Apple has moved on to a new round of developer beta testing for iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and related updates, and the public beta program open to everyone should be kicking off very soon. The next iPhone launch is also just two months away now, and we're continuing to hear rumors about what to expect from the next-generation models, while we've heard more this week about a rumored iPhone SE 4 and an upcoming external Mac monitor that could double as a smart home display. Finally, Meta this week launched its Twitter competitor known as Threads, and it's seen rapid uptake thanks to its integration with Instagram. Read on for all the details on this week's biggest stories! Everything New…

Many iOS apps have been adding Live Activities since the release of iOS 16 last year. With this feature, apps can show real-time useful information right from the Lock Screen or Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro. Now Instagram is taking advantage of this feature to show upload progress in the background to users when they close the app. more… The post Instagram testing Live Activities in its iPhone app to show upload progress in background appeared first on 9to5Mac.

One of the more… interesting discoveries yesterday is that there’s no way to delete your Threads account without also deleting your Instagram one. After widespread objections to this, the company now says that it is “looking into a way to delete your Threads account separately” … more… The post You will later be able to delete your Threads account w/o losing Instagram appeared first on 9to5Mac.

Twitter appears to be unhappy with the runaway success of Threads, Meta's Twitter alternative that launched last night. Threads has amassed more than 30 million users in under 24 hours, making it the biggest threat to Twitter to date. According to Semafor, Twitter lawyer Alex Spiro yesterday sent Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg a letter [PDF] accusing Meta of "systemic, willful, and lawful misappropriation of Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property." Twitter claims that Meta hired "dozens" of former Twitter employees that "had and continue to have access to Twitter's trade secrets and other highly confidential information." The company further says that the employees "improperly retained Twitter documents and electronic devices," and that Meta took advantage of this to have…

Apple today updated its Shazam music recognition app to allow it to recognize and identify songs that are playing in third-party apps like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. According to Apple, users can open up Shazam, tap the blue button, and switch back to the app that was in use to see what's playing. The Shazam app engages the iPhone's microphone to hear the song, and it is able to listen while the other app is in use. After a few seconds, the song will be identified and swapping back to Shazam will show the song name and information. It is simpler to use the built-in Song Recognition feature in the ‌iPhone‌'s Control Center to identify a song. With Song Recognition,…

Ever want to look up or tag a song you discovered in another app? Apple just dropped an update to Shazam that makes this possible. Starting today, Shazam can now identify music playing in other apps including TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. more… The post Apple updates Shazam with song recognition in TikTok and YouTube appeared first on 9to5Mac.