iOS

Along with a host of new accessibility features announced today, iOS is set to gain a new Background Sounds feature to help reduce distractions and promote focus, calm, and rest.

You may not remember, but a modified copy of Xcode that surfaced on the web in 2015 was responsible for injecting malware into several iPhone and iPad apps that were subsequently uploaded to the App Store. Now, thanks to the Epic vs. Apple trial, internal Apple emails have revealed that more than 128 million iOS users were affected by the “XcodeGhost” malware.

A new study published today takes an in-depth look at how apps used in schools are sharing children’s data with third parties. The research found the majority of school apps transmit data and that Android is 8x more likely to be sending that data to “very high-risk” third parties than iOS.

Apple started testing iOS 14.5 almost three months ago. With the final version being released to the general public today, there are a lot of reasons to update your iPhone right now.

Apple has officially released iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4 to the public, bringing a major change to the integration between iPhone and Apple Watch. For the first time, you can now use your Apple Watch to unlock your iPhone when you’re wearing a face mask. Here’s how it works.

Apple today released the first beta of iOS 14.6 to developers even though it hasn’t yet released iOS 14.5 to the public. And while we still don’t know exactly what’s new in this update, the iOS 14.6 release notes confirm that the company has made some changes to make it easier to leave the beta program after the release of an official build.

Following today’s event, Apple has just released iOS 14.5 RC to developers and public beta users. The update brings loads of new features including two new Siri voices, strong protection against app tracking, a redesigned Podcasts experience, and much more.

iOS 14.5 will be available for iPhone and iPad next week after an extended software beta period that started in February. The latest software update brings loads of new features including two new Siri voices, strong protection against app tracking, a redesigned Podcasts experience, and much more.

Update: iOS 14.5 beta 8 is also now rolling out to public beta testers.

Apple has released iOS 14.5 beta 8 to developers, coming one week after the release of beta 7. iOS 14.5 packs a variety of new features, including the ability to unlock your iPhone using Apple Watch and new Siri voices. 

This comes after Apple officially announced its April 20 event, where we expect Apple to formally announce the release of iOS 14.5 to the public.

Discord is making some changes to how it handles NSFW servers, and it will have a particular effect on users of the iOS application. The company says that Discord for iOS will now block all NSFW servers, potentially because of Apple’s App Store guidelines around adult content.

Apple announced in December 2020 that 81% of iPhones introduced in the last four years were already running iOS 14, which is the latest version of the company’s mobile operating system. Now the analyst company Mixpanel says that iOS 14 adoption among iPhone and iPad users has already surpassed 90%.

Apple today has stopped signing iOS 14.4.1, which means that users who have updated their device to iOS 14.4.2 can no longer downgrade. This follows Apple’s release of iOS 14.4.2 one week ago, which included an important security fix.

As part of today’s release of iOS 14.5 beta 6, Apple is making several notable changes to Siri. The company says that Siri will no longer default to a female voice starting with iOS 14.5, and it’s adding two additional voice options from which to choose. The changes also apply to the HomePod.

Tech companies have been talking more about privacy in recent years, and Apple proudly says that it protects user data more than anyone else. This week, new research by Douglas Leith from Trinity College showed that Google collects up to 20 times more data from Android users compared to the data Apple collects from iOS users.

One of our modern challenges is keeping track of the things we actually want to spend our time on with the massive amount of digital content that’s available. Sofa is a sharp iOS app that looks to solve that problem with a simple, yet customizable hub to organize movies, TV, music, books, podcasts, apps, games, and more to check out in the future. Along with a new Sofa update landing today, we went hands-on with the free iOS app for a closer look.