MacRumors

One of the new tvOS 14 features highlighted by Apple was support for watching 4K videos in the YouTube app, but when tvOS 14 launched, Apple TV 4K users quickly noticed that support wasn't available.

That appears to be changing, as there are reports on Reddit (via FlatpanelsHD) that support for 4K YouTube videos is starting to roll out. Multiple users have reported seeing 4K playback options in the YouTube app on tvOS 14, tvOS 14.0.1, and tvOS 14.2.

4K support has not yet rolled out to all users, however, as in our tests, we were not able to access 4K YouTube content and continued to have a 1080p limitation. While 4K content appears to be available, those with access are still not able to enable HDR, and 4K videos are limited to 30 frames per second.

It's unclear if the lack of HDR is temporary or a limitation on the 4K ‌Apple TV‌, and it's also not known when 4K content will be available for all. It seems to be rolling out though, so there may not be too much longer to wait. YouTube in September said that ‌Apple TV‌ 4K would support 4K YouTube playback "soon."

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Ampere to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a UV sanitizer and wireless charger called Cell, which is designed to kill the germs on the surface of a smartphone within a minute.

Priced at $80, Cell features a Qi-enabled wireless charging base that can charge your iPhone up when needed, but the top pops off and there's an expandable silver-infused antimicrobial shell with UV lights inside that are able to sterilize germs on your ‌iPhone‌ and other small accessories like the AirPods, Apple Pencil, and more.

To use it, you just pull the top off, expand the sides, place your items inside, and let the light do its work. When done, you can collapse it back down into a wireless charger that's also portable enough to go anywhere. The expandable portion of the charger is made from a flexible silicone that can partially expand in landscape mode to create an ideal viewing angle for watching videos, or in portrait mode for FaceTime calls.

There are two 15W wireless chargers in the Cell that offer a large charging surface regardless of placement, and the design of the Cell allows it to charge a smartphone of any size. It will charge the ‌iPhone‌ at 7.5W and Samsung devices at 15W, with a grippy silicone surface keeping the smartphone in place. There's a USB-C output port on the Cell so you can attach a cable to charge a secondary device like an Apple Watch or an ‌iPhone‌ with the appropriate USB-C cable.

For UV sanitizing, the Cell features four 250-280nm UV lights that are able to remove most germs at the DNA level within a minute, which is useful at a time when we're all concerned about sanitation and the cleanliness of the objects we touch on a regular basis. Smartphones can be rife with germs because we touch them so often, and it's not always easy to get iPhones and other small accessories like AirPods clean.

Though designed with its tent-like expanding design to sanitize iPhones and other small objects, the light inside the Cell can also be used while held over larger objects like MacBooks. Cell is available in black, red, or a unique glow-in-the-dark material.

Cell is accompanied by several antimicrobial accessories, including an 18W PD mini adapter for charging, a USB-C to USB-C cable, and a Made for iPhone-certified USB-C to Lightning cable for charging the ‌iPhone‌ with the extra port, plus there are optional add-ons like a travel case, antimicrobial cable organizer, and UV self-cleaning water bottle. Pre-orders are available now, with orders expected to ship out in late October.

We have seven Cell wireless charger and sanitizers to give away to MacRumors readers, with each prize pack to include all of the above listed accessories. To enter to win our giveaway, use the Gleam.io widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winners and send the prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, following us on Instagram, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

The contest will run from today (October 2) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on October 9. The winners will be chosen randomly on October 9 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.

Throwboy is best known for its line of plush, huggable pillows modeled after classic Apple devices, but Throwboy also makes a line of palm-sized Pocket Pillows perfect for tossing around or decorating a desktop.

There are three Mac-themed Pocket Pillows perfect for Apple fans - the 1984 Pocket Pillow, the 1998 Pocket Pillow, and the Icon Pocket Pillow. Of these, the Icon Pocket Pillow is the smallest and similar to a bean bag, while the two Mac pillows are bulkier and heavier.

In terms of specific sizing, the Icon Pocket Pillow is close to 4 inches wide, 4 inches long, and 2 inches thick, while the 1998 iMac Pocket Pillow is about 4 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 2.5 inches thick. The 1984 Classic Mac pillow is about the same size as the ‌iMac‌ version, but a bit more square and a little thicker.

Pocket Pillows are priced at $14.99, and each one is made from a super soft, plush material that's similar to the material Throwboy uses for its larger pillows, which we reviewed last year. The mini pillows have a 3D design and intricate satin embroidery for details, so they really look like little mini Macs.

