[Pixabay]

The King’s Bench for Saskatchewan issued a summary judgment on June 8 that could have serious implications for users of messaging services. While they may not necessarily be seen as serious communications, it’s possible for responses to be taken as agreeing to the terms of a contract.

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Spotify has not allowed customers to sign up for a Spotify Premium subscription through the ‌App Store‌ for the last seven years. ‌App Store‌ Spotify subscriptions were in fact only available for a two-year period between 2014 and 2016, but some longtime subscribers have continued to pay for Spotify through the ‌App Store‌ since that time.

In emails to customers, Spotify says that it is no longer accepting Apple’s billing service as a payment method.

“We’re contacting you because when you joined Spotify Premium you used Apple’s billing service to subscribe. Unfortunately, we no longer accept that billing method as a form of payment.”

At the end of the final billing period, Spotify customers who have a subscription through the ‌App Store‌ will have their accounts transitioned to the free ad-supported service. Customers will then need to resubscribe to Premium using the Spotify website.

There is no mechanism for subscribing to Spotify through the Spotify app, as Spotify has restricted signups to its website in order to avoid paying Apple’s fees. “You can’t upgrade to Premium in the app,” reads Spotify’s “Premium” section in its iOS app. “We know, it’s not ideal.” For customers who have been continuing to pay through the ‌App Store‌, Apple has been taking a 15 percent cut, which Spotify no longer wants to pay.

Given that Spotify has not allowed signups through the ‌App Store‌ for multiple years, this change is not likely to impact many Spotify customers.

This article, "Spotify Subscribers No Longer Allowed to Pay Through App Store" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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This guide highlights all of the safety functions that Apple added to ‌iOS 17‌, and it accompanies our iOS 17 privacy and security guide.

Sensitive Content Warnings

With Sensitive Content Warnings, incoming files, videos, and images are scanned on-device and blocked if they contain nudity. It is a function that will put a stop to unsolicited nude photos and similar content.

The opt-in blurring can be applied to images in Messages, AirDrop, Contact Posters for the Phone app, FaceTime messages, and third-party apps. This is separate from the Communication Safety features implemented for children, and is designed for people of all ages.

All nudity will be blocked by default if the feature is enabled, but it can be viewed by tapping on the “Show” button. Sensitive Content Warnings can be enabled in the Settings app.

1. Open up the Settings app.
2. Choose Privacy & Security.
3. Tap on Sensitive Content Warning.
4. Tap to toggle on Sensitive Content Warning.

You can turn on Sensitive Content Warnings for specific services, including AirDrop, Messages, and Video Messages. All detection of images is done on device, and there are Safety Resources that can be accessed.

Messages Check In

Messages Check In is a feature that lets you inform other people when you’re going somewhere so they can keep tabs on you and make sure that you get to that location safely.

It tells a friend or family member your destination and the time that you’re meant to be there, and if you don’t check in at the proper time, they can ping you to see what’s going on and get access to your location in case of emergency. Here’s how to use it:

1. Open up the Messages app.
2. Open the conversation with the person you want to use Check In with.
3. Tap on the “+” button next to the text input bar.
4. Tap on More.
5. Tap on Check In.
6. Tap on Continue.
7. Follow the prompts to start the feature.

With Check In, a friend or family member will be notified of your destination and approximate travel time, with another automatic notification sent when you reach your destination. So if you’re going from a friend’s house to your house late at night, you can set up Check In and your friend will get an alert when you make it home.

If you are not making progress toward your destination, you’ll be prompted and will have 15 minutes to respond on your iPhone. If you don’t respond, your friend will get an alert.

There are two data sharing options for Check In. With “Limited,” current location, details about battery level, and network signal for your ‌iPhone‌ and Apple Watch are shared. With “Full” data selected, all of that information will be shared along with route traveled and location of last ‌iPhone‌ unlock and Apple Watch removal.

Check In requires your friends or family members to be running ‌iOS 17‌.

Communication Safety

Apple last year introduced Communication Safety, an opt-in feature that warns children when sending or receiving photos that contain nudity. It blurs nude photos and provides children with helpful resources and suggests that they get in touch with a trusted adult.

