MacRumors

Knockoff apps have long been a problem in the App Store, with scam apps sneaking past reviewers to compete with genuine apps and steal sales, and back in 2012, Apple's Phil Schiller was absolutely furious when a fake app made it to the top of the ‌App Store‌ rankings, according to documents shared in the Epic v. Apple trial.

At the time, Temple Run was a super popular iOS exclusive title, and in February 2012, a fake version of Temple Run hit the ‌App Store‌ charts. Schiller sent out an email to Eddy Cue, Greg Joswiak, Ron Okamoto, Phillip Shoemaker, Matt Fischer, Kevin Saul, and others on the ‌App Store‌ team. "What the hell is this????" he asked. "How does an obvious rip off of the super popular Temple Run, with no screenshots, garbage marketing text, and almost all 1-star ratings become the #1 free app on the store?"

"Is no one reviewing these apps? Is no one minding the store?" he ranted on, before asking whether people remembered a talk about becoming the "Nordstrom" of App Stores in quality of service.

Since that 2012 rant, ‌App Store‌ reviewers have continued to struggle with knockoff apps that mimic real apps. A second document highlighted Minecraft knockoffs that had made it into the ‌App Store‌ not once, but twice, and was eating up Minecraft sales, and in a third 2015 document, Schiller comments that he "can't believe" that Apple doesn't have automatic tools to find and kick out scam apps.

Scam iOS apps that defraud users and mimic real apps continue to be a problem to this day. In recent months, developer Kosta Eleftheriou has taken to speaking out against scam apps and highlighting notable scams in the ‌App Store‌, bringing additional attention to the issue.

Today is the fourth day of the Epic Games v. Apple legal battle, and documents shared in the trial continue to give us insight into the App Store and Apple's business practices.

‌App Store‌ Vice President Matt Fischer is on the stand answering questions from Apple and Epic lawyers, and one of the emails shared as evidence confirms that Apple has established special deals with major app developers like Hulu.

In 2018, a tweet from developer David Barnard commented about ‌App Store‌ subscriptions being automatically cancelled through the StoreKit API, questioning why there hadn't been more offers to swap billing away from the ‌App Store‌.

Matt Fischer asked Cindy Lin about it, and she explained that Hulu is a developer with special access to a subscription cancel/refund API.

Hulu is part of the set of whitelisted developers with access to subscription cancel/refund API. Back in 2015 they were using this to support instant upgrade using a 2 family setup, before we had subscription upgrade/downgrade capabilities built in.

Apple does not further detail who other developers with special access might have been in the correspondence, but these are not features that all developers have access to.

Apple has long said that the App Store provides a "level playing field" that treats all apps in the ‌App Store‌ the same with one set of rules for everybody and no special deals or special terms, but it's clear that some apps are indeed provided with special privileges.

Fischer was asked specifically whether Apple has given some developers special access to allow them to do things that other developers don't get to do, and Fischer said no, but he said that Apple sometimes wants to test a feature with a small group before providing it to all developers.

Prior to when ‌Epic Games‌ implemented its own purchase options and kicked off this entire legal battle, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney asked Apple for a special deal that would allow it to bypass the in-app purchase system, which Apple denied. Just this week Sweeney also said that he would have accepted special terms from Apple for lower ‌App Store‌ commission.

Apple with iOS 14 introduced App Privacy labels for App Store apps, which are designed to let customers know details about the data that an app will collect about them before they make the decision to install an app.

Google is planning to follow in Apple's footsteps with the Play Store, introducing a new feature that will require developers to provide transparency into how apps are using data.

On the Android Developers Blog, Google announced a new "safety section" for the Play Store that will "help people understand the data an app collects of shares, if that data is secured, and the additional details that impact privacy and security."

Developers will be asked to share what type of data is collected and stored and how the data is used. Play Store listings will also outline whether apps employ security practices like data encryption, if Google's Families policy is followed, if the data sharing details have been verified by an independent third party, and if an app allows users to request data deletion.

As with Apple's App Privacy labels, Google Play developers must self-report information, and Google will introduce a policy that requires developers to provide accurate details. If a developer violates this policy, Google will "require the developer to fix it" and there could be "policy enforcement" consequences.

Google plans to share additional policy requirements and resources this summer, and all Play Store apps will be required to provide this information starting in the second quarter of 2022.

Apple in macOS Big Sur 11.3 introduced a series of colorful wallpapers that are designed specifically for the M1 iMac, but you can unearth them and download them on any Mac with a few quick instructions.

