MacRumors

Ohio State University today announced that it is opening its Swift Coding and App Development program to the public, giving anyone the chance to learn and code for the App Store.

In a press release (via CNET), the university says that more than 3,000 students, faculty, and alumni have joined the program since it launched slightly more than one year ago, and that now anyone can join the courses online from anywhere in the world.

The university offers four separate self-paced courses that make use of Apple's open-source programing language Swift, Apple's coding curriculum, and Xcode to develop apps for Apple platforms. The two final courses yet have to be detailed, but the first course with two modules, called "Swift Coding and App Development," costs $350 for the estimated 180 hours of work, and has the following description:

From the basics of Swift and Xcode to the coding communities that surround you, this Level 1 course will provide you the foundational knowledge to start building and creating apps. Debugging, problem-solving, basic interface design and connections to external fields will also be covered.

Once completing what Ohio State has to offer, participants can go on to obtain Apple's App Development with Swift certification. Ohio State director of learning programs and Digital Flagship Cory Tressler says that app coding and development serves as a foundation for future learning and innovation in the digital world, emphasizing the ability for anyone regardless of background to learn to code.

"This coding and app development certificate program allows anyone, regardless of their background or prior knowledge with coding, the opportunity to learn a tangible, applicable digital skill that will not only provide them immediate skills to utilize and explore, but also a foundation for future learning, innovation and creativity in the digital world."

Ohio State is one of many universities and colleges offering lessons and courses based on Apple's programming language and platform. As developers serve as the bedrock for Apple's product experience, Apple often works closely on updating its curriculum to ensure the next generation of developers are learning and getting ready to develop apps. More details about Ohio State courses can be found on Ohio State's course catalog.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been featured on the cover of Outside magazine, and talked health and wellness in a recent interview with the publication.

Cook said that Apple Park is "like working in a national park," with a design that "brings the outside in and the inside out."

"You would see people riding bikes from one meet­ing to another," said Cook, referring to the typical Apple Park workday prior to the pandemic. "You would see people running. It's a two-and-a-half-mile track around the place, so put in a couple of laps and you've got a good workout for the day."

"We all know intuitively, and now with research, that physical activity is a key part of longevity and quality of life," Cook added, reiterating that Apple's greatest contribution to mankind will likely be in the health and wellness space.

The interview builds on Cook's appearance on an Outside magazine podcast episode last month, where he discussed similar topics. On that podcast, Cook teased that Apple is testing "mind blowing" capabilities for the Apple Watch, although not everything will see the light of day. "Think about the amount of sensors in your car," said Cook, adding "and arguably, your body is much more important than your car."

Apple has gradually expanded the health features available on the Apple Watch over the years to include heart rate tracking, irregular heart rhythm notifications, the ECG app, blood oxygen measuring, fall detection, and more. Rumors suggest that Apple is also aiming to add non-invasive blood glucose monitoring to the next Apple Watch.

Google today announced that "Google News Showcase," a new style of displaying the news within the Google and Google News mobile apps and website, has launched in the UK and Argentina, following an Australian rollout last week.

Google says News Showcase offers participating publishers the chance to provide more context for stories such as through bullet points and timelines, and it has plans for supporting audio, video, and "daily briefings" in the future, directly within the Google and Google News apps on iOS and Android.

In Argentina, Google says it has partnered with 40 publishers including Clarin, La Nación, Perfil, Crónica, Cronista, El Economista, Diario Río Negro, El Día, La Gaceta, and El Litoral. In the UK, Google has inked deals with The Financial Times, The Telegraph, Reuters, and more than 120 other publishers to offer this new panel experience to users.

Google announced News Showcase in October of last year with a commitment to invest $1 billion in partnerships with publishers and "the future of news." Google describes News Showcase as a way for users to get more insight into stories and "helps publishers develop deeper relationships with their audiences."

As part of the partnership and investment with publishers, Google says users will be able to view "select" paywall content, but doesn't specify what it means by "select." In general, the overall approach from Google bears some resemblances to Apple's own Apple News+ service.

Apple, like Google, has signed partnerships with some of the world's largest publishers to offer subscribers otherwise-paywalled articles within the ‌Apple News‌ app. Unlike ‌Apple News‌+ however, Google is not offering users all of a publisher's paywalled content, and while News Showcase remains free, ‌Apple News‌+ comes with a $9.99 monthly price tag.