Communication Safety in ‌iOS 17‌ is expanding worldwide, so it will be available in more countries than it was previously. It will be turned on by default for children under the age of 13 who are signed in to their Apple ID and who are part of a Family Sharing group.

Parents can enable it for older teens as well, with the option to turn it on available in the Settings app under Screen Time.

In addition to being available worldwide, Communication Safety’s protections will expand to AirDrop, the systemwide photo picker, ‌FaceTime‌ messages, and third-party apps in addition to the Messages app.

Offline Maps

The Maps app works offline in ‌iOS 17‌, providing access to turn-by-turn directions and information for the area that you’re in even if you do not have a cellular or Wi-Fi connection.

Offline Maps is useful if you’re planning to travel somewhere remote, such as when hiking or traveling in rural areas. Downloading a map can be done by putting in a location, tapping on the “More” button, and then choosing the “Download Map” option.

You can select the size of the area that you want to save, and multiple areas can be downloaded. You can manage Map downloads by opening up the Maps app, tapping on your profile picture, and selecting Offline Maps.

Maps can be updated, deleted, renamed, and resized, and you can download new maps from this interface too. Downloads can be set to automatically update, and there is an option to use offline maps even when a connection is available.

Critical Medication Reminders

The Medications feature in the Health app can send a follow up reminder if you haven’t marked a medication as taken 30 minutes after the initial notification.

Apple also plans to add a Critical Alerts feature for important medications that will appear on the Lock Screen and play a sound even if the ‌iPhone‌ is muted or a Focus mode is turned on.

Read More

More information on the additions in the ‌iOS 17‌ update can be found in our iOS 17 roundup.

This article, "iOS 17: All the Safety Features in the Latest iPhone Update" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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TSMC

Even as TSMC objects to conditions imposed by the US — it effectively has to pay tax twice — it is continuing to invest in Arizona. The first chip fabrication plant there is due to open in 2024, and now the company says it needs the skilled expertise of more Taiwanese staff.

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If you’ve got an active Google account — or especially if you’ve got one you haven’t used in a while — you’ve probably got more apps and services hooked up to your account than you realize. There are all those places where you’ve “signed in with Google,” all those browser extensions you’ve given permissions to, all those add-ons that you’ve installed on top of Gmail and Google Drive, and so on.

While it’s always a good idea to be selective and cautious in choosing which apps and sites get these privileges, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with using your Google account instead of an email address and password combination or in giving another app that may be useful access to your emails or Google storage (depending on the app, of course).

However, when you stop using these third-party apps and services but keep the connections to your Google account in place, you are potentially leaving your data and your account exposed. It’s good security practice to keep the number of apps that can access your Google account down to a minimum — only the ones you fully trust and regularly use. The fewer connections, the safer you are.

Here’s how to find out what apps and services are attached to your Google account and how to remove them.

Using your Google account page

Google’s account management tools are fairly robust. You can access them on the web by going to your Google account page and logging in.

• Click Security from the menu on the left.
• Scroll down the main section to Your connections to third-party apps and services.
• Select See all connections.

You’ll now see a list of everything connected to your Google account — including, probably, a few apps you’d forgotten about.

Checking connected apps and services

Click on any of the entries in the list to see more information about it, including what the app is allowed to do and which Google apps it has access to (Gmail for reading and sending emails, for example). If this is an app that you no longer want to have access to your Google account:

• Select Delete all connections to break the link between the app or service and your Google account, then click Confirm.
• If you need more info first, click on the See details button to find out when the connection to your Google account was first established. From there, you can stop access by clicking the blue button (which will say either Delete connection or Stop using Sign in with Google).

Note that this doesn’t prevent you from using the app and service again in the future: if you load it up again, however, you’ll have to reestablish the connection to your Google account using your password or passkey.

Checking specific apps

On the Third-party apps & services page, just beneath the title that says [number] total apps and services, there are several buttons that will filter which apps you want to check out, including one labeled Access to.

