Tag: icloud

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Mobile Syrup

If your iCloud storage is full and you have TikTok try this

Having maxed-out iCloud storage is all too common among iPhone users, and it often seems futile to even try clearing it out, or so I thought.

If you do video editing on your phone with TikTok and CapCut, you might get a ton of free space back by turning off iCloud storage features for those apps. I was able to salvage 30GB when I tried it.

To view what’s eating up the most iCloud space on your iPhone, open up the iOS Settings app. Tap on your name at the top of the page and then choose ‘iCloud.’

Underneath the graphic that shows what types of files are using storage, there should be a button called ‘Manage Account Storage.’ Tap on that, then choose ‘Backups’ from the list of items. Open up your Phone’s backups and wait for all the information to load. Once it does, it will show all the apps using your iCloud space and allow you to enable or disable individual apps manually.

As I mentioned above, when I did this for the first time, I disabled CapCut and TikTok and gained back 30GB of cloud storage. I assume this is cached video files since I often put drone footage on my phone, but let us know in the comments if you never post and TikTok is still eating up iCloud space.

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Mobile Syrup

How to manage your smartphone’s cloud backup

A critical part of owning a smartphone these days is managing the associated cloud storage holding backups of your photos, messages, contacts, and more. Unfortunately, most people neglect this, often to their detriment, when an ageing smartphone gives up the ghost, or a clumsy hand sends it rocketing to the floor, never to work again.

As someone who spent years working at a cellphone store (and who still serves as the resident IT guy for friends and family), cloud storage often ended up causing problems during the upgrade process. With that in mind, it might be a good idea to check in on your cloud storage, make sure you have space for your phone’s backups, and more. Here’s how to manage it.

iPhone

Every Apple ID comes with 5GB of free iCloud storage that can be used for backups, but chances are you’ve already filled it with photos and other storage-heavy content. To clean up your iCloud from an iPhone, open Settings > Tap your name > iCloud. In this menu, you’ll see a breakdown of what’s using up your storage, followed by an option to manage your storage. Below are some apps that use iCloud, like Apple Photos, a Device Backups section, ‘Advanced Data Protection’ (which will let you encrypt your iCloud data, although the feature isn’t available in Canada yet), and finally a toggle to turn on access to your iCloud data from the web. You may also see ads pushing you to upgrade your iCloud storage.

Tapping ‘Manage Account Storage’ brings up a list of everything stored in your iCloud along with how much space is being used by that thing. Most of my storage is used up by Backups and Messages because I disabled Photos backup (more on that in a moment). This list can be handy if you want to clear out any large items — simply tap an item and tap ‘Delete’ on the next screen to remove it from iCloud. You can also expand your iCloud storage from this screen with the following options and prices in Canada (as of January 6th, 2023):

  • 50GB – $1.29/mo
  • 200GB – $3.99/mo
  • 2TB – $12.99/mo

Paying for iCloud also gives you access to iCloud+ features like Private Relay, Hide My Email, and more — learn about those here.

iCloud Photos will likely be the thing gobbling up most of your iCloud storage. It’s a system for backing up photos and videos from your iPhone and it’s a great way to protect your pictures in the event you break or lose your iPhone. As I mentioned above, I don’t use iCloud to back up my pictures because I prefer Google Photos and I primarily use Android phones. If you don’t want to back up images to iCloud, you can turn this feature off (but I’d strongly recommend using another backup service to protect your pictures, whether that’s Google Photos, Microsoft OneDrive, or something else).

Most importantly, check the Device Backups section to ensure your iPhone is backing up to iCloud. This will make it easier to restore your data on a new iPhone.

Android

Android’s backup system is fairly complex, thanks partly to manufacturers offering their own backup systems on top of what’s available as part of Android. My recommendation is to make sure the Android backup system is set up and good to go first, and then look into setting up the manufacturer backup system (for example, Samsung Cloud backup for Galaxy phones).

You can manage your backups from two places on Android. The first is through the Google One app, and the second is by heading into the Settings app and going to the ‘Backup’ section. It might be in a different spot depending on your phone — on my Pixel 7, it’s in Settings > System > Backup, while on a Galaxy S10e I checked it was in Settings > Accounts and backup > Back up data under the Google Drive header.

Regardless, you should end up on a screen showing your Google account storage, an option to manage the storage, and then backup details for your device, including a ‘Back up now’ button and a list of what’s included in the backup and how much space it takes up.

