Today I learned that the iPhone’s stock Camera and Photos app are capable of identifying plants and flowers (via The Verge/@jjvincent).
I know that covering tech and, in particular, Apple’s products and the iPhone are a big part of my job, but you’d be shocked by how much doesn’t end up hitting my radar. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m too close to the subject matter or what, but this isn’t the first time I’ve run into something like this. A few weeks ago, it was swiping down to access Search instead of right (I know, I know…), and now, it’s ‘Visual Look Up.’
Yes, I’m well aware that Google Lens exists and Snapchat scan is a thing, but as primarily an iPhone user, I’ve always wanted a feature like this to hit Apple’s smartphone — and it appears it arrived alongside iOS 15 (I have a vague recollection of Visual Look Up being very briefly discussed during Apple’s WWDC keynote last year.
Here’s how Visual Look Up works:
First, launch Apple’s Photos app and find the image of a plant or flower you want to identify. Once you find one, look for the little ‘i” icon under it. Tap it and then select ‘Look Up,’ and prepare to be surprised.
It’s worth noting that as an avid gardener, I tried the feature with nearly all of my plants, and the results are somewhat mixed. For example, while my tomatoes, grass and petunias were easily identified, the weird plant my neighbour planted in front of my house comes up as ‘No Content Found.’ I ran into a few other wild flowers that weren’t able to be identified, too.
To my surprise, the feature also works on pets (I tried it with several pictures of my cat), art and a few other objects. Amusingly, Photos thinks my cat is a ‘British Shorthair’ or a “Abyssinian,’ when she’s really just a common, not very intelligent house cat.
Visual Look Up first launched in the U.S. but has since made its way to Canada, Australia, the U.K., Singapore, Indonesia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Mexico. It’s unclear when the feature first launched in Canada.
Apple prepared a fix for a WebKit bug that could reveal users’ recent browsing history and possibly their identity. However, it’s not clear when the tech giant will release updates with the fix.
According to MacRumors, a WebKit commit (typically refers to a revision made to code) on GitHub fixes a bug. However, Apple has not said when users could expect macOS, iOS or iPadOS updates to arrive with the fix. A January 14th blog post from FingerprintJSnoted that the bug was reported to Apple on November 28th, 2021.
MacRumors previously reported about the bug on January 16th, which involves a JavaScript API called IndexedDB, a commonly-used tool for storing data on people’s computers. Specifically, the bug exists in the way WebKit — the open-source engine powering Apple’s Safari browser — implemented IndexedDB.
In short, the bug allows any website that uses IndexedDB to access the names of IndexedDB databases generated by other websites. Put another way, a website can access a list of other websites you’ve visited (even from different tabs or windows) if they’ve stored data using this API. Typically, browsers apply same-origin policy to IndexedDB to prevent sites from accessing anything outside of their own IndexedDB database.
Moreover, sometimes websites include unique user-specific identifiers in IndexedDB database names. MacRumors pointed to YouTube as an example, which creates databases that include users’ authenticated Google User ID in the name. Malicious actors could use this identifier to fetch personal information about users through Google APIs, such as their profile picture or name.
The WebKit bug affects Safari on macOS Monterey, iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. On iOS and iPadOS, Apple also forces third-party browsers to use the WebKit engine — that means browsers like Chrome and Edge running on iOS/iPadOS 15 are also affected. However, the bug doesn’t affect older versions of macOS, or iOS and iPadOS 14.
Ultimately, that means iOS and iPadOS users can’t really do anything to protect themselves from the bug beyond installing the software patch whenever Apple makes it available. For macOS users, however, switching to another browser would work.
Those interested in learning more about the bug should check out a deep-dive on it from FingerprintJS.
Apple did something unique with iOS last year — it gave users a choice when it came to software updates. Now the company has walked back that choice and it’s not clear why.
According to 9to5Mac, Apple suddenly stopped making security updates available to people using versions of iOS 14. The last security patch made available for devices not on iOS 15 was iOS 14.8.1, released in October. However, it’s no longer available for people using iOS 14.8 — the only upgrade option is the new iOS 15.2.1 update.
Of course, it could just be a bug. But considering Apple hasn’t made any security patches available to iOS 14 since the 14.8.1 update in October, it seems more likely that the change was intentional. Another possibility is that Apple wasn’t able to bring an important security patch to older versions of iOS, and that’s why the company scrapped the option to stay on iOS 14.
For example, iOS 15.2.1 introduced a fix for a HomeKit vulnerability that would repeatedly freeze and crash devices if users had a smart home gadget with a long name. I’m not sure if that flaw would be big enough to warrant this scale of change, but it did impact iOS versions as far back as iOS 14.7 and possibly further.