The ‌iMac‌, for example, is made from a blue plush to mimic the Bondi Blue ‌iMac‌, and it has embroidery for the display, speakers, CD drive, power button, and carrying handle at the back. The 1984 pillow is a beige color like the Classic Macintosh and it has an embroidered disk drive, vents, display area, and mimicked rainbow Apple logo, while the Icon pillow has the two-toned color scheme and embroidered smile.

While the pillows are plush and have a soft exterior with a squishy poly filling interior, there are a good amount of pellets inside to give the pillows some heft. Throwboy did not skimp on the pellets and despite their small size, these little pillows are heavy. If you threw them at someone or something, you could do some damage, but the weight also makes them feel nice in the hand.

The pellets inside also ensure these stand upright on a desk or table, making them ideal decor for Mac fans. They masquerade as a desk decoration, but in reality, they're fun to fidget with and they make a great desk toy.

Over the last few weeks of having the Pocket Pillows decorating my workspace, I've enjoyed tossing them up in the air and catching them, tossing them from hand to hand, and squashing them when I'm feeling stressed. The Icon in particular is my favorite to toss around because it's a bit smaller and less heavy, and the 1984 is best for squashing because of its square shape and plushness.

There's not much else to say about the Pocket Pillows, but if you're looking for a gift for an Apple fan or something to spruce up your desk or office decor, these are fun, inexpensive accessory worth checking out.

How to Buy

Pocket Pillows can be purchased from the Throwboy website for $14.99 each. MacRumors readers can get a 15 percent discount on Throwboy purchases with the promo code "rumors15."

Note: Throwboy provided MacRumors with Pocket Pillows for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

MacRumors readers can save 25% on the 1Password Family subscription in October, bringing the price of the service down to $44.88 per year, from an original price of $59.85. On a monthly basis, this means that the service will cost $3.75 per month (originally $4.99 per month).

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with 1Password. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

To get the deal, head to 1Password's website and click "get started" on the landing page for the discount. It is billed annually, so you'll pay $44.88 upfront for an entire year of 1Password Families. The regular $4.99 per month price of 1Password Families will kick in after your first year ends.

This offer is only for new 1Password customers, and will expire on October 31, 2020.

1Password is a password management app that is compatible across Apple devices, including iPhone and Mac. It allows you to create and store strong passwords across all of your most important online accounts, and alert you when your passwords are compromised.

1Password Families is built to support up to five family members, providing each person with access to the password management service. It supports 1GB of encrypted storage for documents, cross-platform sync, item history backup, 1Password Watchtower for compromised passwords, and more.

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

Experienced display analyst Ross Young has today shared a range of information from Mizuho Securities about the "iPhone 13," rumored to succeed the upcoming iPhone 12 lineup, and the third-generation iPhone SE.

The projected iPhone 13 lineup looks very similar to the expected iPhone 12 lineup, encompassing one 6.7-inch "Pro Max" model, one 6.1-inch "Pro" model, one 6.1-inch non-Pro model, and one 5.4-inch "mini" model. It follows therefore that the devices will not see significant changes to design or form-factor.

All iPhone 13 models are speculated to have integrated touch technology, and Chinese firm BOE Technology will join LG Display in producing displays for the 6.1-inch iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro. Samsung is believed to supply Apple with Y-Octa technology for all iPhone 13 displays.

Young says that the "most important development" on the iPhone 13 Pro models will be the adoption of 120Hz-capable ProMotion displays with variable refresh rates, accommodated by the adoption of LTPO display technology. After a range of mixed reports, rumors now seem to be largely in agreement that 120Hz displays will not come to the iPhone until 2021.

The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini will reportedly gain the same camera sensors as the iPhone 12 Pro Max, while the sensor size of both Pro models will increase. This means that there will be significant camera improvements on all models.

While Young expects both iPhone 13 Pro models to have a LiDAR Scanner on the rear, it is unknown whether the feature will come to the non-Pro models. For the iPhone 12, rumors have not been clear on whether LiDAR will come to all Pro-models or just the 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max.

All iPhone 13 models may get sub-6GHz 5G connectivity, but the Pro models will also have faster mmWave 5G in addition to the slower but more widespread connection. This year, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is the only model rumored to offer mmWave 5G.

With LiDAR and mmWave on both iPhone 13 Pro models, it seems that if the iPhone 12 lineup reserves these high-end features for the Pro Max model only, 2021 will see a leveling-up of features among the Pro models.

