Follow Benjamin on Threads to keep up with his latest projects. Benjamin blogs about Apple news and rumors and posts insightful product and app reviews. Read his work on 9to5Mac and his personal blog.
Benjamin Mayo also creates apps for iOS as a professional indie developer and contractor; more details here. Email to discuss making your iOS project.
Follow @bzamayo on Twitter and follow @bzamayo on Threads.
Apple TV+ is now streaming the latest film from esteemed indie director and producer John Carney: Flora and Son, starring Eve Hewson as mother Flora. Here’s how to watch.
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The Mujjo leather case is a premium and luxurious case for your phone, at competitive price points. The exterior sports long-lasting European leather that looks great and, crucially, feels great in the hand.
It is not just style without substance, of course. The case offers a reassuring level of protection, including a raised bezel around the display and metal surround for the rear camera module. The case also integrates strong magnets for compatibility with the ecosystem of MagSafe charging accessories. The high-quality case is available in sizes fitting for iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. Read on for full my review (Monaco Blue, iPhone 15 Pro pictured).
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The Apple TV+ service is currently experiencing a glitch which is affecting playback of content on the service. Inexplicably, the foreign language dubbing credits that are usually inserted at the end of a show are being played first as the ‘intro’. There’s also a related issue where affected episodes end too soon, meaning viewers often miss the climax of the final scene.
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Apple is soft launching a new iPhone Wallet app integration today that is powered by the United Kingdom’s Open Banking API. The Wallet app will now be able to show the user’s current account balance from their bank, as well as a history of deposits and payments. The balances will also be shown inline when buying something with Apple Pay, helping users be more financially aware about whether they can responsibly afford the purchase.
This integration is rolling out first as part of the upcoming iOS 17.1 developer beta. It will be available to a subset of Wallet app users in the UK, who have an Apple Pay card associated with a supporting bank.
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After a near record-breaking 148 days on strike, the Writers Guild of America have finally agreed a new deal with the Hollywood studios (including streamers like Apple). The guild described the deal as “exceptional”, and it is expected to easily pass when members vote next week. Even before it is officially ratified, though, the labor strike has been lifted and work in Hollywood can resume.
At least, writing duties can restart. Filming cannot pick up again until the Hollywood studios agree a new deal with the Screen Actors Guild, and thus end the ongoing actors strike. The gains reached in the new WGA deal are expected to serve as a template for the fresh SAG negotiations, which could begin as soon as next week.
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One of the silicon improvements in the iPhone 15 series is the new second-generation Ultra-Wideband chip. This chip can communicate with other devices that have the same chip at extended range, compared to the U1 chip found in previous-generation iPhones and AirTags.
A new Find My feature allows iPhone 15 users to find nearby friends who also have an iPhone 15, with the Precision Finding interface that shows continuously updating distance and direction indicators. You can see it put to the test in this hands-on demo by Teknófilo.
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Following the iPhone 15 release on Friday, the first battery test results are coming in. Apple touted the efficiency of the 3nm A17 Pro chip, so anticipation was high for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max to take the top spot.
Indeed, the Pro Max outlasted all previous iPhones in Mrwhosetheboss’s test. But it was actually bested by the 15 Plus, which racked up more than 13 hours screen on time, and now holds the title of longest iPhone battery life on record.
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By flying to Australia, AppleTrack’s Sam Kohl brings us the first iPhone 15 drop tests available on YouTube. Based on his video, it seems the new rounded titanium edges are not better for drop test durability than the remarkably enduring iPhone 14 Pro design.
Whereas the flat stainless band on the 14 would absorb much of the impact, the iPhone 15 Pro rounded titanium sides seemed to cause the impact to spread into the front and back glass, causing spiderwebbing cracks.
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Apple has identified an iOS 17 bug that may affect the iPhone 15 upgrade experience today. During iPhone setup, the Transfer from another iPhone option may fail and leave your new iPhone in a state where it is stuck booting on the Apple logo black screen. Here’s what to do if that happens to you.
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In a new GQ interview with Eddy Cue, the Apple exec shares his take on the success of the Apple-MLS deal so far and some commentary on the future of Apple’s contribution to the sports industry.
Cue seems emboldened by the initial response to MLS Season Pass and keen to capitalize on the momentum since Lionel Messi joined the league. You do get the sense though that Apple is on the hunt for something even bigger, when the right deal comes around …
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For the first few years, the HomePod exclusively supported Apple Music and AirPlay. It was not possible for third-party music apps to integrate with the device. In 2020, Apple did a HomePod Siri music API, and some services, such as Pandora, have adopted it.
Unfortunately, Spotify, the biggest music streaming service, has still not implemented this — in part because Apple and Spotify are embroiled in an EU legal battle over abuse of monopoly power. While you still can’t play Spotify natively from the HomePod, iOS 17 does streamline the experience significantly.
