News on the sidelines for the week 4-10 June

Temporarily expanding iCloud storage, unblocking downgrades, top-earning app scams on the App Store, multimillion-dollar settlement for a college girl, AirTag tracking alert for Android users, Apple's long-range wireless charger, and other exciting news in the fringes…

Improvements to AirTags to prevent stalking

Apple is improving the security of AirTags to prevent stalking using Bluetooth devices, with updates that reduce the time and separate the AirTag from its owner without causing noise.

Currently, AirTags play a sound after three days of being away from their owner. After the update, the audio will play at a random time between eight and 24 hours.

Apple is also working on an app for Android devices that will allow them to detect an unknown AirTag or find an enabled item on the Find My network near them, which will prevent AirTags from being used to stalk Android users as well. The app will be released later this year, and audio updates will be applied automatically when the AirTag is near the iPhone.

The next iPad Pro will come with wireless charging and reverse wireless charging

Apple is developing a new iPad Pro with wireless charging capabilities. The upcoming iPad Pro‌ will appear in 2022, following the updated 1-inch M11 and 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ models launched in May 2021.

For the new ‌iPad Pro‌, Apple is testing a glass back instead of an aluminum one, which will allow for wireless charging capabilities. It's still in its early stages and will require a dedicated charging base, but Apple is rumored to be planning to use a dedicated MagSafe. Apple is also working on reverse wireless charging to charge supporting devices by placing them on the back of the iPad.

iPad mini with thinner frames and without a home button زر

Apple is working on a revamped iPad mini that will include the first design update the device has seen in six years, have thinner bezels, no home button, and an 8.5- to 9-inch screen, a significant increase from the current 7.9-inch screen. Images of a mock iPad mini ‌ leaked earlier this year. Apple is also working on a thinner, lower-cost version aimed at students.

Apple is still developing an AirPower-like, long-range wireless charger

Apple continues to work on a wireless charger similar to the canceled AirPower charger, the new charger charges multiple devices simultaneously. announced Apple debuts ‌AirPower‌ In September 2017, along with the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, it said it would be launched sometime in 2018. It project in March 2019, due to many errors affecting the device. There have been persistent rumors that Apple is still working on some kind of charging base, but most of them have been a mystery. And the report of the famous analyst, Gurman, is the clearest hint that some kind of device similar to AirPower could appear in the future.

In addition to a wireless charger similar to the AirPower‌, Apple is also said to be studying alternative wireless charging methods that can work over greater distances. Work on far-reaching shipping is still in its early stages, and will likely take several years.

Allow Android users to stop tracking later this year

Google has announced that Android users will have the ability to opt out of cross-app tracking on Android devices, limiting apps' ability to access their advertising ID, amid concerns about other apps like Facebook and others.

The new change is similar to Apple's method and transparency of applications in theory, but differs in the explicit application. In iOS 14.5 or later, when users open an app for the first time, a prompt appears with the options Require Do Not Track App or Allow. In Google's case, users won't see a popup for every app, instead, a new option within Android settings will allow users to opt out entirely of all tracking, for all apps.

Google says that the new change, which will come as part of an update to Google Play Services, will be rolled out in phases starting later this year and will expand its implementation until the beginning of 2022.

iOS 14 is now installed on 90% of iPhones released in the last four years

iOS 14 is now installed on 90% of iPhone devices for the past four years, 8% of devices are still running iOS 13, while 2% are running previous versions. And 85% of all iPhones even more than four years old are running iOS 14, with 8% still running iOS 13 and 7% running an earlier version of iOS. This category includes devices that cannot run ‌iOS 14‌.

For iPadOS, 91% of all iPads introduced in the past four years are running iPadOS 14, and 79% of all devices have the ‌iOS 14‌ update. The increase in work with the release of iOS 14 comes with the release of iOS 14.5.

Apple agrees to multi-million dollar settlement after iPhone repair technicians posted customer photos online

Apple paid a 21-year-old college student millions of dollars (said the source) in a legal settlement after photos and videos were downloaded from his iPhone after it was sent for repair. The accident occurred in 2016 at a service center operated by Apple supplier Pegatron in California. Legal documents show that while repairing her iPhone, technicians posted 10 photos and videos of her very own online.

The exact amount Apple paid the student has not been revealed, and the client's lawyers are said to have specifically asked for $5 million during negotiation talks. Her lawyers also threatened to sue Apple for violating privacy and "causing emotional upset to the girl." They reportedly warned Apple that the lawsuit would negatively affect its reputation, prompting the company to settle the matter, albeit at a cost.

In a new study, up to 2% of the top 1000 paid apps on the App Store were deceptive

Apple's review of apps has always focused on the security of iOS users when purchasing apps. However, an investigation found that nearly 2% of the top 1000 highest paying apps had some form of fraud, including many VPN apps, as well as a QR code reader that asks users for a weekly $5 subscription for a built-in feature. Already in Apple's original camera app, other apps have used the Amazon and Samsung branding. Some of these apps have been removed and investigations are ongoing in others, and these scam apps are said to have cost customers an estimated $48 million during the time they were available, while Apple also earned significant commissions from those apps.

Apple plans to make the user free to update or keep the older system

Apple plans to allow iPhone and iPad users to stay on the iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 update even after the release of the iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 updates, where you can update to the latest version of iOS as soon as it's released to get the latest features, or you can continue with ‌iOS 14‌. And only get important security updates.

Previously, Apple required users to update immediately and made it impossible to downgrade, but it seems that they plan to relax this policy in the future.

Apple temporarily expands iCloud storage in iOS 15 update to backup and transfer data to a new device

If you have low iCloud storage but want to buy a new device and transfer your data, Apple makes the process easier in iOS 15 with increased buffering. Apple says the new feature will give you as much storage space as you need to complete a temporary backup for up to three weeks, allowing users to transfer their apps, data, and settings to a new device using iCloud even if there's insufficient iCloud storage space.

Miscellaneous news

◉ Former Apple design chief, Jony Ive, has appointed at least four of his former Apple colleagues to his design company LoveFrom.

◉ Following the conclusion of the Developers Conference main event, Apple has made the first betas of iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, tvOS 15, and macOS 12 available to developers for testing purposes.

◉ The redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models powered by the updated M1 chip are likely to be released in the third or fourth quarter of the year, contrary to expectations from the developer conference.

◉ In tvOS 15, Apple simplified the process of entering login and password information on the connected iPhone by allowing Face ID and Touch ID to be used for authentication purposes.

◉ To help new iPhone owners move from their Android device, Apple uses the Android 'Move to iOS' app to transfer content such as contacts, message history, photos, videos, web bookmarks, mail account information, calendars, audio, wallpapers, and more.

◉ With iOS 15, Apple allows your friends or family members to access your photos and other important data after your death, but they are not active at the moment.

◉ A report published by DigiTimes says a shortage of mini-LED components has caused delays in production of the redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Sources:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15 | 16