There will also apparently not be a third-generation iPhone SE until Spring 2022. The third-generation iPhone SE is expected to have a 6.1-inch LCD display, Touch ID, sub-6GHz 5G, and the same dual cameras as the iPhone 11. This suggests it will mirror the design of 2019's iPhone 11, just as previous iPhone SE models have repeated the design of an older device with upgraded internals, and presumably have Touch ID integrated into the lock button like the iPad Air 4.

Amazon has introduced a new deal on the AirPods with Wireless Charging Case, now priced at $151.00, down from $199.00. This isn't quite the lowest price that we've ever tracked for the AirPods, but it is the first notable sale in a few weeks and the best price available right now.

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

This model of the AirPods includes the Wireless Charging Case, allowing you to charge the Bluetooth headphones with any Qi-supported wireless mat. You can buy the charging case separately for $69.00 right now on Amazon, down from $79.00.

There are also a few ongoing sales on the other AirPods models. You can get the AirPods with Charging Case for $129.00, down from $159.00. The AirPods Pro are priced at $219.00, down from $249.00. Both of these Amazon discounts are among the best online.

We track sales for every model of the AirPods in our Best AirPods Deals guide, so be sure to bookmark that page while you shop around for the wireless headphones.

$29.3 billion was spent overall on Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store, with over 35.6 billion app installs, in the third quarter of 2020, according to a new report by Sensor Tower.

App stores have seen significant year-on-year growth, with customers spending 32 percent more than at the same time in 2019, with 23.3 percent more installs. This is a large growth compared to 24 percent increased spending and nine percent increased downloads last year.

Spending on in-app purchases, subscriptions, and premium apps rose by 31 percent to $19 billion worldwide on Apple's ‌App Store‌ in the third quarter, up from $14.5 billion at the same time last year. This is almost twice the revenue earned by Google's Play Store, consistent with last year's split between the two platforms. However, of the 36.5 billion app installs, Apple's ‌App Store‌ only accounted for 8.2 billion, whereas the Google Play Store had over three times as many at 28.3 billion.

Short-form video social media app TikTok was the most downloaded app on both platforms, and it was also the highest-earning non-game app globally. This was its second consecutive quarter as the top-grossing non-game app. At this time last year, Tinder was the highest-grossing non-game app. As in previous quarters, Facebook's apps, including Instagram and WhatsApp, made up the majority of the top five non-game apps by global downloads, although none occupied the top spot.

Tencent took the first and second positions among the five top-grossing games in the third quarter with "Honor of Kings" and "PUBG Mobile." Together, the top five highest-grossing games made more than $2.4 billion, which is 12 percent of all consumer spending on mobile games last quarter. Game installs decreased year on year for Apple's ‌App Store‌ from 2.4 billion to 2.3 billion, with the vast majority of downloads instead being from Google Play, which saw growth of 36.8 percent.

Sensor Tower analysts believe that going into the fourth quarter, new trends will emerge, as will new standout apps, partly driven by platform innovations such as home screen customization on iOS. A full report on global app adoption with specific analyses of top publishers and trends for the third quarter is expected soon.

New York and New Jersey have launched COVID-19 contact tracing apps based on Apple and Google's Exposure Notification technology.

In a press release on the New York State website, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced the release of COVID Alert NY and COVID Alert NJ for iPhone and Android users.

Like other apps that take advantage of the ‌Exposure Notification‌ API from Apple and Google, the two apps are designed to track who people come into contact with each other using Bluetooth, providing a notification if one of those people later comes down with the coronavirus.

As well as launching their own state contact tracing apps, the New York and New Jersey governors said they would join Pennsylvania and Delaware in creating a regional network that will enable the apps to work across state lines.

In the United States, Virginia, North Dakota, Arizona, Delaware, Nevada, Alabama, Wyoming, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania have launched apps that use Apple's ‌‌Exposure Notification‌‌ API. Connecticut is also expected to launch an app in the next few weeks.

More information on Apple and Google's ‌‌Exposure Notification‌‌ API, such as how it works and where it's available, can be found in our guide.

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.

Live View in Google Maps uses your iPhone's camera and GPS to provide augmented reality directions when you're walking somewhere, and this week Google announced that it's enhancing the feature and making it available in additional transit scenarios.