9to5 also suggested it could be related to the recently released iOS 15 adoption numbers, which are lower than normal. Maybe Apple decided to remove the option to stay on iOS 14 to bolster iOS 15 downloads.
According to the data, 72 percent of all iPhones introduced in the last four years, including the iPhone 13 series, iPhone 12 series, iPhone 11 series and the iPhone X series, are now running iOS 15 and 63 percent of all iPhones are on Apple’s latest OS.
Only 26 percent of iPhones released in the past four years are running iOS 14, whereas 30 percent of all iPhones are still running iOS 14. Further, 2 percent of iPhones released in the last four years are on iOS 13 or lower, and 7 percent of all iPhones haven’t upgraded to iOS 14 or higher.
The latest OS installation numbers are much lower on iPad. Only 57 percent of iPads released in the last four years are running iPadOS 15, whereas 39 percent are using iPadOS 14 and 4 percent on older versions.
Forty-nine percent of all iPads are currently running iPadOS 15, while 37 and 14 percent are on iPadOS 14 and iPadOS 13 and lower, respectively.
If you compare these numbers to last year’s data, it’s evident that a lower percentage of users have decided to upgrade to Apple’s latest mobile OS. For reference, last year’s report showed that 86 percent of iPhones introduced in the previous four years (from the date of the report) were running iOS 14, 14 percent higher than iOS 15’s data. Similarly, 84 percent of iPads introduced in the last four years (from the date of the report) were running iPadOS 14, 27 percent higher than iPadOS 15’s data.
The cause of this OS update decline is a little unclear. However, it might be because Apple introduced its latest update as ‘optional’ when it was first released. According to Apple, iOS 14 won’t receive new security updates, so users who want the latest security updates will have to jump to iOS 15.
If you’re running iOS 15 and macOS Monterey, answering incoming FaceTime calls or starting new ones has never been easier.
Before we look into how to make/take calls, here are a few things worth noting:
Your iPhone and Mac device should be signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID
Your iPhone and Mac device should be signed in to FaceTime with the same Apple ID
Your iPhone and Mac device should be connected to the same Wi-Fi network
Settings on your iPhone
Your Mac can not take/make calls unless your iPhone allows it. To turn the feature on, head to ‘Settings,’ scroll down to ‘Phone’ and tap on ‘Calls on Other Devices.’
Toggle on ‘Allow Calls on Other Devices’ and a list of devices with the same iCloud account will appear below. From there, proceed to select your Mac.
Head to Settings, scroll down to ‘Phone’
Tap on ‘Calls on Other Devices’
Toggle on ‘Allow Calls on Other Devices’ and a list of devices with the same iCloud account will appear below. From there, proceed to select your Mac
Settings on your Mac
Open the FaceTime app on your Mac and head to the top bar. Tap on FaceTime on the top left and select ‘Preferences.’
A new pop-up window will open where you need to check ‘Calls From iPhone.’
How to make FaceTime calls from your Mac
Once you’ve completed all the steps listed above, making FaceTime calls from your Mac would work similarly to how you do it on your iPhone.
Open the FaceTime app on your Mac and enter the phone number you want to call. You will be presented with two options, ‘Audio’ and ‘Video.’ Proceed with however you wish to contact the person.
An easier way would be to go to contacts, click on the person’s name you want to call, and then tap FaceTime.
Further, clicking the (i) button/information button in your recent call history will bring up a pop-up, from which you can also initiate a FaceTime call.
Open the FaceTime app on your Mac and enter the phone number you want to call
Go to contacts and click on the person’s you want to call and then tap FaceTime
Clicking the (i) button/information button in your recent call history will bring up a pop-up, from which, you can also initiate a FaceTime call
Accepting FaceTime calls from your Mac
The only pre-requisite to accepting FaceTime calls on a Mac is that you ensure you’ve followed all the settings mentioned above. To re-iterate, your iPhone and Mac device should be signed in to iCloud and FaceTime with the same Apple ID, along with being connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
Any incoming FaceTime call on your iPhone will also ring on your Mac, provided your Mac is active. When your phone rings, a pop-up will automatically appear on the top right of your Mac screen.
See the image below for reference:
Once accepted, you can add more people to the call, change audio options, including Voice Isolation and Wide-Spectrum mode, pause the call, SharePlay and much more.
Though the feature was introduced alongside iOS 15, ambient ‘Background Sounds’ have gone widely unnoticed. The feature can help you relax, minimize distractions, increase productivity and get a good night’s sleep.
Background Sounds offers three noise options, including ‘Balanced,’ ‘Bright’ and ‘Dark Noise,’ along with ‘Ocean,’ ‘Rain,’ and ‘Stream’ tracks. The feature can also be used while playing other media on your phone.
To initially set up Background Sounds, you’ll have to go into your iPhone’s accessibility settings, after which the feature can be added to the Control Center for easy access.
