MacRumors

Apple is offering TikTok users a four-month free trial of Apple Music to newcomers of the streaming service.

As spotted by ApplePost and Apple Terminal, the deal is available to new subscribers through the short-form video sharing app, and offers an additional month on top of Apple's normal three-month free trial for new subscribers.

The promotion runs through January 4, 2021, and the offer's requirements include an Apple ID with a registered payment method.

The offer is delivered in-app via a pop-up notification, but it's not clear what TikTok users are doing to prompt the alert, which also highlights the official TikTok playlists available on ‌Apple Music‌.

Last month, Apple offered a similar Apple Music promotion through the company's Shazam music identification app.

• How to Cancel an Apple Music Subscription

If after activating one of the trial offers you're not convinced, you can cancel your ‌Apple Music‌ subscription without losing your access to the service up until the trial ends.

When Apple unveiled AirPods Max last week, it revealed that they don't come with an on/off power button, but instead enter an "ultralow" power mode when inserted into the included Smart Case. That left a lot of questions about what happens to battery life when they're left out of the Smart Case and not being actively used. However, today Apple has provided some somewhat surprising answers to those questions, suggesting that the Smart Case isn't as essential to preserving battery life as many first thought.

According to Apple, when ‌AirPods Max‌ are taken off but not put in their Smart Case, they enter a "low power mode" after five minutes of being left stationary. If left untouched, they remain in this low power mode for three days, after which the headphones enter an "ultralow" power state that disables Bluetooth and their Find My location to help further retain their remaining charge. From Apple's AirPods Max support document, updated overnight:

If you set your AirPods Max down and leave them stationary for 5 minutes, they go into a low power mode to preserve battery charge. After 72 stationary hours out of the Smart Case, your AirPods Max go into a lower power mode that turns off Bluetooth and Find My to preserve battery charge further.

Apple has also clarified how ‌AirPods Max‌ behave when placed in their Smart Case, and it turns out that the same two distinct low power states are involved, but enabled at different times. The first "low power mode" is immediately activated upon insertion, but the "ultralow" power mode doesn't actually kick in until after 18 hours in the Smart Case.

If you put your AirPods Max in the Smart Case when you're not using them, they go into a low power mode immediately to preserve battery charge. After 18 hours in the Smart Case, your AirPods Max go into an ultralow power mode that turns off Bluetooth and Find My and maximizes battery life.

Based on this description of ‌AirPods Max‌ power-saving modes, it would appear that the headphones enter the same "low power mode" when put down and left alone for five minutes as they do when placed in the Smart Case. However, the same "ultralow" power mode that activates after ‌AirPods Max‌ have been left for 18 hours in the Smart Case takes a full 72 hours to kick in when they are left out of the case.

Before Apple provided the above information, tests conducted by MacRumors suggested that ‌AirPods Max‌ battery drains only slightly faster when left outside of the case – a difference that is likely down to the longer time it takes for the "ultralow" power mode to activate when the headphones aren't in the Smart Case.

Putting aside the seeming arbitrariness of these sleep mode activation times, the main takeaway is that in the short term at least, there's no real power-saving advantage to be had from putting ‌AirPods Max‌ in the Smart Case instead of just setting them down on a desk and not touching them. But if you don't plan to use them again for the next 18 hours, then that's when to put them into the Smart Case, otherwise the "ultralow" power mode will take three days to activate, by which time the battery drain is likely to be a lot more significant.

Given the confusion that has followed the power-saving features of ‌AirPods Max‌, some users have speculated that Apple might be able to add a power-off functionality to the physical controls via a future software update. Is that something you would prefer over the current situation? Let us know in the comments.

iFixit today began disassembling Apple's new AirPods Max headphones for one of its traditional device teardowns, with the aim of determining whether the ‌AirPods Max‌ are repairable to any degree or an "e-waste disaster." The teardown is in progress and will be updated over the course of the next few days.

