MacRumors

Twitter today shared its fourth quarter earnings results and provided some details on expected expenses and revenue in 2021. As noted by CNBC, Twitter believes that Apple's upcoming App Tracking Transparency requirements will have a "modest impact" on revenue.

app tracking transparency prompt ios 14

Looking ahead, Twitter said it expects revenue to grow faster than expenses in 2021, assuming the pandemic continues to improve and taking into account an expected "modest impact" from Apple's upcoming privacy changes to iOS 14. However, the company warned it expects headcount growth of more than 20% this year, with overall expenses increasing more than 25%.

Starting with the launch of iOS and iPadOS 14.5, app developers are required to get permission from users before tracking them using an advertising identifier called the IDFA. Many developers and ad agencies that rely on ad revenue and ad tracking are worried that the change will impact income, as most people are not expected to agree to be tracked.

Twitter did not go into detail beyond suggesting the change will have a modest impact on revenue in 2021, but Facebook has been fighting heavily against Apple's planned changes. Facebook has taken out newspaper ads, written blogs, and tried to convince people that Apple is going to kill small businesses by implementing the more stringent privacy controls.

Snap has also claimed that Apple's opt-in ad tracking measures will present a "risk" to advertiser demand, but Snap Chief Business Officer Jeremi Gorman recently said that Snap admires Apple's privacy tweaks and is "well prepared to guide advertisers through the iOS changes."

Twitter, Facebook, Snap, and other app developers will need to comply with Apple's ad tracking consent guidelines starting when iOS 14.5 launches, with the update expected to come in the early spring. Under the terms of the new rules, when a person declines to be tracked, apps are also restricted from using alternative methods to track the user across apps and websites.

A man who claimed to be innocent following the death of his wife was found to be guilty after police used evidence sourced from the Apple Health app on his iPhone to convict him.

apple health app steps feature
As outlined by The Birmingham News (via Cult of Mac), Kat West, Jeff West's wife, was found dead in January 2018 after suffering a blow to the head. Jeff West claimed that she was drunk and fell while he was asleep in bed, but the Health app on his ‌iPhone‌ said otherwise.

West told investigators that he fell asleep around 10:30 p.m. and was in bed until 5:15 a.m., but his Apple Health app showed that he took a total of 18 steps from 11:03 p.m. to 11:10 p.m., a fact that contradicted his claims. Data from Kat West's ‌iPhone‌ showed that she stopped moving after 10:54 p.m., corresponding to the time when Jeff West claimed to be in bed.

West's fingerprints were also found at the bottom of the bottle that was used to hit his wife in the head. Prosecutors believed that Jeff, a trained crime scene investigator, killed his wife after an argument about her line of work and then staged the scene to make himself look innocent.

Despite proclaiming that he was uninvolved with the murder, West has been in prison for the past three years as the murder trial has unfolded. He has now been convicted of reckless manslaughter and ordered to serve a total of 16 years.

Tag: Health

Apple in the iOS 14.5 beta added a new option to help Siri learn to select your preferred audio apps for listening to music, podcasts, and audiobooks, a feature that will undoubtedly be appealing to non-Apple Music fans.

siri choose music service
When you ask ‌Siri‌ to play a song, album, podcast, or book, ‌Siri‌ will prompt you for your preferred app. This is not a default setting, but ‌Siri‌ will use this information to learn your app preferences and will select the apps you want to use when you make requests.

There is no specific toggle for you to turn on to select a music service, and ‌Siri‌ may ask again, but this is a way to get ‌Siri‌ to choose the apps you use instead of automatically opening default apps like Apple Music.

How to Choose a Preferred Music Service Using Siri

  1. Update to iOS 14.5 or iPadOS 14.5 on the iPad.
  2. Ask ‌Siri‌ to play an artist, song, or album with a request like "Hey ‌Siri‌, play Fleetwood Mac."
  3. ‌Siri‌ will pop up a list of all music apps you have installed, and will ask "Which app would you like to use?"
  4. Choose your preferred music app from the list. siri music app default
  5. If asked, confirm that ‌Siri‌ can access data from your music app.
  6. From there, ‌Siri‌ will play the music in your app of choice. If you chose Spotify, for example, the music content will play in Spotify.

