iOS

If you’d like to use the same collaboration features as your remote colleagues while in a physical meeting room, Google is now rolling out its companion mode for Android and iOS devices — allowing Google account users to be identified by name, chat with other meeting participants, enable live subtitles, raise their “hand” to speak, and share emojis without disrupting the current speaker. It was previously restricted to laptops/desktops.

In compliance with the Digital Markets Act, Apple now lets developers add alternative marketplaces and submit their apps for Notarization, two key steps as Apple prepares to end its exclusive role in iPhone app distribution with its iOS 17.4 release in the EU next month.

Digital Foundry takes a look at Death Stranding’s performance on Apple’s iOS and macOS platforms. The iPhone 15 Pro version takes a hit, DF says, with performance issues and smeary, low-resolution rendering.

Among iOS 12.4’s DMA-mandated changes, there’s a prompt to pick a default web browser the first time people in EU markets open Safari after they upgrade.

Code in the iOS 17.4 beta suggests Apple is experimenting with a SiriSummarization framework that uses the ChatGPT API to summarize text and answer questions, according to findings from 9to5Mac.

MacRumors has details (and app icons) on the next generation of CarPlay extracted from the first iOS 17.4 beta, nearly two years after Apple announced it, and arriving in the first cars later this year.

MacRumors points out that today’s beta release of iOS 17.4 with EU-required sideloading also includes several new emoji characters. A head shaking horizontally, a head shaking vertically, a phoenix, a lime, a brown mushroom, and a broken chain were approved by the Unicode Consortium last fall and published as part of Emoji 15.1.

In case Apple’s new security features weren’t reason enough to update to iOS 17.3 and iPadOS 17.3, Apple has also confirmed that it addresses a WebKit vulnerability that “may have been exploited” in the wild, alongside other security updates. Its macOS 14.3 and tvOS 17.3 updates include a similar fix, and there are also fixes for devices stuck on older versions of macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. Get updating!

I’m using an exclamation point to celebrate because this is exciting news if you’re an Apple Music Classical fan. Thanks to much improved metadata, the app is infinitely better than Apple Music for finding and surfacing classical music. Yet despite it being made by Apple, it’s been slow to come to the other places iOS apps usually come. That means there’s no official tvOS or iPadOS app, and there hasn’t been support for CarPlay.

Or iPad, Mac, or any AirPlay-enabled device, including smart TVs. According to Apple’s website, the Vision Pro will support 720p AirPlay mirroring, however earlier on Friday, it said it would support 1080p AirPlay.

I say “technically” because while the feature will finally be on phones updated to 17.3, we still don’t know what hotels and hotel groups will actually support it.

MacRumors spotted that Apple added the figure to a support page recently, confirming an increase that has reportedly been in effect since 2022’s iOS 16. The previous limit was apparently 16. Compatible items include AirTags and other first-party headphones and accessories from Apple and Beats, and a range of third-party products.

Apple has made iOS 17.3 beta 2 unavailable, according to MacRumors. Earlier today, the update was sending some beta testers’ phones into an infinite reboot loop, as reported by 9to5Mac.

If you’re joining or thinking about joining the fediverse via an iPhone, this Mastodon client from the makers of Tweetbot is an option many prefer. A post on DaringFireball points out that the most recent update for Ivory adds an Explore tab with better search plus “a new popular & trending section.”

Rockstar’s attempt at launching Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — Definitive Edition in 2021 went so poorly that the PC version was removed from sale for a while. Now, the bundle (GTA III, GTA: Vice City, and GTA: San Andreas) is available on mobile devices and for no extra cost if you have Netflix.

The hacking multi-tool Flipper Zero enables a Bluetooth spamming prank that, as Bleeping Computer pointed out this morning, can have serious consequences when it interferes with critical connected health devices.

The Resident Evil 4 remake, where you can hear Leon Kennedy say one of the cheesiest lines of all time (once again), is now available for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPads and Macs with M-series chips. Thanks to Universal Purchase, you can buy the game once and play it across devices without buying it again.

The WSJ’s Joanna Stern interviewed a convicted iPhone thief at a correctional facility in Minnesota, who offered up all the details on how he would steal and break into devices — from watching people type in their passcodes to quickly changing their Apple ID login information.

If you saw weirdness with any of those — including in-app or web payments for Apple Pay or transaction notifications in Cash — between 6:15AM ET / 5:15AM CT and 6:49AM ET / 6:49AM CT today, Apple says it’s resolved the issues. As MacRumors notes, Apple didn’t say how many are affected.