This is an early, partial disassembly that also includes a quick x-ray look inside the headphones. The x-ray view provides a glimpse at the battery cell in each ear cup, dual-ring speaker driver magnets, alignment magnets, brackets for microphones, and more.

iFixit did not find it easy to get into the ‌AirPods Max‌ and there was quite a bit of glue involved. There are two logic boards inside riddled with chips, which iFixit plans to identify later in more detail.

So far, there are no other details available on the ‌AirPods Max‌ as the teardown is ongoing, but iFixit says that it will be updated over the coming days and there's "lots more to come" including some surprises for headphone fans.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and software engineering chief Craig Federighi will be summoned to testify in the ongoing Apple vs. Epic legal battle, a judge said this week.

The court filing, first shared by iMore, says that Apple had already agreed to make Cook a "document custodian." Apple wanted a condition that would limit Cook's deposition to four hours, but the court says that the condition is not appropriate as Epic will not be able to assess necessary deposition length until the full range of documents in the case are made available.

Apple wanted to have Erik Neuenschwander serve as a second document custodian instead of Craig Federighi, but the court has ruled that Federighi should be the one to testify in the dispute.

Apple also must provide extensive documentation and data related to an App Store study conducted by Analysis Group that compared App Store fees with fees from other platforms. Apple had not been planning to share those documents under an attorney work product privilege as Apple is also using Analysis Group as an expert consultant, but the judge said Apple has to provide the information to Epic.

Epic has complained that it is skeptical Apple has produced all relevant employee communications, as some emails included hyperlinks to cloud-based documents and Epic has to ask Apple to provide each of the linked documents. Epic wanted Apple to provide all hyperlink documentation, but the court sided with Apple on this point and said that Apple does not need to identify all hyperlinked documents because of the burden of the work. Apple does, however, have to provide hyperlinked documents for a "reasonable number of emails."

The Apple vs. Epic dispute will continue on with smaller matters such as document requests over the course of the next several months as the two companies prepare for their July 2021 hearing where they will battle it out in court.

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming macOS Big Sur 11.2 update to public beta testers, with the public beta coming one day after the software was provided to developers.

Public beta testers can download macOS Big Sur 11.2 from the Software Update section of the System Preferences app after installing the proper profile from Apple's beta software website.

There's no word just yet on what's included in ‌macOS Big Sur‌ 11.2, but it likely includes performance improvements, security updates, and fixes for bugs that weren't able to be addressed in the release version of ‌‌macOS Big Sur. No new features or changes were found in the developer version.

Apple did not include a power button on the AirPods Max, so there's no definitive way to turn them off, but Apple says that putting the headphones inside the included Smart Case puts them into an ultra low power mode.

That's left a lot of questions about what happens to the ‌AirPods Max‌ when they're not inside the case yet not being actively used, so we've done some testing to attempt to figure out what's going on.

YouTuber Marques Brownlee (aka MKBHD) has said that the ‌AirPods Max‌ enter into a sleep mode after about two hours when just removed from the head and set down somewhere, and it does appear that the ‌AirPods Max‌ are staying actively connected to an iPhone for hours at a time.

At 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time yesterday morning, we connected the ‌AirPods Max‌ to an ‌iPhone‌, played a song, and then took them off and set them down on a desk. At this time, the battery was at 63 percent.

At 10:00 a.m., the ‌AirPods Max‌ were still connected, and the same goes for 11:00 a.m. During this period, the ‌AirPods Max‌ dropped to about 62 percent right around 10:00, and then stayed at that level until 11:26 before dropping to 60 percent battery life.

At 12:00 p.m., three hours later, the ‌AirPods Max‌ remained connected to the ‌iPhone‌ over Bluetooth and did not disconnect or go to sleep. During this time, the ‌iPhone‌ was in use for various activities and also in a rest mode where it wasn't in active use. The ‌AirPods Max‌ were left alone and not touched.

Over a four hour period, the ‌AirPods Max‌ didn't disconnect and the battery life drained a total of three percent.

