Follow Benjamin on Threads to keep up with his latest projects. Benjamin blogs about Apple news and rumors and posts insightful product and app reviews. Read his work on 9to5Mac and his personal blog.
Benjamin Mayo also creates apps for iOS as a professional indie developer and contractor; more details here. Email to discuss making your iOS project.
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Apple announced that Apple Card is available to everyone in the United States from today. To sign up, simply open the Wallet app on your iPhone and begin the application process.
In a press release, Apple Pay VP Jennifer Bailey said Apple was “thrilled” with the interest in Apple’s credit card. Apple also announced that it is extending the 3% Daily Cash offer to third-party merchants, starting with Uber and Uber Eats.
Theoretically, HomeKit supports fans as a smart home accessory. There are some HomeKit ceiling fans already on sale, but what I’ve been holding out for is a HomeKit tower fan for my office. Unfortunately, there aren’t really any to speak of.
After years of waiting, and a particularly hot summer, I gave up and explored the enthusiast route. I bought a standard fan with an IR remote control and set out to induct it into my HomeKit home using Homebridge…
The new macOS beta released today includes a nice little surprise for HomeKit users: new icon options for HomeKit lights, smart outlets, and fans.
Disney today confirmed new availability details for its upcoming Disney+ subscription streaming service, which goes live in the US on November 12 for $6.99 per month.
The company confirmed that it will roll out apps for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Interestingly, they will also let you subscribe to Disney+ from inside the app, which means Apple will be able to take its typical 15% to 30% commission on subscription revenue.
US President Donald Trump and Apple CEO Tim Cook met for dinner on Friday night. In an interview with reporters, Trump said the pair discussed the impact of tariffs on Apple’s business.
Cook reportedly argued that it would be hard for Apple to pay tariffs on its Chinese-assembled products, because many of its competitors do not have to pay the same level of tariffs, namely Samsung, whose manufacturing is mostly located in South Korea (via CNBC).
Apple is continuing its asset leak spree. We already saw an iPhone asset in iOS 13 beta 7 that seemingly confirmed the date of the iPhone event, and now iHelpBR has found assets that show new Apple Watch models is on the way.
The images indicate Apple is about to launch a new ceramic Apple Watch and a new titanium Watch. Apple has sold ceramic watches in the past but did not offer a ceramic Series 4, and titanium is a wholly new direction for Apple Watch case materials.
According to a South Korea industry report, Apple is set to use the same OLED display panel materials for the iPhone 11 as is found in the Samsung Galaxy S10 and the Galaxy Note 10.
For the iPhone X and iPhone XS, Apple used a distinct set of materials — presumably custom chosen by Apple — but this report says Apple will not be doing that for the iPhone 11.
Apple has recently updated its App Store Preview pages for stories to allow users to view the full content of stories from inside their desktop web browser. App Store stories have always been shareable as links, but the web version was just a title and a navigation link to ‘open this story in the App Store’.
Between August 9th and August 11th, Apple has upgraded the experience and now includes full imagery, app lists and paragraphs copy in the web version. This means you can access the same content online as you would be ale to find in the native App Store experience.
As we get closer to the iPhone September launch window, iPhone naming speculation ramps up.
We have heard the iPhone Pro moniker mentioned by other sources, and it seems case makers agree. ESR, which sells a multitude of iPhone cases on Amazon and other outlets, is currently betting on the names ‘iPhone 11’, ‘iPhone 11 Pro’ and ‘iPhone 11 Pro Max’ for the 2019 iPhone lineup.
We obviously expect Apple to announce its new iPhone 11 lineup next month, as it has hosted a September iPhone media event every year since 2012. An analyst at Wedbush today reports that his latest checks indicate that all three new iPhone 11 models will also be released in September too, successors to the iPhone XS and iPhone XR lines.
Apple today shared a minute-long trailer for its upcoming Apple TV+ drama ‘The Morning Show’.