‌Siri‌ will tell you which music app was selected when the song plays, and you can also see an icon from the music app in the Now Playing window.

spotify music player
It's been possible to play music from other services by clarifying which service you want ‌Siri‌ to use, such as "Hey ‌Siri‌, play music on Spotify," but the change implemented in iOS 14.5 makes the ‌Siri‌ remember your music app of choice so a simple command like "Hey ‌Siri‌ play music" will use your favorite app rather than defaulting to ‌Apple Music‌. This also works for podcasts, audiobooks, and other audio content.

How to Change Your Default Music Service

At the current time, there's no ‌Siri‌ command or music setting to manually change the default music app that you've set through the ‌Siri‌ There is no option for manually changing your preferred music service as this is meant to be a ‌Siri‌ intelligence feature where ‌Siri‌ learns preferences over time.

You can ask ‌Siri‌ to play music on a different music service and sometimes that will shift the default. So if you've set Spotify as your default but want to change back to ‌Apple Music‌, you can say "Hey ‌Siri‌, play Fleetwood Mac on ‌Apple Music‌," or vice versa, "Hey ‌Siri‌, play Fleetwood Mac on Spotify."

‌Siri‌ will also occasionally bring up the popup asking you which app you want to use when you make a request so that it can keep current with your preferences.

Related Forum: iOS 14

The California DMV today released new disengagement and mileage reports for self-driving vehicles that are being tested in the state, giving us some insight into Apple's progression on its self-driving vehicle software.

applelexusselfdriving1
Over the course of 2020, vehicles equipped with Apple's self-driving technology traveled a total of 18,805 miles in California, up from the 7,544 miles traveled in 2019. There were a total of 130 disengagements, up from 64 last year, but that's not a surprise considering the increase in mileage. Apple's cars experienced a disengagement every 144.6 miles, which is a better metric than 2019 where there was a disengagement every 117.8 miles.

All companies that are testing self-driving vehicles in California are required to file annual disengagement reports providing details on how many times a vehicle disengages and gives control back to the safety driver, or the number of times a safety driver in the vehicle takes over.

Companies must also report total mileage covered by self-driving cars and provide details on any accidents when they occur, but Apple hasn't had a recent accident. The last collision an Apple vehicle experienced was in 2019.

Apple has been testing its self-driving software since early 2017 using Lexus RX450h SUVs outfitted with a host of sensors and cameras as it works on Apple Car hardware. All of the vehicles are piloted by a pair of drivers at all times even when in autonomous driving mode

The third-generation Apple TV, last made available in 2013, is slowly losing support from third-party app developers. YouTube recently announced that the YouTube channel will disappear in March, and now the CBS All Access channel is also being removed.

apple tv 3 cbs all access discontinued
Those who have a third-generation ‌Apple TV‌ are seeing a popup when logging into the CBS All Access app that says CBS All Access will no longer be available starting in March.

The timing coincides with an upcoming shift that will see CBS All Access rebranding as Paramount+. ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said in September that CBS All Access was being rebranded because the Paramount brand is more recognizable. The rebrand will be accompanied by original content designed to lure new subscribers.

The new Paramount+ app will not be available on the second and third-generation ‌Apple TV‌ models, but it will be watchable on the fourth and fifth-generation ‌Apple TV‌ models, the iPhone, and the iPad.

Though there will be no app on the third-generation ‌Apple TV‌, Paramount+ content will be able to be streamed from an iOS device to a third-generation ‌Apple TV‌.

AirPlay will also be the only way to watch YouTube content on the third-generation ‌Apple TV‌ starting in March.

