MacRumors

FCC filings for Apple's newly released AirTags have revealed that the Cupertino tech giant began regulatory testing and preparing to seek regulatory approval for the product nearly two years before they were officially announced.

A series of documents submitted to the Federal Communications Commission indicate that AirTag underwent testing for official certification between July and November of 2019. Despite testing being conducted in mid-2019, official reports for regulatory certification were only issued in September and October of last year.

Like all consumer products, Apple devices must undergo extensive and rigorous testing with the FCC in the United States and regulatory agencies of countries where the device will be sold before they can reach the market. What makes this case particularly interesting is that AirTags were the subject of rumors for a full two years, with a launch seemingly imminent for much of that time.

With the FCC filings indicating that AirTags were far enough along that they were undergoing regulatory testing in 2019, it suggests that Apple may indeed have pushed back the AirTags launch by as much as a year. While the exact reasoning behind Apple's delay for AirTags remains a point of mystery, an educated guess could be that the company wanted to build out its Find My network before its launch to avoid accusations of anti-competitive behavior.

As AirTags were rumored to be in development, Tile, which creates a line of similar item trackers, began to ring the alarm bells that certain features in iOS would make it harder to compete with the eventual Apple item tracker. At the time, companies such as Tile had no real platform or network on Apple devices that would render their item trackers mainstream or particularly easy to use compared to an Apple-made accessory.

That all changed earlier this month when Apple announced it's opening up the Find My network to third-party accessory makers. ‌AirTag‌ is built off of the ‌Find My‌ network that consists of more than a billion Apple devices that use encrypted signals to crowdsource the location of other ‌Find My‌ compatible devices and items.

By opening up the network to third-party companies ahead of the launch of AirTags, Apple may have felt it would be avoiding scrutiny and anti-competitive accusations given that its own item tracker would no longer have an advantage on Apple devices compared to those made by other companies.

Tile doesn't use Apple's ‌Find My‌ ecosystem, and it's unclear if the company plans to adopt the network in the future. Others, however, such as Belkin, VanMoof, and Chipolo, have announced plans to adopt the ‌Find My‌ network for their own products, including wireless earbuds, bikes, and an item tracker, respectively.

Apple's own AirTags became available for pre-order earlier today and will begin arriving to customers on April 30.

Apple is launching a program that will provide COVID-19 vaccinations to its employees at Apple offices, reports Bloomberg. Apple is teaming up with Walgreens Boots Alliance to provide the shots, and employees will be able to sign up on a website that Apple will soon roll out.

Apple in March promised time off for employees who need to recover from getting vaccinated, but at the time said that it did not have a way to provide vaccinations. With vaccine availability expanding widely in the United States, Apple is now able to provide additional help to employees who still need the vaccine.

In California, where Apple's main corporate campuses are located, all individuals over the age of 16 have been eligible for a vaccine since April 15. Demand in the Bay Area is high, however, and it can be difficult for individuals living in and around Cupertino to conveniently get vaccinated.

Apple's vaccination program is voluntary, and Apple is offering sick leave for employees who need time to recover from symptoms after receiving the vaccine.

With employees able to be vaccinated, Apple may also be able to get them back in offices sooner, though Bloomberg says the company has not asked employees to return nor has it set a firm date for employees to return after getting vaccinated. Apple CEO Tim Cook has, however, told employees that a large number of them will begin returning in June.

Back in March, Cook said that he "can't wait" for employees to return to the office as person-to-person interactions are essential for generating new ideas. "Innovation isn't always a planned activity," Cook said. "It's bumping into each other over the course of the day and advancing an idea that you just had. And you really need to be together to do that."

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Apple today seeded the first betas of new iOS and iPadOS 14.6 updates to public beta testers for testing purposes, with the new software coming one day after the the betas were provided to developers and just ahead of when Apple plans to release iOS and iPadOS 14.5.

Public beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program can download the iOS and iPadOS‌ 14.6 updates over the air after installing the proper certificate from the Public Beta website on an iOS device.

If you're already on the release candidate version of iOS 14.5, Apple has added a new feature that makes it easy to choose to upgrade to the new beta or stay with the release track, and you'll see the update listed under a new "Also Available" section.

We don't yet know what's included in the iOS and iPadOS 14.6 updates, and there were no new features discovered in the developer beta that went out yesterday. Apple may add new features to iOS 14.6 in a later beta, or it may focus on under-the-hood improvements and bug fixes for issues unable to be addressed in iOS 14.5.

