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This week’s top stories: iOS 14 beta testing, Apple Pay QR code support, iPhone 12 rumors, more

In this week’s top stories: iOS 14 beta testing continues, iPhone 12 rumors, new details about Apple’s AR glasses, and more. Read on for all of this week’s biggest news.

Apple this week continued beta testing of iOS 14, iPadOS 14, macOS 11 Big Sur, watchOS 7, and tvOS 14. The company released the second developer betas of each update, bringing a variety of small but notable tweaks. You can watch our full video for all of the details on 50+ changes.

In addition to the new developer betas, Apple also kicked off public beta testing of iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14 this week. If you’re interested in signing up for Apple’s public beta testing program, you can do so via Apple’s website right here.

In addition to the user-facing changes in iOS 14, 9to5Mac was also able to find a new hidden feature for Apple Pay. References found in the iOS 14 code reveal that Apple is working on a new method for letting users make payments with Apple Pay by scanning a QR code or traditional barcode with the iPhone camera.

The opposite would also work, with users holding the iPhone in front of a scanner with a QR Code generated by the Wallet app. Apple did not discuss this feature at WWDC 2020, and it’s not finished yet, so we don’t know when Apple will make it available to users.

Elsewhere, Apple announced a major expansion of its Independent Repair Provider Program this week. The company announced that over 140 new repair businesses in the United States are joining the program, while businesses in Europe and Canada can also now sign up for the first time.

Last but not least, a new report from The Information this week said that Apple’s semitransparent lenses, one of the most important components for AR glasses, has passed the prototyping stage and moved into trial production. This is an important step for Apple’s work towards AR glasses, but the company is still believed to be at least one to two years away from mass production.

These and the rest of this week’s top stories below.

iOS |

iPhone |

Apple Watch |

Mac and iPad |

Top Apple stories, retail |

Tech Industry |

Top Apple stories, company |

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This week’s top videos |

9to5Mac Daily |

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

Sponsored by WaterMinder and Calory: WaterMinder is the ultimate water tracking tool that will help you stay hydrated during the day. Calory is the quickest way to count calories, track macros, water, and all of your food intake.

9to5Mac Watch Time episode #26 |

Zac Hall and Michael Potuck from 9to5Mac unpack the latest updates to watchOS 7 and Apple Watch in this special live edition of 9to5Mac Watch Time.

Sponsored by: 

9to5Mac Watch Time is a podcast series hosted by Zac Hall. In this series, we talk to real people about how the Apple Watch is affecting their lives. 9to5Mac Watch Time is available on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, and your favorite podcast player through RSS.

Happy Hour Podcast #285 |

This week, Zac and Benjamin discuss the iOS 14 public beta, two weeks using macOS Big Sur and the latest OS updates, favorite under-the-radar features so far, and much more.

Sponsored by: 

9to5Mac Happy Hour is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play Music, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

Stacktrace Podcast #91 |

After a bit of speculation as to whether or not Apple will ship this year’s iPhone without a charger, John and Rambo go on a deep dive into SwiftUI state management and discuss various approaches for sharing code between an app and an extension.

Stacktrace by 9to5Mac is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

Apple @ Work Podcast |

In this episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, Bradley is joined by Andrew von Nagy of Celona to discuss CBRS and private LTE for the Apple-focused enterprise.

Stacktrace by 9to5Mac is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

Apple @ Work and Making the Grade |

Apple @ Work is a weekly series from Bradley Chambers covering Apple in education. Bradley has been managing Apple devices in an education environment since 2009. Through his experience deploying and managing hundreds of Macs and hundreds of iPads, Bradley will highlight ways in which Apple’s products work at scale, stories from the trenches of IT management, and ways Apple could improve its products for students.

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

Tips, questions, typos to chance@9to5mac.com