Third-generation ‌Apple TV‌ users who are looking to upgrade to a newer model may want to hold off for the time being as Apple is rumored to be introducing a new ‌Apple TV‌ set-top box at some point this year. The fifth-generation ‌Apple TV‌, which is the current newest version, was released in 2017.

Tag: CBS

The macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 update that Apple released today fixes a sudo security vulnerability that could allow an attacker to gain root access to a Mac.

sudo bug macos
According to an Apple security support document, the bug, CVE-2021-3156, was addressed in the update by updating to sudo version 1.9.5p2. Apple has also fixed the bug in Supplemental Updates made available for macOS Catalina 10.15.7 and macOS Mojave 10.14.6.

The updates also include fixes for two bugs that could allow an app to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.

Discovered last week, the vulnerability triggers a "heap overflow" in sudo that changes the current user's privileges to enable root-level access, giving an attacker access to the entire system.

Google is expected to unveil the next-generation version of Android, Android 12, in just a few weeks. Ahead of the software's debut, XDA Developers has shared some leaked screenshots that give us an idea of what we can expect from the new software.

google privacy dot
According to XDA Developers, the screenshots are sourced from an "early draft of a document made to summarize changes in Android 12," and those who are using iOS 14 will notice a few similarities between Apple's latest update and Google's upcoming release, as PCWorld points out.

Apple in iOS 14 added a little dot in the status bar to let you know if the microphone or the camera is activated, and in Android 12, Google appears to have a similar option. When the camera or the microphone is in use, there's a green bar at the top of the Android interface.

After an app has accessed the camera or the microphone, Android 12 displays a small dot that can be tapped to let you see the specifics of which app used the phone hardware.

google privacy dot info
Google is also adding toggles for universally disabling the camera and the microphone in its overhauled privacy interface, which goes a bit beyond what Apple offers. With iPhones and iPads, you can disable camera and microphone access on an app-by-app basis, but not for every app.

The widgets interface in Android 12 is similar to the widgets interface in iOS 14 with a cleaner look and better organization to make it easier to find widgets to use on the Home screen.

google widgets
Apple likely won't be upset that Google is following in its footsteps to boost privacy controls, as Apple execs have said several times that when it comes to privacy protections, Apple is happy to see competitors copying its work.

Google is also planning to embrace another Apple privacy change - App Tracking Transparency. Recent reports suggest that Google is considering a "less stringent" version of the feature, which requires app developers to get user permission before tracking them across apps and websites. "We're always looking for ways to work with developers to raise the bar on privacy while enabling a healthy, ad-supported app ecosystem," said a Google spokesperson.

The leaked screenshots from XDA Developers haven't been confirmed, but we should see the new Android 12 operating system features later in February.

Apple today released macOS Big Sur 11.2.1, the third update to the macOS Big Sur operating system that launched in November. macOS Big Sur‌ 11.2.1 comes a little over a week after the release of macOS 11.2.

First Look Big Sur Feature2
The new ‌‌‌macOS Big Sur‌‌ 11.2.1‌ update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Preferences.

According to Apple's release notes, macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 addresses an issue that could prevent the battery from charging in some 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pro models. In an Apple support document released alongside the update, Apple says that a small number of customers with 2016 and 2017 ‌MacBook Pro‌ models have experienced a bug that causes their batteries not to charge past 1 percent, an issue macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 fixes.

Affected customers who ran into the problem with an earlier version of macOS Big Sur will also see a "Service Recommended" notice and will need to contact Apple for a free battery replacement.

Update: macOS 11.2.1 also fixes a significant security vulnerability.

Related Forum: macOS Big Sur

Spotify is now testing its live lyrics feature in the United States, so some Spotify users will see an option to view lyrics synced to the music they're listening to on an iOS device.

spotify live lyrics
Live lyrics have already been tested and launched in other countries, and Spotify this morning confirmed to Engadget that the feature is available to some users in the United States.