Apple has also seeded a new public beta of tvOS 14.6 to public beta testers, which can be downloaded by opening up the Settings app on the Apple TV, navigating to the Software Updates section under "System" and then toggling on "Get Public Beta Updates" after signing up to beta test on Apple's public beta website.

Shipping estimates for Apple's AirTags are already slipping in to May directly from Apple's site, but third-party retailers are also offering AirTags and it's possible orders could ship out close to the AirTags release date.

AirTags can be preordered on Amazon, and while it mentions the AirTags release date of April 30, it does not seem to guarantee a delivery date. "Order now and we'll notify you by email when we have an estimated delivery date for this item," the site reads.

Best Buy also has AirTag preorders and the Best Buy listings do say that the AirTags will "ship by release day," which is not a release day delivery guarantee.

B&H Photo and Adorama are accepting preorders, but do not list release or shipping dates. On Target's website, AirTags are available to preorder but there's no release date listed.

In the UK, AirTags will be available from John Lewis and Currys PC World.

AirTags purchased from third-party retailers are plain, and those hoping for an engraved AirTag will need to order directly from Apple. Unengraved AirTags from Apple ship out in May, while engraved AirTags won't deliver until late May or early June.

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

Apple's new AirTag item trackers are ideal for attaching to things like bags and luggage cases, which makes it likely they'll become popular with travelers and backpackers who want to keep tabs on their personal possessions abroad.

For this reason, it's worth remembering which AirTag features work wherever you are, which ones depend on you being nearby the ‌AirTag‌, and which functions aren't supported in certain countries and regions.

Locating AirTags Using Precision Finding

AirTags can be tracked in Apple's Find My app, which uses Bluetooth signals from a lost ‌AirTag‌ to relay its location back to its owner. Apart from Bluetooth, each ‌AirTag‌ is also equipped with a U1 Ultra Wideband chip, and on devices that also have U1 chips, there's a Precision Finding feature that enables you to more accurately determine the distance and direction of a lost ‌AirTag‌ when it's in range, when compared to Bluetooth alone.

If you're aiming to find a lost item and you have an ‌iPhone 11‌ or 12, Precision Finding will direct you to the exact location of your lost ‌AirTag‌ using input from the camera, accelerometer, and gyroscope, with guidance provided through sound, haptics, and visual feedback. However, Ultra Wideband isn't universally supported worldwide, therefore Precision Finding won't work in the following countries:

Finding Nearby AirTags Using Bluetooth

In countries where Precision Finding isn't available, ‌AirTag‌ owners can still fall back on Bluetooth to locate a missing item if it is approximately 30-40 feet within range. There are built-in speakers to play a sound to find a lost ‌AirTag‌, and you can either play a sound through the ‌‌Find My‌‌ app or ask Siri to find an ‌AirTag‌ with a sound.

However, if your ‌AirTag‌ is out of that proximate range, then you won't be able to find it via your own device's Bluetooth signal. Instead, you'll have to rely on the wider ‌Find My‌ Network of Apple devices.

Finding AirTags using the Find My Network

You can still track the location of an out-of-range ‌AirTag‌ in Apple's ‌Find My‌ app, but you won't be relying on the Bluetooth signals of your own device. Instead, the ‌‌Find My‌‌ Network takes advantage of nearly a billion Apple devices out in the world to help you locate your ‌AirTag‌, with the associated item showing up on the map when it's located by someone else's device.

However, if you're traveling in a remote region, be aware that if an ‌AirTag‌ isn't nearby and there are no Apple devices in the area in which it's located, ‌Find My‌ will only be able to tell you where it was last seen on the map.

AirTags are available to pre-order now and the first orders are estimated to arrive Friday, April 30. For more information about Apple's ‌AirTag‌ item trackers, be sure to check out our dedicated guide.

The brand new 12.9-inch iPad Pro will not be compatible with the older generation Magic Keyboard due to a marginal increase in device thickness, according to iGeneration.

Citing a document given to Apple Stores, the report notes that the new ‌iPad Pro‌ is 0.5mm thicker than the previous 12.9-inch model. Due to the increase in thickness, the new iPad will not work with the older generation Magic Keyboard. While a 0.5mm increase in thickness is small, it is enough for the new ‌iPad Pro‌ not to close properly when put with an older generation keyboard.

The new 11-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ remains compatible with previous generation Magic Keyboards.

