iOS

Tim Cook has consistently spoken out against the possibility of converging iOS and OS X devices, most famously saying that “you can converge a toaster and refrigerator, but these things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user.”

He repeated this line earlier this week, stating that Apple wants to make “the best tablet in the world and the best Mac in the world – and putting those two together would not achieve either.”

However, some of your comments suggest that not all of you agree, so we’ve adopted the suggestion of one commentator and posed the question … 
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Google today is rolling out an update to its iOS app that brings the app to version 10.0 and includes a handful of visual changes. With today’s update, the voice search feature has been redesigned to be more inline with Google’s Material Design aesthetic, while the Google Now cards in the app are now organized in a much more straightforward way.

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Just a week after the last version, Apple has released iOS 9.2 beta 4 to testers for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The first iOS 9.2 beta appeared alongside Xcode 7.2 beta in late October. We’ll dive into the latest beta and update with any changes we discover.
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Having started out with my first impressions a week ago, highlighted my core questions and decided on Monday that the iPad Pro couldn’t replace my iPad Air 2 (only be an additional device), it’s time to make my decision.

I think between us at 9to5Mac we’ve been putting the tablet through its paces in a pretty comprehensive fashion! We don’t always reach the same conclusions about devices, but in this case I found myself agreeing with the bottom-line of each of my colleagues who’ve been trying it.

Dom described it as a giant Netflix machine, and it certainly is. With that huge screen and extremely loud speakers, movies and TV shows are very compelling, and – unlike a MacBook with the same size screen – you don’t feel like you’re looking at a work device.

Zac saw it as the best entertainment iPad, and I agree with that – with the single proviso that it’s just too big for comfortable ebook reading in bed. But reading ebooks on your lap is a delightful experience. Magazines are just wow. Casual web-browsing – sat on the sofa, just passively consuming content rather than planning to act on it – is a joy. In portrait mode, you can see a decent chunk of a page at a time, everything is big enough to read comfortably and it just feels like a much more relaxing experience than using a MacBook or a smaller iPad where you have to do more scrolling.

Jeremy found that it sat awkwardly between two devices – not feeling like a better alternative than either his iPad Air 2 or his MacBook Pro when it comes to either work or play. I agree 100% on the work side of the equation. I’m more sold on the play side of things, but given that I like to read in bed every night, ultimately I’d have to agree that my iPad Air 2 is a complete solution where the iPad Pro isn’t.

But it’s not just my colleagues’ views I’ve been reading, it’s yours too – in the comments on my earlier diary pieces. So let me address a couple of those before delivering my own final verdict …

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Apple’s new official dock for Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Magnetic Charging Dock, is now available to buy in Apple Stores and online. This particular image is from the Berlin store in Germany. In the US, the first-party Apple Watch dock costs $79. The Apple store website says the product will be available in US retail for in-store pickup starting this Friday, the 20th November.

As indicated by the leaked photos from last night, the dock allows the watch to either lay flat or sit upright in Nightstand mode thanks to the magnetic attachment. The charger itself is integrated into the unit, so you will still have the charger that comes bundled with the Apple Watch available as a spare if you buy the dock. The dock also comes with a 2 metre Lightning cable, longer than typical Lightning cables Apple provides.

A reader got their hands on one and has already compiled a full hands on video with Apple’s new dock which you can see after the break …

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If you have a new iPad Pro and have had issues using the new software keyboard, you’re probably not alone. Aside from following the iPhone 6/Plus lead and adding new keys in the space around the QWERTY keyboard, iPad Pro includes a full sized shift key and half-height number keys which in theory require fewer taps to access more characters.

In practice, the new layout requires an adjustment period, to put it mildly, as the keys most frequently accessed are surrounded by targets that you have to avoid tapping accidentally. I’m on day four and getting better, but there’s one embarrassing keyboard bug that had me convinced I was crazy. Turns out I may not be. Here’s the deal:
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Apple has emailed developers about the recent damaged apps bug affecting a sizeable proportion of the OS X user base with some getting repeated errors on app launch. Whilst a reboot should be enough to invalidate and reload the certificate cache for most people, there are some weird edge cases. Apple says that a permanent fix for the caching issue will be included in a future OS X software update.

The email is effectively Apple apologising to developers for the store platform problems, which caused many customers to understandably, but incorrectly, point blame at the app developers, not Apple.