These are the wallpapers that have been used in Apple's marketing materials for the 24-inch ‌iMac‌, with different colored lines and patterns available for each ‌iMac‌ color. To get to these wallpapers, follow these steps:

1. Open the System Preferences app.
2. Click on Desktop & Screen Saver.
3. Double click on "Desktop Pictures" on the left side to open the Desktop Pictures folder.
4. Click into this folder when it opens up (alternatively, go to System > Library > Desktop Pictures).
5. Scroll down to find the images labeled "Hello."
6. Drag the image that you want to use onto your desktop.
7. Right click on an image and select "Set Desktop Picture" or choose the image from the Desktop & Screensaver interface.

To get these images, you need to be running macOS Big Sur 11.3 or later, and it appears that they may not be available in the macOS Big Sur 11.4 beta. Apple has also released a new "Hello" screensaver for the iMacs, which you can also get from any Mac running macOS Big Sur 11.3.

These new wallpapers will be available by default on new iMacs, which are set to begin arriving to customers in the second half of May, starting on May 21.

The Brave Browser available on iPhone and iPad today gained a new Playlist feature that's designed to save audio and video content in an easy-access queue.

Users can keep a list of videos, songs, podcasts, and more, and then access it from the Brave browser at any time by tapping on the Brave Playlist option from the menu in the app.

Adding any media to the Playlist is as simple as tapping on the "Add to Brave Playlist" option or long pressing on a video or audio file. Other features include an auto-play option and drag and drop tools for organizing items in the Playlist.

For podcasts, there are controls that include play/pause, playback speed, and skip forward and backward, and for videos, Apple's Picture in Picture feature is supported so users can watch videos while doing other things on their devices.

Brave Playlist supports multiple platforms, including Twitch, YouTube, Vimeo, Soundcloud, and more, and it is available in the free Brave for iOS app.

Apple today shared a new video in its ongoing "Shot on iPhone 12 - Everyday Experiments" series, which features unique photography tutorials and ideas for ‌iPhone‌ users, along with impressive visuals.

"Full Bloom," as the name suggests, features flowers, and Apple says that it's meant to "celebrate spring's colors, life, and growth with the ‌iPhone‌ 12."

As with other "Everyday Experiments" videos, "Full Bloom" shows off various ‌iPhone‌ 12 camera capabilities, including time-lapse and slo-mo, and it explains the techniques that are being used.

The video features photographs of fruit and vegetables, water, pressed flowers, succulents, mushrooms, flowers colored with a highlighter to give blooms a fluorescent glow, and more.

Music streaming service Deezer has announced that voice control support for Apple HomePod and HomePod mini speakers is now available for Premium, HiFi, Family, and Student subscribers.

The update means all paying subscribers with iOS 14.3 and later and the latest software on ‌HomePod‌ can ask Siri to play any song from Deezer's global catalogue of 73 million tracks. Voice control also allows you to play specific tracks, artists, albums, favorites or playlists.

According to Deezer, to start using the service on ‌HomePod‌ or ‌HomePod mini‌, users need to launch the Deezer app and connect their account to their speaker in settings. Alternately, to choose a default streaming service on ‌HomePod‌, follow these steps:

1. Launch the Home app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap the Home icon, select Settings, then choose the home that you want to edit.
3. Tap your name under "People."
4. Tap Default Service under "Media," then select the streaming service that you want to set to default.

If you haven’t set Deezer as your default, make sure to say "on Deezer" at the end of your command such as, "Hey ‌Siri‌, play Bad Bunny on Deezer." Subscribers can also like or dislike tracks, play on repeat or shuffle. Note that Deezer on ‌HomePod‌ doesn't support podcasts, audiobooks, or live radio.

"Our listeners don't have to compromise on audio quality thanks to HomePod. HiFi users can still enjoy all of their favorite tunes in true lossless audio," said Nicolas Pinoteau, Director of Partnership Solutions at Deezer. "But, don't worry, even if you don't have HiFi, Deezer on Apple HomePod is the perfect at-home companion when you need to multitask or want to give your eyes and fingers a break."

Deezer on ‌HomePod‌ and ‌HomePod mini‌ is available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Deezer can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

A frustrated AirTag owner has inadvertently discovered the existence of a hidden "developer mode" in the on-screen interface that Find My displays when the Precision Finding feature is activated to help locate one of Apple's item trackers.

