iOS

A new iPhone 6s/6s Plus passcode bypass flaw is making its rounds on the internet today, and it’s similar to flaws we’ve seen in the past on iOS. Don’t be overly alarmed, though, as the odds of this happening to you are slim. Besides, if you are concerned, there are some bonafide ways to go about protecting yourself.
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That’s probably because the majority of users probably don’t miss it with the top number row suffice for occasional number input, so it’s understandable why Apple doesn’t pay much attention to it. But I personally like and miss the speed of using a keypad for quick commands in pro apps like Logic and punching in numbers in spreadsheets (it’s tax time…), so I’ve been testing Satechi’s new Aluminum Wireless Keypad that recently arrived.

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Popular commenting service Disqus today has announced its first ever iOS app. The app is available now in the App Store for free and allows users to track notifications relating to their comments as well as discussions from channels and websites they follow. The app’s interface is pretty standard, with home, channel, notification, and profile tabs along the bottom.

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Apple doesn’t normally improve the capabilities of Siri outside of a major operating system update, but it has made an exception this time around for baseball. Apple has dramatically improved the knowledge base Siri can draw from for Siri, allowing the voice-activated personal assistant to answer a wider range of questions about the sport. Via The Verge, Siri now covers 28 leagues, not just Major League Baseball, too.

Siri first started answering sports questions with iOS 6. Apple says that the upgrade to baseball, timed alongside the new MLB season, allows users to ask more detailed questions about career statistics and baseball history.

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Apple’s 40th birthday week came alongside some troubles for iOS 9.3, as our top stories this week surrounded a number of bugs, fixes and responses from Apple related to iOS 9.3 problems and the fix with the release of iOS 9.3.1.

But those issues were balanced out by our excitement over our first impressions with the new iPhone SE and 9.7-inch iPad Pro, as well as the latest leaks for iPhone 7 and other upcoming next-generation iPhones.

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In homage to its history, Apple has hung a pirate flag at its Infinite Loop Headquarters (images via @twfarley and @mjisrawi). On April 1st, 40 years ago, Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The iconic flag, complete with rainbow Apple logo for an eye, dates back to the creation of the original Mac. The Mac team hung the flag as an act of rebellion, distinguishing their cool work, led by Jobs, from the rest of the company which was preoccupied making the Lisa.

Watch Apple’s 40 year celebration video, first shown at its event last month, after the jump …

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Apple has released iOS 9.3.1 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The bug fix update to iOS 9.3, released last week, contains a crucial improvement for iOS users: it addresses the widespread issue where apps (and sometimes the whole OS) would crash or hangs when tapping links.

We’ll update the post if we spot anything else notable, although the Release Notes do not suggest anything else has changed …

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Apple today announced a new browser, sort of. It’s called Safari Technology Preview and its meant for developers to be able to test and experiment with future web technologies and upcoming features. This is similar to Google Chrome Canary, which allows developers to play with in-development web technologies ahead of official releases. The app even comes complete with a new purple icon.

Apple will be updating Safari Technology Preview on a fortnightly basis, with each release signed for security. Download Apple’s new browser from the developer portal, with automatic updates through the Mac App Store.

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Deja vu? The Foxconn acquisition of Sharp was almost a done deal a few weeks ago, until Sharp revealed some additional liabilities at the eleventh hour it had not previously disclosed. This meant Foxconn had to go back to the drawing board and re-assess the deal, renegotiating some parts of the contract with Sharp. The initial offer was worth $6.2 billion. Today, the companies announced Foxconn will buy Sharp in a $3.5 billion dollar deal.

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Apple and Major League Baseball have agreed a deal to use iPads in the dugouts during games, showing performance stats, analyze pitcher-hitter matchups, compare pitching range and more, via the Wall Street Journal. The iPads will use a custom app called ‘MLB Dugout’, created by MLB’s media division with help from Apple.

In the new deal, Apple and MLB will provide 12.9 inch iPad Pros to every team in the league, fitted with rugged cases for protection. The deal was made possible because of a recent change to the rules which lifts the ban on smartphones, tablets and laptops in the dugouts. Whether Apple paid for the promotion or MLB paid for the products was not disclosed.

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iPhone SE might be helping Apple attract more new users from Android compared to previous recent iPhone launches, according to the latest data on sales of the new device from Slice Intelligence. Specifically, Slice points to the higher number of SE buyers coming from Android compared to the iPhone 6S:

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Apple has today updated its list of iOS 9 feature availability to note the addition of its Maps ‘Nearby’ feature for more countries.

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Along with Night Shift mode, having the ability to password-protect notes in the default Notes app is one of the big new features in iOS 9.3. Individual notes within the Notes app can now be secured with a password, and Touch ID users can gain even faster access to password-protected notes.

Securing notes in iOS 9.3 is a simple exercise on the surface, but it’s not always entirely straightforward. Have a look at our full video walkthrough and tutorial for all of the details.
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Since posting our original story, we have heard from a lot of readers that are affected by iOS 9 crashes or app hangs when tapping links, spanning multiple iOS versions (not just 9.3) and devices. In a statement, Apple has now confirmed that they are working on a fix for the problem, coming in a software update (presumably iOS 9.3.1).

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Apple has released an updated build of iOS 9.3 for users affected by an activation bug, first reported last week. Although the version number is still 9.3, the update features a new build number, 13E5237, to signify the change. The issue prevented some iPhone and iPad owners from successfully completing the upgrade steps for iOS 9.3 if they could not recall their Apple ID info immediately, to pass Activation Lock.

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