In Live View, arrows, directions, and distance markers are placed right on top of your surroundings to visualize your destination in the real world, and Google will soon bring landmarks to this AR mode, too. From The Keyword blog:

Soon, you’ll also be able to see nearby landmarks so you can quickly and easily orient yourself and understand your surroundings. Live View will show you how far away certain landmarks are from you and what direction you need to go to get there. These landmarks can include iconic places, like the Empire State Building in New York and the Pantheon in Rome, and easily recognizable places, like local parks and tourist attractions.

Landmarks will start rolling out soon on iOS in nearly 25 cities, including Amsterdam, Bangkok, Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Dubai, Florence, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Kyoto, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milan, Munich, New York, Osaka, Paris, Prague, Rome, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, and Vienna.

Live View is accessed from the transit tab in Google Maps, but previously, it would be unavailable if your directions involved a combination of transport types like walking, driving, cycling, and transit.

Now though, as long as your transit directions include a walking portion in the journey, you can use Live View to find your way, which should be useful when you exit a transit station and don’t know which way to go, for example.

In addition, Google said it will soon expand Live View to Location Sharing, so that when a friend chooses to share their location with you, you can tap their icon and then on Live View to see where and how far away they are, with overlaid arrows and directions to help you know where to go.

Google says it has made improvements to global localization, the underlying technology that powers its Live View features on Google Maps, so it's now better able to take the elevation of a place into account, which enables it to more accurately display the location of the destination pin in Live View.

Google Maps can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Popular accessory brand Anker today is launching its latest diminutive charger, a 20W Anker Nano that packs fast-charging power into a tiny wall adapter.

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

The new Anker Nano, priced at $19.99, is an updated version of the previous PowerPort III Nano, raising the power from 18 watts to 20 watts to match the wattage of the fast charger Apple is launching alongside the new iPad Air. But even with the higher wattage, the Anker Nano with USB-C is roughly the same size as Apple's barebones 5-watt USB-A charger.

With it looking more and more like Apple won't be including a charger in the box with the iPhone 12 lineup, users will be looking at their charging options, whether it be existing chargers around the house or new chargers from Apple or third parties. The Anker Nano is capable of charging an ‌iPhone‌ to around 50% in just 30 minutes, and similar performance should be anticipated with the ‌iPhone‌ 12 lineup.

Anker has variants of the Anker Nano available for the US, UK, and EU markets, and with the new ‌iPhone‌ right around the corner, Anker has put together a "survival kit" of recommended accessories to help users get the most out of their charging setups.

In addition to the 20W Anker Nano that offers an extremely portable solution for fast charging a single device, Anker's 60W PowerPort III offers a pair of USB-C ports to charge two devices such as a combination of ‌iPhone‌, iPad, and smaller Mac notebook models simultaneously. It also comes with interchangeable prongs for US, UK, and EU outlets.

And for connecting your devices to the chargers, Anker offers its PowerLine III USB-C to USB-C cable for charging your Mac notebook, iPad Pro, or the upcoming ‌iPad Air‌ and its high-end braided PowerLine+ III USB-C to Lightning cable for charging your ‌iPhone‌ or a lower-end ‌iPad‌. For those looking for a cheaper Lightning option, there's also Anker's Powerline II USB-C to Lightning cable.

Update: This article originally stated that the new Anker Nano was a gallium nitride (GaN) adapter, but Anker has since clarified that this is not the case.

New adventure game "Slash Quest!" landed today on Apple Arcade. Made by Green Pillow and Noodlecake Games, the title promises players plenty of "enemy chopping, puzzle solving, door unlocking, river crossing, fire setting, gear spinning," and more.

The Queen's evergrowing talking sword is lost in a faraway land. Luckily you showed up to wield it back to the castle. You do know how to swing a sword, right? Right?!

Forget your power fantasy. Slash Quest's simple yet unfamiliar controls will put you in the shoes of an unlikely knight with a big heart, an even bigger weapon, and absolutely zero skills. But worry not! Just like Shep and Swordie's friendship, before you know it everything will feel right and everyone will be counting on you to save the Queendom.

The gameplay hinges on a unique growing sword mechanic and customizable controls to take players through a storyline-driven 12 levels where they can look forward to several boss fights, dozens of side quests and challenges, upgradeable skills, collectible cosmic items, engaging mini games and Game Center Leaderboards integration.

As an ‌Apple Arcade‌ title, "Slash Quest!" is available across iOS, iPadOS, macOS and tvOS and includes support for physical controllers.