• Click on Access to get a drop-down menu that lists specific Google apps that are being accessed by apps or devices (such as a speaker that uses Google Assistant).
• Click on any of the entries in the list to see more information about it, including what the app is allowed to do.
• Select Delete all connections to break the link between the app or service and your Google account, then click Confirm.

Using your mobile device

You can get to the same screens and options on Android and iOS, too.

On Android:

• Open Settings and tap Google.
• Select Manage your Google Account.
• Switch to the Security tab.
• Scroll down to Your connections to third-party apps & services.

On iOS

• Open the Google app and tap your profile picture (top right).
• Choose Manage your Google Account.
• Open the Security tab.
• Scroll down to Your connections to third-party apps & services.

You can also get to your Google account through the mobile browser on your smartphone: just head to your Google account page and sign in.

From your Google Drive

There’s actually a completely separate list of connected apps and services in your Google Drive account. These are typically plug-ins you’re running on top of Google Drive (perhaps to handle unusual file types) or games and apps that need the cloud storage space.

Head to Google Drive on the web, log into your account, and then:

– Click the cog icon (top right corner).

– Choose Settings from the menu, then Manage apps on the left.

Again, you’ll see a list of connected apps, together with what the app is designed to do and, in some cases, how much storage space its data is using.

• Click Options next to any third-party app to see how you can manage it. (Most Google-created apps will have Options grayed out, although you can unclick the Use by default if you have a different preferred app.)
• Choose Disconnect from Drive to break the connection with your Google Drive account (this typically appears for apps that are still active, and you get the option to delete its data at the same time).
• If an app is grayed out, it’s likely no longer available — you will probably see the message This app no longer has access to Drive beneath it, along with the amount of hidden app data that still remains behind. Click Options and choose Delete hidden app data to remove any associated files.

This is only something you can do on the web — the same screen isn’t available through the Android and iOS apps for Google Drive.

Web browser extensions

Browser extensions work a little differently in that they won’t all have direct access to your Google account, but they may have permission to interact with web apps (such as Gmail and Google Docs) when they’re open in your browser.

For example, a Gmail extension that lets you snooze emails for a certain period doesn’t need permission to log into your Google account but will have permission to interact with your Gmail data when the app is open in a browser tab.

As with full apps and services, keep your list of extensions trimmed down as much as possible to minimize the security risks — ideally, you should only really keep the ones you’re actively using.

Head to the extensions page in your browser of choice to see active extensions and remove them if necessary:

• In Chrome and Edge, click the three dots (top right), then Extensions > Manage Extensions.
• In Firefox, click the three lines (top right), then Add-ons and themes > Extensions.
• In Safari, select Safari > Settings > Extensions to see a list.

]]> https://www.latest-apple-news.com/2023/06/22/how-to-use-passkeys-on-your-iphone-ipad-and-mac/ Thu, 22 Jun 2023 14:56:00 +0000 http://www.latest-apple-news.com/?guid=4830ab2d5b515a697351eb8d7bb98767 Macworld

“Passkey” is the name for a simplified login process to websites that arrived in its full glory later this year with macOS 13 Ventura, iOS 16, and iPadOS 16. A passkey relies on broadly supported industry standards to let you carry out an encrypted login with almost no effort on your part after the initial setup.

You can try a passkey without installing the public betas of these upcoming operating systems, as Apple built passkey support in a preview form into Safari across all its operating systems in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and Safari 15 with macOS 12 Monterey. With the full release of passkeys in a few weeks or months, and Google and Microsoft’s announced support for compatible technology, you’re likely to see options to add a passkey login at many websites this fall.

Here’s how the process works.

Apple IDs

Beginning with iOS 17 and macOS 14 Sonoma, your Apple ID will support passkey authentication. Anywhere you need to sign in with your Apple ID, including websites and icloud.com, you’ll have two options to log in: with a standard password or by pressing the “Continue with Apple” button that will display a QR code that can be scanned with your iPhone’s camera to create the unique code.

Enroll at a website

A passkey comprises a paired set of encryption keys, known generally as public-key cryptography. When you visit a server that supports WebAuthn (the technology required to accept, store, and interact with a passkey), your browser will present the public key of the encryption pair. The public key can’t be used for login but rather to prove your identity: you possess the private key, which is created on your device and never leaves it for a login.