Precision Finding is a feature that provides users with specific on-screen directions for finding a nearby ‌AirTag‌. iPhones with a U1 chip, which includes the iPhone 11 and the ‌iPhone‌ 12 models, can take advantage of the feature, which combines camera input, AR, sound, Ultra Wideband radio technology, and haptic feedback to help locate the item tracker.

The hidden mode's overlay, which appears after tapping the item's name four times in the Precision Finding interface, displays real-time diagnostic and technical information about the feature's operation, including accelerometer and gyroscope coordinates, haptic feedback, screen resolution, tracking animations, and more.

Reddit user "cyem" stumbled upon the hidden mode after becoming frustrated with the performance of their ‌AirTag‌, particularly when Precision Finding is activated. The user has also posted a video showing it in action.

My experience of AirTags thus far has been underwhelming - the first one out of the box failed to pair four times in a row when it was sitting on top of the phone. Now that it is finally connected, anything outside of 0.8m/2.6ft away shows as a weak signal and when I can get a signal, there is never an arrow. Funnily enough, I tapped on my name about five times in frustration, and found what appears to be a hidden developer mode. Even more interesting, the arrow appears to actually be working underneath - just not in the normal mode.

The hidden mode in iOS 14.5 is unlikely to be particularly useful to the average user, and the sliders and buttons that it throws up probably shouldn't be manipulated unless you know what you're doing. Still, the discovery provides an intriguing peek under the hood at the hardware and calibration involved every time an ‌AirTag‌'s Precision Finding is enabled.

Apple sells individual AirTags for $29, while a pack of four AirTags can be purchased for $99. Single AirTags ordered directly from Apple currently ship in five to seven days, while engraved AirTags and multipacks are currently on a five- to six-week lead time.

The safeguards that Apple built into AirTags to prevent them from being used to track someone "just aren't sufficient," The Washington Post's Geoffrey Fowler said today in a report investigating how AirTags can be used for covert stalking.

Fowler planted an AirTag on himself and teamed up with a colleague to be pretend stalked, and he came to the conclusion that the AirTags are a "new means of inexpensive, effective stalking."

Apple's safeguards include privacy alerts to let iPhone users know that an unknown ‌AirTag‌ is traveling with them and may be in their belongings, along with regular sound alerts when an ‌AirTag‌ has been separated from its owner for three days.

Fowler said that over a week of tracking, he received alerts both from the hidden ‌AirTag‌ and from his ‌iPhone‌. After three days, the ‌AirTag‌ being used to stalk Fowler played a sound, but it was "just 15 seconds of light chirping" that measured in at about 60 decibels. It played for 15 seconds at a time, went silent for several hours, then chirped for another 15 seconds, and it was easy to muffle by applying pressure to the top of the ‌AirTag‌.

The three-day countdown timer resets after it comes in contact with the owner's ‌iPhone‌, so if the person being stalked lives with their stalker, the sound might not ever activate.

Fowler also received regular alerts about an unknown ‌AirTag‌ moving with him from his ‌iPhone‌, but pointed out those alerts aren't available to Android users. He also said that Apple does not provide enough help locating a nearby ‌AirTag‌ since it can only be tracked by sound, a feature that didn't often work.

I got multiple alerts: from the hidden AirTag and on my iPhone. But it wasn't hard to find ways an abusive partner could circumvent Apple's systems. To name one: The audible alarm only rang after three days -- and then it turned out to be just 15 seconds of light chirping. And another: While an iPhone alerted me that an unknown AirTag was moving with me, similar warnings aren't available for the roughly half of Americans who use Android phones.

The planted ‌AirTag‌ on Fowler kept his colleague well-updated with his location information, updating once every few minutes with a range of around half a block. While Fowler was at home, the ‌AirTag‌ reported his exact location, all using his own devices thanks to Apple's Find My network.

The ‌Find My‌ network is designed to make it easier to find a lost Apple device or item attached to an ‌AirTag‌ by utilizing hundreds of millions of active Apple products around the world. If you lose an ‌AirTag‌ and someone else's device picks it up, the lost ‌AirTag‌'s location is relayed back to you, and this also applies to AirTags tracking people.

Apple's vice president of ‌iPhone‌ marketing Kaiann Drance told The Washington Post that the safeguards built into the AirTags are an "industry-first, strong set of proactive deterrents." She went on to explain that AirTags anti-tracking measures can be bolstered over time. "It's a smart and tunable system, and we can continue improving the logic and timing so that we can improve the set of deterrents."