First off, make sure you are running iOS 15, then follow the steps mentioned below:
Open ‘Settings’ and scroll down to ‘Accessibility.’
Navigate to the ‘Hearing’ section and tap on ‘Audio/Visual.’
Tap on ‘Background Sounds’ and toggle the setting on.
As soon as you toggle the setting on, the default ‘Rain’ sound should start playing. You can tap on ‘Sound’ to select the ambient noise of your choice and adjust its volume from the slider right below.
Check out the video below for reference on how to enable the new feature:
Once enabled, the feature should automatically appear in the Control Center (it did for me), but if for any reason it doesn’t, head to ‘Settings’ again and navigate to ‘Control Center.’ Scroll down to ‘More Controls’ and tap the green ‘+’ sign next to ‘Hearing.’
Watch the video below for reference:
The feature is now available to use directly from the Control Center:
A display analyst is adding weight to previous rumours about the next iPhone SE.
The range of leaks and rumours paints a different picture for the next SE installment. Some state that the next iteration of the iPhone SE will be based on the iPhone XR, which means it won’t sport bezels and a physical home button and might include a notch for Face ID.
On the other hand, credible Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and Japanese blog Macotakara have stated that the new version of the iPhone SE won’t be very different from the 2020 SE model, with the only exceptions being a better processor and 5G support.
Now, credible display analyst Ross Young says that the next iteration of the special edition iPhone will be called the “iPhone SE Plus.” However, it won’t sport a bigger screen or body. According to Young, the upcoming iPhone SE will feature the same 4.7-inch LCD display as the current iteration, in line with Ming-Chi Kuo and Macotakara’s statements.
We now hear the next LCD iPhone will be introduced in 2022 and called the SE Plus with the same 4.7″ LCD as the 8 along with 5G. We hear the iPhone SE3 with a 5.7″ – 6.1″ LCD is now pushed to 2024. https://t.co/9gxiAAk8Yi
Young also states that Apple is developing a bigger iPhone SE that will be released sometime in 2024. The smartphone is believed to have a 5.7-inch to 6.1-inch LCD display and a hole-punch camera.
While no exact date for the next SE instalment release was leaked, Young and Kuo say the new iPhone SE will launch in the first half of 2022, hinting that it could appear at Apple’s spring event.
Compared to Android 12’s ‘Material You,’ Apple’s iOS 15 update didn’t bring as many visual changes to the iPhone’s interface, and the ones that it did add don’t seem to be highly appreciated. One of the not-so-well-received updates is the Safari redesign.
With iOS 15, Apple decided to move the address bar tools from the top of the screen to the bottom, right above the ‘Share,’ ‘Tabs’ and ‘Bookmark’ tools, a change that didn’t bode well with long-time Safari users whose fingers would automatically race towards to top of the screen to access the address bar.
Along with the repositioning of the top bar, Safari now automatically tints the address bar and matches it to the website colours. The latter is a change that I sincerely appreciate because of the unified look it provides, and the former I shun because it messes with my muscle memory.
Luckily, there’s a simple workaround that can allow you to move the address bar back to the top and disable it from tinting:
From Safari
Open a new tab in Safari and tap on the ‘aA’ tool located on the left of the address bar. A new pop-up menu will open where you can select ‘Show Top Address Bar.’ Tap it, and you’ll notice that the address bar moves to the top. Follow the same steps and tap on ‘Show Bottom Tab Bar’ to bring the address bar back to the bottom, if you’re feeling adventurous.
From Settings
You can also find an option to move the address bar from your iPhone’s settings. Head to settings, scroll down and tap on ‘Safari.’ You’ll see a toggle that lets you switch between the top and bottom address bar.
Website Tinting
While I believe that Website Tinting the address bar is a solid new addition to Safari, and I will be keeping it toggled on, those who want the authentic iOS 14 experience can disable the feature by heading to Settings -> Safari -> and tapping the Website Tinting toggle.
With the launch of Apple’s new software updates this fall, ranging from macOS Monterey to watchOS 7 to iOS 15, one feature that all users will encounter regardless of their device is a new spin on ‘Do Not Disturb’ called ‘Focus.’
While Do Not Disturb blocks all notifications from reaching you, you can set Focus mode to more subtly restrict who and what can send you notifications at a given time. Basically, this is Apple admitting that its notifications are overwhelming, and ‘Focus’ is a way of solving this problem.
For the purpose of this article, I’ve set up Focus on an iPhone. However, once you have it on one of your Apple devices, it will apply to all your Apple hardware running the latest software. So now that I’ve set up Focus on my Phone, it restricts notifications on my iPad, Apple Watch and MacBook. You can disable this if you’d rather have individual Focus modes on each device.