With a second set of ‌AirPods Max‌ and a different ‌iPhone‌ that was set aside and not used, we left them connected for more than two and a half hours and saw the same two percent drop in battery life. YouTuber Andru Edwards did a similar test and saw three percent battery drain over the course of 10 hours with the ‌AirPods Max‌ sitting out on a desk.

After monitoring the ‌AirPods Max‌ for a four hour period, we put them in the case at 1:00 p.m. When placed in the case, the ‌AirPods Max‌ immediately disconnected from the ‌iPhone‌ and it was no longer listed as connected in Bluetooth nor were battery levels listed.

We left the ‌AirPods Max‌ in the case to test battery drain while in Apple's advertised "ultra low power mode." From 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, the ‌AirPods Max‌ drained approximately one percent while in the case. The battery was at 60 percent when they went in the case at 1:00, and 59 percent when they came out of the case at 5:00.

An hour of music playback on the ‌‌AirPods Max‌‌ with Active Noise Cancellation engaged appears to drain somewhere around four to five percent battery. Andru Edwards saw 3 percent battery drain in 10 hours and leaving a set of ‌AirPods Max‌ out all night we saw a total of 8 percent battery drain, so the amount of listening time you're losing will vary.

So while the ‌AirPods Max‌ do need the case to go into a low power mode that's the equivalent of a sleep mode, leaving them out and connected to your devices isn't the biggest hit on battery if you don't want the hassle of putting them into the case and taking them out. If you want maximum battery life, though, you need to put them in the case.

We still don't have a definitive answer on when the ‌AirPods Max‌ "sleep" when out of the case because they never appeared to disconnect from the ‌iPhone‌ in our testing without the case, but we do now have a better idea of what happens when they're used without a case.

Parallels today began informing customers about the launch of a new Parallels Desktop 16 for M1 Mac Technical Preview Program, which is available today. The software cannot run an Intel x86-based OS, and requires an Arm-based operating system installation image.

Microsoft is offering a version of Arm-based Windows that's available through the Windows Insider program that will run on ‌M1‌ Macs through Parallels, but there is no publicly available version of of Arm Windows that can be purchased.

Those who have signed up for the Technical Preview Program are able to be the first to test Parallels for ‌M1‌ Macs. There are several limitations that users should be aware of.

- It is not possible to install or start an Intel x86 based operating system in a virtual machine.
- It is not possible to suspend and resume a virtual machine, including reverting to a "running state" snapshot.
- It is not possible to use the close button when a virtual machine is running; Shutdown virtual machine instead.
- ARM32 applications do not work in a virtual machine.

The current versions of Parallels are not able to run on ‌M1‌ Macs, but Parallels in November following the launch of the new Macs said that a version of Parallels compatible with Apple's chips was in active development.

At the time, Parallels said that the software designed for Macs was looking "very promising."

When Apple Silicon Mac was first announced during the keynote at WWDC on June 22 of this year, Apple demoed a Parallels Desktop for Mac prototype running a Linux virtual machine flawlessly on Apple Silicon. Since WWDC, our new version of Parallels Desktop which runs on Mac with Apple M1 chip has made tremendous progress. We switched Parallels Desktop to universal binary and optimized its virtualization code; and the version that we are eager to try on these new MacBook Air, Mac mini and MacBook Pro 13″ looks very promising. Parallels is also amazed by the news from Microsoft about adding support of x64 applications in Windows on ARM.

Parallels Desktop 16 was first released in August for Intel-based Macs, but has since been updated with a universal binary that's now ready for ‌M1‌ Macs. Parallels is available for a one-time fee of $99.99, but the Pro and Business editions require a $79.99 per year subscription.

Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 14.4 and iPadOS 14.4 updates to public beta testers, one day after providing the beta to developers.

Public beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program can download the iOS and iPadOS‌ 14.4 updates over the air after installing the proper certificate from the Public Beta website on an iOS device.