With the new ‌iPad Pro‌, Apple is selling a compatible Magic Keyboard, and besides compatibility with the newer and thicker ‌iPad‌, and the availability of a new white option, the new keyboard is believed to be the same as the previous generation.

The new 11 and 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ which comes with a faster M1 processor, 5G, and the new 12.9-inch Liquid Retina XDR display will be available for order on April 30, but will not begin shipping until the second half of May.

Apple's new AirTag item tracker became available to pre-order today at 5 a.m. Pacific Time, and shipping estimates are already beginning to slip from Friday, April 30 launch day delivery into the first week of May or later.

In the United States, for example, a single AirTag is now estimated for delivery on May 3-5, but the four-pack option is still available for delivery on April 30 as of writing. AirTag accessories are also estimated for delivery in May, while the AirTag Hermès keychain and luggage tag are estimated for delivery in June.

Engraving an AirTag with letters or emoji also results in extended shipping estimates, so take that into consideration when ordering.

Priced at $29 each or $99 for a four pack, users can attach an AirTag to things like a wallet, keys, purse, or backpack and then keep track of the item's location in the Find My app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. AirTags‌ are similar to Tile trackers, but they have a U1 chip for Ultra Wideband that enables improved location accuracy when tracking items with iPhone 11 or iPhone 12 models. (Tile is reportedly working on its own Ultra Wideband tracker.)

Pre-orders also began today for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini in a new purple color. Many configurations remain available for April 30 delivery.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had previously stated that Apple's mixed reality headset would debut in the middle of next year, and in a new note today obtained by MacRumors, the highly-respected analyst is once again doubling down that Apple plans to showcase its mixed reality headset in 2022.

The information we know on Apple's headset is somewhat scarce, but according to one report, the headset will feature more than a dozen cameras for tracking hand movements and two 8K displays equipped with eye-tracking technology. It's important to note that Apple's mixed reality headset is not its more long-rumored AR glasses, being dubbed Apple Glasses which is set to launch in 2025.

Last month, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that Apple is aiming to announce a mixed-reality headset at an in-person event in the "next several months." While on the surface Kuo and Bloomberg are stating different timeframes for the rumored headset, they could be referencing entirely different products.

Bloomberg had previously indicated that Apple's first mixed reality headset will be a high-end, pricey, and "niche" device aimed primarily at developers.

Much like what the company did for its ongoing transition to Apple silicon, Apple may decide to showcase a development headset meant primarily for developers in order to give them time to prepare their apps, and games for the new mixed-reality experience before they are shipped to customers. Kuo, who says a headset would debut in 2022, is likely referring to a mainstream consumer product, instead of a headset meant for developers.

Apple will be holding its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on June 7 where it will announce updates to all of its operating systems, and although no reports have so far suggested it, new hardware announcements could make a debut as well.

Apple is now accepting orders for AirTags, the purple iPhone 12, and the purple iPhone 12 mini through its online storefront and the Apple Store app.

AirTags are priced at $29 each, with a pack of four available at a discounted price of $99. AirTags are eligible for free engraving, with the space available allowing for up to four letters or three to four emoji characters depending on the size of the emoji. Engraving will delay the shipping estimates for AirTags.

AirTags are Apple-designed Bluetooth trackers that are designed to integrate with the Find My app. You can attach them to items that are easy to lose, such as keys, to track those items right alongside your Apple devices. AirTags have benefits like a U1 chip and Precision Finding for iPhone 11 and 12 models.

There's no indication that AirTags will be in short supply, but it's always a good idea to get orders in early. Apple is also now selling AirTag accessories like the Loop and Leather Key Ring at prices that start at $29.

Alongside the AirTags, Apple is now making the newly announced purple ‌iPhone‌ 12 and 12 mini available for purchase. These devices are identical to the existing ‌iPhone‌ 12 and 12 mini models, just in a lavender shade.

Both the AirTags and the purple ‌iPhone‌ 12 models will be arriving in the hands of customers on Friday, April 30.

AirDrop is a feature that allows Apple devices to securely and conveniently transfer files, photos, and more between each other wirelessly. Users can share items with their own devices, friends, family, or even strangers. The convenience and ease of use, however, may be undermined by a newly discovered security flaw.

Researchers at TU Darmstadt have discovered that the process which AirDrop uses to find and verify someone is a contact on a receiver's phone can expose private information. AirDrop includes three modes; Receiving Off, Contacts Only, Everyone. The default setting is Contacts Only, which means only people within your address book can AirDrop photos, files, and more to your device.

