MacRumors

Google today announced the launch of the low-cost 5G Pixel 5a, a follow up to the Pixel 4a that debuted last year. At its $449 price point, the Pixel 5a most closely competes with the $399 iPhone SE, which is $50 cheaper, though it has a similar feature set to Apple's $699 iPhone 12 mini thanks to the inclusion of 5G.

Apple is rumored to be working on a new version of the ‌iPhone‌ SE that will also include 5G, with the device set to launch in 2022. The updated ‌iPhone‌ SE will be positioned as Apple's cheapest 5G iPhone, and based on the $449 price point of the Pixel 5a, it could be priced similarly to keep it competitive with lower-cost Android devices.

In addition to 5G mmWave and sub-6GHz connectivity, the Pixel 5a brings a bigger 6.3-inch hole punch display that offers more available screen space than the prior Pixel 4a, so it may still have an edge over Apple's upcoming 2022 ‌iPhone‌ SE. The new ‌iPhone‌ SE is rumored to feature a design that's "roughly the same" as the current ‌iPhone‌ SE, which is modeled after the ‌iPhone‌ 8.

Other Pixel 5a features include IP67 water resistance, a dual camera setup with wide and ultra wide lenses, a 4,620mAh battery, 6GB RAM, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G chip.

Google is selling the Pixel 5a with an 18W adapter that supports fast charging, but Google is taking a page from Apple's playbook. The Pixel 5a will be the last Pixel phone that will include a charger, according to The Verge. Google says that because most people already have a charging brick, its future phones, including the upcoming Pixel 6, will not ship with one.

Apple stopped providing a 5W charger with ‌iPhone‌ models in 2020 and in most countries, iPhones no longer come with a charger.

Apple today released a new firmware update for the Siri Remote designed for the new Apple TV 4K and ‌Apple TV‌ HD models. The new firmware has an internal version number of 9M6772, while the prior firmware version was 9M6336. Note that this is not the firmware version that you see in the ‌Apple TV‌ Remote settings.

There's no word on what's new with the ‌Apple TV‌ remote update, but it likely addresses minor bugs and performance issues.

Apple has not detailed how to install a firmware update for the ‌Siri‌ Remote, but it's likely similar to AirPods, delivered silently and over the air while the ‌Apple TV‌ is asleep. Firmware updates are installed in the background and it may take some time for the ‌Siri‌ Remote update to be downloaded and installed.

Tweetbot 6 designed for the iPhone and the iPad today received a major update, with Tapbots introducing several significant new features that are designed to make the app experience better than ever.

There's now a Tweetbot 6 widget that can be added to the Today View or the Home Screen, and it shows the Twitter timeline. A single tweet can be shown in the smallest widget view, but there are also larger options that show more tweets at a glance.

When using the Tweetbot 6 update on iOS devices, there's now support for Handoff, so you can resume what you were doing on one device on another device using the built-in Handoff feature. Handoff does not yet work on the Mac, but support will be added later.

Tweetbot 6 now supports Shortcuts so Tweetbot actions can be used in the shortcuts created on iOS devices, plus on the ‌iPad‌, multiple Tweetbot windows are now supported for multitasking purposes. There are also additional app icons to choose from.

Tweetbot 6 can be downloaded from the App Store for free, but a subscription costs $5.99 per year or $0.99 per month. [Direct Link]

Apple's next Apple Watch Activity Challenge is set to take place on Saturday, August 28th, in celebration of national parks worldwide.

Apple will ask Apple Watch owners to complete a hike, walk, run, or wheelchair workout of a mile to earn a special National Parks award.

Let's take a day to appreciate the beauty of national parks all over the world. On August 28, earn this award by recording a hike, walk, run, or wheelchair workout of a mile (1.6K) or more with any app that adds workouts to Health.

As with all Activity Challenges, the award will be accompanied by animated stickers that can be used in the Messages app.

Apple always celebrates national parks in August, and last year introduced an Apple Pay donation program and highlighted Apple TV+ content, Apple Music songs, podcasts, books, and more all focused on national parks.