She also commented on some of the safeguards. Apple chose a three day timeline before an ‌AirTag‌ starts playing a sound because the company "wanted to balance how these alerts are going off in the environment as well as the unwanted tracking." Drance declined to say whether Apple had consulted domestic abuse experts when creating the AirTags, but she said that Apple is "open to hearing anything from those organizations."

Fowler admits that Apple has done more to prevent AirTags from being used for stalking than other Bluetooth tracking device competitors like Tile, but there are still concerns that need to be addressed. Fowler's full report that goes into more detail on how he mimicked being stalked and the shortcomings that he found in the AirTags can be found over at The Washington Post.

Twitter today announced that the Twitter for iOS app supports larger image previews in the timeline, which means tall images will no longer be cropped to a significant degree in the Twitter app.

Twitter has been testing larger-sized image previews on iOS and Android since March, but now the expanded image previews are rolling out for everyone.

Rather than displaying a cropped 16x9 version of a Twitter image in the timeline, Twitter will now show images with 2:1 and 3:4 aspect ratios in full as well. Larger-sized images are available on iOS and Android, but image previews on the web are still cropped.

Last month, Twitter also began supporting the viewing and uploading of 4K images on the Twitter for iOS app, allowing for higher-resolution images in the timeline.

Astropad's Luna Display accessory that's able to turn an old iPad or Mac into a secondary display for a primary Mac was today updated with a new feature that's designed to allow Mac-to-Mac mode to work over Ethernet and Thunderbolt.

The Luna Display is an alternative to Apple's Sidecar, allowing an ‌iPad‌ to be used as a display for a Mac. Unlike ‌Sidecar‌, it works with other Macs, so you can use one Mac as a display for another Mac, something that's always been useful with machines like the iMac.

With a new 4.5 software update that's available today, the Luna Display can work with two Macs connected by Ethernet or Thunderbolt, which improves the Mac-to-Mac mode experience for users who have poor WiFi connectivity or would prefer to work with a wired connection. Prior to today's update, Mac-to-Mac mode was limited to the Luna Display's wireless connection.

The new software update brings other features including a battery indicator for a secondary device, secondary Mac keyboard enhancements, improved Retina support on M1 Macs, and for iPads, better compatibility with the 2020 iPad Air.

According to Astropad, Mac-to-Mac mode is an ideal alternative to Target Display Mode, a feature that Apple used to offer for older iMacs. Target Display Mode allowed an ‌iMac‌ to be connected to another Mac, with the ‌iMac‌ then serving as a display, but that functionality does not work with modern Macs.

The Luna Display allows an ‌iMac‌ to be used as a display for another Mac, but technically, it works with any two Mac combinations, so you can pair up two MacBooks, a Mac mini and a MacBook, or anything else.

The Luna Display is priced at $100 and can be purchased from the Astropad website.

Apple's AirTag item trackers are designed to let users track their everyday possessions, such as keys, wallets, backpacks, and so on. If you find an ‌AirTag‌ that's been separated from its owner, here's how you can safely return it to them.

AirTags‌ can be tracked by their owners in Apple's ‌Find My app‌, which uses Bluetooth and other Apple devices to locate them. However, if an ‌AirTag‌ isn't nearby and there are no Apple devices in the area in which it's located, ‌‌‌Find My‌‌‌ can only tell the owner where it was last seen on the map.

In such cases, the ‌AirTag‌ owner can put it in Lost Mode, which allows anyone with an iPhone or Android device that has NFC to help return the ‌AirTag‌ to them. Even if an ‌AirTag‌ isn't in Lost Mode, if it's been separated for a period of time from its owner then it will make a sound to alert anyone nearby.

If you come across an ‌AirTag‌ and you have an NFC-equipped device, here's what you can do to get it back to its rightful owner.

1. Tap and hold the top of your ‌iPhone‌ or NFC-capable smartphone to the white side of the ‌AirTag‌.
2. Tap the notification that appears on your device's screen. This will open a website providing you with information about the ‌AirTag‌, including its serial number.
   
   

3. If the owner marked the ‌AirTag‌ as lost, you may be shown a message with information about how to contact the owner, enabling you to contact the owner to let them know that you found their AirTagged item.

AirTags can only be used to track items via an ‌iPhone‌ or iPad with the ‌Find My‌ app. Apple sells individual AirTags for $29 or a pack of four for $99. For more details on ‌AirTag‌ item trackers, check out our dedicated guide.

As the Epic Games v. Apple trial progresses into its third day, Apple's internal documents and communications with various companies are continuing to surface, giving us some insight into the dealings that Apple has had around the App Store.