The researchers discovered that the mutual authentication mechanism that confirms both the receiver and sender are on each other's address book could be used to expose private information. The researchers claim that a stranger can use the mechanism and its process within the range of an iOS or macOS device with the share panel open to obtain private information. As the researchers explain:

As an attacker, it is possible to learn the phone numbers and email addresses of AirDrop users – even as a complete stranger. All they require is a Wi-Fi-capable device and physical proximity to a target that initiates the discovery process by opening the sharing pane on an iOS or macOS device.

The discovered problems are rooted in Apple's use of hash functions for "obfuscating" the exchanged phone numbers and email addresses during the discovery process. However, researchers from TU Darmstadt already showed that hashing fails to provide privacy-preserving contact discovery as so-called hash values can be quickly reversed using simple techniques such as brute-force attacks.

To determine whether the other party is a contact, AirDrop uses a mutual authentication mechanism that compares a user's phone number and email address with entries in the other user's address book.

According to the researchers, Apple was informed of the flaw in May of 2019, and despite several software updates since then, the flaw remains.

Apple this week announced a new subscription feature coming to the Podcasts app in May that will let podcast publishers sell subscriptions to an individual show or a group of shows, with pricing starting at 49 cents per month.

Publishers will be able to set their own pricing, but Apple will reportedly take a 30% of subscription revenue that creators generate in their first year on the platform, and after that, Apple will collect 15%. This is the same pricing setup that Apple uses for other subscription options.

According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, Spotify will announce a similar podcast subscription feature next week, but in contrast to Apple, the rival streaming service won't be collecting revenue on any of the content it hosts.

The potential announcement from Spotify will pose a dilemma for some content creators looking to monetize their content on Apple devices. On the one hand, Apple's Podcasters Program, which is priced at $19.99 per year, promises a streamlined method of distribution through the Podcasts app, which comes pre-installed on all Apple devices.

On the other hand, Spotify commands a much larger subscriber base and isn't locked into Apple's ecosystem. Spotify has also been making inroads in the podcasting market over the course of the last few years, ramping up its original podcast offerings and making major acquisitions like Gimlet Media, Parcast, and Anchor, as well as scoring key deals such as the rights to the popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast. According to one prediction, Spotify could soon have more podcast listeners than Apple.

How Spotify's announcement goes down will be interesting to watch. Apple won't require podcast creators to create content exclusively for Apple, but it does have a number of partners on board ready to create premium podcast content, including Tenderfoot TV, Pushkin Industries, Radiotopia from PRX, and QCODE, NPR, the Los Angeles Times, The Athletic, Sony Music Entertainment, and more. How many grassroots podcast creators it will be able to attract remains to be seen.

Apple's online storefront is down in preparation for the launch of the AirTags and the new purple iPhone 12 models, which are set to be available starting at 5:00 a.m. Pacific Time or 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time in the United States.

Ahead of new product launches, Apple often takes its online store offline in order to get ready for the influx of orders.

Announced at Tuesday's "Spring Loaded" event, AirTags are Apple's long-awaited Bluetooth item trackers that can be attached to wallets, keys, cameras, and more, allowing those items to be tracked in the Find My app.

AirTags are priced at $29 each or $99 for four, and each AirTag can be engraved if desired. AirTags feature a user-replaceable CR2032 battery that lasts for a year, and they have an IP67 dust and water resistance rating.

As for the purple ‌iPhone‌ 12 models, they're identical to the existing ‌iPhone‌ 12 and 12 mini but are available in a new light purple color that joins the existing white, black, blue, green, and (PRODUCT)RED shades. The iPhone 12 mini is priced starting at $699 and the ‌iPhone‌ 12 is priced starting at $799.

There is no indication that the AirTags or the purple ‌iPhone‌ models will be available in limited quantities, but it's always a good idea to order early to get launch day delivery. AirTags and the new ‌iPhone‌ models will deliver to customers starting on Friday, April 30.

The new Apple TV 4K unveiled this week ships with a redesigned Siri Remote with a physical clickpad, new power and mute buttons for a TV, and a repositioned Siri button, but there's another change that has gone less noticed.

According to Digital Trends, the new Siri Remote lacks an accelerometer and gyroscope, which allowed the original Siri Remote to function as a gaming controller. Apple even required tvOS games to support the Siri Remote following the launch of the fourth-generation Apple TV, but it dropped this requirement in June 2016.

