iOS

As Jeff Benjamin noted in 9to5Mac’s video coverage, iOS 14.5 will use Siri intelligence to select music services based on listening behaviors. While the feature falls short of actually allowing you to set a default music service, it will open Siri to easier music control for more services without having to specify which service to use. Apple has now described in more detail how it intends the new behavior to work.

Apple has announced that it is discontinuing its Music Memos application. As such, it has rolled out an update to the app today to allow users to export their recordings to the Voice Memos app. This is the first update to Music Memos in over a year, and it’s sole purpose to sunset the app altogether.

Update March 2, 2021: Apple has officially discontinued the Music Memos application and removed it from the App Store completely. This was first spotted by The 8-Bit.

Back in May of 2020, Twitter started testing a feature on iOS aimed at helping users rethink a reply before hitting the send button when it might contain offensive language. After pausing the testing, Twitter has announced today that it has relaunched the experiment.

As Apple adds more emoji with each subsequent iOS update, it’s getting harder and harder to sift through all them just to find the emoji you want to use. The “frequently used” emoji panel helps with this to some extent, but it is dynamic and only “remembers” so many. Typing descriptors to search for emoji can be tedious, and what if you don’t know the proper search terms to bring up the emoji you want? Or, if you are like me, you tend to frequently use just a select few emoji? The solution is the implementation of “favorite emoji.”

Twitter has posted about half a dozen new open positions for its in the works subscription service, and this time the new roles include two that are specifically for iOS engineers. Last summer we saw Twitter accidentally publicly revealed its new Gryphon team that’s working on a subscription product in a job listing before quickly redacting the mention of a subscription.

Apple introduced a privacy feature for iPad Pro last year that physically disconnects the microphone when compatible cases are closed. Apple will soon expand this privacy feature to work through software more iPad models that don’t support mic hardware disconnection.

iOS 14.5 beta 2 is rolling out today to developers alongside the second beta of iPadOS 14.5. The update, which includes includes a variety of new features for iPhone users, was first released over two weeks ago on February. Head below for everything you need to know.

In this latest edition of What’s on my iPhone, I take a look at some of the apps that I use on a regular basis. Some of these apps have been around for years, while others are relatively new to the first page of my iPhone’s home screen. Inside you’ll find details on my favorite Reddit client, my go-to app for securing cryptocurrency, an app that helps put the kibosh on annoying robocallers, and more. Watch our hands-on What’s on My iPhone episode, and subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more videos like this.

Nudget is a popular budgeting app for iPhone that launched last July, giving users a way to easily track expenses and insights. The app has received a major update this week, bringing it to version 2.0 with new features such as Face ID and Touch ID support, iCloud syncing, and an iPad app.

Matthew Inman – the developer behind the hit game “Exploding Kittens” – has launched an all-new free game today that’s a mix between Scrabble and Clash Royale. “Kitty Letter” looks like a super fun new twist on the genre of word games, check out all the details below.

Apple has been releasing iOS software updates at an incredibly rapid pace. The betas just keep coming, both for developers and for public beta testers. But to enroll yourself in either program, you need to go through either Apple’s developer website or through Apple’s public beta website. It also requires the installation of a profile that switches the software update track your phone is on.

Apple is releasing the first public betas of its next round of software updates today. This includes iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5 which launched to developer beta testers earlier this week. Head below for details on what’s new.

Apple has released an updated build of iOS 14.5 to developers today. This comes after the release of beta 1 earlier this week. The new build released today is still referred to as beta 1, but it features a new build number.

Apple is releasing the first developer beta of iOS 14.5 today following last week’s release of iOS 14.4 to the public. iOS 14.5 is expected to include the groundwork for Apple’s new App Tracking Transparency privacy feature, among other changes.

Live TV app “Channels” is out with an update today for Apple TV and iOS that brings the highly requested Picture in Picture support. After a good amount of work, the Channels team was able to figure out how to offer PiP without the need for transcoding or a DVR server.

A new upcoming email client called Big Mail is preparing to roll out its beta to early users. Like many email apps before it, Big Mail’s goal is to reimagine email and take away the pain points. While that’s a tall order, from looking at the radically different approach to the UI and how useful and sharp it could be, Big Mail might be onto something.

At Build 2020, Microsoft’s annual developer conference, the company announced a new service called Microsoft Lists. Today, the app has been made available to download from the App Store.