Articles about iOS

Google has announced that it is removing a feature from the iOS version of Google Maps that estimated how many calories could be burned off by walking a particular route. Based on "strong user feedback" Google took the decision to remove the feature that had been rolled out to a number of users.

Google faced an online backlash when the feature launched as it used pink mini cupcakes as a measure of calorie burning -- a 2 kilometer walk, Google Maps informed users, would burn 112 calories, or one mini cupcake. The feature was criticized for being a possible trigger for people with eating disorders.

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Facebook's desperation to appeal to the teenage market is well known, and its latest attempt to tap into it sees the social network acquiring tbh. The anonymous feedback app has proved to be a huge hit on iOS since its launch in August. An Android version is still in the pipeline.

With tbh, despite the anonymity, there's a strong focus on positive polls -- questions like "who has the best smile?" crop up, for instance -- and over a billion pieces of feedback have been given in a matter of weeks. It's not clear whether Facebook will keep the service truly anonymous, or will make use of the data it could undoubtedly gather through the app.

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"iPhone jailbreaking is dead" reads the headline. Four words signaling the end of a 10-year long battle between Apple and those who wanted open control of their iOS devices. Here is an admission in black and white that prominent members of the jailbreaking community are giving up on attacking iOS devices. Apple created a system where their engineers, like soldiers in a castle under siege, were able to outlast the besieging army; throwing back assault after assault, until the attackers, deciding the siege was no longer worthwhile, packed up and headed home.

Ten years ago, finding a jailbreak was fairly doable, though it required skill. As iOS jailbreaks became harder to find, however, they became more valuable. Zerodium publicly announced it would pay $1 million, now increased to $1.5 million, for a remote jailbreak flaw (e.g. remote code execution) on iOS. This effectively priced the jailbreak community out of the market for iOS vulnerabilities. Markets only assign commodities such value when they are rare and difficult to obtain. If somehow you remain unconvinced, consider that the last publicly available untethered (e.g. persistent across reboots) jailbreak was discovered over a year ago, and was part of the government-quality attack tool Pegasus. The current generation of jailbreaks require the user to run a jailbreak app every time they reboot.

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When you download a mobile app you sometimes get more than you bargained for, Uber's app that tracked iPhone users for example. It can be hard to know exactly what apps on your phone are up to.

Now though, application security testing company High-Tech Bridge is launching a free 'Mobile X-Ray' service for developers that analyses native and hybrid iOS and Android apps and detects the most common weakness and vulnerabilities.

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Everyone likes the idea of earning money, and most people like to voice their opinion. If you’re an iOS user, Google is now giving you the ability to combine the two. Perfect!

Google Opinion Rewards is now available for iOS, giving iPhone and iPad users the opportunity to earn money for sharing their opinions by completing simple surveys. The app has been in use by Android owners for a few years, but now it's the turn of Apple fans.

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Twitter may have a bookmarking system in the works, but there are new features that are already rolling out to users. The latest addition is called Happening Now which will be used to highlight tweets about a particular topic.

It's a feature that's not a million miles removed from the existing Moments feature, but Twitter seems to think it's what people want. To start with, Happening Now is rolling out to Android and iOS users in the US and it will highlight sports. Over time, however, it will expand to other parts of the world and cover different events as well.

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With the launch of the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X and iOS 11, a persistent rumor resurfaced. There has long been speculation that Apple deliberately slows down older iPhones in an attempt to encourage people to upgrade to the latest models.

Benchmarking firm Futuremark notes that around the launch of the new iPhones, there was a surge in Google searches for "iPhone slow" -- but are people's fears actually founded in anything? Futuremark is in exactly the right line of work to set the record straight, and its test results really speak for themselves.

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Following a somewhat problematic initial release of iOS, Apple pushed out iOS 11.0.2 to fix a number of issues. But people are already looking forward to the next incremental, non-bug-fixing release. This is iOS 11.1, and Apple has revealed a little of what we can expect.

iPad and iPhone users are to be treated to a new batch of emoji -- hundreds of new ones in total -- encompassing "more emotive smiley faces, gender-neutral characters, clothing options, food types, animals, mythical creatures and more."

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Microsoft today addresses one of the biggest shortcomings of its Edge browser, announcing its upcoming availability on the two biggest mobile platforms: Android and iOS.

Microsoft says that support for Android and iOS is "one of the most common requests" that it has received from Edge users on Windows 10. By making it available across multiple platforms, the software giant is making its browser a viable option in this space for folks who use a mix of devices.

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Apple's launch of the iPhone 8 and Apple Watch Series 3 has certainly not been without its problems. Buyers of the latest addition to the iPhone range have complained about crackling audio, while owners of the new smartwatch have been less than impressed by problematic LTE and battery life.

Now Apple has pushed out a couple of updates that should help with the issues -- watchOS 4.0.1, and iOS 11.0.2.

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For some time now, Apple has regularly released the source code for the shared iOS and macOS kernel. That the company has done so again might not be news, but Apple has, for the first time, released the source code for the ARM versions of the kernel.

Pushed to GitHub, the source code gives anyone who likes the idea of seeing exactly what makes iOS and macOS tick the opportunity to do just that.

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Apple is switching from Microsoft Bing to Google search to power Siri and Search in iOS, and Spotlight in macOS. The changeover is taking place right now, and should be complete by the end of the day.

The search switch coincides with the launch of macOS High Sierra, but Mac users will find that Bing will still be used for image searches in both Siri and Spotlight.

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Adblock Plus is about more than just its eponymous software -- the company also produces Adblock Browser. Now version 2.0 of the secure, private mobile web browser has been released for iOS and it introduces a wealth of new features.

Key among these new features is Ghost Mode which makes it easy to slip into anonymous web browsing mode whenever privacy is of the utmost importance. As the name of the browser implies, there is also an integrated ad-blocker, but it does not end there -- this is an update that the company has been working on for more than a year.

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As had been widely expected, Google has unveiled its new mobile payment service for India. Called Tez, the service is Google's first step into digital payments in Asia.

Tez makes it possible for users to link their bank accounts to the app and then use their phones to make in-person payments and transfers. Support for the government-backed UPI (Unified Payments Interface) means the service is compatible with a number of major banks. At the moment, Tez is limited to India, but there appear to be plans to spread it further.

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Armis Lab, the Internet of Things security firm, has revealed details of BlueBorne, a Bluetooth vulnerability that affects millions of iOS and Android smartphones, IoT devices, and Windows and Linux systems. In all, 5.3 billion devices are believed to be at risk.

The BlueBorne attack makes it possible for an attacker to spread malware or take control of nearby devices. What's particularly concerning is that for an attack to be successful, there is no need for device pairing, or even for a target device to be in discoverable mode. There's also no need for any sort of interaction by the victim -- everything can happen completely silently in the background.

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