Paired with the HomePod 14.4 beta that is only available to a limited number of testers, iOS 14.4 adds new HomePod mini functionality that takes advantage of the mini's U1 chip.

There are now visual, audio, and haptic effects when songs are transferred from a HomePod mini to a U1-enabled iPhone 11 or ‌iPhone‌ 12. When an ‌iPhone‌ is near the ‌HomePod mini‌ it begins a soft haptic touch rhythm that gets faster and faster as the ‌‌iPhone‌‌ gets closer until the interface to transfer a song between the ‌‌HomePod mini‌‌ and the ‌‌iPhone‌‌ opens.

This functionality will make handoff quicker and more reliable on a ‌‌HomePod mini‌‌ and an ‌iPhone‌ 11 or ‌iPhone‌ 12, all of which are equipped with U1 chips that let the devices better understand where they are in relation to one another.

There were no other new features or changes found in the first developer beta. The update likely focuses on bug fixes, security enhancements, and performance improvements that weren't able to be included in the prior update.

Belkin, known for the accessories that it makes for Apple's devices, recently announced its first MagSafe products, the Boost Charge Pro MagSafe 3-in-1 Wireless Charger and the Car Vent PRO. The wireless charger isn't out just yet, but the Belkin Car Vent Mount PRO with ‌MagSafe‌ has launched.

The Car Vent PRO is, as the name suggests, a mount that's been created for use in the car with a design that attaches to a car's vents. Priced at $40, the Car Vent PRO is not a charger and has no charging capabilities.

The accessory is a simple magnet-based mount that attaches to ‌MagSafe‌ devices that include the iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max, adhering to the ‌MagSafe‌ magnet built into those devices. It also works with ‌MagSafe‌ cases attached to ‌iPhone‌ 12 models.

I'm not entirely sure why the Car Vent PRO has "Pro" attached to its name because it's a fairly simple mount. It's made from a lightweight plastic material that's designed to look like aluminum with a softer material on the mount portion of the accessory to ensure an attached ‌iPhone‌ isn't scratched or otherwise damaged.

The lightweight design is nice because it's not putting unnecessary weight on the car's vents. There's a silicone prong on the back of the Car Vent PRO that grabs right into a car's vents, with about an inch and a half space between the vents and the front of the mount. The grip is tight enough that I'm confident it's not going to come loose from the vent.

I'm not often in the car these days so I haven't been able to do extensive terrain testing on how well the magnetic connection works. With my ‌iPhone‌ attached, if I give the mount a good shake I can dislodge my ‌iPhone‌, but I do have to put a decent amount of effort into it.

I suspect that there are situations where a huge bump could dislodge the ‌iPhone‌ from the mount, but for day to day smoother driving, it feels well-adhered. I took several trips on a fairly bumpy road and had no problems with the magnetic connection with an ‌iPhone‌ 12 or a heavier iPhone 12 Pro Max even at fast speeds and during turns.

While there's no built-in charging, you can attach the Vent PRO to an in-car Lightning cable if you already have that setup, which makes it more useful. There is a spot for routing a cable around the back if you do want to use it with a charger. My car's charging ports are located in the center console under a lid, so it's not a convenient setup for my situation and I wasn't able to test it with a cable attached.

The Car Vent PRO can be used in either portrait or landscape mode with an attached ‌iPhone‌, so depending on your in-car setup and how you prefer Maps to look, you can get it working the way that you like. To facilitate use in either orientation, the Car Vent PRO itself rotates thanks to an adjustable ball joint that can also change the angle of the phone as needed.

Bottom Line

Belkin's Car Vent PRO does what it's supposed to do - it successfully provides a way to mount your ‌iPhone‌ in the proper position for using apps like Maps while in the car. The magnetic connection held up well in my testing, and the adjustable ball joint allows the mount to work in most vehicle setups.

