iMessage

New data from SensorTower offers some insight into how Apple’s new iMessage App Store has performed since its launch in September. Based on the report’s data, new iMessage apps are being developed at a faster pace than iOS apps when the iPhone App Store first launched. SensorTower says there are signs that growth is starting to level out, however…

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Apple introduced a ton of new social features in Messages for iPhone and iPad in iOS 10, and some of them can make a Valentine’s Day message more original and personal. Handwritten notes, Digital Touch kisses and heartbeats, and the Love screen effect are all charming ways to put a bit more care into your messages than usual. Here’s how:

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An Apple patent published today describes how Siri could interject in iMessage chats to do things like help schedule meetings based on the location and availability of chat participants.

In one illustration, when one chat participant asks ‘How long ’til you guys get here?’ Siri interjects by checking everyone’s location and then answering the question. In another, a chat participant asks Siri when the group could get together for lunch, and it checks each of their diaries to offer slots when all are free …

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The Messages app is the most frequently used app on iOS, so it makes sense that Apple would lend it plenty of attention in iOS 10. It’s safe to say that the stock Messages app received, by far, the most significant overhaul of all default apps in iOS 10, as it is now a feature-laden package that leverages photos, videos, and Snapchat-inspired markup elements.

Messages in iOS 10 even brings about a dedicated iMessage App Store for adding additional functionality such as stickers, animated GIFs and third-party app extensions that run right within the Messages app interface. Updated emoji features, inline music and video playback, and brand new effects add a new dimension to Apple’s most popular iOS app.

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Let the deluge begin… Not long after the Super Mario Run iMessage sticker pack was made available to iOS 10 users, Apple has unleashed the entire iMessage App Store. The iMessage App Store, which is available for iOS 10 users, features sticker packs from companies like Disney, Bandai Namco, Sanrio, and others.

In addition to the sticker packs, the iMessage App Store features full-fledged iMessage apps and games. Several of the apps that were demonstrated during the WWDC 2016 keynote are here, such as Square Cash, OpenTable, and JibJab.

The iMessage App Store is only available for iOS 10 beta users today, but if you’re not already on the beta, you’ll only need to wait one more day, as iOS 10 is scheduled to go live tomorrow.

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A day before the official debut of iOS 10, Nintendo’s Mario sticker pack has gone live on the iMessage App Store. The stickers, which were first announced by Nintendo’s legendary game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, during the iPhone 7 event, are now available to those running the iOS 10 beta.
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Back in February an East Texas court ruled that Apple must pay more than $625 million in damages to VirnetX over patent infringement related to iMessage and FaceTime. The patent case was especially notable for being one of the highest amounts rewarded in history, but the plaintiff in the case wasn’t satisfied and asked for $190 million more in damages four months later. But for now it’s back to the step one for Apple and VirnetX in this case as a federal judge has decided the case must be revisited…

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WhatsApp may have this year followed iMessage’s lead in adopting end-to-end encryption for its messages, but a security researcher says that both still have a security flaw that can allow deleted messages to be recovered – either from the device, or remotely from iCloud backups.

Jonathan Zdziarski found the flaw in the current version of WhatsApp.

The latest version of the app tested leaves forensic trace of all of your chats, even after you’ve deleted, cleared, or archived them… even if you ‘Clear All Chats.’ In fact, the only way to get rid of them appears to be to delete the app entirely.

Zdziarski says that data was left behind no matter what deletion method was used: archiving, clearing or deleting threads – and he suggests that the same flaw is present in iMessages …

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Prior to WWDC, a report emerged claiming that Apple would at long last unveil iMessage for Android. Seeing how Apple had made its streaming music service available on Android, many found this report to be somewhat plausible. As you’re probably aware of by now, however, iMessage for Android was nowhere to be found at WWDC this week. Now, we’ve gotten a little bit of insight into Apple’s reasoning for not bringing its messaging service to Google’s smartphone platform…

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Siri unlocks a new dimension of functionality in iOS 10, allowing third-party apps to integrate inline into the Siri voice assistant experience. Any developer integration expands utility of Siri dramatically but it’s important to note the limitations of the system Apple announced.

For iOS 10.0, the Siri API will only work with six kinds of application: ride booking (think Uber), messaging, Photo Search (find photos and videos in a particular app), payments (‘Send $100 to John with SquareCash’), VoIP Calling (e.g: Skype) and Workouts (for starting health and fitness activities) …

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According to a report from MacDailyNews, Apple will announce that iMessage is coming to Android at Monday’s upcoming WWDC 2016 keynote.

Such an announcement, which MacDailyNews claims to have obtained from “a source familiar with the company’s thinking,” would go a long way towards making it easier for users to shift between the two competing platforms. But what would be Apple’s motivation for doing this?

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In this week’s top stories: iPhone 7 leaks, more on the rumored upcoming MacBook Pros with OLED touch bar, what’s in store for WWDC 2016, and much more.

Apple also launched its Back to School promo for 2016, and designer brand Coach started preparing for a launch of its Apple Watch bands next week. Head below for all of the handy links to these and our other top shared Apple stories this week.

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Infamous patent troll VirnetX has formally asked a Texas court this week to order Apple to stop providing its FaceTime and iMessage features to customers. The request follows VirnetX’s victory in court earlier this year to the tune of $625 million, which the firm wants to see increased by $190 million or more, Law360 reports:

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A new open source project called PieMessage enables cross-platform iMessage support, allowing Android users to communicate using Apple’s iPhone messaging platform.

In the video below, we get a short look at the PieMessage app in action with a still unreleased prototype version of the app.

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Have you noticed that virtually every aspect of the personal information on our iPhones can be restored individually via iCloud? Things like photos, mail, contacts, calendars, Safari bookmarks, and notes can all be individually recovered on a fresh install of iOS.

The one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb is text messages and iMessages. Sure, it’s possible to restore text messages if you’re willing to backup and restore the entire contents of your iPhone, but what if you wish to perform a fresh install of iOS and then restore messages?

Fortunately, backing up and restoring SMS texts and iMessages on an individual basis is possible, as long as you’re willing to take some time to follow our step-by-step guide.

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Apple earlier this week released the public stable version of OS X 10.11.4, but for a number of users the update process has been less than pleasant. A plethora of users are voicing issues on Apple’s support forums centered around logging in to iMessage and FaceTime following the update to OS X 10.11.4 El Capitan.

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