That said, not all apps can use the feature. For example, some of the critical apps I’d like to block, like Discord, don’t integrate into Focus. Hopefully, that will change as apps update to support iOS 15.
For now, Focus isn’t as helpful as I’d like it to be, and in many situations, Do Not Disturb actually works a bit better since it’s easier to just lock everything down. However, depending on how well you can separate your work time from your play time, this new feature may work well for you.
My Focus mode strategy
To test out the feature, I set up two Focuses — one for work, one for post-work — and Do Not Disturb for when I want to lock things down a little further.
For my work Focus, I kept it fairly open to allow people to call and text me, but I shut down notifications for all apps that don’t relate to work. I also kept notification badges on the Home Screen since I needed to keep track of things during the day.
The after-work Focus is a little less restricted, so I allowed lots of apps to send me notifications, but I decided to try limiting Slack and email. These are a bit tough since I’m not sure how comfortable I am with the possibility that I might miss something important for work. Still, I’ll give it a try. I also turned on a feature to hide notification badges on my Home Screen during this time.
I scheduled both of these to come on automatically during and after work. I also turned off my Do Not Disturb schedule, and I’m hoping with Focus I can just manually use Do Not Disturb when I really want zero distractions.
How to set up your own
If you want to set up your own Focus mode, there are a few ways to do it on your phone. You can either enter the Focus section in the Settings app or open Control Centre and hold down on the new Focus button.
You can also set one up on your Mac, but since the modes persist across all Apple devices, I find it makes the most sense to run it on your phone since that’s where most people will receive the majority of their notifications.
Once you open the Focus section, you can select a new name for a Focus and then the first thing you’ll need to do is decide what contacts you want to allow to reach you when the mode is enabled. After that, you’ll choose what apps can send you notifications during that time, too.
Once that is set up, you can choose some other settings like if you want home screen badges, or you can even set a custom screen as your home screen during that time which is cool. However, you can only select from the screens you’ve already made. It would have been nice to have an option to create a custom home screen that appears when each mode is enabled.
You can also dim the lock screen and hide notifications from it if you want. Another cool feature allows you to set up automation so the Focus mode can turn on whenever you get to a particular location or open a specific app. For example, Apple showed it being used to turn on a notification blocking mode whenever you open a reading app.
If you don’t want to turn them on automatically, you can manually enable them from Control Centre. The one thing to keep in mind when you do is that your other Apple devices that are running the latest software will enable the same mode. So if you block your notifications in one place, they’ll be blocked everywhere.
Now that the majority of iPhone users have become more comfortable with iOS 15 and the new features it brings — including FaceTime support for Android, a simplified Clock interface, a new Focus Mode and a visual refresh for Safari — some of the updates’ more low-key features like ‘Live Text’ have gone relatively unnoticed.
Live Text expands your iPhone camera’s horizons beyond just shooting photos and recording videos.
While scanning text and converting it into digital words has been around for a while, Live Text brings the functionality directly into iOS 15, which means it doesn’t require any third-party apps.
To use it, you need to make sure that it’s on first. Head to Settings, scroll down to ‘Camera’ and toggle on Live Text if it’s off.
Live Text works directly from your iPhone’s camera, gallery roll and even notes. Simply point your camera towards text that you want to scan, and you’ll notice a new tool appear on the bottom right. Clicking on it gives several options, including ‘Copy,’ ‘Select All,’ ‘Look Up,’ ‘Translate,’ ‘Share’ and if you happen to scan a phone number, you’ll see ‘Call,’ ‘Message’ and ‘FaceTime’ options.
Camera App
One of the easiest ways to use Live Text is directly from the iPhone camera app, albeit you need to have an iPhone XS or a newer device. Simply head to the camera app and point at whatever you want to convert into digital text.
In this example, I pointed my camera towards an LCBO magazine, and when prompted, I clicked the new Live Text tool on the bottom right (above panorama mode). As mentioned earlier, this will allow you to either copy, select all, or look up the text.
From Photos
Live Text doesn’t only work with what your camera is seeing at the moment; it can also detect and scan what your camera shot in the past. Head to the Photos app and select an image you want to scan. It works the same way as highlighting actual text on an iPhone. Press and hold on the text in a picture, and the familiar-looking blue highlights will appear, offering you the same options: ‘Copy,’ ‘Select All,’ ‘Look Up,’ ‘Translate’ and ‘Share.’
Alternatively, you can click on the Live Text tool on the bottom right, and it will highlight all text that it detects in the image.
Via Safari
If you’re browsing on Safari and happen to catch an image with text that you’d like to save, you have two options.
You can either take a screenshot or save the photo and follow the steps above to scan the text. You can also long tap on the image and click ‘Show Text’ and follow the same steps listed above
