Tag: iOS 16

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Mobile Syrup

iOS 16 may have a hidden tool that restricts features based on user location

It’s been rumoured that Apple is testing hidden functionality within iOS 16 that restricts users from accessing certain features based on location.

The tech giant can already restrict users based on location, but only through hard-coding techniques. This means that most restrictions are tied to the device’s region, most often by where the hardware is from or through software settings. However, according to a new 9to5Mac report, Apple has been working on a new way to determine where a user is located.

The new system is internally named ‘countryd’ and was silently added to iOS 16.2. It is not being used for anything so far. Still, it has the ability to combine multiple data points, such as users’ country code from their Wi-Fi router, current GPS location and SIM card information to find out what country the phone is in.

Code seen by 9to5Mac has shown that the system is designed to set restrictions determined by government regulators. An example of these local restrictions is FaceTime not being available in the UAE.

Apple may be planning on introducing this system as a means of detecting activities such as sideloading.

If you don’t know, sideloading is the process of installing third-party apps by alternative methods. In the case of iPhones, it would mean gaining apps or additional software from somewhere other than the App Store.

Bloomberg reported in December 2022 that due to pressure from the European Union (EU), Apple reportedly planned to introduce sideloading in iOS. More recently, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman reported that sideloading would be coming in iOS 17, but exclusively in Europe.

The new ‘countryd’ system makes a lot more sense with that information, as it would allow the company to determine if the device is being used in an EU country and whether or not to allow sideloading.

It’s still unclear if Apple will announce sideloading as a new iOS feature or how the change will be implemented. iOS 17 will be officially revealed at Apple’s WWDC in June 2023.

In related news, iOS 17 could also feature changes to the lock screen, Apple Music and more.

Source: 9to5Mac

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Mobile Syrup

Apple to launch a variety of software and features in 2023, including next-gen CarPlay

2023 has only just begun and before Apple launches iOS 17, there are a lot of in-development features yet to release by the company. Apple has been very transparent with its intentions to introduce new features for its core software, including CarPlay, HomeKit, Apple Music, and Apple Pay.

For instance, at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2022, Apple revealed its next-generation CarPlay update. Providing a look at the new version of its infotainment system, CarPlay is due to introduce multiple support screens. In an ideal sense, CarPlay may provide an alternative to the UI of each manufacturer to highlight speed, fuel levels, temperature and more via the instrument cluster. Radio controls are also said to be provided. Additionally, personalization and widgets for Weather and Music will also be on the vehicle’s dashboard. Unfortunately, Apple has announced neither a release date nor which cars will support the new CarPlay system.

In 2021, Apple acquired the classical music streaming service Primephonic. As part of the acquisition, Apple planned to integrate the platform and its focus on classical music into its own app. The intended roadmap of launching an Apple Music Classical app in 2022 didn’t exactly pan out. For one reason or another, Apple has yet to provide an update on when this app may launch. This has led some to believe that it’s been scrapped. However, there’s not been any concrete evidence of this yet.

Upon the launch of iOS 16.2, Apple released the new architecture for HomeKit on an opt-in basis. The intended vision was to give users “improved performance and reliability of the accessories in your home.” However, Apple quickly has to delist the architecture in December due to an overwhelming amount of complaints and criticism. As such, many are waiting for Apple to re-release the software as the company stated that “A fix will be available soon.” Though, there’s no telling when this will be.

Safari on iOS and iPadOS is expected to receive support for web push notifications. Once again, Apple announced this feature at WWDC 2022. Once available, Safari will be able to push notifications from websites much like it’s able to on Mac. As of now, this feature has been absent in the recent iOS 16 beta. However, Apple claims that it will launch sometime in 2023.

iMessage Contact Key Verification is another feature on track for the year. This feature provides an extra layer of security for those who may need to verify who they are speaking with. For instance, government officials, journalists, etc. are able to note if an unauthorized device is associated with a recipient’s account. The company stated this feature is launching “globally” in 2023.

Finally, 2023 may hold a couple of Apple Pay software features. The first is Apple Pay Later, which enables users to split purchases into four equal payments with zero percent interest across six weeks. The second is the dedicated Apple Card Savings Account, which allows users to automatically deposit Daily Cash regards into the account. This feature heavily utilizes Apple Wallet and enables users to track their balance and account growth. Unfortunately, Apple Pay Later and the latter feature are exclusive to the U.S. There’s no telling if these will ever come to Canada down the road.

Source: 9to5Mac

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Mobile Syrup

Apple’s pursuit of App Store ad revenue is frustrating

Whether it’s YouTube, MobileSyrup, or your favourite podcast, advertising is the cornerstone to making the digital economy a viable place for people to make their careers.