Compared to other mounting options, it's simple because it requires no extra hardware or magnets, and it's basically the only ‌MagSafe‌ mounting option at the moment. If you need a mount for the car and have an ‌iPhone‌ 12, Belkin's option is worth checking out.

How to Buy

The Belkin Car Vent PRO can be purchased from Apple for $39.99.

Note: Belkin provided MacRumors with a Car Vent PRO for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

In a recent interview with Japanese website Casa BRUTUS, shared by Mac Otakara, Apple's VP of industrial design Evans Hankey, VP of product marketing Bob Borchers, and industrial designer Eugene Whang reflected on the new AirPods Max.

The interview is in Japanese, but with a translation, some key points can be gathered. For starters, Hankey said that Apple prototyped hundreds of AirPods Max designs over a lengthy development period, as the company worked to balance comfort and sound quality. Apple's design team conducted a significant amount of research on the shape of the headphones to ensure they are comfortable to wear while delivering a tight seal.

The interview also reveals that Apple tested touch controls for the AirPods Max, as exist on some over-ear headphones from competitors like Sony and Bose, but Apple ultimately settled with a larger version of the Apple Watch's Digital Crown, offering precise, tactile volume control. The headphones also have a noise control button for switching between Active Noise Cancellation and the more natural sounding Transparency mode.

AirPods Max come with a carrying case called the Smart Case, and many reviewers and customers have criticized the case's peculiar design. Whang, who apparently oversaw design of the case, said that while many headphones come with a large, cumbersome case, the Smart Case was designed to be storage efficient. Whang added that it was not necessary for the headband to be covered since it was built to be strong.

AirPods Max are designed with magnetically-attachable memory foam ear cushions, stainless steel telescoping arms, and a headband with a "breathable knit mesh" that distributes weight to reduce on-head pressure, according to Apple. Priced at $549, the over-ear headphones are available to order on Apple.com with a lengthy 12-14 week delivery estimate.

Popular HomeKit accessory maker Eve has today announced that its app is now available for M1 Macs.

Via an update, the Eve app can now run on Macs with an ‌M1‌ chip, allowing users to view their home, create scenes, and control accessories directly from a Mac. Apple forbids accessories from being added on the Mac, but otherwise the app works exactly the same as it does on iOS or iPadOS.

Eve 5 has received a number of visual improvements, such as support for the iPhone 12 lineup's screen resolutions, a native sidebar for the iPad and Mac, and a dark app icon option.

The update also brings a number of improvements to Eve's existing accessories, such as support for schedules with the Eve Light Strip, refinement to the secondary information display for Eve Degree and Eve Room, and improvements to the schedule editor of Eve Thermo. For the third-generation Eve Door & Window, there's a new Thread-enabled firmware update. Thread technology improves connectivity between various accessories by adding a new communication method.

Eve 5 is now available on the App Store for ‌iPhone‌, ‌iPad‌, and Mac. Existing users need only update the app to get the new features.

Apple has adjusted the trade-in values of many of its products overnight. Some devices, such as iPads, have seen moderate increases in value, while others, such as Macs, have experienced decreases.

Apple incentivizes customers to upgrade by offering the option to trade in older devices in exchange for credit towards a new purchase. The latest changes to the trade-in program's values, spotted by iMore, include iPads, Apple Watches, Macs, and even some Android devices.

Apple has increased the maximum trade-in value of many products in its iPad lineup. The iPad Pro has increased by $25 to $525. The iPad Air and entry-level ‌iPad‌ have gained $40, reaching $250 and $240 respectively. Finally, the iPad mini has increased from $175 to $205.

Apple has given a minor boost to the value of the Apple Watch models. The Apple Watch Series 3 and Apple Watch Series 4 have increased by $10 to $95 and $150, while the Apple Watch Series 1 has increased from $30 to $35.

On the other hand, various Macs have seen cuts to their trade-in value. The MacBook Pro is down from $1,760 to $1,530, which is a reduction of $230. The MacBook Air has also lost $100, down to $630, while the MacBook is down to $380 from $450.