Android backups are stored in Google One cloud storage, which is shared across various Google services, including Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos (it’s worth noting that while photos are listed in the device backup section, the Google Photos app handles the backup). You get 15GB for free and can upgrade your storage to:

  • 100GB – $2.79/mo or $27.99/year
  • 200GB – $3.99/mo or $39.99/year
  • 2TB – $13.99/mo or $139.99/year

Controlling what gets backed up and what doesn’t is a little more confusing than it is with the iPhone. In the Backup menu in my phone’s Settings app, I could only view a list of what was backed up. However, if you head into the Google One app to view your backup, there’s a ‘Manage backup’ button that takes you to a menu with options to toggle off certain categories, such as device data, multimedia messages, or photos and videos. However, other parts of the Android backup interface will bounce you to Google Photos to manage what gets backed up.

Again, your photo library will probably take up the most space in your device backup, so being able to manage that separately is the most important thing — none of the other stuff in my backup takes more than 100MB of space.

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Mobile Syrup

Apple now offers end-to-end encryption for iCloud backups

Apple will now allow users to end-to-end encrypt photos, notes and, more importantly, full backups stored in its iCloud platform, according to a recent press release from the tech giant.

As part of what the tech giant calls ‘Advanced Data Protection,’ the following can now be encrypted: device backups, Messages backups, iCloud Drive, Notes, Photos, Reminders, Safari bookmarks, Siri Shortcuts, Wallet Passes and Voice memos. According to the company’s press release, only iCloud Mail, Contacts and Calendar aren’t covered because of the platform’s “need to interoperate with the global email, contacts, and calendar systems.”

With Advanced Data Protection turned on, Apple says that law enforcement and hackers can’t access your data in the tech giant’s databases. With the feature off, Apple can help users recover their information if need be, but it’s also far less secure.

The feature is available now to iOS beta users in the U.S. and will release globally in 2023. Alongside this announcement, Apple confirmed it no longer plans to scan users’ iCloud libraries for images of child sexual abuse. The company also revealed that it will launch iMessage Contact Key Verification, a feature designed for journalists, human rights activists and members of government, that aims to verify users are only messaging who they intend to.

Image credit: Apple

Source: Apple

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Mobile Syrup

The ultimate guide to Apple’s iCloud

“It’s all in the cloud, isn’t it?” and “I don’t want to pay for the iCloud.” Among others, these were two of the most common lines I hear whenever I mention iCloud. But I absolutely love iCloud, and I believe it’s a service that every Apple user can benefit from. 

Whenever someone asks me why I love using Apple devices so much, iCloud is one of my top reasons. Every year, Android and PC manufacturers launch new high-tech and innovative products. Even Windows 11 is skinned like macOS. Yet, no cloud-syncing service works across my computer, phone, tablet and even TV quite like iCloud. 

iCloud was released in 2011 to replace the now long discontinued MobileMe service. While iCloud isn’t perfect, it’s leaps and bounds better than its predecessor. Let’s do a deep dive into how iCloud works, how much it costs and everything the service can do for you. 

iCloud: The best place for all your photos, files and more

iCloud is a cloud syncing and backup solution released by Apple on June 6th, 2011. iCloud+ is the premium paid tier of iCloud, offering extra storage and additional features. iCloud provides four categories of functionality: file syncing, iOS device backup, email hosting and a small handful of miscellaneous iCloud+ exclusive features. 

Every user gets 5GB of cloud storage for free, allowing for iCloud Drive, iCloud Photos, iCloud Backup, and iCloud Mail. However, 5GB is more of an unlimited free trial. Very few people (if anyone) can actually stay within that 5GB storage limit. Most of us will find ourselves upgrading to an iCloud+ tier for the additional storage. 

To my surprise, many people work exhaustingly hard to keep their devices within the 5GB free storage limit. While it’s not fun to pay for another subscription service, iCloud+ offers a lot of useful functionality, ensuring your data is synced and backed up. I’ve seen many people turn off features in iCloud that they don’t use. But if you don’t use it, it’s not taking up any storage. So, leave even the features you don’t use enabled because if you ever start using them and something happens to your data, you’ll be thankful iCloud has your back. 

iCloud Drive: Any type of File. All in one place

iCloud Drive is by far my favourite iCloud feature. It’s a solid competitive edge that Apple’s ecosystem has over competitors. iCloud Drive syncs files between your Mac, iPad, iPhone, and even Windows PC. By extension, Apps for iCloud is the syncing feature that allows individual apps like contacts, calendar, TweetBot, and many others to keep the information the same between all your devices. 

iCloud Drive and Apps for iCloud are functionally both syncing features that do the same thing —  they keep your information available and up to date on all your devices. There’s something magical about being able to start writing this article on my Mac while in my office, then continue it on my iPhone while walking my dog, and finish it on my iPad while at a coffee shop. 