Back in December 2018, Netflix stopped offering in-app subscription options for new or resubscribing members and instead began requiring them to sign up for Netflix outside of the ‌App Store‌ in order to avoid paying Apple's 30 percent cut. As it turns out, Apple executives were unhappy with Netflix's decision, and made attempts to persuade Netflix to keep in-app purchases available.

The subject hasn't yet been broached in the live in-person trial that's going on right now, but 9to5Mac highlighted emails between Apple executives discussing Netflix's decision. When Apple learned that Netflix was A/B testing the removal of in-app purchases in certain countries, Apple started scrambling to put a stop to it.

Apple's ‌App Store‌ Business Management Director Carson Oliver sent out an email in February 2018 outlining Netflix's testing plans and asked his fellow ‌App Store‌ executives whether Apple should take "punitive measures" against Netflix.

Do we want to take any punitive measures in response to the test (for examples, pulling all global featuring during the test period)? If so, how should those punitive measures be communicated to Netflix? (sic)

The emails do not make it clear if Apple did indeed take any steps to limit featuring during Netflix's testing, but Netflix did proceed with the A/B test and found it fruitful. Ahead of when Netflix pulled in-app purchase options, Apple designed an entire presentation to persuade Netflix to continue to offer in-app subscription sign ups.

Netflix was concerned about voluntary churn levels on iOS because it was higher than those who signed up via the web. In a nutshell, iOS users who subscribed to Netflix through in-app purchases were cancelling their Netflix accounts at a greater rate, an issue that Apple worked to solve for Netflix.

Other Netflix concerns included free trial abuse (which Apple addressed), un-grandfathering (raising prices on users locked in to a select price), and offering promotions (wasn't possible to offer discounts on iOS). Apple internally discussed ways to fix these problems for Netflix to encourage the company to stick with in-app purchases.

Apple also incentivized Netflix by describing how much dedicated featuring Netflix was getting. Apple said that Netflix was featured more than any other partner, something that Apple was willing to continue doing.

Apple proposed continued coordinated featuring across iOS and Apple TV, ads promoting Netflix, ‌App Store‌ email campaigns, featuring performance data, an "‌Apple TV‌ bundle" and select video partner program benefits such as the option to up-sell non-IAP customers and billing flexibility to un-grandfather and cancel subscription charges.

Apple also discussed bundle offers for Netflix and an Apple service along with carrier and payment partners for co-funded subscription offers, as well as in-store marketing for Netflix, but none of these measures ultimately convinced Netflix to stick with in-app purchases.

Today, there is no in-app purchase option for Netflix, and those who want to watch Netflix on an iPhone or an iPad must first sign up on the web, with Apple collecting no money. Netflix is also not allowed to direct customers where to sign up, though, and the splash screen just says "You can't sign up for Netflix in the app."

The ‌Epic Games‌ v. Apple trial is expected to last for approximately three weeks in total, with Apple CEO Tim Cook and other executives set to testify in the coming weeks.

MacRumors previously reported about Apple's plan to switch to randomized serial numbers for future products starting in early 2021, and this transition has now started with the new purple iPhone 12 model in multiple countries.

With assistance from Aaron Zollo, host of the YouTube channel ZolloTech, we can confirm that the purple iPhone 12 released last month has a new 10-character serial number format, compared to the usual 12 characters for most other Apple products. Apple previously said its randomized serial numbers would initially be 10 characters long, so the purple iPhone 12 appears to be the first Apple product with a randomized serial number.

The change likely extends to the purple iPhone 12 mini, but we've yet to confirm this. On the contrary, the randomized serial number format does not appear to apply to the AirTag at this time, with multiple MacRumors editors and others we've spoken to still seeing 12-character serial numbers for the item tracking accessory.

It remains to be seen if the new iMac, iPad Pro, and Apple TV have randomized serial numbers when they launch in the second half of May.

In a memo obtained by MacRumors in March, Apple said products already shipping at that time would continue to use the company's previous serial number format, which has for years allowed customers and service providers to determine the date and location that a product was manufactured. The first three characters represent the manufacturing location, the following two characters indicate the year and week of manufacture, and the last four characters reveal a device's model, color, and storage capacity.

The new serial number format will consist of a randomized alphanumeric string of 8-14 characters (10 characters initially) that will no longer include manufacturing or configuration details, according to Apple's memo. Apple advised authorized resellers to prepare for the transition to the new format ahead of its "Spring Loaded" event last month.