"We can confirm we're currently testing our lyrics feature to a select number of users in the US. At Spotify, we routinely conduct a number of tests in an effort to improve our user experience. Some of those tests end up paving the way for our broader user experience and others serve only as an important learning. We don't have any further news to share at this time."

Spotify's live lyrics feature won't show up for all Spotify users as the company is using A/B testing to determine demand for live lyrics in the U.S. If you have Spotify, you can check to see if live lyrics are enabled by choosing a song and then checking for the lyrics option in the playback controls.

Spotify's live lyrics option is powered by Musixmatch and has previously been launched in 26 markets around the world, including Brazil, Mexico, Hong Kong, Thailand, and India.

It's not yet clear if the live lyrics feature will fully launch in the U.S. because as Engadget points out, Spotify has tested it in markets like Canada and has then not followed through with the feature's release.

Major Spotify competitor Apple Music has a built-in live lyrics option that has been available since iOS 13. The lyrics in ‌Apple Music‌ scroll as a song plays, keeping time with the music, which is similar to how Spotify's live lyrics work.

Tag: Spotify

Adobe today updated its Photoshop, Illustrator, and Fresco Creative Cloud apps to introduce a new "Invite to Edit" feature that allows for asynchronous editing between collaborators on all devices including desktop, iPad, and iPhone.


Multiple collaborators are able to edit a single shared cloud document one at a time after saving .PSD or .AI files as cloud documents. Shared cloud documents can be accessed on assets.adobe.com and the Creative Cloud Desktop app.

There's also a new Preset Sync feature for Photoshop that is designed to let users sync brushes, swatches, gradients, patterns, styles, and shapes on Mac and Windows, with synced brushes coming soon to the ‌iPad‌ version of the app. There's also a new Rotate Canvas option available in Illustrator for ‌iPad‌.

photoshop invite to edit adobe
Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Fresco can be downloaded from Adobe's website, and pricing on the software starts at $9.99 for Photoshop alone and $20.99 for Illustrator. The full Adobe Creative Suite is priced starting at $52.99.

Tag: Adobe

The iPhone 12 mini, the smallest variant in the iPhone 12 lineup, reportedly accounted for only 5% of sales for the entire 2020 ‌iPhone‌ series in the first half of January in the United States, according to Counterpoint Research cited by Reuters.

iphone 12 mini front
Counterpoint Research indicates that handsets over 6 inches such as the ‌iPhone‌ 12, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max outperformed smaller models such as the 5.4-inch ‌iPhone 12 mini‌ for the start of this year. The relatively low sales for the 12 mini is expected to be due to a trend in the overall market where consumers are veering away from smaller displays and opting for larger, more immersive smartphone sizes.

Reports of lackluster ‌iPhone 12 mini‌ sales began emerging in early January, and last week JP Morgan analyst William Yang stated in a note seen by AppleInsider that weak demand for the model could result in Apple cutting production entirely in the second quarter of 2021 to allow it to sell through its existing supplies.

Last month Apple reported its quarterly earnings for the first time following the launch of the ‌iPhone‌ 12 in October. While Apple did not disclose specific sales figures for each of the models in the lineup, the company did report $65.60 billion in revenue for its ‌iPhone‌ business alone, a new quarterly record.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular accessory maker Twelve South has today announced the "SurfaceSnap" cable management solution.

twelve south surface snap 3

SurfaceSnap features a genuine leather band, polished metal button snaps, and a strong semi-permanent adhesive to attach it to a surface. Twelve South assures that SurfaceSnap's adhesive can stick to almost any smooth surface and leaves no residue when removed, allowing it to be repositioned elsewhere.

SurfaceSnap is primarily designed to offer a slim, aesthetically-pleasing alternative to bulky cable managers that use weight to hold cables in place. The button snaps make it easy to add or remove cables, and Twelve South even suggests that the SurfaceSnap is ideal for travel.

twelve south surface snap 2

Each pack includes two single-button cable managers and one double-winged cable manager. The Twelve South SurfaceSnap is now available online for $29.99 in Black or Dove Gray.