Additionally, iCloud Drive and Apps for iCloud keep your data in iCloud and locally on your device. Suppose your Mac gets water damage, and you don’t have a backup. In that case, all of your files can be downloaded from iCloud. Additionally, suppose you begin to run out of storage on a device. In that case, you can remove the local copy from your device but keep it available in iCloud for a future download if needed.  

To enable iCloud Drive and Apps for iCloud on iOS/iPadOS:
1. Launch ‘Settings’
2. Tap your name at the top
3. Tap ‘iCloud’
4. Toggle any of the apps you see listed on (green) such as iCloud Drive, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Notes, Messages, etc. 

To set up iCloud Drive and Apps for iCloud on macOS:
1. Launch ‘System Preferences’
2. Click ‘Apple ID’
3. Click ‘iCloud’
4. Check off any of the apps you see listed such as iCloud Drive, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Notes, Messages, etc. 

iCloud Photos: All your photos and videos — always available

iCloud Photos is very similar to iCloud Drive and Apps for iCloud. Photos are some of the most sentimental data we will ever keep on our devices. iCloud Photos helps to keep your photos available everywhere. 

iCloud Photos does offer a feature called ‘Optimize iPhone Storage,’ which allows you to save space on your device when it begins to run low on storage. Your iPhone takes much larger and better quality images than what can be shown on it. When you have lots of on-device storage, the photo size doesn’t matter. However, once you begin to run out, Optimize iPhone Storage can automatically upload the larger-sized photo to iCloud to be retrieved if ever needed and keep a smaller device-sized image left on the device for viewing. Optimize iPhone Storage only kicks in when a device has less than ten percent free storage. Alternatively, users can select the ‘Download and Keep Originals’ option to ensure the full resolution copy of their photo remains local on their device. 

iCloud Photos also offers Shared Albums which are iCloud photo albums that people can share with their friends and family. All parties can contribute photos and access these albums at any time. Shared Albums don’t count towards your iCloud storage. Still, they store a lower resolution photo than if you send the image via another means.

To enable iCloud Photos on iOS/iPadOS:
1. Launch ‘Settings’
2. Tap your name at the top
3. Tap ‘iCloud’
4. Tap ‘Photos’
5. Toggle ‘iCloud Photos’ on (green)
6. Select ‘Optimize iPhone Storage’ or ‘Download and Keep Originals’
7. Toggle ‘Shared Albums’ on (green)

To set up iCloud Photos on macOS:
1. Launch ‘System Preferences’
2. Click ‘Apple ID’
3. Click ‘iCloud’
4. Check off ‘Photos’

iCloud Backup and Restore: All the things that matter. Safe and secure

iCloud Backup is the feature that comes to most people’s minds when they think about iCloud. iCloud Backup creates a full copy of all the data on an iOS device (iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch). It moves the backup to iCloud to be stored in the event it needs to be downloaded for when you get a new device or need to restore your current one. iCloud Backups are not currently available for macOS. 

iCloud Backups are your tried and true safety net if anything happens to your iOS device. When your iPhone goes for a swim, your child smashes their iPad, or you go to replace that iPod touch, an iCloud Backup makes setting up the new device much easier by bringing over all of your data. 

Once enabled, iCloud Backups will backup every night while connected to Wi-Fi and power. We may all think that we will plug our device into a computer to manually backup our iOS device to save ourselves a few dollars a month. But let’s be honest, we’ll forget, and when the time comes, we won’t have a backup. So, do yourself a favour and ensure iCloud Backup is enabled on your device. 

To turn on iCloud backup on iOS/iPadOS:
1. Launch ‘Settings’
2. Tap your name at the top
3. Tap ‘iCloud’
4. Tap ‘iCloud Backup’
5. Toggle ‘iCloud Backup’ on (green)

iCloud Mail: The one without a tagline

Unlike the other features offered as part of iCloud, iCloud Mail seems pretty underappreciated. So much so that it doesn’t even have a fancy marketing tagline. Not surprising since iCloud Mail is really just another email service. I’ve been using iCloud Mail for years because I prefer Apple’s privacy policy over other email providers. When creating a new iCloud email, you get to have an @iCloud.com domain. iCloud Mail is included with the free iCloud 5GB tier but received mail does count against your storage. If you run out of storage, you’ll need to upgrade to an iCloud+ plan to continue receiving mail. 

