Apple says it would pull services such as iMessage and FaceTime from the UK rather than obliterate customers’ security and privacy if new proposals to destroy end-to-end encryption are made law and acted upon as the government fumbles toward updating its so-called Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) 2016. The UK government wants messaging services to seek approval for security features before releasing them to customers. The act lets the UK government demand that security features such as end-to-end encryption be disabled immediately upon request, without telling end users. Zoe Kleinman for BBC News: Many messaging services currently offer end-to-end encryption – so messages can be unscrambled by only the devices sending and receiving them. WhatsApp and Signal are among the platforms…

Apple today seeded the third betas of upcoming iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming two weeks after the release of the second betas. Registered developers are able to opt into the betas by opening up the Settings app, going to the Software Update section, tapping on the "Beta Updates" option, and toggling on the iOS 16 Developer Beta. Note that an Apple ID associated with a developer account is required to download and install the beta. ‌iOS 17‌ is a major update that introduces a customized look for each person that calls, with the person who places the call able to customize their look. Live voicemails let you see a transcript…

Seven tech giants, including Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, have said they meet the European Union’s new criteria for “gatekeepers,” which means they will be subject to stricter regulations. Reuters: Samsung and TikTok owner ByteDance also unexpectedly said they would meet the criteria, although TikTok disputed whether it should be included on the list. Booking.com said it expected to fall into the gatekeeper category next year. Under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) which came into force in November, companies with more than 45 million monthly active users and a 75-billion-euro ($82 billion) market capitalisation are considered gatekeepers providing a core platform service. Companies labelled as such will be required to make their messaging apps interoperate with rivals…

Apple will have until March 5 next year to comply with Europe’s Digital Markets Act, which in theory means that it will have to permit either third-party app stores, or sideloading of apps, by that date. The deadline has been revealed after Apple confirmed that it qualified as having ‘gatekeeper’ status, meaning that it is one of the companies that will be subject to the upcoming law. However, don’t expect much to change on this date … more… The post Apple faces March 5 deadline for third-party app stores – but don’t hold your breath appeared first on 9to5Mac.

Following the passing of the EU's Digital Markets Act, Meta wants to turn Facebook into an alternative App Store for Android first, as soon as it can.From early in 2024, Europe's Digital Markets Act will require Apple and Google to allow the use of alternatives to their App Stores. Meta now says it plans to become such an alternative, but will do it via an extension to its existing Facebook ads service.According to The Verge, Meta will test this type of ad later this year, starting with a small group of Android app developers. The plan is for ads to allow Facebook users to download apps directly within the social media platform, rather than simply linking out to the Google…

Macworld June was one of the biggest months of the year for Apple. WWDC brought us the M2 Ultra chip, Mac Studio updates, the Mac Pro, the 15-inch MacBook Air, and of course details and first developer betas on all the fall operating system updates. Oh, and Apple unveiled this little side project called the Vision Pro, which isn’t shipping until early 2024. You can catch up on all the WWDC stuff here. So what does that leave for July? Well, with all the new Macs already shipping and no new hardware expected until September, July, and August are all about software and services. We expect iOS 16.6 to release in July, but more importantly, the public betas of iOS…