analysis Group suggests that sales enabled by the ‌App Store‌ increased by $124 billion compared to 2019, marking 24 percent growth. Much of this growth came as people shifted to staying inside and doing more business online because of the pandemic. Billings and sales of digital goods and services was up 40 percent, for example, while sales in the travel and ride hailing sectors were down more than 30 percent.

According to the study, small developers make up 90 percent of all ‌App Store‌ developers, and more than 1 in 4 small developers that sell digital goods and services on the ‌App Store‌ have increased their earnings by an average of 25 percent each year for the past five years, including 2020. The number of small developers has has increased 40 percent between 2015 and 2020, and earnings have nearly tripled between 2015 and 2020.

Almost 80 percent of small developers are active across multiple countries' storefronts and have earnings from users in more than 40 countries, with Apple pointing out how the ‌App Store‌ facilitates secure international transactions, localized storefronts, and payment processing. 40 percent of app downloads from small developers came from users outside of the developers' home countries, and nearly 80 percent of small developers are active in multiple storefronts.

As for larger developers, a conservative estimate suggests that more than 75 app-based companies in the U.S. and Europe have gone public or been acquired, with a total valuation of more than $510 billion at the time of their offering or sale. Apple says that these are all companies for whom iOS apps are central to their businesses. Dating app Bumble, for example, started out on the ‌iPhone‌ in 2014 and IPO'd in 2021, raising $2.2 billion.

In the announcement highlighting the study, Apple also pointed out that it helps developers create apps with more than 250,000 APIs in 40 software development kits (SDKs), as well as helping budding developers with Developer Academies and other app development courses and educational offerings. Apple says more than 10,000 people have graduated from a Developer Academy and have launched more than 1,500 apps, and its educational efforts reached more than two million students and teachers in 2020.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement that the ‌App Store‌ brings jobs, opportunity, and "untold innovation."

Developers on the App Store prove every day that there is no more innovative, resilient or dynamic marketplace on earth than the app economy. The apps we've relied on through the pandemic have been life-changing in so many ways -- from groceries delivered to our homes, to teaching tools for parents and educators, to an imaginative and ever-expanding universe of games and entertainment. The result isn't just incredible apps for users: it's jobs, it's opportunity, and it's untold innovation that will power global economies for many years to come.

Apple's full Newsroom article has additional detail on the study as well as anecdotes from developers on how various ‌App Store‌ features and functions have helped them grow their businesses, and the full study is also available in PDF format.

Apple previously worked with Analysis Group on a study that demonstrated how similar Apple's ‌App Store‌ fees and practices are to those of other digital marketplaces like the Amazon Appstore and the Google Play app. That study, published in July 2020, came ahead of when Apple CEO ‌Tim Cook‌ testified in an ‌App Store‌ antitrust hearing.

Earlier this month, WarnerMedia announced the upcoming launch of a new ad-supported tier for HBO Max, which has debuted today. Priced at $9.99 per month, the ad-supported tier is $5 less than the $14.99 monthly cost of the standard HBO Max subscription.

HBO Max is designed to feature the "lightest ad load in the streaming industry" for its ad-supported tier, and it will include access to all HBO Max original programming plus the back catalog of content from HBO, Warner Bros., DC, Turner Classic Movies, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, and more.

The ad-supported tier does not include access to same-day premiere film releases from Warner Bros., which will require a full $14.99 subscription. Content is also limited to 1080p HD instead of 4K, and the ad-supported tier does not allow shows to be downloaded to watch offline.

In addition to monthly pricing options, the ad-supported tier can be purchased for $99.99 per year, dropping the price to $8.30 per month. The $15 per month tier is priced at $149.99 per year, which equates to $13 per month.

Prospective HBO Max customers who want to subscribe to the ad-supported tier can do so on the HBO Max website.

Apple Watch users with an irregular heartbeat are not visiting doctors more often, but they are more likely to be treated with a heart procedure, a study has found (via The Verge).

The study examined 125 people with atrial fibrillation and a heart-monitoring wearable, such as the Apple Watch, who visited the University of Utah Health during a 90-day period, and compared them to a group of 500 people with the same condition and similar characteristics, but no wearable.

The results of the study showed that users with heart-monitoring wearables are not more likely to visit a doctor about a health condition with their heart. In spite of this, users with a wearable and a heart condition such as atrial fibrillation are more likely to undergo medical procedures.

Specifically, this group of wearable users was more likely to undergo an ablation, which is a medical procedure that seeks to restore a normal heartbeat.

It is not clear if the people in the study who wore wearables and had ablations had worse symptoms than the control group and so needed the treatment as a result, or if the wearables encouraged them to see a doctor and have the procedure sooner.