To set up iCloud Mail on iOS/iPadOS:
1. Launch ‘Settings’
2. Tap your name at the top
3. Tap ‘iCloud’
4. Tap ‘iCloud Mail’
5. Toggle ‘iCloud Mail’ on (green)
6. Tap ‘Create’
7. Type in an email
8. Tap ‘Next’
9. Tap ‘Done’

To set up iCloud Mail on macOS:
1. Launch ‘System Preferences’
2. Click ‘Apple ID’
3. Click ‘iCloud’
4. Check off ‘iCloud Mail’
5. Type in an email
6. Click ‘OK’
7. Click ‘Create’

iCloud+: Powerful new features. Plenty of storage.

There are three options when subscribing to an iCloud+ tier: 50GB for $1.29, 200GB for $3.99, and 2TB for $12.99. All plans are per month and are included in Apple One bundles. You can also share all three iCloud+ plans as part of Apple’s Family Sharing feature. Included with iCloud+ are some neat miscellaneous features that may interest you and your family.

Private Relay is a VPN-like service that works exclusively in Safari to improve your digital privacy. When you browse the internet, data like your IP address and DNS records are sent unencrypted, making it possible for marketers to track you across the internet. Private Relay encrypts your Safari browser traffic and sends it through two separate, secure internet relays. No one can see your Safari browser traffic, including Apple and your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Private Relay is currently available only as a beta feature, so your performance may vary.

To enable Private Relay on iOS/iPadOS:
1. Launch ‘Settings’
2. Tap your name at the top
3. Tap ‘iCloud’
4. Tap ‘Private Relay (Beta)’
5. Toggle ‘Private Relay (Beta)’ on (green)

To enable Private Relay on macOS:
1. Launch ‘System Preferences’
2. Click ‘Apple ID’
3. Click ‘iCloud’
4. Toggle ‘Private Relay (Beta)’ on (green)

Hide My Email is an iCloud+ feature that allows you to generate disposable emails that forward to your proper iCloud email. The idea is when you sign up for a newsletter or service, you can generate a fake email address that automatically forwards emails to your proper email. Suppose a company or service sells your email or spams your inbox. In that case, simply delete the fake email. Additionally, Hide My Email helps your digital privacy by reducing the number of services using your actual email. This reduces the likelihood your email can be used to track you between online services.

To create a Hide My Email address on iOS/iPadOS:
1. Launch ‘Settings’
2. Tap your name at the top
3. Tap ‘iCloud’
4. Tap ‘Hide My Email’
5. Tap ‘Create new address’
6. Copy the generated email address
7. Tap ‘Continue’
8. Enter an identifying label (i.e. “Car Newsletter”)
9. Tap ‘Done’

To create a Hide My Email address on macOS:
1. Launch ‘System Preferences’
2. Click ‘Apple ID’
3. Click ‘iCloud’
4. Click ‘Options…’ to the right of ‘Hide My Email’
5. Click ‘+’
6. Enter an identifying label (i.e. “Car Newsletter”)
7. Click ‘Continue’
8. Click ‘Copy address’
9. Click ‘Done’

Support for a custom email domain is another iCloud+ feature. Freelancers, businesses, or people who just want their own family email address may purchase their own domain. For example, I own bradennewell.ca. A custom email domain would be me@bradennewell.ca. Before iCloud+, people who have to use services like Google Workspace and Microsoft Exchange to host custom email domains. These could be pretty expensive. When already paying for iCloud+ for the storage or as part of an Apple One bundle, it’s a nice bonus not to have to pay for a separate email domain hosting service. Plus, you still get all the privacy protections of iCloud mail. 

Follow this support article from Apple to set up a custom email domain. 

Lastly, we have HomeKit Secure Video. HomeKit Secure Video is a feature where all of a video camera’s feed is encrypted by your Home Hub (HomePod, Apple TV, or iPad) and then securely sent to iCloud for storage. Because all the encryption is done on your local network before going to iCloud, no one, not even Apple, can see the recording data.

