With iOS 15, your iPhone is still traceable through the Find My network even when the device is powered off. It seems that with iOS 15, the phone is not really fully ‘powered off’, it stays in a low-power state and acts like an AirTag, allowing any nearby iOS device to pick up the Bluetooth signal and send back its location.
This also means if your iPhone runs out of battery during the day, you still have a chance of finding its location for several more hours. In fact, Apple says the location tracking will even keep working whilst the phone is reset to factory settings with Activation Lock enabled.
So if someone steals your iPhone and powers it off, or factory resets it, Find My will still work? At least if you get to it before it truly runs out of power?
Whenever a technology comes along that gives us more privacy, it seems that those who want their hands on our data come up with new, creative ways to get it.
But does Apple also feel like it’s in a cat-and-mouse game? That’s the question that I put to Craig Federighi, the company’s senior vice president of software engineering, when I spoke to him about Apple’s newest privacy features in advance of today’s keynote. We also talked about the company’s new iCloud Private Relay (a “VPN killer” as some tech pundits are sure to call it), Apple’s role versus the governments in playing privacy regulator, and user uptake of the iPhone’s new App Tracking Transparency feature, which is so unpopular with a very blue social network.
And:
The obvious comparison people will make is that iCloud Private Relay is Apple’s version of a VPN (something I have called for in the past for the company to offer). But from an engineering perspective, Private Relay’s privacy protections make VPNs look weak.
With a traditional VPN, users’ internet traffic is encrypted and then sent to the VPN’s server, which masks the IP and routes the data on to the websites users want to access. This keeps your ISP from knowing what site you are visiting and the destination website from knowing your actual IP address. But it still leaves one gaping privacy hole: the VPN provider itself knows your real IP and the websites you’re visiting.
And:
This is where iCloud Private Relay comes in—and puts VPNs to shame. iCloud Private Relay uses a dual-hop architecture. When you navigate to a website through Safari, iCloud Private Relay takes your IP address, which it needs to connect you to the website you want to go to, and the URL of that site. But it encrypts the URL so not even Apple can see what website you are visiting. Your IP and encrypted destination URL then travels to an intermediary relay station run by a third-party trusted partner. Apple would not name these trusted partners, but says the company is working with some of the largest content providers out there. Before getting to this relay station, however, your IP address is anonymized and randomized, so the relay partner can’t identify you or your device. Then at the relay station, the destination URL is unencrypted, so the third-party provider can send you on to the website you want to go to.
I thought this was a terrific explanation of Private Relay. Key to this is the trust Apple places in its trusted partner relay stations. But the fact that your requests/data leave Apple anonymized and randomized mean even if a bad actor gets in the loop, any impact should be blunted.
Follow the link, read on for Craig Federighi’s comments, both on Private Relay and privacy. Good read.
If you missed yesterday’s keynote (and even if you didn’t), I found these preview pages useful to scroll through.
They are each beautifully drawn and some of the sections are animated, so scroll slowly so you don’t miss anything. A great way to get a sense of what’s coming.
Apple today previewed powerful new privacy protections in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, and watchOS 8, which help users better control and manage access to their data. These features represent the latest innovations in Apple’s legacy of privacy leadership, as the company has continually expanded its commitment to privacy and encouraged change across the industry with features like App Tracking Transparency and Privacy Nutrition Labels on the App Store.
This is probably the most important thing Apple announced at WWDC21. Go to Apple’s site and read it all.
Apple today previewed watchOS 8, with impactful new features that make the world’s most advanced wearable operating system even more essential for users to stay healthy, active, and connected. Updates to the Wallet and Home apps extend Apple Watch as an increasingly useful tool for convenient access across the car and places users live, work, and visit. A reimagined Breathe app and new Tai Chi and Pilates workout types help users lead a fit and healthy life and support mental well-being, while a new Portraits watch face and enhancements to Messages and the Photos app make staying connected to loved ones even easier.
Apple today previewed advanced consumer health and wellness insights for users, as well as new tools for supporting loved ones. Building on the current innovative health features of iPhone and Apple Watch, iOS 15 gives users the ability to securely share their data with important people in their life, like a family member or physician, and receive insights into the health trends of their loved ones. Additionally, new tools in iOS 15 can be used to identify, measure, and understand changes in a person’s health data.