It may simply be the case that people with heart conditions who decide to wear an Apple Watch do so due to general concerns about monitoring their health. It is also possible that wearable users could see their device detecting an abnormal heartbeat more often and therefore they worry that their atrial fibrillation is getting worse, even when it is not.

The Apple Watch and similar health-monitoring wearables are the focus of a growing number of studies in the medical field, where they have been used to investigate COVID-19, frailty, cognitive health, heart failure, asthma, and more.

In an attempt to rival the iPad Pro and iPadOS, Huawei today launched three new tablets as part of its "MatePad" tablet lineup, including a new 10.8-inch and 12.6-inch MatePad Pro and the MatePad 11.

As The Verge reports, all three devices are the first Huawei tablets to run its own "HarmonyOS" operating system, announced earlier in 2019. In addition, the smaller 10.8-inch MatePad Pro and MatePad 11 also feature Huawei's own custom-designed Kirin processor, rather than processors made by Snapdragon.

Due to political tensions, Huawei devices are stripped of privileges usually accustomed to Android devices, such as Google apps for users. HarmonyOS includes Huawei's "AppGallery," the equivalent of Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store for finding, distributing, and downloading apps and games.

In terms of specific end-user features, HarmonyOS borrows many ideas from Apple's iPadOS. Alongside the new tablets, Huawei also offers the "M-Pencil" stylus, drawing stark similarities to the Apple Pencil. HarmonyOS and M-Pencil are integrated software side by a feature called "FreeNote," which automatically translates written text in any text filed across the system into typed text. The feature is identical to Scribble, introduced in iPadOS 14 last year.

Screenshots of HarmonyOS shared on Twitter by leaker Evan Blass also showcase visual similarities to Apple's iPadOS.

Alongside the new tablets, Huawei also updated the M-Pencil stylus with improved and lower latency of 9ms, matching improvements made to the ‌Apple Pencil‌ with iPadOS 13. The new tablets have yet to be given a release date in Europe, but the 12.6-inch MatePad Pro will launch in China on June 10 for around $790.

Apple has regained its third-place position in the annual Fortune 500 rankings of the largest companies in the United States by revenue.

Apple earned $274.5 billion in revenue in the last fiscal year, an increase of 5.5 percent, and made $57.4 billion in profit, a 3.9 percent increase.

Last year, Apple fell to fourth place, but now the company returned to third place, only surpassed by Walmart in first place and Amazon in second place.

The pandemic created challenges and opportunities for Apple. CEO Tim Cook had to close stores and send home engineers. But with Apple customers worldwide working and learning from home, iPad and Macintosh computer sales skyrocketed to their highest levels ever. And fiscal-year revenue hit an all-time record too, of $275 billion. That helped Apple's stock price soar; it gained 80.7% in 2020. As that year wound down, regulators fixed their sights on Apple for potentially abusing its power over the iOS app store. A House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee report in October concluded that Apple "exerts monopoly power" in its app store to harm competition and increase prices for consumers. Meanwhile, testimony in an antitrust lawsuit filed by Fortnite developer Epic Games will likely increase pressure on legislators to limit Apple’s power.

Apple has now ranked in the top five for eight consecutive years. Other notable tech companies in this year's list include Google parent Alphabet in ninth, Microsoft in 15th, and Facebook in 34th.

Leaker Jon Prosser has today made CAD renders purporting to be of the iPhone 13 and ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro available for download online.

In a new video on YouTube channel FrontPageTech, Prosser said that the ‌iPhone‌ 13 will be slightly thicker to accommodate a larger battery, in line with previous leaks and rumors. He also brought attention to a number of other previously-rumored design changes, including a smaller notch and a new diagonal rear camera layout for the non-Pro models.

Prosser has made the two CAD files available for download in the description of his video so that anyone can closely examine the alleged changes.

For more on what to expect from the ‌iPhone‌ 13 lineup, see our full roundup.

Apple yesterday announced the winners of its Swift Student Challenge, and as promised, winners have started to receive WWDC 2021 swag as a prize.

Here's a photo of the exclusive outerwear shared by the developer behind Chain Reaction Games:

The annual Swift Student Challenge is a coding challenge that tasks students with creating an interactive scene in the Swift Playgrounds app. Apple said winners would receive exclusive WWDC 2021 outerwear, which appears to consist of a beanie and a pullover sweater.

Winners also received a set of WWDC 2021 pins, including the Finder icon on Mac, a "Make it beta" message bubble, and others, plus a one-year Apple Developer Program membership if they have reached the age of majority in their country.