This is refreshing, considering we’re seeing stories of companies like Amazon’s Ring providing footage to law enforcement without the recording owner’s consent. HomeKit Secure Video does require a supported camera such as the Logitech Circle View. Additionally, it must be set up with Apple HomeKit. While HomeKit Secure Video footage doesn’t count against your iCloud storage, there are limits on the number of cameras on each iCloud+ tier. The 50GB tier supports one camera, the 200GB tier supports five, and the 2TB tier offers support for unlimited cameras. 

You can learn about setting up HomeKit Secure Video with this support article from Apple. 

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Every paid service Apple offers in Canada

When you visit Apple’s website, you’ll see an obscure header between ‘TV & Home’ and ‘Accessories’ labelled “Only on Apple.” Clicking on the ‘Only at Apple’ tab takes you to a page featuring most (but not all) of Apple’s services.

The California-based tech company has been aggressively expanding its services portfolio. As a result, services now make up around 15 to 20 percent (depending on the quarter) of Apple’s revenue. Moreover, services are second only to the company’s flagship product, the iPhone. That’s right — Apple’s services business not only, beats out the iPad and the Mac as individual product lines, but it beats them both out combined.

While Canada has yet to see Apple Cash and Apple Card, we do have Apple Pay. Additionally, Canada is lucky to typically be one of Apple’s first choices for future service expansions. Canadians have access to nearly every other one of Apple’s services. Free services like Apple Maps and Siri work relatively well and are reasonably popular. Apple Podcast subscriptions, Apple Books, and the App Store are also services available here in Canada. Still, they’re more based on Apple acting as a distributor by taking a cut of the final sale on finished work.

That leaves us with seven core paid services that Apple offers to consumers directly, and the fruit company has been pushing these services hard. Everything from free trials to notifications on your iPhone — Apple wants to see every Apple user sign up for one (if not more) of their services. Who can blame it? Buy an iPhone once but subscribe forever.

Let’s dive into the seven paid services Apple offers to Canadians:

AppleCare+

AppleCare+ has been around for a long time. However, most Apple customers are pretty divided on the purchase. If you’re not aware—AppleCare+ is essentially Apple’s extended warranty for most of their products. Apple charges either a one-time fee that covers two or three years (depending on the product) or a reoccurring monthly subscription at a slight premium.

AppleCare+ extends your device’s manufacturer’s warranty from one year to however long you’re subscribed to the service. Additionally, if your device has a broken screen or liquid damage, you pay a “service fee,” aka a deductible, to get either a repair or replacement. This is instead of paying a large out-of-warranty repair or replacement cost. Lastly, you also get 24/7 priority technical support through Apple Support by calling 1-800-MY-APPLE.

Consumers who opt to go with the one-time fee can extend their AppleCare+ cover at the monthly rate. Or suppose they opt to cancel their AppleCare+ subscription early. In that case, Apple will send them a prorated refund (minus a small fee) on an Apple gift card. Consumers who opt to go monthly can cancel their subscription at any time.

The cost of AppleCare+ and its service fees varies by device. Most devices only offer AppleCare+ as a one-time fee for a specific duration. However, AppleCare+ is available monthly for iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches.

Apple Music

Apple Music is perhaps one of Apple’s most popular services, with around 80+ million subscribers as of 2021. Apple Music launched in 2015 and is now the second most popular music streaming service on the market. With approximately 90 million songs, Apple Music offers more than double Spotify’s 40 million.

In addition, Apple Music features ad-free streaming, Spacial audio with Dolby Atmos, Lossless Audio, Siri integration, CarPlay support, and the ability to download up to 100,000 songs for offline listening.
Interestingly, Services seem to be a business where Apple has been willing to venture onto devices that aren’t within their walled garden. For example, Apple has made Apple Music available on all of their first-party platforms, as well as Android, Windows, Sonos, Google Nest, Amazon Echo, the PS5, and Smart TVs from Samsung and LG.

Apple Music offers several different pricing options for different types of customers. Their two most cost-effective options start at $4.99 per month for students or “voice-only” functionality. An individual can subscribe to Apple Music for $9.99 per month or $99 per year. If you have a family, you can pay $14.99 per month for access for six people. You get one month free as a first-time subscriber or six months free when buying an eligible Apple or Beats device.

iCloud+

iCloud+ is perhaps one of Apple’s most convenient but least-loved services. iCloud is a cloud storage and backup service for your files and data on your Apple devices. You get 5GB for free when you first create an Apple ID. However, 5GB is not a lot of storage for any modern user. Enter iCloud+. iCloud+ is Apple’s paid tier that doesn’t just grant users more iCloud storage but also access to iCloud Private Relay, Hide My Email, HomeKit Secure Video, and the ability to use a custom email domain.