Apple Watch has always been about health and fitness and while there have been updates to other apps in watchOS, the focus continues to be on well-being. The addition of being able to share data with family members makes iOS 15 and watchOS 8 an invaluable tool for many users.
Apple today previewed macOS Monterey, the latest version of the world’s most advanced desktop operating system. macOS Monterey comes with new ways for users to connect, get more done, and work more fluidly across their Apple devices. SharePlay, a new feature in FaceTime, lets users share experiences together, and Shared with You makes it easy to discover and enjoy content shared through Messages right in Photos, Safari, Apple Podcasts, Apple News, and the Apple TV app. A major update to Safari features a gorgeous streamlined tab bar and powerful tab organization with Tab Groups, Shortcuts comes to the Mac to automate everyday tasks, and Focus helps users stay on task and reduce distractions. Additionally, Universal Control and AirPlay to Mac are new Continuity features that offer more ways to work effortlessly across Apple devices. macOS Monterey will support the broadest lineup of Macs in history, including the latest iMac, MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini, as well as Apple’s Intel-based Macs.
Universal Control is an amazing new feature for those with a Mac and an iPad, but I believe the overall theme of macOS Monterey continues with what I said about iOS and iPadOS: privacy, focus, communication, and productivity. Having all of the devices and OSes work together seamlessly like this is great for all users.
Apple today announced iOS 15, a major update with powerful features that enhance the iPhone experience. iOS 15 makes FaceTime calls more natural, introduces SharePlay for shared experiences, helps users focus and be in the moment with new ways to manage notifications, and brings more intelligence to photos and search to quickly access information. Apple Maps unveils beautiful new ways to explore the world, Weather is redesigned with full-screen maps and more graphical displays of data, Wallet adds support for home keys and ID cards, and browsing the internet with Safari is even simpler with a new tab bar design and Tab Groups. iOS 15 also includes new privacy controls in Siri, Mail, and more places across the system to further protect user information.
Apple today previewed iPadOS 15, with new features that take advantage of the unique capabilities of iPad, helping users be more productive and taking the versatility of iPad even further. iPadOS 15 introduces a multitasking experience that is even more intuitive, making features like Split View and Slide Over easier to discover, easier to use, and more powerful. Notes goes systemwide with Quick Note, and offers new ways to collaborate and organize whether typing or writing with Apple Pencil. New widget layouts for the Home Screen and App Library offer simple ways to personalize the iPad experience and organize apps. Translate delivers new features for translating text and conversations, and users can now build apps for iPhone and iPad, on iPad, with Swift Playgrounds. iPadOS 15 also includes new privacy controls in Siri, Mail, and more places across the system to further protect user information.
If there was a theme today in the unveiling of iOS and iPadOS it would have to be privacy, focus, communication, and productivity. Those are the things that really stood out to me as I watched the keynote and they are all throughout the features Apple unveiled today.
Coherence X4 allows you to turn any website into a chromium-powered app on your Mac. Simply pick a site, enter a name, and pick an icon, and Coherence will turn the app into an isolated application separate from your main browser.
Unlike resource hogging Electron apps, Coherence apps are fully powered and completely customizable. You can use the vast majority of Chrome extensions, customize app assets, and even use features like whitelisting to turn websites like Gmail into an email client that will bump links to your default browser.
Loop readers get 20% off this week when you purchase Coherence X4 at or when you use the promo code ‘LOOPINSIGHT’ at checkout.
You can also try Coherence for 14 days absolutely free or use it as part of your subscription if you’re a Setapp subscriber!
Incredibly emotional to watch this, to see Steve, clearly changed, self aware, seemingly moved by the love and appreciation from the crowd. Miss him so.
Long ago, a gardener planted an iPhone. “It’s not good for a gadget to be alone,” he said. So he grew crops of iPads, Apple Watches and AirPods, and summoned an iCloud in the sky to connect and replenish them. Many people came to the garden to enjoy its delights. The gardener was happy, until he saw some people wandering out. So he stacked bricks, one atop another, with names like iMessage, Apple Photos, AirDrop, Apple Fitness+ and so on, until they formed a high perimeter. Then the people never left.
And:
Apple Inc. is known for making some of the best tech products but none may be better designed than its “walled garden,” its closed ecosystem of devices and services. And next week, at the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, the walls will get even higher.
