iOS

Now that Apple is 8.0.2 rolled out and we’re all relatively stable with a Healthkit-enabled OS, Apple is giving us a new section of the App Store for health-related apps. 

Experience an entirely new approach to wellness where your fitness app can talk to your calorie tracker, your doctor can be automatically notified of updates to your health data, and great apps work together for a healthier you. This handpicked collection highlights the best fitness, nutrition, and medical apps customized for iOS 8.

Red prices on pink background?  They must have moved that Maps launch and iOS 8.0.1 guy over to design. 
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A few days ago Apple published a new privacy page on its website that detailed the various measures it has put in place to protect Mac and iOS users’ personal data. One of those features, which is new in iOS 8, is the automatic randomization of MAC addresses when the device is searching for a Wi-Fi network. This makes it much more difficult to track a device by seeing which Wi-Fi networks have spotted its unique identifier.

A new two-part study by AirTight Networks into how well this security feature works has turned up some interesting results, including several conditions that will stop the phone from randomizing a MAC address. Part one of the study breaks down what exactly needs to happen in order to start this function…

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When Apple introduced iOS 7 with an overhauled design for the iPhone and iPad software, it replaced the weather widget showing current temperature and weekly forecast introduced with iOS 5 with a text summary of the day’s weather conditions. This weather summary includes an icon for the current weather condition as well as a text description like ‘mostly cloudy’, but it tends to give you the high and low temperatures of the day and not the current temperature like Apple’s former weather widget.

Luckily, iOS 8 allows developers to create third-party widgets including – you guessed it – weather widgets with current temperature and forecast. Since iOS 8 was released last week, I’ve been trying a variety of apps with included weather widgets, and below I’ll share with you what I’ve discovered so far.

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This holster case from Toronto-based LD West seems completely ridiculous at first glance, but it starts to make a lot more sense when you realize your oversized iPhone 6 or 6 Plus might no longer fit in your pants pocket. Strapping my phone to my side with what looks like an over-the-shoulder gun holster doesn’t exactly vibe with my usually minimalistic approach to iPhone cases. But it turns out the product is much more than just the gimmick I thought it was.
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After a series of botched updates, which meant HealthKit apps could not launch alongside iOS 8’s release, Apple has finally started allowing apps that integrate with the Health app into the App Store. The first of many is FitPort, which acts as a replacement dashboard for Health information, with all data being synced back into the Health database.

On opening the app, the Health permissions screen opens which asks users to individually enable access to health statistics. This allows users to be very selective about what information they share with third-party apps. Users have to explicitly enable read and write capabilities for every health data type the app wants to integrate. Just like asking for location access, this sheet is presented by the OS, meaning all apps benefit from this level of privacy.

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Apple has finally released iOS 8.0.2 to address the issues discovered in yesterday’s 8.0.2 update on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The new release includes all of the HealthKit and keyboard fixes, among others, as well as the ability to actually make phone calls and connect to a cellular data network.

Apple said yesterday that the update was coming “in a few days” and instructed users to downgrade to version 8.0 while awaiting the fix. The new update is rolling out now and can be found in the over-the-air software updater built into iOS.

Apple told CNBC that “less than 40,000 devices” were affected by the buggy release. The change log is below:

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Last month Instagram launched a new video shooting app for iPhone and iPad that combines effects like time-lapse and cinema stabilization called Hyperlapse. Today Instagram is introducing what they call the “selfielapse” by adding support for shooting Hyperlapse videos with the front facing camera on your device using the same features previously only available on the back camera…

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NZ carrier Spark offers customers life-sized cardboard emoji characters to reserve their spot in line for iPhone 6

Apple’s second wave of iPhone 6 sales has just kicked off with customers in New Zealand getting access to the device through retail stores and online as we roll into the morning of September 26 in the country. We’re also approaching the launch in a total of 20 countries today as the device goes on sale the morning of September 26 local time in the following locations:
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Apple has invited a number of non-developer users to participate in what it’s calling an “AirDrop Test Fest” to help fix bugs in the over-the-air file sharing system, according to users who have gotten the invite. Users who have been invited will find a notice inside the Feedback Assistant application included with the public beta of the upcoming OS X Yosemite.

Users who have been invited to participate are provided with a set of guidelines for testing the feature. According to the notice, users will need two Macs capable of running Yosemite and AirDrop, or one Mac running Yosemite and one running Mavericks to test the “legacy” feature. An iOS device isn’t required to participate, indicating that the focus will be on Mac-to-Mac transfers rather than cross-platform ones.

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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bl-pJBHYuc]

App developer Craig Hockenberry has published an article today titled “in-app browsers considered harmful” warning both devs and users of security issues related to apps that take advantage of the feature. “Would it surprise you to know that every one of those apps could eavesdrop on your typing? Even when it’s in a secure login screen with a password field?”
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Update: Many users are reporting that cellular functions and Touch ID are no longer working post update, so we would recommend holding off until further notice. Many who have updated their iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and iPhone 5s are reporting no problems, so it appears this problem is likely confined to iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

Update 2: The update has been pulled. Apple has issued a statement to Re/code:

https://twitter.com/JohnPaczkowski/status/514843301996802048

Apple has released iOS 8.0.1 to the public, and it’s rolling out now OTA to all devices capable of running iOS 8. The update’s build number is 12A402, and it packs fixes for a variety of bugs that have plagued users of version 8.0. Most notably, the new version includes a fix for the bug that was keeping HealthKit apps from the App Store. Furthermore, the update addresses a plethora of other problems including an issue with apps accessing photos from the Photo Library, a bug involving 3rd party keyboards, an issue that caused unexpected data usage when receiving SMS and MMS messages, an issue involving ringtones not being restored by iCloud, and more.

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With Photos for OS X not being released until early next year, it seemed like there would be no way to view your photos backed up in iCloud Photo Library away from an iOS device for Mac customers. However, screenshots and error messages from iCloud.com show that a Photos app is in development for the website, so that users could access their pictures in some fashion on a computer. This will likely act as a stopgap before the official native client is ready.

The above screenshot is captured from an Apple help page, clearly showing a Photos app in the menu, which is currently absent from the public site. The app features the same icon as the Photos app, but its unclear what exact functionality it will bring. Poking around a bit, we discovered something that means it is unlikely the screenshot is simply a Photoshop mistake.

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When Apple released Apple TV software update 7.0 earlier this month, it came with support for new iOS 8 features including the new Peer-to-Peer AirPlay feature. First announced when Apple unveiled iOS 8 earlier this year, Peer-to-Peer AirPlay allows users on iOS 8 and the upcoming OS X Yosemite release to stream content to an Apple TV without having to connect to the same wireless network. What we didn’t know at the time, however, is that the feature is limited to only the latest Apple TV hardware:
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Although dozens of custom keyboards have been launching left and right just in time for iOS 8, most of them have stayed rather traditional. Yes, there’s new features here and there that are firsts for iOS like the ability to swipe to type using Swype and SwiftKey, but these are still just keyboards for typing letters. A new keyboard from Riffsy called GIF Keyboard, on the other hand, isn’t really a keyboard—it’s a great way to quickly and easily send GIFs to friends using your favorite apps.

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Following a report in July that Apple was planning on adding a new FX Now channel to Apple TV within 12 months, today the channel has officially arrived for users in the US. Like the FX Now app that was already available on iOS devices via an app for iPhone and iPad, the channel offers on-demand video streaming with content from the FX, FXX, and FXM networks. 
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