With regards to desktops, the iMac Pro has seen a significant cut of $540, down to just $3,040. The ‌iMac‌ is down to $1,180 from $1,390, and the Mac mini is down to $830 from $930. The Mac Pro appears to be the only Mac to have gained value, with a major increase of almost double the previous $1,490 price. Customers can now trade in the ‌Mac Pro‌ for $2,930.

For Android devices, the Samsung Galaxy S20 has fallen in price from $270 to $225, while the Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10+, as well as Google Pixel devices, have seen minor increases.

These prices reflect the maximum value that customers can expect for their device. The actual valuation will be dependent on the condition of the device.

Analysts have recently suggested that Apple's trade-in program could become a key part of an all-in-one hardware and software subscription service in the future, should Apple combine with the iPhone Upgrade Program and Apple One.

See Apple's full list of maximum trade-in prices for more information on trade-in values.

Some Messenger and Instagram features are temporarily unavailable to users in Europe in order to comply with new rules on data usage currently being rolled out in EU countries.

Affected users are seeing alerts in the Facebook-owned apps that some features aren’t available to "respect new rules for messaging services in Europe."

The alert doesn't specify what the missing features are, but The Verge notes that polls on both Messenger and Instagram are currently disabled in Europe, while stickers in Instagram are unavailable, as are personalized replies in Messenger. Each support page for the above features currently carries the notice:

This feature may be unavailable if you're located in Europe or messaging an account based in Europe to respect new messaging service rules. We're working to bring it back.

The temporary changes are said to be Facebook's compliance with the national implementations of the 2002 Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive (ePrivacy Directive), which imposes stricter rules on data use across communications services that operate in countries that are part of the EU.

Other missing features may include a disabling of file sending on Messenger, missing nicknames, and the ability to share AR effects in DMs on Instagram.

Users in the United Kingdom are also missing the features, because EU law continues to apply to the U.K. during the Brexit transition period (currently due to last until 31 December 2020).

Facebook has not given a specific timeframe for reinstating the missing features, but told The Verge they would return "very soon."

Microsoft has updated its Edge browser with native support for Apple Silicon, promising optimized performance for Macs with the M1 chip.

The update was announced through the official Edge developers Twitter account, which invited users to download the new version from the Microsoft Edge Canary Channel, a subsection of the Microsoft Edge Insiders website.

Microsoft didn't specify what kind of performance improvements users can expect from the M1-optimized version of its browser, but if it's anything like Firefox's supercharged Apple silicon update, loyal Edge users should have something to celebrate.

Earlier this week, Apple shared a list of popular apps optimized for M1 Macs that are available in the Mac App Store, such as Pixelmator Pro, Adobe Lightroom, Affinity Designer, Darkroom, Fantastical, OmniFocus, BBEdit, Instapaper, and Twitter. Apple boasted that apps optimized for the ‌M1‌ chip deliver "game-changing speed and capabilities."

Last month, Apple released its first Macs with the ‌M1‌ chip, including a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini.

WhatsApp will soon let Mac users make voice and video calls from the platform's desktop client, according to a new report from forthcoming feature specialist WABetaInfo.

WhatsApp has offered voice and video calling in its mobile app for some time, but the feature doesn't extend to the encrypted messaging platform's web and desktop clients.

However, that looks set to change, based on a beta of WhatsApp's desktop variant. As the screenshot below shows, users involved in the beta testing stage of the client can see new voice and video calling buttons in the chat header of the app window.

Clicking either button initiates a voice or video call to the selected contact, and then displays a separate pop-up window showing options to enable or disable video, mute the call, or hang up.

Meanwhile, a call recipient using the desktop client sees a similar pop-up window indicating someone is calling them and offering them options to accept or decline the incoming call.

It's not clear how long voice and video calls will remain in beta testing on the desktop client, but WhatsApp is fairly quick at introducing new features, so if we could well see the functionality appear in an update in the next few weeks.