Google says that its approach to news curation is different than others because it "leans on the editorial choices individual publishers make about which stories to show readers and how to present them." Apple has faced criticism for its approach to ‌Apple News‌+ largely from The New York Times, which pulled out of the service entirely last year, because Apple's service does not "align with its strategy of building direct relationships with paying readers."

Google News Showcase is now available in more than a dozen countries including Germany, Brazil, Canada, and France, with 450 partnered publications, and is available via the Google News app, Google app, and the Google News website.

YouTube's website appears to support picture-in-picture (PiP) again in the latest iOS 14.5 beta for iPhone, although how long it will continue to work for is anybody's guess.

Tests show it works in Safari as well as third-party browsers like Chrome and Firefox by expanding a video to play fullscreen, and then tapping the small picture-in-picture icon in the top-left of the interface.

Then you can minimize the browser and use other apps while continuing to watch the video in a frame that can be moved around the screen or slid out of sight if you just want to listen to the audio.

Apple added PiP support to the iPhone with the release of iOS 14, which allowed users to watch videos on YouTube's website as well as on a host of other websites in the miniaturized format.

Following the release of iOS 14 in September, YouTube moved quickly to nix the ability to watch videos in PiP mode on its website unless the user logged in with a YouTube Premium subscription. In early October, however, YouTube mysteriously restored PiP support for videos on its website.

Then, only days later, support once again vanished.

It's not clear what has caused YouTube website PiP support to be reinstated in the latest iOS 14.5 beta, but it's likely that changes in Apple's system-level code has broken whatever method YouTube implemented on its website to make the feature non-functional.

If that's the case, there's good reason to believe that YouTube will move to disable the support yet again.

YouTube's native app has never supported PiP for any of its users even though iOS 14 has offered the capability for some time. There have been reports that YouTube has been testing this feature, but there have been no announcements.

Apple has apologized to the developer of an app meant to promote the Indigenous language Sm'algyax after he was falsely accused of dishonest and fraudulent acts, and as a result, had the app removed from the App Store.

Brendan Eshom, a member of the Ts'msyen First Nation community, developed and published "Sm'algyax Word" on both Google Play and the ‌App Store‌ this past July. The app serves as a dictionary for phrases and words from Sm'algyaxm archived from FirstVoices.com, and at its core is meant to preserve the language for generations to come.

However, the app was unexpectedly removed from the ‌App Store‌ when it acquired around 600 downloads, pushing it to the top charts in the Education category. Eshom says that he received an automated email from Apple informing him that his developer account would be terminated due to "dishonest and fraudulent" acts that go against Apple's terms and conditions.

Eshom told Global News that it's "definitely concerning when Apple is accusing you of committing fraud" and said that he attempted to reach out to Apple for an explanation for his termination, but his attempts were unsuccessful. The freshmen college student ultimately decided to contact Consumer Matter, a segment from Global News in which companies and corporations are pressed for answers, to try and get Apple to respond to the situation.

Apple responded in a statement to Consumer Matters, explaining that the termination of Eshom's developer account was a mistake and that his app about the Sm'algyax language showcased "how technology can be used to bridge cultural understanding." Apple goes on to apologize to Eshom and promises to improve its processes to ensure it does not happen again.

Maintaining the integrity of the App Store is a responsibility we take seriously to ensure the safety of our customers and give every developer a platform to share their brightest ideas with the world. Unfortunately, this developer's app, which is a great example of how technology can be used to bridge cultural understanding, was mistakenly removed from the App Store.

We regret this error and apologize to Mr. Eshom for the inconvenience this caused him. We have since reinstated his developer account and app, and will continue our efforts to improve our processes to ensure this does not happen again.

Just this week new questions started to circulate following the revelation that scam apps on the ‌App Store‌ continue to enjoy millions in revenue. Apple states that apps that attempt to trick users or engage in "scam practices" will be removed from the ‌App Store‌, however many still remain.

The contrast between Eshom's case, where a completely innocent app was removed from the ‌App Store‌, and the case of scam apps roaming rogue on the platform highlights recent concerns that Apple's losing grip with implementing and maintaining an effective moderation policy.