Google today announced that it will be expanding Google Fi's built-in VPN service to the iPhone starting this spring, providing iOS users with another option to ensure that their connection is secure and private on a cellular or Wi-Fi network. Google also said the VPN is exiting beta for Android smartphone users.

google fi vpn android
With the VPN, users can stream, browse, and download on an encrypted, private connection, which is especially important for unsecured public Wi-Fi. VPNs also prevent websites from tracking a user's location by masking their IP address.

Google Fi, formerly Project Fi, is an MNVO or "virtual carrier" that piggybacks off the T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular networks in the United States, providing users with talk, text, and data plans with more flexible pricing options. Last year, Google Fi rolled out eSIM support for some iPhone users, allowing it to be used as a secondary line.

Members of Parliament (MPs) are calling for the British government to make a bid for Apple to build its long-rumored electric vehicle in the United Kingdom, according to The Telegraph.

Apple car wheel icon feature blue

James Sunderland, Conservative MP for Bracknell, said that it was a "no brainer" for Britain to build the Apple car, and that the UK government should begin to bid for production contracts with Apple. Nick Fletcher, Conservative MP for Doncaster, added that Apple car production represented an opportunity for "engaging with new, innovative industries that help boost economic growth while helping the environment."

Sunderland, a port city in the north-east of England, is already home to the production of the fully-electric Nissan Leaf in Europe. Marco Longhi, Conservative MP for Dudley North, said Apple could offer a major boost to areas of the UK with long-standing automotive expertise.

"This would be a fantastic investment for the Midlands and the Black Country," he said. "This will mean jobs for people locally and it would be an endorsement of UK plc in a post-Brexit environment."

Considering that the Apple car has not yet been announced, with it looking as though production may not begin for another three years, it is surprising that politicians are already discussing the vehicle. The possibility of Apple car production in the UK may seek to counter the country's loss of a Tesla Gigafactory to Berlin, when Elon Musk was searching for a location for a new European manufacturing hub in 2019.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders, said that the British government is actively working with companies to attract investment into domestic battery gigafactories, and a spokesperson for the UK government's Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy told The Telegraph that they could not comment on speculation around commercial contracts with Apple.

The only location that has seen significant attention for potential Apple car production so far is Kia's West Point plant in the U.S. state of Georgia, but Apple's partnership with Hyundai and Kia on the project has now been brought into question since talks were paused earlier this month.

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.

Verizon today is discounting the Apple Pencil 2 to $103.99, down from $129.00. While not the best price we've ever seen, the new Verizon sale is just about a $5 difference from the lowest sale price offered by Amazon in the past.

applepencilipadairNote: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Verizon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

It's also the best price currently available at a major Apple reseller online, with the next-best price coming in at $124.98 on Amazon. Apple Pencil 2 works with the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro (third generation and later), as well as the new iPad Air.

With the stylus, iPad owners can take notes, create art, and more. The second generation Apple Pencil can also magnetically attach and pair to the iPad Pro and new iPad Air. The first generation Apple Pencil isn't currently on sale.

Be sure to visit our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more Apple-related products and accessories.

Related Roundup: Apple Deals

The problem of scam iOS apps has dogged Apple's App Store for some years now, but over last two weeks the developer Kosta Eleftheriou has taken to Twitter to highlight that the problem remains as big as ever in at least some app categories – and also offered iOS users a way to spot them.

app store safe secure
Taking blatant rip-offs of his own popular FlickType Apple Watch keyboard app as an example of how scammers prey on and exploit the work of genuine app developers, Eleftheriou exposed some of the ways these scams work.

Just a few months ago, I was way ahead of my competition. By the time they figured out just how hard autocorrect algorithms were, I was already rolling out the swipe version of my keyboard, quickly approaching iPhone typing speeds. So how did they beat me?