Apple TV+ is Apple’s original content video subscription service, first previewed at the March event, and is set to launch this fall. Watch the new trailer after the jump…
In an interesting proposition, an anonymous Twitter user who leaked many accurate details about the iPhone XS and iPad lineup this morning tweeted a suggestion as to the iPhone 11 naming scheme.
Apple has today updated its iOS version statistics for developers. Apple publishes these numbers every few months based on usage traffic to the App Store.
The company says that 88% of all iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models are now running iOS 12. That proportion rises to 90% if counting only devices released in the last four years. These are likely the final figures for iOS 12 as Apple readies iOS 13 for release next month.
Apple has officially started the Apple Card rollout. Apple will send out invites to a select group of customers today who showed interest in Apple Card by filling out the “Notify Me” form on the Apple website (via TechCrunch).
Invited users to the Apple Card Preview will be able to sign up for the card in the Wallet app, and also apply for the physical titanium card to be delivered. Apple will be launching Apple Card for everyone later in the month.
Update: Apple Card now live — currently invite only.
Apple has just shared a flurry of videos to its YouTube channel, detailing the set up process for Apple Card, the physical titanium card activation, and how to use Apple Card to buy things.
It seems that the launch of Apple Card is indeed imminent, as Apple prepares its support documentation and onboarding resources.
The HomeKit accessory ecosystem is slowly expanding, but there is still a dearth of accessories outside of the United States.
Given what is available, the Eve Energy (US version) is the best choice for UK Apple users who are looking for the best HomeKit smart plug that actually fits in the UK three-prong sockets.
The website for the Apple Card onboarding process has now gone live ahead of the much-anticipated credit card’s public launch. Tim Cook has previously said that the Apple Card rollout will begin in August.
The page says users can setup on any iPhone and iPad with Face ID or Touch ID (apart from iPhone 5s). iPad users can setup the card through the Wallet & Apple Pay settings page.
Ming-Chi Kuo today released a report claiming that Apple will bring back Touch ID fingerprint recognition to its iPhones starting in 2021. The analyst said that he believes Apple will release an iPhone with both Face ID and under-display Touch ID fingerprint biometrics.
Kuo says that over the next 18 months, a lot of technical issues will be resolved which will enable Apple to deliver the high-tier experience it strives for in its devices.
Apple is apparently preparing to debut its first cellular MacBook models next year, with 5G-enabled MacBooks coming in the second half of 2020 according to Digitimes.
Apple will purportedly be using a ceramic antenna component for better 5G performance.
Apple and Barclaycard have ended the Barclaycard Apple Rewards card in the last few weeks, as it readies the Apple Card launch with Goldman Sachs. Apple now only offers basic financing plans with Barclaycard.
Bloomberg reports that the Apple Card terms allow for Apple to offer special financing plans for specific purchases. The publication also says that Apple is preparing to debut an Apple Card companion app for the iPad, to allow users to sign up and manage their card from their Apple tablet in addition to the iPhone.
Apple has announced in a statement that it is suspending the program which entailed human Apple contractors listening and grading a sample of Siri responses for quality control.
The company is conducting a thorough internal review of its Siri policies, and it will reinstate (a presumably different form of) Siri grading when it is finished. When Siri grading returns, users will be able to choose to opt-out of grading.
Microsoft is starting a new ad campaign comparing Apple’s MacBook Air line to the Microsoft Surface laptops. The conceit of the ad centers on a person named “Mac” Book.
Vizio is today rolling out the firmware update for its SmartCast TVs, which enables AirPlay 2 streaming and HomeKit integration for Apple users.
The over-the-air SmartCast 3.0 software update is being released for TVs as far back as 2016. Vizio says the rollout is starting today and will come to new and existing SmartCast TVs over the next few months.
On its quarterly earnings call, Tim Cook addressed the recent news about Apple asking for tax waivers on Mac Pro production. Apple’s CEO said that “Apple has been making the Mac Pro in the US” and “we want to continue to do that”.