There are now more than 125 games available on ‌Apple Arcade‌, with Apple adding new titles regularly. ‌‌Apple Arcade‌‌ is priced at $4.99 per month, and that price point allows the whole family to play games without ads or additional in-app purchases.

Tonight, the YouTube website has started allowing iOS 14 devices to use the built-in Picture in Picture functionality for its videos even without a Premium account.

This is an apparent reversal of a change that YouTube explicitly made following the release of iOS 14 which blocked such behavior. At that time, YouTube would only allow that capability for users with Premium accounts. Tonight's change means that any YouTube visitor can use Picture in Picture in Safari.

iOS 14 introduced native Picture in Picture capability to the iPhone for the first time, however, apps have to explicitly support the feature. YouTube's native app has never supported Picture in Picture for any of its users even though iPadOS has offered the capability for some time. There have been reports that YouTube has been testing this feature, but there have been no announcements.

As a result, iOS 14 users have had to resort to using YouTube in Safari as a workaround. Since there have been no announcements either way, it's unclear if this change is permanent or not.

Thanks Jorge

Apple today updated its investor relations page to announce that it will share its earnings results for the fourth fiscal quarter (third calendar quarter) of 2020 on Thursday, October 29.

Fourth quarter earnings calls typically provide some insight into the early sales of new iPhones, but since this year's iPhones have been delayed until October, initial iPhone sales data will not factor into fourth quarter revenue.

Apple will perhaps provide detail on sales of the Apple Watch Series 6 and the new Apple Watch SE, which did launch during the September quarter.

Apple declined to provide guidance for the fourth quarter of 2020 during its third quarter earnings call due to the ongoing global health crisis, which continues to affect Apple's product launch timelines and sales.

Apple in the third quarter brought in $59.7 billion in revenue, marking a record June quarter bolstered by products and services growth and a surge in Mac and ‌iPhone‌ sales due to people working and learning from home.

The quarterly earnings statement will be released at 1:30 PM Pacific/4:30 PM Eastern, with a conference call to discuss the report taking place at 2:00 PM Pacific/5:00 PM Eastern. MacRumors will provide coverage of both the earnings release and conference call on October 29.

A transaction labeling error with the Apple Card has been causing confusion for some ‌Apple Card‌ owners, with AT&T charges listed as "Waters, Hardy & Co" instead of AT&T on ‌Apple Card‌ statements.

The problem appears to have started at some point yesterday, with tax preparation service Waters, Hardy & Co receiving hundreds of phone calls from confused customers. In a Facebook post, the company said that it had received so many calls from ‌Apple Card‌ owners that its phones had to be turned off.

MacRumors reader Kyle alerted us to the problem. He found an incorrect merchant charge for "Waters, Hardy & Co" listed in the Wallet app, which was actually his bill from AT&T. He contacted the company and received a voice recording with a message that said Apple had incorrectly listed Waters, Hardy & Co as the merchant for the AT&T charges.

Another MacRumors reader mentioned the same issue yesterday, noting a "weird charge" on the ‌Apple Card‌, presumably from Waters, Hardy & Co. Based on the reports we've seen and the hundreds of calls received by Waters, Hardy & Co., this appears to be affecting quite a few AT&T customers who use ‌Apple Card‌ for their bills.

MacRumors reader Kyle says that he contacted Apple Support about the problem and was told that the issue was known and was in the process of being corrected. Waters, Hardy & Co. also says that it is working to get the problem resolved as quickly as possible.

Update: According to Apple, the issue has been fixed and AT&T transactions will no longer be mislabeled.

Following the release of iOS 14.0.1 on Thursday, September 24, Apple has stopped signing iOS 14, which means downgrading to the launch version of iOS 14 after upgrading to iOS 14.0.1 is no longer possible.

Apple routinely stops signing older versions of software updates after new releases come out in order to encourage customers to keep their operating systems up to date.

iOS 14.0.1 was a bug fix update fixing issues that weren't able to be addressed in the initial version of iOS 14. The update fixed a bug that could cause third-party apps set as the default to reset after the iPhone is restarted. It also addressed a bug that could prevent the ‌‌iPhone‌‌ from connecting to some WiFi networks, and fixed an issue that could prevent sending email with some mail carriers.

iOS 14.0.1 is the current publicly available version of iOS that people can download, but there's also an iOS 14.2 update that has been provided to developers and public beta testers. iOS 14.2 introduces new emoji 13 characters, a Shazam Music Recognition feature for the Control Center, and some other Apple Music-related Control Center tweaks.