Apple in iOS 15 introduced a new Safari experience that moves the URL bar and tab interface to the bottom of the iPhone, a decision that has been controversial with ‌iPhone‌ users.

Throughout the beta testing period, Apple has been tweaking the design of the Safari browser on the ‌iPhone‌ and in beta 6, there are further refinements. The bottom tab bar has been redesigned to appear below page content, and Apple has also added a toggle to show the address bar at the top of the ‌iPhone‌ rather than the bottom.

The addition of a toggle to show the address bar at the top of the Safari interface returns Safari to a more iOS 14-like experience, walking back many of the iOS 15 changes.

With the bottom view option toggled on, Safari offers a dedicated toolbar with buttons at the bottom of the interface, which is also an improvement over the prior floating design.

Apple has also introduced new setting options to remove the website tinting and to enable a Tab Bar while in landscape mode. There was previously a "Show Color in Tab Bar" accessibility setting, which appears to be the same as the new "Allow Website Tinting" toggle.

Apple previously added similar toggles in iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey to offer either a separate tab bar (which was the original default when the betas launched) or a merged tab bar, which is more similar to the previous design.

In the beta notes for the sixth updates to iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and tvOS 15, Apple says that the FaceTime SharePlay feature has been disabled for future beta releases and will not be available to use when the updates initially launch this fall.

Apple will instead make SharePlay available in an update to iOS 15, iPadOS 15, tvOS 15, and macOS Monterey that's coming later this year.

With SharePlay being removed temporarily, Apple is offering an alternative tool for developers to test SharePlay development features, and a SharePlay profile is available for developers to download.

SharePlay has been disabled for use in iOS and iPadOS 15 developer beta 6 and will be disabled for use in its initial release this fall. SharePlay will be enabled for use again in future developer beta releases and will launch to the public in software updates later this fall. To continue your development, we have provided a SharePlay Development Profile which will enable successful creation and reception of GroupSessions via the Group Activities API.

With SharePlay, ‌FaceTime‌ users can share their screens with one another, watch movies and TV shows in sync together, listen to music and contribute to a group playlist, and more.

Apple today seeded the sixth betas of iOS and iPadOS 15 to developers for testing purposes, with the updates coming one week after Apple released the fifth betas.

Registered developers can download the profile for the iOS and iPadOS betas from the Apple Developer Center, and once the profile is installed, beta updates will be available over the air.

iOS 15 is a major update that introduces a slew of new features focused on cutting down on distractions and spending more time with friends and family.

FaceTime has a revamped interface with new SharePlay features for listening to music, watching videos, and sharing your screen with your friends and family members, and in Messages, if something like a url, photo, news article, or song is shared with you, you can see the content in Apple's dedicated apps.

Focus lets you create custom notification modes that hide irrelevant apps and notifications when you're doing things like working or spending time with your family so you can better focus on the activity at hand, and there's a new notification summary that de-prioritizes less important notifications so you're not constantly inundated with information.

Maps includes a new 3D view in select cities that lets you see 3D landmarks, there are immersive AR directions when walking, and driving directions are better than ever, especially at complex interchanges.

Safari now supports Tab Groups for improved organization, and extensions can be used in Safari for iOS devices for the first time. Later this year you'll be able to add your ID card to the Wallet app in some U.S. states, and Apple is making it easier to add key cards for hotels, smart home locks, and more to the Wallet app.

Spotlight is better than ever and can bring up more tailored search results, and Photos has a "Live Text" feature that lets you take a photo of something with text like a receipt to translate it into typed text on your iPhone. ‌Photos‌ can also identify landmarks, books, plants, and pets, so you can snap a photo of a plant and get information on what it might be.

Apple has also added multiple privacy improvements, such as a new App Privacy report coming to the ‌iPhone‌ that will let you know how often apps access sensitive info like your location, a Mail feature that hides your IP address, and Siri processing that's done on device.