While ads aren’t the prettiest way to earn revenue, they’re the reason so much amazing content can be brought to us for free.

People who don’t enjoy ads have premium subscription options such as YouTube Premium or Patreon memberships, and even Netflix now offers a lower-tier, ad-supported subscription.

However, what happens when you force ads on users even when they paid for something? What about when users have no alternative? You might feel as though that’s a money grab.

Apple’s headline for the App Store is “The apps you love. From a place you can trust.” Yet, it seems less and less like the App Store is a well-curated, safe, and secure experience for finding apps. Instead, it’s the company’s attempt to maximize revenue and never leave a dollar on the table despite the cost to user experience.

Apple recently expanded the ads placements on the iOS app store. App Store ads enrage me more than any other type of advertisement, and by the end of this article, you’ll likely feel the same.

App Store Ads

Modern Apple is a revenue-generating machine, constantly pushing to show growth to please the stock market. Today’s Apple is very different than the cash-strapped company Steve Jobs had to save from the brink of bankruptcy. As an Apple user, I’m willing to defend just about any decision the company makes in most respects. However, App Store ads are a bridge too far.

Users turn to the Apple platform because they feel it’s more private and offers a premium user experience. After all, you’re paying a lot of money for that logo. Compare an Apple TV to an Amazon Fire Stick. The Apple TV starts at $179, whereas Fire Sticks begin at $49 when not on sale. A Roku streaming stick starts at $39. These manufacturers offer insanely low prices because the platforms are subsidized by user data collection that drives ads.

Apple, a company worth several trillion, makes the vast majority of its revenue from hardware sales. Because of this, it doesn’t require advertisements to fund its business. Yet, the Cupertino, California company seems to think tainting the user experience is worth it in exchange for another billion on its already annual hundred-billion dollar pile.

When you launch the App Store, you’ll first see a homepage ad, likely for a high-profile app with a hefty marketing budget to spend. Next, you search for an app where you’ll see an ad before you tap the search bar right above your actual search result.

These ads are likely for apps of mixed quality. It could be Amazon trying to show up above Netflix or smaller, more random apps trying to get a few accidental downloads. Finally, and most recently, there are now even ads that show up on an app’s information page. An experience once held dear by individual developers now shows completely random ads in the mistakenly titled “you also might like” section.

Problem 1: Greed

Some may consider the App Store a free service, but I don’t. I pay for many apps, in-app purchases, and App Store subscriptions yearly. Meaning Apple is earning between 15 to 30 percent of the likely hundreds of dollars I spend on the App Store alone per year. Which begs the question, why does the App Store needs ads?

YouTube’s whole business model is advertising, allowing videos to be accessible to viewers. YouTube then splits its ad revenue 55 percent for the creator and 45 percent for itself. One can argue if that split is fair or not. But for the context of this piece, revenue sharing is positive regardless.

Now, we have Apple placing ads around an App Store that doesn’t need the supporting revenue to survive. The App Store is already grossly profitable and faces some very concerning anti-trust allegations. Yet, Apple wants to go further by placing (sometimes poorly chosen) ads on developer’s app pages. On October 25th, Apple began placing ads under the “You Also Might Like” section.

What followed was developers reporting ads for apps they disagreed with appearing on their discovery pages, such as gambling, sketchy games, and data apps. It was noticed that at least one gambling recovery app had an ad placed on it for a gambling app. Not a great first day. Two days later, Apple said it paused advertising of gambling apps, among a few other categories, at least temporarily.

With Apple already taking 15 to 30 percent of any app revenue, it hardly seems fair the company is double dipping revenue generation with the App Store. Ads certainly ruin what is otherwise a premium experience. The preference would be for Apple to remove ads altogether. However, if the tech giant wanted to keep App Store ads, it should split that revenue with developers. If you’re a developer of a super popular app, your discovery page is more than likely to be a prime place for an ad. Yet, you’d see none of that benefit.

Problem 2: Misleading

Thinking back to my days working at the Apple Store, I remember how irritating App Store search ads were. You’d have a senior first-time iPad user go to the App Store to download Netflix, and the first thing she saw wasn’t Netflix. It was probably some Netflix knock-off. But, of course, she didn’t know that. She trusted that her Apple device would make the first result, the correct result.

Over the past few years, as Apple has refined the App Store experience, the company has worked hard to turn the ‘Today’ tab into a place for quality app recommendations. Yet, the company is now taking that trust to place a prominent ad right on the front of the App Store.

Lastly, there’s the ‘You Might Also Like’ section which someone would assume shows related apps that were downloaded along with the initially searched app. But, of course, Apple placed an ad there too.