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CNBC is reporting Apple was working on a stock trading service where iPhone users could buy and sell shares on the stock market. The service was meant to launch in 2022, but reportedly Apple shelved the plans once interest rates started climbing and the market tanked, fearing Apple users would invest and then lose money.
The service was in development in partnership with Goldman Sachs. The pair switched gears and developed the Apple Card high-yield savings account feature instead, which launched earlier this year and has been very warmly received by users.
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The Super Models is a new four-part documentary series streaming now on Apple TV+, featuring never-before-seen access to Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington. The series explores how the four disrupted the workings of the modelling industry as they rose to elite stardom, becoming as well known as the designers that styled them.
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Alongside the dozens of new iPhone features found in iOS 17, Apple also took the opportunity to update the collection of ringtone and alert sounds. There’s a bunch of new tones to choose from in the Sounds setting for incoming alerts, text alerts and more.
The default app notification sounds have also changed. The classic ‘Tri-tone’ has been replaced by ‘Rebound’. However, not everyone is a fan of the new notification sound … and iOS offers no way to change it back.
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With iOS 16, Apple made it so that Hidden album in Photos could be automatically locked from prying eyes with Face ID. With iOS 17, that privacy is now extended to Safari too with Private Browsing.
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iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro can charge from 0 to 100% in under two hours with a USB-C cable and Apple’s standard 20W USB-C charging brick. iPhone 15 can charge at a maximum of 27 watts over the USB-C port. However, that is unchanged from the iPhone 14 series which could charge at the same speed over Lightning.
What is different though with USB-C is that the iPhone can now output significantly more power to accessories. Via Macotakara, iPhone 15 will be able to output up to 4.5 watts to accessories via USB-C.
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The iPhone 15 launch this week has been somewhat overshadowed by a strange controversy over radiation levels emitted by the iPhone 12, which has led to France issuing a sales ban on the device.
Apple now says it will release a software update that will apparently address the French regulator’s concerns. The company said this debacle is related to a specific testing protocol used in France and is not a safety issue.
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The Apple Online Store is making it a bit easier to be ready for the new iPhone preorder rush this year.
The iPhone 15 preorders start at 5 AM Pacific Time, but you can get your order ready in advance. On apple.com or through the Apple Store app, you can now choose your desired iPhone 15 model, pre-authorize your payment method, and have the product ready in your bag for one-click ordering once 5 AM rolls around and the store is up.
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Alongside the iPhone 15 announcement, Apple introduced the Apple Watch Series 9 this week. It was a relatively minor iterative update, but one feature in particular caught my attention: offline Siri.
Siri can be frustrating at the best of times, but it is particularly poor on the Apple Watch due to its seemingly unstable network connection. A long pause and a “Working on that” announcement is an ever too common experience. Offline Siri with the Apple Watch Series 9 could make this a thing of the past.
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Contemporaneous with the launch of the iPhone 15, a scandal surrounding the iPhone 12 brewed this week. France regulators have banned sales of iPhone 12 as it claimed the phone’s radiation exposure exceeded legal limits.
Apple has rejected the findings. But the story is still gaining steam. Via Reuters, Belgium this morning said that it is also now reviewing potential health risks relating to iPhone 12.
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This week, Tim Cook reaffirmed Apple’s previously-announced plans to ship its Vision Pro AR/VR headset “early next year.” ‘”Early” in Apple parlance can mean as late as May, but various signs point to this truly meaning a debut in the first few months of 2024.
But if you are planning to get Apple’s first ever spatial computer, we also learned this week about some important prerequisites. To get the most out of your Apple Vision pro headset, you’ll also need to invest in Apple’s latest-and-greatest iPhone 15 Pro and AirPods Pro earbuds …
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During the September keynote event, Apple touted a whole bunch of new Portrait mode features for the iPhone 15 series, like automatic capture of Portrait mode shots while using the main shooting mode in the Camera app and the ability to change the subject in focus in the Portrait mode shot after you have taken it.
Well, it turns out that at least some of that stuff is also coming to older phones too. Twitter user Dylan pointed out that on the iOS 17 release candidate build, iPhone 14 Pro users can also refocus their Portrait mode shots after they have been taken.
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Apple TV+ today premieres the third season of flagship drama The Morning Show, starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.
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Apple has stopped selling both the MagSafe Battery Pack and the MagSafe Duo Charger, following the launch of the iPhone 15 with USB-C.
The reason for the discontinuation of these accessories is pretty obvious: they were iPhone accessories that featured Lightning ports for power. Rather than replace them with USB-C versions, Apple has opted to stop selling them altogether.
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