For a complete overview of everything that's new in iOS 15, we have a dedicated roundup that walks through all of the new features, and Apple has been adding feature refinements throughout the beta testing period. The fourth beta, for example, further tweaked the design of Safari, added MagSafe Battery Pack support, and more, while the fifth beta added smaller tweaks.

Apple today announced that a new version of Temple Run is coming to Apple Arcade in the near future, and based on the game's description, it will merge classic endless runner gameplay with match 3 puzzles.

Players will be tasked with assisting adventurer, archeologist, and Temple Runner Scarlett Fox, solving puzzles to overcome obstacles. Players will create powerful match 3 combos and use special pieces to become the Temple Champion, sending out runners to chase treasure before the demon monkey catches up to them. New match 3 levels will be added on a regular basis.

Play TEMPLE RUN as never before! Beat match 3 puzzles to uncover the mysteries of the ancient temple realm. Create powerful combos and use special pieces to become a Temple Champion!

There is no word on when Temple Run: Puzzle Adventure will be launching, but Apple says that it's coming soon.

The Temple Run endless runner series from Imangi Studios first launched in 2011 and it was super popular with the original game being downloaded more than two billion times. This updated version puts a new spin on the classic gameplay.

Apple this Friday will launch Tetris Beat on ‌Apple Arcade‌. Tetris Beat lets players rotate and drop Tetriminos to the beat, with the game featuring exclusive music from Alison Wonderland, GARZA, Hannah Diamond, Octo Octa, Dauwd, CINTHIE, and more.

Just yesterday, Apple told its retail staff in the United States and Europe that it would start bringing back some in-person Today at Apple classes starting on August 30, but now Apple has reversed course.

In-person Today at Apple sessions will no longer be resuming at this time, with Apple putting in-person classes off because of the ongoing rise of the Delta variant across the United States and other countries.

Apple yesterday was taking reservations for in-person classes at some store locations, but as of now, all of those in-person reservations are gone and Apple is only offering virtual sessions.

Apple retail stores have been open since earlier this year and there are no plans to close stores again, but Apple recently reinstated a mask mandate that requires customers visiting most retail stores in the United States to wear a mask. Apple had dropped mask mandates for vaccinated customers in June, but brought them back in areas heavily impacted by the Delta variant of COVID-19.

In addition to pushing back Today at Apple classes, Apple is also ramping up COVID testing of both retail and corporate employees, reports Bloomberg. Employees who participate in Apple's at-home testing program will now receive testing kits twice per week instead of once per week.

"With the emergence of more contagious variants like delta, we believe that more frequent testing will better protect you and everyone at Apple," reads a memo to employees. "Beginning Aug. 16, Quest will be sending you two mail-in test kits per week instead of one."

Apple later plans to expand testing to three times per week for employees in some offices, but there is no mandate for testing or vaccinations. Apple originally planned to bring back corporate employees in September, and later pushed that back until at least October.

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.

Refurbished 24-inch M1 iMac models are now available from Apple's refurbished store in the UK, just a few months after the machines first launched in April.

Right now, Apple has one 24-inch iMac available in a pink color, which was first spotted by 9to5Mac. The machine features an 8-core CPU, 7-core GPU, and 256GB SSD and it is priced at £1,059, a £190.00 savings over the standard £1,249 price.

Refurbished stock varies based on what people have sent in for repair and replacement, and additional ‌M1‌ ‌iMac‌ models will be available in the future. Those looking for a specific build or a specific color will need to keep an eye on the store to wait for their preferred version to pop up.

All of Apple's refurbished Macs are sold with the same one-year warranty that's offered with a new Mac, plus they come with all manuals and accessories, including a USB-C power adapter and cable. Apple's refurbished devices are subjected to a rigorous testing, repair, repackaging and cleaning process to make them identical to new devices.

Categories for refurbished 24-inch iMacs have also shown up in the United States, so we can expect to see the refurbished ‌iMac‌ models available in other countries in the near future.

Apple has developed a first-of-its-kind hydration sensor designed for the Apple Watch, a company patent filing has revealed.