While App Store ads may have a small ‘ad’ tag on them, it’s far from actually noticeable. It sucks having to explain to someone who spent hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a new tablet that they need to avoid the App Store ads.

Apple has long communicated that it’s a company of quality. Yet, App Store ads don’t support that claim one bit. The value that digital advertisements typically provide is relevance. Instead, these ads feel random and misplaced. The relevancy of these once-targeted sections is ruined, and the user experience is cheapened. All because Apple sold some of its influence in the App Store.

Problem 3: Anti-Competitive

The App Store is rife with anti-competitive challenges ranging from companies like Spotify and Epic Games to government bodies like the European Union (EU). Leaving my personal opinion on App Store monopolization aside, it should be noted that these ads don’t help Apple’s position.

The App Store is already a highly profitable line of business, now tainted with ads that worsen the user experience and developer relations. Apple is creating a second marketplace. Developers already give Apple massive commissions on app revenues. Yet, Apple is also selling the app’s best search phrases to deep-pocketed competitors.

This leaves indie developers in a tough spot. Should they want to maintain their results in the App Store, they’ll need to buy their placement. Indie developers are forced to give Apple more money while venture-backed apps peddling mediocre products continue along.

While App Store ads are vastly more user privacy-focused than any traditional advertising platform and give app developers a way to grow their audiences, there is no clear end to where Apple will stop placing more ads in the App Store. These ads continue to chip away at the trust user’s place in Apple.

The Future of Apple’s Ads Business

If you’re like me and think App Store ads are wrong, then you wait. It may get a lot worse. It’s rumoured that Apple will soon expand its advertising ambitions to Apple Maps, Books and Podcasts.

On the one hand, if you don’t like ads in either of those two apps, you can download an alternative, unlike the App Store. However, these ads will undoubtedly ruin the positive experience many of us have with these apps.

I consider Maps and Podcasts, among others, as part of my iPhone, not as separate services that need ads to support their existence. They’re apps that provide value to buying Apple’s smartphone.

Even if Apple’s ads are more private than the rest of the industry, that doesn’t change the fact that no ads are the best when creating a premium user experience.

Advertising is a business model that many companies need to survive. Apple is not one of those. We pay a lot of money for these devices, and Apple’s ad ambitions are ruining that experience.

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Mobile Syrup

Google releases iOS 16 lock screen widgets

Google has released its lock screen widgets for Apple’s iOS 16, giving users quick insights into what’s happening through various Google apps.

The Gmail widget shows users the number of new messages since the inbox was last opened. The Drive widgets allow users to open a suggested or starred file through a single tap. The Google News screen widget provides headlines, and Maps can provide estimated travel times for a trip or find nearby restaurants or other venues. Users can also add a shortcut to Google Lens and use their camera to translate more than 100 languages.

The YouTube Music widget allows users to search for songs, and alternatively, use voice search to sing a few bars of a song if they can’t remember the name.

Here’s how to add widgets:

  1. Unlock lock screen
  2. Tap and hold anywhere on the lock screen to access the customization mode
  3. Tap ‘customize’
  4. Select ‘lock screen’
  5. Select ‘add widgets’ and drag widgets to the lock screen, configuring them to your liking
  6. Tap the ‘x’ icon, and then ‘done’

Image credit: Google

Source: Google

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Mobile Syrup

Here’s how to create iCloud Share Photo Libraries in iOS 16.1

After announcing iCloud Shared Photo Libraries as part of iOS 16, Apple pushed back the feature to be released at a later date.

Now, with iOS 16.1 Beta 4, the feature is finally available for users to take advantage of.

iCloud Shared Photo Libraries allow iPhone users to add up to five family members or friends (six people including the host) to a library of photos and videos where each user has access to added images, edit them, delete and contribute as well. Notification toggles allow you to get an alert when an image you added to the library is deleted, whereas a tool in the Camera app allows newly shot photos to be uploaded automatically to the shared library.

As an added bonus, your device will push suggestions for photos to be added to the Shared Library in the For You section of the ‌Photos‌ app.

Here’s how you can enable the feature:

  • Head to Settings and scroll down to ‘Photos.’
  • Make sure ‘iCloud Photos’ are toggled on. This will automatically upload all your images and videos to iCloud.
  • Under ‘Library,’ tap on ‘Shared Library’ and proceed to add the contacts you want to share with.

You can then move media to the shared library. You have the option to sync all photos and video at once, choose photos by person or a specific date or manually select each individual photo or video. No matter which option you choose, you’ll be presented with a ‘Review Shared Library’ screen where you can go through the photos and videos that are about to be added to the Shared Library for a final look-over.