And:
Apple’s garden…consists of three areas: hardware, software and services. Whatever Apple devices you’ve got, they all just work in “magical” harmony—or at least they’re meant to. But this magic doesn’t work with Android phones or Windows computers.
And:
A few days with Samsung’s Galaxy S21 phone and new Galaxy Book Pro 360 Windows 10 laptop were all it took to show how Apple’s total control creates a superior experience.
The people who use the term “walled garden” in this context typically do so as a pejorative. But that’s not right. Literal walled gardens can be very nice — and the walls and gates can be what makes them nice. During discussions in the tech community, parallels have been drawn to platforms like casino online ohne anmeldung, which attract users by offering instant access without complicated registrations, creating their own unique appeal. That’s been a recurring theme in the testimony from Apple executives in the Epic trial. Asked about rules and limits on iOS that Epic presents as nefarious — nothing but tricks to lock users in — Apple witnesses typically responded by presenting them as features. That iOS is wildly popular not despite the “walls”, but because of them.
When I think about the walled garden, I imagine what it would be like if I stopped all subscriptions, stopped paying monthly fees to Apple. For example, what would happen if I stopped my iCloud payments. How hard would it be to convert my iCloud data, my email, photos, video, Messages, etc., into an accessible, easy to navigate set of folders on my local drive?
Weeks after stepping down as Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos will take a rocket into space. Gutsy move.
He’s taking his brother onto the first human-crewed Blue Origin flight, taking the risk on himself, putting the ultimate trust in the people he hired to build a safe transport into space.
Check out the video below, as Bezos asks his brother to go with him. Damn.
Narrated by Lupita Nyong’o and hailing from Imagine Documentaries, the special is executive produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, and features interviews with friends, family, cartoonists and famous fans of the comic strip, to create a heartwarming portrait of the late “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz.
Watch the trailer below. Fascinating to me how big a shelf life Peanuts has. Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football, all deeply embedded in our culture.
Documentary drops two weeks from Friday (that’s June 25th).
Dave and I talk about the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference starting next week. The conference will be virtual again this year, but there should be lots of news coming from the show. Apple also said this week that it expects workers to start coming back to the office in September.
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Apple today released iOS 14.7 beta 2 for developers, and while bugs and other weird issues are quite common in beta software, sometimes they can make your device nearly unusable. According to some reports, today’s beta seems to be causing a “SIM Failure” error for iPhone users.
Not enough data to know for sure, but this may be an eSim issue. But that said, if you’ve not yet made the leap, I’d hold off on installing the latest beta until this gets sorted.
In a nutshell, there’s a setting in tvOS, under Accessibility, that enables Type To Siri.
Watch the video to see this in action. I’m curious how well this integrates with the iPhone/iPad/Mac keyboard, using the interface that automatically pops up when your device’s keyboard can be used to enter things like passwords.
From Mac Address, this video is titled, “I love the new iMac”, and it’ll make you want one. If you are even thinking about buying one, especially yellow, dig in.
I’ve been to Disneyland once, many, many years ago. The new Avengers Campus is calling me back. Definitely a bucket list item for me. The new campus opens tomorrow.
> Apple employees are being asked to return to the office three days a week starting in early September. Tim Cook sent out an email Wednesday informing staff of the change.
And:
> Cook said that most employees will be asked to come in to the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with the option of working remotely on Wednesdays and Fridays. Teams that need to work in-person will return four to five days a week.
And, finally:
> Employees also have the chance to work remotely for up to two weeks a year, “to be closer to family and loved ones, find a change of scenery, manage unexpected travel, or a different reason all your own,” according to the letter. Managers need to approve remote work requests.
Is remote work here to stay?
For most companies, getting folks to come back to the office is an economic and social balancing problem. Pay folks enough, you won’t have a problem getting folks to come to work for you and work on site. The more enticing the work and the work atmosphere, the easier the sell to get folks to leave their nests and come back in. Another thing I need to mention is the importance of a virtual office if you are working from home. I use https://virtually-there.net/virtual-offices/ and it means that I can use a different postal address for all of my businesses, so gives me much more privacy and means that nobody can get my personal home address.