The patent, first spotted by Patently Apple, is titled "Hydration measurement with a watch" and was granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

"Traditional techniques for tracking hydration are generally invasive, expensive, or unreliable," according to Apple. This refers to existing ways of determining hydration such as single-use tests of fluid samples.

Apple's hydration sensor takes the form of non-invasive electrodes that are placed against the skin, which it describes as a "reliable and elegant" solution. The sensor works by measuring the electrical properties of the Apple Watch wearer's sweat. The patent explains:

The electrical properties, such as electrical conductance, can represent a concentration of electrolytes in the perspiration, which in turn represents a hydration level of the user.

[...]

For example, a high level of electrical conductance of the perspiration can indicate a high concentration of electrolytes and a low level of hydration. By further example, a low level of electrical conductance of the perspiration can indicate a low concentration of electrolytes and a high level of hydration.

The filing goes on to give a lengthy and detailed technical description of the hydration sensor and its functionality.

Apple says that its hydration tracking system can be performed "non-invasively, repeatedly, accurately, automatically, and with minimal user intervention." According to the patent, hydration data may be used to provide feedback to the user, particularly during activity such as workouts, and encourage better management of water intake, and in turn, overall health. The filing outlines why hydration is a valuable health metric:

A user's hydration level has significant impacts on the health of a user. Dehydration can impair performance and is associated with several deleterious health consequences, including heat strokes. Overdrinking can result in hyponatremia, fatigue, confusion, coma, and even death.

Patent filings cannot be taken as firm evidence of Apple's plans, but they do show the company's areas of research. Nevertheless, Apple is known to have ambitious plans for adding new health tracking capabilities to the Apple Watch following the debut of blood oxygen monitoring with the Apple Watch Series 6 and hydration monitoring now appears to be a viable option for the company to add to the device in the future.

Mastercard last week announced that its cards will no longer be issued with the magnetic stripe by 2029, which will presumably include Apple Card.

The magnetic stripe was an early 1960s technology that allowed card information to be encoded onto magnetic tape that is laminated to the back of a card, paving the way for electronic payment terminals and chip cards. Now, Mastercard is set to be the first payments network to phase out the magnetic stripe.

Starting in 2024, Mastercard credit and debit cards will not be required to feature a magnetic stripe in most markets, including Europe. Banks in the United States will no longer be required to issue cards with a magnetic stripe in 2027. Mastercard expects that the magnetic stripe will disappear in Europe most quickly, where chip cards are already widely used.

By 2029, there will be no new Mastercard credit or debit cards issued with a magnetic stripe, but prepaid cards in the U.S. and Canada will be exempt from this change. By 2033, no more Mastercard credit and debit cards will have magnetic stripes at all, giving the remaining retail partners that still rely on the technology ample time to phase in chip card processing.

The decision comes as consumers have changed their payment habits to prefer newer, more secure technologies. Chip-based cards that feature microprocessors and contactless antennae are now widespread, virtually eliminating the need for the older magnetic stripe technology, which has steadily declined in use in recent years.

As a Mastercard, the ‌Apple Card‌ features a gray magnetic stripe on the rear of the card at the bottom, under the company's specification requirements. According to the current timeframe set out for phasing out the stripe, Apple and its partner Goldman Sachs can start to issue new Apple Cards without the magnetic stripe from 2027. Apple will be obliged to make the change by 2029.

The Apple Watch Edition with titanium for the Series 6 is currently entirely unavailable for purchase on Apple's online store, following some models being unavailable for delivery or pick-up earlier this month.

On August 1, select models of the Series 6 Edition with titanium were unavailable for delivery and/or pick-up. Now, all titanium models are unavailable for delivery or pick-up and can't even be added to Apple's online store bag.

The unavailability comes just weeks ahead of when we expect Apple to announce the Apple Watch Series 7 with a new design. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has speculated that the spotty lack of availability for the Apple Watch Edition earlier this month could entail Apple deciding to discontinue the higher-end lineup with the Series 7.