Once you’ve made sure the media selected is good to go, you can invite the counterparties to the Shared Library via Messages, or copy the invite link to share via a different platform.

To manage your Shared Library, head to Settings and scroll down to ‘Photos’ and click on ‘Shared Library. Here you’ll be able to see members added to the library, add or remove participants, toggle ‘Deletion’ notifications and delete the library altogether.

This is also where you can enable/disable ‘Shared Library Suggestions,’ and ‘Sharing from Camera.’ The latter can be toggled to ‘Automatic’ or ‘Manual.’ When on ‘Automatic,’ any photos or videos you snap would be added to the Shared Library, provided that the other participants are near you and your phone can detect their phone via Bluetooth. With ‘Manual,’ you decide which new photo or video goes to the Shared Library.

An icon that looks like two people, as seen in the image below, can be tapped directly from the Camera app to add new media to either your personal library or the shared one. You can also switch between your personal and shared libraries to view media directly from the ‘Photos’ app.

Learn about other new features introduced with iOS 16 here.

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Mobile Syrup

How to find the songs you’ve Shazamed with Siri

If you own an iPhone, you likely already know that you can ask Siri “What song is playing” and the voice assistant will provide you with an answer using the power of the music discovery app Shazam.

However, short of screenshotting every Siri/Shazam request, there are several more accessible ways to do this. If you have an Android phone, check out this story to learn how you can discover music in the real world.

The simplest way is to have Shazam on your iPhone. Boom — open the app, check your history, and you’re good to groove.

However, since Shazam is already built into Siri, you’re probably asking yourself, “is there a way to use it without the app?” There is, and it requires minimal setup.

Open your iPhone’s Setting app and navigate to the ‘Control Centre’ section near the top. Then tap on the green plus icon beside the ‘Music Recognition.’ This moves the Shazam toggle into Control Centre so you can quickly access it without having to trigger Siri.

On top of that, you can tap and hold on the new ‘S’ icon, which shows you a list of your recently searched songs.

Source: Apple

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Mobile Syrup

Here’s how iOS 16 can help you clean up your photo library

If you own an older 64GB base storage iPhone and find yourself needing to make room for new applications, or you’ve just got a spammy friend group that repeatedly sends photos and videos, iOS 16’s new ‘duplicate detection’ feature can help you claim some of your storage back.

In the past, third-party applications like Remo or Photo Cleaner were the go-to solution to get rid of duplicates in your photo library. Now, with iOS 16, Apple has baked the directly in the Photos app. You can use the feature if you’ve got iOS 16 installed on your iPhone 8 or later released device.

  1. Head to the Photos app on your iPhone and switch to ‘Album’ view
  2. Scroll down to ‘Utilities’ and look for a ‘Duplicates’ folder. You’ll see all duplicate photos under this folder.
  3. You have the option to merge specific photos, and keep duplicates for others, or you can select all from the top right and merge all the photos at once.

That’s it. Once merged, all or the duplicates you individually selected will be converted into a single photo, and they’ll take up half the space they were originally consuming.

Learn more about iOS 16 tips and tricks here.

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Mobile Syrup

Apple sparks confusion with iOS 16 message replies change

A confusingly-worded section of Apple’s iOS 16 feature list sparked claims that the company took credit for a feature Google added to its Messages app earlier this year. However, it seems Apple isn’t taking credit — it just added a similar capability to iOS 16.

David Imel, a writer and researcher for MKBHD, spotted Apple’s new claim on the iOS 16 feature page and shared the find on Twitter. Under the ‘Messages’ section is the heading “SMS Tapbacks on Android,” which says:

“React to SMS messages with a Tapback, and a corresponding emoji reaction will appear on recipients’ Android devices.”

Tapback is the name Apple gave to iMessage reactions — those tiny emojis that you can add to messages you receive. Apple added these to its Messages app years ago, but while they were fun for iMessage (blue bubble) users, they were a little odd with the old SMS and MSS (green bubbles) standards. Replying to SMS messages with a Tapback would send an SMS text to the other person in the conversation with something like “Loved ‘Text’” or “Laughed at ‘Text.’”

At least, that’s how it was until January 2022. Google added a feature to its Messages app for Android that transforms incoming Tapbacks into emoji reactions. In other words, instead of “Loved ‘Text,’” users would just see a 😍 emoji appear on the message bubble with ‘Text.’