WWDC 2021 begins next Monday, June 7 with a Keynote at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Apple is expected to unveil major new software updates, including iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS 12, watchOS 8, and tvOS 15. Read our WWDC 2021 roundup for more details.

As of today, Apple has failed to add any new games to Apple Arcade for two months. Prior to April 2, the company added new games to ‌Apple Arcade‌ intermittently on Fridays, similar to how Apple TV+ content is released, but since the launch of new categories of games two months ago, the service has seemingly taken a backseat.

On April 2, Apple announced that 30 new games would immediately arrive on the service, bringing the total number of games to over 180. Some of these games came under the new categories of "Timeless Classics" and "App Store Greats," which added existing games to the service. The additions indicated a change in strategy for ‌Apple Arcade‌, which was until then reliant on exclusive "Arcade Originals" only.

Despite the significant news for Apple's mobile gaming subscription service, more than eight weeks have now passed with no new games being added to the platform. Even so, Apple is promoting a number of new games as "coming soon," including the narrative-focused card game "Solitaire Stories," fast-paced puzzler "Frenzic Overtime," and turn-by-turn RPG "Legends of Kingdom Rush."

Starting on Friday, June 4, ‌Apple Arcade‌ is expected to resume weekly additions to the service after this hiatus period.

‌Apple Arcade‌‌ launched in September of 2019 as an ad-free mobile game subscription service with no in-app purchases. ‌‌Apple Arcade‌‌ is available across the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, ‌Apple TV‌, and Mac for $4.99 per month, or as part of the Apple One bundle.

Apple has lost "several" top managers from its internal Apple Car project, codenamed "Project Titan," causing a potential setback to the launch of the self-driving car, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

From the report:

Apple Inc. has lost multiple top managers of its self-driving car team in recent months, a sign of attrition at the division involved in what could become an important future product.

In recent days, Dave Scott, who led teams working on robotics related to the car, left to become the chief executive officer at Hyperfine, a health care company developing next-generation MRI systems. Before Scott’s departure, Jaime Waydo, who led autonomous car safety and regulation teams, departed to become the chief technology officer at Cavnue, a startup focused on the safety of autonomous cars on public roads.

In February, Benjamin Lyon, who helped create Apple’s original car team several years ago and was key in the future project’s development, left to become the chief engineer at Astra, a company developing technology for sending satellites to space.

Over the last few months, a flurry of reports have surfaced detailing potential specifics on an Apple Car. Bloomberg has previously reported that the self-driving vehicle is still in early development and is still at least five years away, while reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the vehicle is unlikely to launch until 2025 at the earliest.

Despite the recent departure of some top-level managers from the project, Apple has added notable executives to "Project Titan." In February, the Cupertino tech giant hired a former Porsche executive with experience in chassis design. You can learn more about the Apple Car and everything we know about it using our guide.

An Apple job listing has mentioned "homeOS," an otherwise never-before heard of Apple operating system, ahead of WWDC next week.

Spotted by developer Javier Lacort, the Apple job listing for a Senior iOS Engineer in Apple Music explicitly mentions "homeOS" on two occasions, alongside Apple's other operating systems including iOS, watchOS, and tvOS.

You'll get to work with system engineers across Apple, learning the inner-workings of iOS, watchOS, tvOS and homeOS, and optimizing your code for performance in ways only Apple can. Come join our team and make a real difference for music lovers worldwide.

The Apple Music Frameworks team owns the technology stack that enables the system-integrated Apple Music experience on all of our mobile platforms: iOS, watchOS, and homeOS.

Interestingly, the job listing mentions homeOS as a "mobile platform," seemingly highlighting it as more akin to iOS and watchOS than systems like macOS and tvOS, but it is not clear why that would be the case.

The operating system could simply be a rebranding of Apple's current smart home software, in much the same way iOS for iPad was rebranded iPadOS and OS X was changed to macOS, or potentially an entirely new OS.

Earlier this year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman commented that Apple still lacks a "unifying strategy" for the smart home market. It is possible that homeOS could be software designed to spearhead a more centralized smart home strategy, perhaps unifying the HomePod's audioOS and the Apple TV's tvOS. Apple is rumored to be developing a combined Apple TV and HomePod device and a HomePod with a screen. For now, what homeOS will precisely entail remains purely speculative.

Apple's homeOS could feasibly debut as soon as next week at WWDC, where the company is expected to unveil major updates to its various operating systems.

Update: Apple has now removed "homeOS" from the job listing and replaced it with ‌HomePod‌ and tvOS. "You’ll get to work with system engineers across Apple, learning the inner workings of iOS, watchOS, tvOS and ‌HomePod‌, and optimizing your code for performance in ways only Apple can," reads the replacement text.