A new study by Mount Sinai researchers has found that an Apple Watch can effectively predict a positive COVID-19 diagnosis up to a week before current PCR-based nasal swab tests (via TechCrunch).

Published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Medical Internet Research, the "Warrior Watch Study" involved several hundred Mount Sinai healthcare workers using a dedicated Apple Watch and iPhone app for personal health data monitoring and collection.

All participants were also required to fill out a daily survey over several months to provide direct feedback about potential coronavirus symptoms and other factors, including stress.

The data collection ran from April through September, and the main point of focus for researchers was heart rate variability (HRV), a key indicator of strain on the nervous system. This data point was combined with reported symptoms associated with the disease, such as fever, aches, dry cough, and loss of taste and smell.

The Warrior Watch Study was not only able to predict infections up to a week before tests provided confirmed diagnoses, but also revealed that participants' HRV patterns normalized fairly quickly after their diagnosis, returning to normal roughly one to two weeks following their positive tests.

The researchers hope that the results can help anticipate outcomes and remotely isolate individuals from others who are at risk, without having to perform a physical exam or administer a swab test, preventing potential spread before someone is highly contagious.

According to TechCrunch, the study will in future expand in order to look at what other wearables can reveal about the impact of COVID-19 on the health of health care workers, including how things like sleep and physical activity may relate to the disease.

In related research that is ongoing, Apple is currently partnering with investigators at the Seattle Flu Study and faculty at the University of Washington's School of Medicine to explore how changes in blood oxygen and heart rate can be early signals of the onset of influenza and COVID-19.

Previous independent Apple Watch studies have shown that the smartwatch's heart sensors may be able to detect early signs of diabetes and provide early warning signs of atrial fibrillation.

Apple has partnered with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to develop "ultra-advanced" micro OLED displays at a secret facility in Taiwan, reports Nikkei. The micro OLED displays will be used in "upcoming augmented reality devices."

Micro OLED displays are built directly on to chip wafers rather than a glass substrate, which results in displays that are thinner, smaller, and more power efficient. These slimmer micro OLED displays are ideal for smaller devices like the smart glasses that Apple is rumored to be working on.

Development on micro OLED displays is said to be in the trial production stage and it will be several years before Apple and TSMC are ready for mass production, which would make these displays appropriate for the Apple Glasses rumored to be launching sometime around 2023. The displays that are in the works right now are said to be less than one inch in size, which is where TSMC's expertise comes in handy.

Apple already partners with TSMC on all of the A-series chips used in the iPhone and iPad and the new M1 Apple silicon chips that are used in Apple's Mac lineup.

"Panel players are good at making screens bigger and bigger, but when it comes to thin and light devices like AR glasses, you need a very small screen," said a source who has direct information on the micro OLED R&D project. "Apple is partnering with TSMC to develop the technology because the chipmaker's expertise is making things ultra-small and good, while Apple is also leveraging panel experts' know-how on display technologies."

In addition to working on micro OLED displays in factories located in Taiwan, Apple is also exploring microLED technology, with trial production lines in place for both display types. A June 2020 report suggested Apple had invested $330 million in a Taiwanese factory developing microLED displays for Apple Watch, iPads, and MacBooks alongside supplier Epistar.

MicroLED, a technology separate from micro OLED, uses components that are smaller than those used in traditional LED lighting. These displays do not require backlight modules so they can be thinner, plus they offer high color contrast and can be used to make foldable or curved screens.

According to Nikkei, Apple has several unmarked white laboratory buildings in Longtan Science Park in Taiwan focusing on new display technologies, with the location within walking distance of TSMC's chip-packing and testing plant. Apple has been hiring veterans from display maker AU Optoelectronics to work on micro OLED, and employees are subject to strict non-disclosure agreements that forbid them from "even meeting with friends or acquaintances working in the tech industry."

Apple's investments in both micro OLED and microLED are said to be aimed at reducing its dependence on Samsung Electronics in the future. Samsung is Apple's main supplier for the OLED displays used in current iPhones.

Apple today released macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 to address an issue that may prevent the battery from charging in some 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pro models, and the company has since shared a new support document with more details.