First, they made an app that appeared to fulfill the promise of a watch keyboard – but was practically unusable. Then, they started heavily advertising on FB & Instagram, using my own promo video, of my own app, with my actual name on it.

According to Eleftheriou, there are several clones of his FlickType app, but one of the most clear non-functional rip-offs was "KeyWatch," which launched with a blank interface and an "Unlock now" button. Tapping the button prompted users to confirm an $8/week subscription for an app that doesn't do anything.

According to Eleftheriou, the scam achieved prominence in the App Store by gaming Apple's algorithmic ranking system through the purchase of fake ratings and glowing five-star reviews, which bumped it up to the top of its app category. It even advertised its software using his own promotional video, which includes his actual name.


Apple has since removed the fake app from the App Store, although the developer account responsible for multiple scam apps remains active. Eleftheriou says that before KeyWatch was taken down, the developers had long benefited from what had become a $2 million-per-year scam that went largely unnoticed by Apple moderators until he personally exposed it.

Since that time, Eleftheriou has been on a mission to expose more scam apps in the App Store, such as the so-called star gazing app that goes by the name "Star Gazer+" and basically uses the same time-proven strategy of masquerading as a genuine app that's barely functional and hoodwinks users into an exorbitant in-app weekly subscription fee.

As of writing, the scam app "Star Gazer+" is still listed on the App Store with 4.5 star average rating and over 80,000 reviews.

Eleftheriou's exposure of the rampant App Store scheme has led many more developers and critics to share their own experiences and hopefully put pressure on Apple to tighten up its app moderation and consider overhauling its billing interface and options, including the suggestion of removing the weekly subscription option altogether.

Update: In a statement provided to The Verge, Apple said that it does not tolerate fraudulent activity on the App Store and that its Discovery Fraud team is actively working to remove violations.

We take feedback regarding fraudulent activity seriously, and investigate and take action on each report. The App Store is designed to be a safe and trusted place for users to get apps, and a great opportunity for developers to be successful. We do not tolerate fraudulent activity on the App Store, and have stringent rules against apps and developers who attempt to cheat the system. In 2020 alone, we terminated over half a million developer accounts for fraud, and removed over 60 million user reviews that were considered spam. As part of our ongoing efforts to maintain the integrity of our platform, our Discovery Fraud team actively works to remove these kinds of violations, and is constantly improving their process along the way.

A follow-up report by security researchers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk has alleged that Facebook Messenger and Instagram are collecting and using data from link previews in a way that would breach European privacy law.

facebook messenger icon new

In October last year, Bakry and Mysk revealed that link previews in popular messaging apps can lead to security and privacy issues on iOS and Android. It was discovered that apps could leak IP addresses, expose links sent in end-to-end encrypted chats, download large files without users' consent, and copy private data through link previews.

In that report, Bakry and Mysk found that Facebook Messenger and Instagram behaved unlike other messaging apps in that they downloaded the entire contents of any link to its servers, regardless of size. When questioned about this unusual behavior, Facebook reportedly said that it considers this to be "working as intended."

Copies of link preview data kept on external servers could be subject to breaches or misuse, which may be particularly concerning for users who send links to sensitive or confidential private data such as business documents, bills, contracts, or medical records.

Now, Bakry and Mysk have found that Facebook has recently stopped generating link previews in Messenger and Instagram for users in Europe to comply with the European Union's ePrivacy Directive. The change also applies to users outside Europe if they communicate with someone in the region.

messenger link previewsLinks sent in Facebook Messenger as seen in Europe and other regions

The researchers suggest that since Europe has "some of the most robust privacy laws" and Facebook has now removed link previews seemingly to comply with the legislation, the company must have been using the data from link previews in a way that would breach the ePrivacy Directive.

It is an implicit confirmation that Facebook's handling of link previews in Messenger and Instagram did not conform to privacy regulations in Europe, otherwise they wouldn't have disabled the feature... Stopping this service in Europe strongly hints that Facebook may be using this content for purposes other than generating previews.