It’s that feature addition that Apple appears to reference on the iOS 16 feature page. And while the language is definitely confusing, Droid-Life pointed out that Apple is talking about a different feature entirely. Apparently, iOS 16 changed the Tapback function to send an emoji instead of text (i.e. instead of “Loved ‘Text,’” you’d get “😍 to ‘Text’”). The publication also shared an image illustrating the difference between Apple’s improved Tapback feature in iOS 16 and Google’s Messages feature:

iOS 16 Tapback change | Credit: Droid-Life

The whole thing is undeniably confusing, arguably because both Apple and Google keep implementing weird changes in a patchwork attempt to make messaging between iPhone and Android suck less. Something that could be resolved if Apple just adopted RCS. But, Apple has blatantly refused to do so, and here we are.

Apple still refuses to adopt RCS

As a quick refresher on the situation, RCS is a new messaging standard created by Google (and carriers, although Google seems to have largely left carriers behind to make RCS globally available). RCS replaces the older SMS and MMS standards, enabling a modern messaging experience with higher res photo and video sharing, better group chat support, and more.

Meanwhile, Apple “solved” the SMS and MMS problem by creating iMessage, its own modern messaging platform that only works between Apple devices. iMessages appear in blue bubbles and have a ton of extra features, like Tapbacks, better image and video sharing, group chats, and more. However, when an iPhone user messages someone without an iPhone, it falls back to SMS/MMS (shown with green bubbles) and all those extra features people have come to love vanish. The difference is so drastic that it’s started causing social issues — for example, kids exclude people who don’t have iPhones from groups just because of the green bubble.

Now, it’s worth noting that this problem is significantly worse in North America, where iPhone adoption is generally higher. In many other regions, most people rely on third-party messaging services like WhatsApp, regardless of which smartphone brand they use.

Still, people have called for Apple to add support for RCS, which would significantly improve the default iPhone-to-Android messaging experience. Google has also embarked on a campaign to shame Apple into supporting RCS. Apple wouldn’t even need to scrap iMessage to do it — RCS could still be part of the green bubbles. But, Apple has made it clear it has no plans to make this happen, to the point that CEO Tim Cook publicly told someone to buy an iPhone to resolve green bubble messaging issues.

And the reason Apple is so keen to keep the subpar SMS experience around is that iMessage is an effective tool to keep people using iPhones. That thought process was revealed during the Epic Games trial when emails from Apple execs were published detailing how Apple relies on iMessage to lock customers into the platform.

Source: Apple Via: @DurvidImel, 9to5Google, Droid-Life

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Mobile Syrup

iOS 16 causes issues with Cinematic Mode videos in Final Cut Pro, iMovie

Apple’s latest software update for iPhones, iOS 16, brought quite a few bugs with it. Some have been fixed, while others have only just been discovered. Most recently, iOS users uncovered a bug with ‘Cinematic Mode’ that breaks support with iMovie and Final Cut Pro.

9to5Mac spotted reports on Apple’s support forums and on Reddit about the issue. Both of Apple’s video editors show errors when attempting to open Cinematic Mode video recorded on devices running iOS 16.

“It seems that iOS 16 broke this feature in FCP, which will show a “The cinematic effect cannot be activated” error (and according to other users the latest iOS 16.1 and macOS Ventura betas also don’t resolve the issue),” wrote ‘Ulmi‘ on Apple’s support forum.

As noted by 9to5, it seems Apple hasn’t acknowledged the issue yet, and there doesn’t appear to be a fix on the horizon. Worse, with Apple not planning to roll out macOS Ventura until October, it’s possible there could be a wait before the company updates its apps to fix the problem. That said, if the issue is on the iOS side, an update there might resolve the issue.

In the meanwhile, some users are working around the problem by editing the clips on their iPhones and then sharing the videos to their Macs over AirDrop.

Apple first released Cinematic Mode alongside the iPhone 13 line last year. You can learn more about the feature here.

Source: Apple support, Reddit Via: 9to5Mac

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Mobile Syrup

Apple exec says repeated iOS 16 copy and paste prompts are a glitch

If you’ve recently upgraded to iOS 16 and started encountering repeated prompts to allow pasting in certain apps, you aren’t alone.

The problem is relatively widespread, and Apple SVP Craig Federighi recently stated that the company will “get to the bottom” of the issue in an email to a MacRumors reader.

The issue seems to occur more frequently when you select the paste action from iOS 16’s clipboard menu, though it doesn’t matter how many times you grant permission, the notification continues to appear within certain apps. In the email, Federighi says that Apple hasn’t internally experienced the problem but that the company is looking into a solution.

For what it’s worth, I’ve been using the public version of iOS 16 on the iPhone 14 Pro for the last few days, and I haven’t run into this issue.

No timeline has been revealed regarding when an update will be released, but it likely won’t be very long given how quickly Apple typically responds to problems like this.

Source: MacRumors