Private Relay is a VPN-like feature currently in beta that masks your IP address and encrypts unencrypted website traffic. iCloud Private Relay is only available when using Safari. It offers a more secure and private way to browse the internet.

Hide My Email is a feature where iCloud allows you to create endless disposable email addresses that automatically forward to your actual email address. Then, suppose a company starts to spam your inbox. In that case, you can delete the disposable address, and emails will stop getting forwarded to your primary email.

HomeKit Secure Video is Apple’s secure way to ensure that your home security camera footage is processed and stored securely. HomeKit-compatible cameras that support HomeKit Secure Video don’t send your video through the manufacturers’ servers. Instead, your home hub, like a HomePod or Apple TV, does all the intelligence processing and encryption on device and only sends it to Apple for storage in an unreadable form.

Finally, if you own your a domain, like mobilesyrup.com, you can now create your own emails ending in that domain and have them hosted by Apple. This feature is called Custom Email Domains.

iCloud+ is $1.29 per month for 50GB of storage and a single HomeKit Secure Video camera. $3.99 gets you 200GB of storage and support for five cameras. Lastly, for $12.99, you get 2TB of storage and support for unlimited HomeKit Secure cameras. The 200GB and 2TB iCloud+ tiers are sharable with up to six family members.

Apple Fitness+

Apple Fitness+ is a fitness service designed to work exclusively with the Apple Watch. Fitness+ gives you access to high-quality on-demand video workouts that showcase regular, advanced, and alternate workouts in every video. What’s unique is that your heart rate, activity rings, timer, and calories burned show up on the screen so you can track your progress as you proceed with your workout.

Fitness+ features categories of workouts including strength, core, HIIT, yoga, pilates, meditation, treadmill, cycling, dance, rowing, and mindful cooldowns. Additionally, Apple Fitness+ offers Time to Run and Time to Walk workouts that share celebrity stories. All of the music featured in Apple Fitness+ even shows up in Apple Music playlists for you to enjoy later on. If you’re elderly, pregnant, postpartum, or just starting, Apple Fitness+ has workouts for you.

Apple Fitness+ is available on iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS with the ability to AirPlay to other displays. Fitness+ is $12.99 per month or $99.99 for a year. Both plans allow for sharing with up to six family members. First-time Apple Watch buyers can even get three months of Apple Fitness+ for free!

Apple TV+

When Apple TV+ first launched on November 1st, 2019, people criticized the lack of a backlog of content. However, in 2022 while Apple TV+ doesn’t have the most extensive library, it does have one of the most well-loved and highest quality libraries. Apple’s content teams have focused on empowering Hollywood and hiring top talent. This has created amazing stories like Ted Lasso, Severance, and WeCrashed.

Meanwhile, Apple has ensured that all of its content is 4K quality and supports Dolby Vision and Spacial audio with Dolby Atmos. Apple TV+ is available on all of Apple’s platforms and nine other smart TVs, media boxes, and gaming systems. You can even watch Apple TV+ at tv.apple.com.

Apple TV+ is entirely ad-free except when watching their newly added MLB Friday night baseball series live. You can subscribe to Apple TV+ for $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year and receive seven days free. If you purchase a new iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV, you can get three months for free. Apple TV+ is available for up to six family members and offers offline downloads.

Apple Arcade

Apple Arcade might be your service if you’re interested in mobile gaming. Apple launched Apple Arcade, intending to deliver high-quality ad-free games with no in-app purchases for a single monthly fee. The mobile gaming service offers over 200 games, with the company’s plan to keep adding more titles.

Apple Arcade games are built to run on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV! Many are even compatible with an Xbox or PS5 controller. New Apple Arcade subscribers get one month free and then pay $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year after the trial ends. Your price even includes family sharing, so up to six people can access Apple Arcade.

Apple News+

Apple News+ provides a collection of hundreds of newspapers and magazines, all for one monthly fee. While Apple News+ lives in the Apple News app, it is a separate paid service. Apple News is a curated collection of publicly available news sources brought into one place. Apple News+ bundles what would traditionally be separate paid magazine or newspaper subscription services and brings them under one service.