Bakry and Mysk believe that Facebook's link previews may have infringed on articles 4:1a, 4:2, and 5:3 of the ePrivacy Directive. These articles include the requirement that personal data can only be accessed by authorized personnel for legal purposes, the need to inform users of the risks of a data breach, and the need to gain user consent having been provided with "clear and comprehensive information" about how data is collected.

As links may relate to personal data, the ePrivacy Directive prevents Facebook from storing, processing, or using this information without explicit consent from users in the EU. Facebook would also have to make it clear to users why it is downloading the contents of link previews prior to requesting consent.

Bakry and Mysk have demonstrated that Facebook servers download and store the content of links sent through its apps, and if the same link is sent a second time, Facebook generates a link preview without downloading the contents of the link. This purportedly indicates that the content is stored or cached by Facebook and is proven by the amount of data that is uploaded from a user's device.

Link previews continue to be available in Messenger and Instagram for users outside Europe. Facebook's current Terms of Service state that any content users share through any of Facebook's services will be used for various purposes such as personalizing content, ads, making suggestions, and learning about users, both on and off Facebook's products. In Europe, this use of personal data now requires explicit consent from users even if it is approved by Facebook's Terms of Service.

Facebook disabled link previews for users in Europe to comply with new privacy regulations. This confirms our privacy concerns that sending links to private files in Messenger and Instagram is unsafe. While Facebook did disable link previews in Europe, users in other regions should refrain from sending links through either of these apps. The better option would be to switch to other messaging apps which respect user privacy in all parts of the world alike.

Bakry and Mysk are now actively recommending that users outside Europe do not send links in Messenger or Instagram due to privacy concerns, and have even suggested that users move to other messaging apps entirely.

Beyond link previews, the researchers have previously investigated popular iPhone and iPad apps "snooping" on iOS pasteboard data and HTTP security vulnerabilities in TikTok.

Qualcomm today introduced the Snapdragon X65, the world's first 10 Gigabit 5G modem and antenna system for smartphones, enabling theoretical data speeds up to 10 gigabits per second. Apple will likely use the Snapdragon X65 in 2022 iPhones.

qualcomm snapdragon x65 10 gigabit 5g
While real-world download speeds will likely remain far below the peak of 10 gigabits per second, devices equipped with the Snapdragon X65 should see faster 5G speeds overall. The modem has many other benefits, too, including improved power efficiency, enhanced coverage for both mmWave and sub-6 GHz bands, and support for all global commercialized mmWave frequencies, including the new n259 (41 GHz) band.

As with the previous-generation Snapdragon X60, the X65 can aggregate data from mmWave and sub-6GHz bands simultaneously to achieve an optimal combination of high-speed and low-latency coverage. The modem is paired with Qualcomm's new fourth-generation mmWave antenna module for extended mmWave coverage and power efficiency.

mmWave is a set of 5G frequencies that promise ultra-fast speeds at short distances, making it best suited for dense urban areas. By comparison, sub-6GHz 5G is generally slower than mmWave, but the signals travel further, better serving suburban and rural areas. mmWave support on iPhone 12 models is limited to the United States, but rumors suggest that iPhone 13 models may support mmWave in additional countries.

In 2019, Apple and Qualcomm settled a legal battle and reached a multiyear chipset supply agreement, paving the way for Apple to use Qualcomm's 5G modems, starting with the Snapdragon X55 in iPhone 12 models. Beyond that, a court document from the settlement revealed that Apple will likely use the Snapdragon X60 modem for 2021 iPhones, followed by the Snapdragon X65 in 2022 iPhones.

The Snapdragon X65 could be the last Qualcomm modem used in iPhones, as Barclays analysts and multiple other sources have forecasted that Apple will switch to its own in-house 5G modem for iPhones by 2023.

Related Roundup: iPhone 14
Related Forum: iPhone