iOS

Last week, it was reported that Mac and iOS users in China were the target of new malware called WireLurker that resulted in Apple confirming the security issue and blocking the affected malware apps. Just days later, mobile security research firm FireEye reports it has uncovered a major iOS security flaw that it claims poses a much bigger threat to Apple users than WireLurker.
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Good Technology is out with its latest report examining share of mobile platforms in the enterprise and in it noted that iOS was able to grow its market share following the introduction of the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The increase from 67% last quarter to 69% during Q3 isn’t a huge one, but it’s notable given it comes at the expense of Android OS just over a month into sales of the new Apple devices.
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Walmart is one of several high-profile retailers that belong to MCX, a consortium of retailers that have partnered together to create their own mobile payments service called CurrentC. Due to this commitment, the big-box retailer has opted against supporting Apple Pay in its stores. A new report offers a big reason why: high credit card transaction fees.

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Apple has added a page to its website for deregistering and turning off iMessage for users that have switched from an iPhone to an Android device or other non-Apple smartphone. The new web-based tool arrives after Apple faced a lawsuit over Android users having undelivered text messages from other iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users still using iMessage.
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It’s finally here. The Pangu team has released its iOS 8 jailbreak tool for Mac. This will provide a one-click jailbreak solution for anyone without a Windows computer. Previously the tool was only available for Windows, which could also be used within a virtual machine on OS X, but now it’s native.

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The popular iPad drawing and sketching app Paper by FiftyThree has been updated with Adobe Creative Cloud integration, push notifications and sharing directly from Mix, a camera view during account creation, smoother shadows and general improvements for iOS 8. The updated version of Paper by FiftyThree is available now on the App Store.
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The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) announced this week that it has filed a petition with the U.S. Librarian of Congress and the Copyright Office to extend and expand the exemption that makes jailbreaking an iOS device or rooting an Android device possible without violating the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the United States.
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[tweet https://twitter.com/saurik/status/530454505994076161]

Cydia creator Jay Freeman (better known as Saurik) has tweeted that the Pangu jailbreak for iOS 8.0 to 8.1 is now “stable enough” for use.

We first saw a developer version of the jailbreak last month, with a user version released a week later, complete with Cydia installer. The installer is Windows-only, but it’s an untethered jailbreak, so once it’s done you won’t need to reconnect to a PC following a reboot … 
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Apple has now blocked the launching of Mac apps infected with WireLurker malware, after earlier revoking security certificates to prevent them being installed on new devices. WireLurker was capable of infecting non-jailbroken iOS devices when connected to a Mac running one of the compromised apps. Over 400 Mac apps in a third-party Chinese app store were affected.

In a written statement, an Apple spokesperson said:

We are aware of malicious software available from a download site aimed at users in China, and we’ve blocked the identified apps to prevent them from launching. As always, we recommend that users download and install software from trusted sources.

However, a security researcher says that it would be easy for other attackers to exploit the exact same weakness … 
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The latest numbers from advertising company Chitika Insights show that iPad web usage in North America rose nearly 2% in September, marking a slight increase over the third quarter. Chitika found the iPad to have a 79.9% share of tablet web traffic in the United States and Canada during the month, compared to a 78.0% share reported in July.
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The team at Frostbite, the gaming engine behind many popular console titles and more recent mobile games, today published a blog post showing off a tech demo of the graphically demanding Battlefield 4 console game running on an iPad. The company previously showed off what the Frostbite engine was capable of with the Battlefield 4 Commander app and the Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare tech demo it showed off at WWDC, but the Battlefield 4 tech demo was made possible thanks to some big graphics improvements courtesy of Apple’s new Metal graphics API.

The team says “Metal has created possibilities previously out of reach and for the first time we can include both high visual fidelity and a large number of objects.”
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Update: Apple confirmed the security issue in a statement provided to iMore. Apple has also revoked the certificate to prevent the apps from being installed on new devices.

The New York Times reports that a security firm called Palo Alto Networks has uncovered a new form of Apple-focused malware that is capable of infecting non-jailbroken iOS devices. Typically when such software pops up, as it does from time to time, one of the key factors that allows the malicious code to run on iOS is whether the device is jailbroken. The new “WireLurker” malware, however, is installed on the mobile device over USB by an infected Mac.

These infected Mac apps are reportedly coming from the Maiyadi App Store, a third-party software storefront operated in China. Palo Alto Networks says over 400 apps in the store are affected, and have been downloaded over 356,000 times total, potentially resulting in hundreds of thousands of infected devices.

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Although this isn’t an actual update to the app, WhatsApp is now sporting a nifty new feature that—although small—might make a big difference in how users of the messaging app stay in touch with their friends. The Facebook-owned app, which would previously show double check marks if a sent message had been received, now goes one step further and turns those check marks blue if the message has been read.

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A 2012 Apple patent application showing a 3D GUI

According to a report from Chinese newspaper Economic Daily News citing supply chain sources (via UDN), Apple is working on a 3D iPhone display of sorts that doesn’t require the use of special glasses. The translated report also claims Apple is actively developing 3D “software ecosystems.”
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Microsoft and Dropbox announced a new partnership between the two companies today and a commitment to bring integration between Dropbox and Office apps on iOS and Android. Currently Office users rely on local storage for saving files or Microsoft’s own OneDrive service for saving and syncing files, but the newly announced partnership will allow Office users to use the popular Dropbox service as an additional storage and syncing option and introduce new features between the productivity apps and syncing service.
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Back in February, Apple and Disney teamed up on a new app called Movies Anywhere that allowed iOS users to access their library of purchased movies—whether bought on the iTunes Store, DVD, or other media (with the appropriate redemption code in the box).

Today, Disney has launched the same service for Android users. Movies Anywhere owners will now be able to access their movie library featuring titles from Disney, Pixar, and Marvel from any of their devices. Because this is a cross-platform solution, movies previously purchased on the iTunes Store will now be available to users on Android devices, and iOS users will be able to watch Disney movies they’ve purchased from the Google Play Store.

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Apple tonight has released the first beta of iOS 8.1.1 to developers. This update is packed with bug fixes, according to the release notes. Most notably, “this release includes bug fixes, increased stability and performance improvements for iPad 2 and iPhone 4s.”

https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/529490326172737536

This marks the first time in recent history that Apple is seeding a beta for a patch update. A new seed for the Apple TV is also available. Apple released the first OS X Yosemite 10.10.1 beta earlier today. iOS 8.1.1 is the follow-up to iOS 8.1, which includes Apple Pay support, SMS forwarding to Yosemite, and iCloud Photo Library Beta.

Apple is also developing iOS 8.2 and iOS 8.3 for release next year.

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Verizon and AT&T announced today that they are working together to allow Voice over LTE calls between their customers. The carriers, which both previously announced the roll out of VoLTE technology earlier this year, said they expect VoLTE interoperability between their customers to arrive next year:
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