We've contacted Apple for comment and will let MacRumors' readers know if we hear back.

Adobe today announced several new updates for its Photoshop apps available for the Mac and the iPad. Photoshop for ‌iPad‌ is gaining Healing Brush and Magic Wand features, bringing it in line with Photoshop for the desktop.

Photoshop for ‌iPad‌ was first introduced in 2019, and at launch, the tablet version of the software was lacking several features that were available in the Mac version of Photoshop. Adobe at launch said that new capabilities would be added to Photoshop for ‌iPad‌ over time, and since then, new features have been introduced on a regular basis.

With the Healing Brush, ‌iPad‌ users will be able to correct imperfections, with the tool matching texture, lighting, transparency, and other details. The Magic Wand tool is available for selecting irregularly shaped areas, extracting objects from a flat background, or selecting distinct colors.

In addition to these two new features, Photoshop for ‌iPad‌ is gaining Canvas Projection, which will allow Photoshop users to share their canvas or collaborate live on a larger screen. Through this feature, an ‌iPad‌ can be connected to an external monitor or TV display using HDMI or USB-C to project the ‌iPad‌'s screen on that display.

For Photoshop on Desktop, Adobe is introducing an improvement to the Sky Replacement feature, adding new skies to choose from and the option to import up to 5,000 skies at once.

Other new additions include a Bezier handle movement for Transform Warp, improvements to Neural Filters, a Discover panel that makes it easier to search for tools, workflows, and menu items, with full details available through Adobe's blog post.

Adobe Photoshop Beta is also set to debut this month. Photoshop Beta is designed to allow Creative Cloud members to provide feedback on new features to the Photoshop team. Creative Cloud subscribers can install it from the Beta section of the Creative Cloud desktop app.

Earlier this week, Adobe announced signups for Adobe MAX, its October event that will be available for free and will feature more than 400 sessions, keynotes, workshops, and more.

The upcoming Apple Watch Series 7 will feature flat edges, a larger display thanks to smaller bezels, and a more prominent speaker, according to new CAD renders, allegedly obtained from industry sources, shared today by 91mobiles.

The renders reveal an updated Apple Watch design that takes inspiration from the flat-edges of the iPhone 12, iPad Pro, iPad Air, and the upcoming 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros. From the renders, we can see that the rear of the Apple Watch will consist of the same configuration of health sensors as the current Series 6.

The renders reveal no significant design changes to the Digital Crown or side button; however, they show two speakers that extend the entire side of the Apple Watch compared to the current adjacent speaker design. According to dimensions shared, the Apple Watch Series 7 will be offered in the same 40 and 44mm case sizes as expected.

While the bezels on the upcoming watch are expected to be thinner, which would allow for a larger display, the flat edges also allow the surface area to be larger. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has noted that Apple is testing a new screen lamination process for the Series 7 which will bring the display closer to the cover glass.

According to the report, the 44mm model of the Series 6 will sport a 1.8-inch display compared to the current 1.73 display in the Apple Watch Series 6. While no dimensions for the smaller 40mm model are shared, a similar proportional increase in display size can be expected. The Series 7 will also be 1.7mm thinner compared to the Series 6, according to the report.

Apple leaker Jon Prosser reported on an updated design for the upcoming Apple Watch Series 7 earlier this year, and 91mobiles' renders are mostly in line with Prosser's reporting. Reliable Bloomberg journalist ‌Mark Gurman‌ has also stated the upcoming Apple Watch model can be expected to feature design changes.

Since the introduction of the first Apple Watch, Apple has maintained the compatibility of older Apple Watch bands with all Apple Watch series. This has allowed customers to upgrade their existing Apple Watch without purchasing new bands compatible with the newer model.

While not mentioned directly in the report, today's renders make it appear as though that despite the flat-edges of the upcoming Apple Watch, the Series 7 should maintain compatibility with older Apple Watch bands. The Apple Watch Series 7 is expected to be announced alongside the ‌iPhone‌ 13 at a digital Apple Event in September.