To enroll, you visit a website that offers passkey support. A site might state it supports passkeys generically, say that it has WebAuthn support, or declare that it’s FIDO2, CTAP, or “multi-device FIDO credential” compatible. All of those terms should mean you can use an Apple (or Google or Microsoft) passkey as your login credential. (FIDO2 is the name given by the FIDO Alliance trade group, a key part of making passkeys and WebAuthn happen, and which Apple, Microsoft, and Google are members of.)

The process will work very similarly to when you enroll at a site for two-factor authentication (2FA) or if you have previously used a hardware key for WebAuthn, like those made by Yubico:

1. Log in using your existing username and password.
2. The site may prompt you for additional verification. This might be a link sent via email, a texted code, or a prompt for a 2FA acknowledgment with a code or via an app you already have installed on your iPhone or iPad.
3. The site’s security section lets you choose to use a passkey or one of the alternate names above.
4. The web server pushes a request to your browser to provide encryption information.
5. You’re prompted to approve this request with Touch ID, Face ID, or your device password, depending on what’s available and enabled.
6. If you successfully validate your identity, your device generates the public/private key pair. The private key is stored on your device and never sent to the remote site.
7. Your browser sends the public key along with a cryptographically signed message that the server can validate using the provided public key: only someone whose device holds the private key can produce a verifiable message.
8. The web server stores your public key for your future logins.

Setting up a passkey login may disable 2FA on your account or allow you to opt for a passkey login instead of a 2FA pathway. A passkey provides proof of possession of both a secret and the device on which it’s stored, effectively two factors. (Some higher-security sites and services may still require 2FA instead of or in addition to a passkey.)

You can see the passkey process at work with some of the underlying technical pieces exposed at Webauthn.me, a site made by Auth0, a provider of authentication services. Some production sites currently offer passkey-compatible logins, but they’re fairly few at the moment. You could set a Google or Dropbox account to use a “security key” and use a passkey instead. See below for my experience with that.

Log in with a passkey

At an enrolled site, you can use a stored passkey the next time you need to log in. You might have noticed that many websites have begun to split the user name or account email submission from a password submission–that appears to be prep for passkeys.

With a site fully ready for passkeys, you’ll tap or click in a username or account email field and be prompted by Safari to validate a passkey login. In some cases, Safari may first ask you if you want to allow Touch ID or “security key” logins on the site; click Allow to continue. Then you can authenticate via Touch ID, Face ID, or your device password just as during enrollment. That’s it! Using the Webauthn.me site noted above, you can test this in Step 4 of its process.

With some sites that have WebAuthn support but aren’t yet fully aligned with the simplified passkey process, you may be prompted to perform a normal user name and password login before the site initiates the sequence that asks your browser for a passkey.

I was able to enroll with a passkey at Dropbox by choosing the Security Key option and following the prompts within Safari for macOS. (While logged into Dropbox via Safari, click your avatar in the upper-right corner, click the Security link, and click Add next to “Security keys.” When it asks if you’ve inserted the key, confirm you have.)

Subsequent logins worked in Safari for macOS but not in Safari for iOS, probably because of a lack of iCloud Keychain sync support prior to the release of the new operating systems. In iOS 16, iPadOS 15, and Ventura, with iCloud Keychain enabled, passkeys will sync and be listed in Settings > Passwords in iOS/iPadOS and System Settings > Passwords in Ventura.

Apple will let you share passkeys with other Apple users by securely sending them over AirDrop. This will share both the public and private key and give people the same degree of account access as if you had given them the username, password, and two-factor token for your account.

Login from other devices

Some sites will let you specify a passkey login as your sole method to gain access. So what if you’re trying to log in from a device that doesn’t have your passkey stored, like a communal or family computer, a device at work, or one you have access to while traveling? Or you need to use a Windows system or Android phone to access a site due to features specific to those platforms? Apple demonstrated a clever approach in its introduction to passkeys at the 2022 Worldwide Developer Conference that requires a QR code and Bluetooth.