Some Apple News+ content is PDFs, while others are specially designed content specifically for News+. You can access Apple News+ from the Apple News app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. In addition, magazines and articles can be saved for offline use when not connected to the internet.

Subscribing to Apple News+ will give you access to big names like The Global and Mail, The Wall Street Journal, and Maclean’s. News+ is $12.99 per month with no additional paywalls after a one-month free trial for new users. Additionally, News+ is available for up to six family members with family sharing.

Apple One

We explored the seven paid services Apple offers in Canada in the above sections. However, subscribing to each of them can get a tad pricy. Apple offers three Apple One bundles as a way to subscribe to multiple of their services and receive a slight discount while you’re at it. The only service Apple doesn’t include in any of their bundles is AppleCare+. Still, all of their bundles come with a one-month free trial for first-time subscribers.

For $15.95 per month, you can get Apple One Individual. This plan includes Apple Music’s individual plan, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 50GB of iCloud+. Subscribers will save $7 per month. Apple One Family includes Apple Music for families, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 200GB of iCloud+. Apple One Family costs $20.95 per month, saving subscribers $10 per month. Lastly, there’s Apple One Premier which is $33.95 per month and includes Apple Music for families, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, Apple Fitness+, and 2TB of iCloud+. Apple One Premier subscribers will save $32 per month compared to subscribing to each service individually.

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Mobile Syrup

Apple online services like iMessage, iCloud and Apple Music are currently down

It looks like Apple’s online services are down, according to Down Detector.

Services like Apple Music, iCloud, Apple Maps, iTunes, App Store and more are all reportedly experiencing issues. The tracking website indicates that the issue started happening after 12:30pm EST.

Users trying to access those services will have to wait until servers go back up.

Apple’s Support Twitter page has yet to tweet anything official, but checking the ‘Tweets and replies’ section there seem to be some users reporting the issues. Additionally, Apple’s official support page indicates exactly which apps aren’t functioning.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has also reported that Apple’s corporate and retail internal systems are also down.

Source: Down Detector

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Mobile Syrup

Google developing ‘Switch to Android’ iOS app that could import iCloud data to Google Photos

Google is working on a ‘Switch to Android’ app for iOS that reportedly may be able to pull data directly from users’ iCloud into Google Photos.

9to5Google has been following Google’s Switch to Android app development for a while. It seems similar to Apple’s ‘Move to iOS‘ app for those making the jump from Google’s mobile OS to Apple’s.

The Switch to Android app appears to connect an iOS device to an Android handset using Wi-Fi and copies data that way, rather than the old method of backing up data to Google Drive and then restoring it.

9to5 says the app will be able to copy contacts, messages, and possibly even apps between devices. That said, app transfer is more likely a feature that checks for installed apps on iOS and then attempts to install those same apps from the Play Store — I highly doubt that it would transfer paid apps or anything exclusive to iOS.

The publication says that in a teardown of Google’s ‘Data Transfer Tool‘ app on Android, it found what looks to be an option to migrate iCloud data to Google’s ecosystem. More specifically, it seems Switch to Android will be able to move photos and videos from iCloud to Google Photos automatically.

The main way to move iCloud data like photos to Google services is to use Apple’s data transfer tool (available at privacy.apple.com) and then wait several days for the process to complete. It’s unclear if the Switch to Android app would streamline this process or replace it with something much faster.

Finally, 9to5 also found a line in a description within the Data Transfer Tool Android app that suggests it will work with Lightning cables. My experience with the tool is that it can already use a Lightning cable to connect an iPhone to an Android phone — the app shows an illustration of what appears to be a Lightning cable when telling users to connect a “cable that fits [their] old phone” to transfer data. It seems like this change is more of a clarification than anything.

Ultimately, it sounds like Google’s working hard to make switching from iOS to Android smoother going forward. That’s a win in my books — platform lockdown is incredibly frustrating, and anything that makes it easy for people to switch ecosystems is welcome.

Source: 9to5Google

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Apple patched iCloud against massive Log4Shell vulnerability

Late last week, details emerged about a wide-reaching security vulnerability that affected tons of online services and apps, including Apple’s iCloud service. However, the iPhone-maker has reportedly already patched the flaw.

As a refresher, the vulnerability, dubbed ‘Log4Shell,’ impacts an open-source logging library called ‘log4j’ that’s widely used in online services to log events, errors, activities and more. The Log4Shell flaw effectively allowed an attacker to gain access to and execute remote code on servers running log4j simply by getting the logging system to log a specific string of characters.