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Google is adding some new space-saving features to its Photos app on both the web and iOS. A new feature rolling out to the web client starting Wednesday will give the option to downgrade photos previous backed up in full resolution to the compressed mode in order to save space. And on iOS, there’s a new “Free up space” button being added to the settings menu that deletes already backed up photos…
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Nobody who watched the news coverage of the terrorist attacks in Paris could fail to be moved by the scenes and the stories emerging from it. It was undeniably a horrific series of events, and it’s only human nature to want action to be taken to reduce the likelihood of future such atrocities.

But there is always a danger at such times that emotion, rather than rational thought, will drive government policy-making. I won’t get into the broader theme there, as there are more appropriate forums for that, but there is one aspect that is very much on-topic for us: the battle between Apple and governments over encryption.

There have already been unattributed reports that the terrorists in Paris used encrypted communication. I have no idea whether there is any specific evidence for that, but it would hardly be damning were such evidence to emerge: it would be frankly astonishing if they hadn’t.

There are three reasons why Apple is right to maintain that it will continue to offer end-to-end encrypted communication no matter how much governments in the USA, UK and elsewhere may protest … 
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As expected, Apple Pay is now available in Canada. You can use use eligible American Express bank cards to make mobile payments at a whole host of retailers that support the NFC technology across Canada. Apple Pay retailer mobile payments works with iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. Some had suggested that Apple may need to push out an iOS software update but iOS 9.2 remains in beta — this all works from within the Wallet setup on iOS 9.1.

For the UK, Apple has also brought Tesco Bank and TSB onboard … expanding Apple Pay to even more people in the country.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook has ruled out the possibility of Apple merging iOS and OS X to create a single category of device. Speaking to the Irish Independent, Cook said that such a device would be too compromised.

“We feel strongly that customers are not really looking for a converged Mac and iPad,” said Cook. “Because what that would wind up doing, or what we’re worried would happen, is that neither experience would be as good as the customer wants. So we want to make the best tablet in the world and the best Mac in the world. And putting those two together would not achieve either. You’d begin to compromise in different ways.”

He said that some were reading too much into the way Apple has brought the two platforms closer together …

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According to the iPhone in Canada blog, American Express representatives have confirmed that eligible American Express bank cards will be able to use Apple Pay from tomorrow in the country, Tuesday November 17th. Apple announced on its last earnings call that American Express would lead the expansion of Apple Pay beyond the UK and US, with Canada and Australia coming by end of year and Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong to be added in 2016.

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Apple has acknowledged the recent terrorism attacks in Paris with a commemorative ribbon on the Apple France homepage, www.apple.com/fr. The black ribbon is a sign of remembrance and mourning; Google has also added the symbol to its homepage in response to the attacks.

In addition, Apple has been contacting affected employees in French Apple retail stores to check they are safe.

Apple calling all employees in France to check they are safe… 👍

— History is a riot (@_jonasf_) November 14, 2015

When you send pictures, videos, audio messages and other attachments in Messages on iPhone and iPad, it stays on the device by default taking up memory. For a lot of people, Messages is the second biggest app on their device in terms of storage, with Photos often being the biggest, because of the fact that the photos they share from Photos actually gets stored twice on the device: within Photos and within Messages. In this How-To article, I’m going to discuss how to delete multiple images in Messages very quickly.

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Google has quietly launched a Chrome beta for iOS through TestFlight, the beta distribution service Apple acquired last year and integrated into its own developer services. Google has yet to make an official announcement for the beta release, but users can already sign-up and download the beta when visiting Google’s Chrome beta download page on iOS.
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Apple has launched a holiday gift guide microsite today, featuring Apple products and accessories targeted at a wide variety of audiences. The list is separated into six main sections: Gaming, Photography, Music, Fitness, Learning and Travel. Naturally, Apple prominently features its own devices in the recommendations (iPhones, iPads, Apple TV, Beats headphones) alongside third-party accessories and suggested apps.

For example, in the Photography category of its gift guide, Apple lists the brand new iPhone 6s as the ‘world’s most popular camera’ alongside silicon cases, the olloClip Active Lens telephoto mount, a Gorillapod tripod as well as apps like Instagram, VSCO and Darkroom. Also, check our own gift guide for photography here.

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