Apple says a "very small number of customers" with 2016 and 2017 models of the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro have experienced an issue with the battery not charging past 1%. The battery health status on affected notebooks will indicate "Service Recommended." To identify your Mac model, click on the Apple logo in the top-left corner of the screen and click on About This Mac. The following models may be impacted by this issue:

- MacBook Pro (13­-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (13-­inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (13-­inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (13-­inch, 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (15-­inch, 2016)
- MacBook Pro (15-­inch, 2017)

If your MacBook Pro exhibits this behavior, Apple says to contact the company for a battery replacement, free of charge. Apple says it will examine the notebook prior to service to verify that it is eligible for the free replacement.

If your MacBook Pro has not exhibited this issue, updating to macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 as soon as possible is still highly recommended as a precaution. There is also a macOS Catalina 10.15.7 Supplemental Update that prevents the issue.

macOS Big Sur users can determine if their battery needs service by opening the System Preferences app, clicking Battery, selecting Battery in the sidebar, and clicking Battery Health. On macOS Catalina or earlier, users can hold the Option key and click the battery icon in the menu bar to reveal the battery status menu.

Prepear, a recipe and meal-planning app, has agreed to change its pear logo to settle an ongoing trademark dispute with Apple, Prepear's co-founder today confirmed to iPhone in Canada. Apple in August opposed Prepear's trademark application, claiming that the company's pear-shaped logo was too similar to Apple's own logo.

Though Prepear's logo has a pear shape instead of an Apple shape, Apple seems to have taken offense to the right angle of Prepear's leaf in the original logo. The new logo features a leaf that's angled differently, a small change that Apple apparently feels makes it different enough from the famous Apple logo. Prepear's app icon has also been tweaked.

Following the initial trademark opposition, Super Healthy Kids, Prepear's parent company, launched a petition in an attempt to persuade Apple to drop its opposition targeting a small business that was trying to protect its logo, and that petition gained over 250,000 signatures. Apple was also widely derided by media sites and fans for going after Prepear's logo.

Back in December, filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board requested that the trial proceedings be suspended for 30 days as Prepear and Apple were "actively engaged in negotiations for the settlement" of the matter.

Prepear's CEO says that the trademark issue has now been "amicably resolved" and that Prepear is happy with the outcome.

The iOS 14.5 beta, available to developers and public beta testers, adds a new Apple Maps feature that lets you report accidents, hazards, and speed checks along your route when getting directions.

When you input an address, select a route, and then choose "Go," Siri lets you know that you can report accidents or hazards that you see along the way.

If you swipe up on the ‌Apple Maps‌ interface where maps details are available, you can tap on a "Report" button that lets you flag an accident, a hazard, or a speed check, similar to other mapping apps like Waze. Tapping automatically flags your location with no confirmation window, so it shouldn't be used except in a valid situation.

You can also say "Hey ‌Siri‌, there's an accident" and ‌Siri‌ will send in a report to ‌Apple Maps‌, and presumably, if enough people file reports, an accident site will show up in the maps app through the crowdsourcing. This is available in the United States in a test capacity at the current time, and it's not yet clear if it's also showing up in other countries.

This also works in CarPlay, as noted on the MacRumors forums by MozMan68, with the reporting interface available on the ‌CarPlay‌ screen.

Note that ‌Siri‌ will inform you about the new accident reporting functionality the first time that you seek directions after upgrading to iOS 14.5, but the feature is not mentioned after that. There is no similar accident reporting functionality available in iOS 14.4, and it also does not appear to be showing up for all iOS 14.5 users at this time based on reports from Reddit, so there is likely a server side element.

Satechi today announced the launch of a new USB-C Watch AirPods Charger, which is a 2-in-1 accessory that's able to charge the AirPods and the Apple Watch.

Available exclusively from Apple for $49.95, the Satechi USB-C Watch AirPods Charger has a dual-sided design. On one side, there's an Apple Watch charging puck, and on the other side, there's a Qi-based wireless charging surface that works with the AirPods.

The USB-C Watch AirPods Charger can be plugged into a MacBook, iPad, or USB-C power adapter, and then the dual-sided design can charge the Apple Watch or AirPods depending on the accessory's orientation.

Made from aluminum and designed to match Apple devices, the charger has a small footprint and it's perfect for tucking into a backpack or bag while on the go. It can be purchased from the online Apple Store as of today.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.