Due to the wide use of log4j, several major online services are (or were) vulnerable to Log4Shell. Minecraft was among the first platforms impacted by Log4Shell, which saw attackers post chat messages with the specific string to attack servers. A Minecraft patch released Friday fixed the vulnerability.

Other services impacted by Log4Shell included Steam, Twitter, Amazon, Tesla and more. Apple’s iCloud was on the list, but Apple reportedly patched the service on December 11th.

According to The Eclectic Light Company, a blog about Macs and paintings (via Macworld and 9to5Mac), researchers were able to demonstrate the Log4Shell vulnerability when connecting to iCloud through the web on December 9th and 10th. However, the process no longer worked on December 11th.

Ultimately, it appears Apple patched the security flaw in iCloud rather quickly. That’s good news for any iCloud users out there and should be par for the course with large tech companies. There’s also a log4j patch available that helps mitigate the security vulnerability, which should help with patching vulnerable services.

Unfortunately, thanks to the wide-ranging impact of Log4Shell, it will likely take time for all vulnerable services to issue patches.

Source: The Eclectic Light Company Via: Macworld, 9to5Mac

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Apple patched iCloud against massive Log4Shell vulnerability

Late last week, details emerged about a wide-reaching security vulnerability that affected tons of online services and apps, including Apple’s iCloud service. However, the iPhone-maker has reportedly already patched the flaw.

As a refresher, the vulnerability, dubbed ‘Log4Shell,’ impacts an open-source logging library called ‘log4j’ that’s widely used in online services to log events, errors, activities and more. The Log4Shell flaw effectively allowed an attacker to gain access to and execute remote code on servers running log4j simply by getting the logging system to log a specific string of characters.

Due to the wide use of log4j, several major online services are (or were) vulnerable to Log4Shell. Minecraft was among the first platforms impacted by Log4Shell, which saw attackers post chat messages with the specific string to attack servers. A Minecraft patch released Friday fixed the vulnerability.

Other services impacted by Log4Shell included Steam, Twitter, Amazon, Tesla and more. Apple’s iCloud was on the list, but Apple reportedly patched the service on December 11th.

According to The Eclectic Light Company, a blog about Macs and paintings (via Macworld and 9to5Mac), researchers were able to demonstrate the Log4Shell vulnerability when connecting to iCloud through the web on December 9th and 10th. However, the process no longer worked on December 11th.

Ultimately, it appears Apple patched the security flaw in iCloud rather quickly. That’s good news for any iCloud users out there and should be par for the course with large tech companies. There’s also a log4j patch available that helps mitigate the security vulnerability, which should help with patching vulnerable services.

Unfortunately, thanks to the wide-ranging impact of Log4Shell, it will likely take time for all vulnerable services to issue patches.

Source: The Eclectic Light Company Via: Macworld, 9to5Mac

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Security flaw in widely-used logging system impacts Minecraft, iCloud, more

A massive security vulnerability dubbed ‘Log4Shell’ that potentially impacts millions of devices has security teams scrambling to apply patches.

The vulnerability affects an open-source logging library called ‘log4j’ used by apps and services across the internet, according to The Verge. Logging, for those not familiar, is a common process where apps keep a running list of activities they perform that can be reviewed later in case of an error. Nearly every network security system runs some kind of logging process — that gives libraries like log4j significant reach and, by extension, huge impact when there’s a vulnerability like this.

The log4j flaw could allow remote code execution on vulnerable servers if exploited. That could give attackers the ability to import malware that would compromise machines.

Worse, the vulnerability is fairly easy to exploit. Attackers need to make an application save a special string of characters in the log — since apps often log a range of events, covering everything from chat messages to system errors — it’s not hard to inject the string.

For example, the exploit was first spotted on sites hosting Minecraft servers. Those sites discovered that attackers could trigger Log4Shell by posting chat messages. A new version of Minecraft that rolled out Friday includes a patch for the vulnerability.

However, Minecraft is far from the only impacted service. A blog post from security company LunaSec claims that Valve’s popular PC gaming platform Steam and Apple’s iCloud are both vulnerable to Log4Shell. Other vulnerable platforms will likely be discovered in the coming weeks.

The Verge reports that an update released for the log4j library mitigates the vulnerability. However, considering the sheer number of impacted apps and services, and the time it’ll take to update everything, Log4Shell will remain a significant problem.

Source: Ars Technica, The Verge