iOS

Digital Music News is once again reporting that Apple is contemplating removing iTunes downloads for good, focusing solely on its Apple Music streaming service for distribution. Reading between the lines, it sounds like Apple is open to multiple scenarios depending on future market conditions, which could include ditching traditional music download model. However, it doesn’t sound like there are firm plans to do that anytime soon; Apple has already denied similar reports saying ‘It’s not true’.

More interestingly is the report’s take on Apple’s WWDC plans for iTunes. It claims that Apple will unveil a major overhaul of the iTunes app to simplify the core functions of the app (music) and better present the different music offerings Apple has, removing points of confusion about how Apple Music works alongside the iTunes Store.

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Nick Lee, CTO of development studio Tendigi, previously was able to get Windows 95 running on an Apple Watch and now he’s back at it again with a new project. As he details in this blog post, Lee was able to get Android running on an iPhone thanks to a custom-built case.

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Google this week has published a new version of its TensorFlow machine learning software that adds support for iOS. Google initially teased that it was working on iOS support for TensorFlow last November, but said it was unable to give a timeline. An early version of TensorFlow version 0.9 was released yesterday on GitHub, however, and it brings iOS support.

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In my continuing quest to find a great iPad Pro case, I’ve been testing out the new BookBook case for iPad Pro 12.9-inch ($99) … and I really like it. Don’t judge a book by its cover; the cute design hides a lot of utility. There’s a display mode for watching movies, an integrated kickstand perfect for typing and sketching as well as a fantastic Apple Pencil holder hidden in the ‘spine’. (Check the Twelve South website if sold out on Amazon.)

As the whole thing zips up, it’s one of few cases that completely protects the iPad whilst in transit. Read on for my full review of the BookBook for iPad Pro after the jump …

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Following a prolonged outage last week that affected iTunes, iCloud, and various other services, users are again reporting issues with Apple’s cloud services. According to a variety of reports on Twitter, some users are unable to sign in to the App Store and iTunes Store on their iOS device, while others are unable to access either store at all. Apple has yet to acknowledge these issues on its System Status page, but its support account on Twitter has replied to some users.

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We know a fair amount about what to expect from WWDC next week — software heavy with Siri as a star and light on hardware — yet there is still plenty of room for surprises like HomeKit and Apple News from previous years. Expectations are especially light on watchOS and tvOS, the software that runs on Apple Watch and Apple TV, and there are plenty of new features that could improve the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Here’s my Feature Request for each of Apple’s software platforms, WWDC 2016 edition.

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[UPDATE 6/7: iOS 9.3.3 beta 2 is also now available to public beta testers.]

Apple started testing iOS 9.3.3 with developers and public beta testers near the end of May, and today the second beta version of the pre-release software has been released for developer iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches. The update marks the first iOS 9.3.3 beta available for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, which missed out on the first beta version during the iOS 9.3.2 update bug.

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We take Canary’s all-in-one security system with home air quality and temperature sensors for a test drive, including a walkthrough of its super slick iPhone and Apple Watch apps.

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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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Recently departed (but still friend of the site!) Mark Gurman went on the Jay and Farhad Show podcast this evening and gave his predictions for WWDC 2016 and beyond. Most of the conversation material was either posted previously on 9to5Mac or elsewhere but there were certainly some new “whispers”…
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It’s been a rough couple of days for Apple’s services. Apple Music took a lengthy hit on Wednesday with subscribers being signed out, then a widespread outage hit multiple services including iCloud on Thursday for several hours. All this during a quarter when Apple is selling itself to investors as a services company, not just the iPhone company, but these outages are way too common.

And it’s not just services. Apple had to re-release iOS 9.3.2 for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, a minor bug fix update that bricked the company’s latest tablet for a lot of customers. Mistakes happen but it’s Apple’s response after everything is resolved that bothers me…

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It’s been essentially confirmed in the past, but today the Unicode Consortium officially unveiled the 72 new emoji that will be made available in Unicode 9. The latest batch of emoji include a variety of new foods, faces, objects, and sports. Unicode 9 is set to be released on June 21st, which means we may see these new emoji in iOS 10 when it ships to the public this fall.

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Update 2: Apple is reporting that the iCloud.com services have also been restored.

Update: Apple is reporting that the availability of some services has now been restored but several features of iCloud are still down and undergoing maintenance.

As noted by Apple’s system status page, a multitude of Apple services are currently experiencing instability and downtime for some users. The affected services include the App Store, Mac App Store, Apple TV services, iTunes In The Cloud and critical features like Find My iPhone. We have also had a few reports of Apple Music downtime, seemingly repeating the outage yesterday, but Apple’s official status report does not mention any problems with Apple Music at this time.

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Apple has re-released last month’s minor iOS 9.3.2 software update after pulling it due to customer complaints of bricking iPad Pros. The updated version features build number 13F72 and is available through official channels now.

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Apple has today launched its Back to School deals for students. Similar to last year, Apple will bundle a free pair of Beats headphones with the purchase of an eligible Apple product for college. If you buy an iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro or MacBook Air, you get a free pair of Beats Solo2 wireless headphones worth $299. iPad Pro, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 buyers can get a free pair of Beats Powerbeats2 wireless headphones, worth $199 retail.

Standard Apple student education discount also applies on Mac and iPad purchases. Although this is one of the best times to buy a Mac or iPad direct from Apple Store, you may save money from buying elsewhere …

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Cases claiming to be designed for the next-generation iPhones, currently being dubbed the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, have been released online today. Although the cases do not show anything drastically different to what we’ve been hearing for months, with most of the chassis mirroring the appearance of the iPhone 6s, it is interesting nonetheless to see the design formalized into cases that are apparently going to be on sale by the end of the month.

The case renders include a depiction of what the dual camera system on the 5.5 inch iPhone 7 Plus could look like, suggesting that it will have a binocular-esque appearance of two camera iris holes side-by-side with a sizeable gap between them. The camera flash and rear microphone are also aligned horizontally. The iPhone 7 Plus case also includes space for the 3-pin Smart Connector on the back of the device — more pictures after the break …

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Facebook announced today that it is adding over 1,500 new emoji to Facebook Messenger. The company made the announcement on the Messenger Facebook page, explaining that the new emoji bring a lot more diversity to the service.

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