But all things being equal, seems logical that companies that offer all or mostly remote will have a big edge in competing for talent. Many companies were short-staffed due to COVID-19, making it even harder to fill positions. Some companies are turning to temporary workers, like Agent de production roumain, to help meet their needs during this challenging time.
Feels like the pandemic has brought a seismic shift to work at the office model.
First things first, look at the thumbnail for the Mac Programming Books section. One of the first books I ever wrote. Which makes me vintage. Do I get a special badge for that?
That aside, there are a ton of high-quality scans here, including a bunch of my books. Not sure how these were done, not sure how I feel about this. This stuff is old, vintage is an appropriate word here, but this is a chunk of my life’s work put up for the taking, without permission.
And that said, I guess I’m OK with that, at least as far as my stuff is concerned. Every one of these editions is long out of print. So enjoy, if any of this floats your boat.
Even though WWDC technically started in 1990, let’s start where things got interesting, which is in 1997. Apple was on the brink and Steve Jobs had just returned to the company following the NeXT acquisition. This was the first time since his return that Steve himself appeared at WWDC.
Parker did a great job pulling this post together. This wonderful collection of prose, pics, and video brought on huge waves of nostalgia.
My wallet was a Gucci branded wallet with about $100 in cash in it and a couple of credit cards, along with my license. I also had enough space in it to stick an Airtag in there (there’s a compartment where it fit easily). I’d initially bought the Airtag as I always lose my things around the house, wallet included.
Anyway, I realized at the end of my workout, about an hour/hour and a half later, that I didn’t have my wallet.
Spotted by developer Javier Lacort, the Apple job listing for a Senior iOS Engineer in Apple Music explicitly mentions “homeOS” on two occasions, alongside Apple’s other operating systems including iOS, watchOS, and tvOS.
And, from the job listing itself (emphasis added):
You’ll get to work with system engineers across Apple, learning the inner-workings of iOS, watchOS, tvOS and homeOS, and optimizing your code for performance in ways only Apple can. Come join our team and make a real difference for music lovers worldwide.
The Apple Music Frameworks team owns the technology stack that enables the system-integrated Apple Music experience on all of our mobile platforms: iOS, watchOS, and homeOS.
Great food for thought, guessing we’ll hear more on Monday.
Cool thread on magnet fishing to recover an iPhone and, as a bonus, a Nintendo Switch.
Something happened tonight. A friend of mine dropped his iPhone 12 Pro in the canal in Berlin. It disappeared in the mud. He waded through the 3ft deep water. No way to find it. But he found a Nintendo Switch instead.
— Frederik Riedel 🐻❄️ (@frederikRiedel) May 29, 2021
There’s an emerging hobby called magnet fishing. Yes, it’s a real thing. Here’s a link to a beginner’s kit. There are tons of these.
Kind of want to give this a try, but I’m worried about hurting someone (the magnets can be very powerful) and also worried about erasing things like SD/credit cards and magnetic drives/devices.
After launching in 2015 with free unlimited storage and marketing the service around that key feature, Google Photos has become a popular option even for Apple users. However, that’s changing as the company announced last fall that the free unlimited storage is ending on June 1.
That’s today.
Instead of free unlimited storage, a 15GB limit will apply to photos and videos added from June 1, 2021. So your content that’s been previously added will remain safe. However, this will probably make some Apple users reconsider their photo strategy and take a look at the Apple One bundles.
Read the post for specifics on porting over to iCloud, if the math works in your favor. And if you are an Amazon Prime member, take a look at the last unlimited plan standing, Amazon Photos.
Last week, Apple quietly unveiled one of the more remarkable pieces of technology that has been developed in the past few years. AssistiveTouch allows one to control an Apple Watch without actually touching the device. Instead, a series of hand and finger gestures can be used to control everything from answering a call to ending a workout.
If you haven’t seen it, here’s the video showing this off:
Back to Neil:
When Apple unveiled the iPhone in January 2007, Steve Jobs famously said that the iPhone was “literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone.” He ended up being mostly correct. It took the competition a number of years, and a whole lot of copying, to catch up with what Apple had just unveiled.
With wearables, my suspicion is Apple’s lead is longer than five years.
Read the article for the specifics, but Neil makes a solid case. Between Apple’s investments in custom silicon and their ecosystem that let devices play off each other, Apple has built a seemingly insurmountable lead in wearables.