Due to its lack of accelerometer and gyroscope, the new Siri Remote will not be compatible with motion/tilt-based Apple TV games. Instead, users will need to use the original Siri Remote or connect an Apple-certified game controller.

The following message will appear on the Apple TV when opening a game that does not work with the new Siri Remote, according to tvOS 14.5 code seen by MacRumors contributor Steve Moser: "To play this game on your Apple TV, you need to connect the Apple TV Remote (1st generation) or a compatible PlayStation, Xbox or MFi controller."

Note that the Siri Remote is called the Apple TV Remote in countries where Siri is not available on the Apple TV, but the remote is otherwise identical in functionality.

Gaming on the Apple TV has always been a niche relative to full-fledged consoles like the Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch, and many users who do play tvOS games likely prefer to use an actual game controller anyway, so the new Siri Remote's lack of accelerometer and gyroscope is unlikely to be a dealbreaker for many users.

It's worth noting that Bloomberg's Mark Gurman had reported that a new Apple TV would have a stronger gaming focus. A faster A12 chip does benefit gaming performance, and tvOS 14.5 adds expanded game controller support on the software side, but a gaming-focused Apple TV with an A14X chip rumored by leaker "Fudge" has yet to materialize.

Apple earlier this week introduced refreshed 11 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models with few external changes but one notable internal change - the introduction of the same M1 chip that was also used in the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini refreshes back in November.

Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak and hardware chief John Ternus this week did an interview with The Independent to talk about the new tablets. The use of an ‌M1‌ chip in an iPad naturally has led to speculation about the merging of the ‌iPad‌ and Mac lineups, a topic that resurfaces over and over again, but Joswiak says that's not the goal.

Rather than merging the two product lines, he claims that Apple is just trying to make the best products in their respective categories.

"There's two conflicting stories people like to tell about the iPad and Mac," says Joz, as he starts on a clarification that will lead him at one point to apologise for his passion. "On the one hand, people say that they are in conflict with each other. That somebody has to decide whether they want a Mac, or they want an iPad.

"Or people say that we're merging them into one: that there's really this grand conspiracy we have, to eliminate the two categories and make them one. And the reality is neither is true. We're quite proud of the fact that we work really, really hard to create the best products in their respective category."

Ternus added that Apple doesn't aim to limit one device in order to avoid impacting another device. "We're pushing to make the best Mac we can make; we're pushing to make the best ‌iPad‌ we can make," said Ternus.

Apple plans to keep making both products better and is not going to "get all caught up in" theories of "merging or anything like that."

The new ‌iPad Pro‌ models arguably have more power than is necessary for a tablet that does not have the option of pro software like Final Cut Pro, but Ternus and Joswiak declined to comment on software that might be coming in the future. Joswiak instead said that the extra performance gives developers more space to find new ways to expand their apps. "Our developers are pretty quick about taking advantage," he said. "It isn't like it languishes for years."

He also said that it's great for customers to know that they can buy a system "that still has headroom" and won't be "immediately obsolete." As an explanation for why Apple opted for the ‌M1‌ chip over an A-series chip, Ternus said that the best Apple silicon has "always gone into the ‌iPad Pro‌," and right now, the ‌M1‌ is "is the best" Apple silicon Apple has available.

The two also commented on the 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌'s new mini-LED display, which is the highest quality display that's been used in an ‌iPad‌ to date and rivals the Pro Display XDR. Ternus said that shrinking it was a "huge undertaking" that required more LEDs because of the size constraints.

"Shrinking it was a huge undertaking," says Ternus. "If you just look at the two products, obviously the iPad is a lot thinner than a Pro Display XDR, and the way the architecture works - you have the LED backlight behind the display."

Apple added one other new feature to the ‌iPad Pro‌ -- an Ultra Wide front-facing camera with a new "Center Stage" feature that's designed to allow you to stay in frame while moving about a room. Ternus said that it's "liberating" to be able to move around, and it's also useful for FaceTiming with large groups.

Joswiak and Ternus's full interview contains additional tidbits about the new ‌iPad Pro‌ models, and it can be read over at The Independent.

Apple today seeded the first betas of new iOS and iPadOS 14.6 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the new software available just ahead of when Apple plans to release iOS 14.5.

iOS and iPadOS 14.6 can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or over the air after the proper profile has been installed on an iPhone or iPad.

There is no word yet on what's included in the iOS and iPadOS 14.6 updates, but we'll update this article should we find anything new.

Apple has also seeded the first betas of watchOS 7.5 and tvOS 14.6 to developers.