Articles about iOS

Google's latest update for YouTube on iOS promises 'general fixes and stability improvements', but also includes a welcome hidden extra -- a Dark Mode that looks especially amazing on iPhone X, and might even save you some battery life. However, there is a catch.

To activate this new mode, you need to be running YouTube for iOS version 13.01.4 (or later), and even then it might not be available to you. It seems Google is rolling the feature out slowly to select users. To see if you’re one of the lucky ones, here’s what you need to do.

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As technology firms around the world try to mop up the mess that the Meltdown and Spectre chip bugs are making, Intel has been keen to stress that the impact patches will have on performance will be minimal. The company has already released benchmark results that show the hardest hit will be older computers. Now new benchmarks show that iPhone users may notice slowdowns too.

One iPhone 6 owner decided to benchmark his phone and found that the performance hit is significant. So significant, in fact, that some tasks see a performance degradation of more than 50 percent.

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Following accusations that children are addicted to iPhones, Apple has said that it will introduce improved parental controls in iOS.

At the weekend, an open letter from a group of investors expressed concern about the overuse of Apple devices by children and teenagers. Responding to the letter, Apple says that while it considers itself a leader when it comes to parental controls, it will make the feature even "more robust" in the future.

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Following the Meltdown and Spectre revelations, let's just say that 2018 is off to a bad start for many tech companies. Apple is among the biggest players affected by the two security vulnerabilities, with all iOS and Mac users at risk.

The company was quick to patch Meltdown, however, with iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2 and tvOS 11.2 getting mitigations against the vulnerability. And, now, it's tackling Spectre too through new updates for its major operating systems.

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Apple has confirmed that all of its Macs, iPhones and iPads are affected by the recently revealed Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. The company points out that while a huge number of devices are affected, there are "no known exploits impacting customers at this time."

Just as Microsoft has already pushed out an emergency patch for Windows 10 users -- with Windows 7 and 8 to follow soon -- Apple has already rolled out some patches for Meltdown with iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2, and tvOS 11.2. An update to Safari to protect against Spectre is promised in the coming days.

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The Apple Pay Cash 'app' is built in to iOS, so you might well expect that it would be locked in place, completely un-uninstallable. But that's not the case. In fact, you can remove -- or at least hide -- the app, but you will run into problems if you ever change your mind and decide you want it back.

If you are running iOS 11.2 -- which introduced Apple Pay Cash -- you can easily uninstall the app if you feel you don't want it. But there is no obvious way to get it back, meaning that while you can still use Siri to make payments, you won't be able to do so in iMessage. This is something that may well be fixed in iOS 11.3, but in the meantime there are a couple of work arounds.

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Third-party Android and iOS keyboard ai-type is at the center of something of a privacy nightmare after a misconfigured database leaked the personal details of more than 31 million of its users.

Researchers at Kromtech Security Center discovered an unprotected database had been exposed by developers, revealing incredibly detailed information about its users. The database was found to be freely available for anyone to download, with no password required to access a treasure trove of information.

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In a move that's likely to raise a few eyebrows, Facebook today opened up its messaging platform to children under the age of 13. A new app, Messenger Kids, is now available in the US for iOS users.

The app is currently available as a preview, and Facebook says that it has worked with parents and groups such as the National PTA to ensure safety. The company also emphasizes the fact that parents are in full control of who their children are able to connect with.

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Microsoft has launched the first stable version of its web browser for mobile with the release of Edge for iOS 1.0 and Edge for Android 1.0.

Both browsers are targeted at Windows users who have Edge as their default -- the primary purpose of both is to allow users to sync settings and content between desktop and mobile, following a similar path trodden by the likes of Chrome and Firefox.

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Just days after the launch of the iPhone X, problems are starting to emerge with Apple's latest handset. Users are reporting various issues with the screen including the fact that it becomes unresponsive in cold conditions.

On top of this, other iPhone X users have found that the screen suffers with a green line appearing at the side of the display. These reports are in addition to Apple's own warnings of the OLED-centric screen burn-in problems, and in spite of the fact that the iPhone X has been found to have the best display of any smartphone.

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Microsoft has announced that it is teaming up with Bitdefender, Lookout, and Ziften to expand the reach of Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). By partnering with the three major security firms, Microsoft is set to bring ATP to macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android devices.

Bitdefender, Lookout, and Ziften will all feed threat detection information into one central resource, and this can then be used by security teams to keep an eye on all threats in a single location.

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Apple has pushed out the latest updates to macOS High Sierra and iOS. macOS 10.13.1 and iOS 11.1 include a range of bug fixes, and also herald the arrival of a new batch of emoji.

The two relatively minor updates also address the recently-discovered KRACK security vulnerability. But while the WPA2 patch will be welcomed by many people, it is not available for all iPhones and iPads, meaning that large numbers of people will be left exposed.

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Windows 10 Mobile is now officially dead, and Microsoft has switched its attention to Android and iPhone, releasing a growing number of apps for those operating systems.

You can now also link your Android device or iPhone to any PC running Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, which will allow you to start a task on your phone, and then continue it on your PC. Here’s what you need to do.

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I’m a big fan of e-ink Kindles -- preferring them over real books. If you do a lot of reading, they’re great. However, some people prefer the versatility of an iPad, Android tablet or smartphone, and there's a clear benefit to those. You only need to carry around the one device.

Today, Amazon launches a rebuilt Kindle app for both iOS and Android that provides easy access to the most popular Kindle features, and adds new functionality, such as built-in access to the Goodreads community.

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Following the lead of Facebook Messenger and iMessage, WhatsApp is gaining a location sharing feature. It's something that was tested earlier in the year, and now it has been deemed ready for prime time.

The "Share Live Location" feature can be enabled for a fixed period of time -- you can choose between 15 minutes, an hour, or 8 hours -- or you can manually switch it on and off as required. When enabled, WhatsApp will report your location to your contacts.

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