The process works like this:

1. On a device with an operating system or browser new enough to support WebAuthn logins, when you enter your account name at a website with which you use a passkey.
2. The site will query the browser for a passkey, and the browser will discover it has none. You can then click to provide a passkey via a proxy, such as by clicking “Add a new phone.”
3. The site sends a query that causes the browser to display a QR Code.
4. On your iPhone or iPad, you scan the QR Code and tap the prompt “Sign in with a passkey.”
5. On your device, click Continue and then approve the login with Touch ID, Face ID, or your device password.
6. The browser shows you’re logged in.

Apple

During this process, the device on which the QR Code is displayed and your iPhone or iPad quietly establish a connection via Bluetooth and exchange key information. This lets your device get assurance that the login is happening using a piece of gear that’s nearby to prevent remote attacks, and the Bluetooth backchannel an encrypted channel separate from the browser connection, avoiding phishing attacks that present fake logins.

After you’ve authenticated your login on that other device, your session proceeds as normal. Make sure and log out when you’re done to clear the state.

The future is passkeys

The simplicity of passkeys hides the sophistication. For once, we get both ease, no overhead for managing the process, and the highest possible level of security. Each login is unique, stored for you, and verified in both directions—by your device and by the site—to ensure only the person with access to your device can log into the site.

Internet

Update Screen

This is technically a feature from the first beta, but the update screen now shows more information about beta software. It includes details about joining a beta program and backing up before you install beta software.

App Tips

Various Apple-designed apps are utilizing a tips feature that provides details on available functionality. In the Messages app, for example, there’s a tip about sending a message by talking instead of typing with Siri.

When AirDropping, there’s a suggestion to hold the phone near another phone if you don’t see people nearby.

Location Settings

In the Systems Settings section of the Location privacy options, there is a new “MicroLocation” option. Apple does not explain what this is. App Clips Location Confirmation has disappeared as an option, as has Standby Clock Faces.

Messages Check In

In the Messages section of the Settings app, Apple has changed the wording of the data options for the Check-In feature. Options are now “Full” and “Limited,” rather than “Current location only” and “All locations visited.

Limited data is described as current location and details about battery and network signal, while Full includes all limited data plus route traveled and location of last iPhone unlock and Apple Watch removal.

Music App

Activating Crossfade for Apple Music in the Settings app no longer crashes the Settings app, plus there is a customizable length for the Crossfade feature.

StandBy

There’s now an option to toggle off notifications when in StandBy mode. Notifications classified as “Critical” will be delivered even when the feature is off.

Apple Music Widgets

Some of the ‌Apple Music‌ widgets are now available in different size options.

Other New Features

Find something that we didn’t mention here? Let us know in the comments below.
This article, "Everything New in iOS 17 Beta 2" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Communication Safety first launched in the U.S. with iOS 15.2 in December 2021, and has since expanded to Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the U.K. With the software updates coming later this year, Apple is making the feature available globally.

Communication Safety is designed to warn children when receiving or sending photos that contain nudity in the Messages app. Apple is expanding the feature on iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma to cover video content, and it will also work for AirDrop content, FaceTime video messages, and Contact Posters in the Phone app.

When the feature is enabled, photos and videos containing nudity are automatically blurred in supported apps, and the child will be warned about viewing sensitive content. The warning also provides children with ways to get help. Apple is making a new API available that will allow developers to support Communication Safety in their App Store apps.

Apple says Communication Safety uses on-device processing to detect photos and videos containing nudity, ensuring that Apple and third parties cannot access the content, and that end-to-end encryption is preserved in the Messages app.

iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma will be released later this year. The updates are currently available in beta for users with an Apple developer account.

This article, "iOS 17 Expands Communication Safety Worldwide, Turned On by Default" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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The other day, I was going through a bag full of old tech — I mean, really old tech — trying to convince myself to finally get rid of phones that I hadn’t used for 10 years or so when I came across a battery. One of the batteries that I used to carry around in case my phone ran out of juice.

You see, once upon a time, smartphones had replaceable batteries. Instead of having to carry around a portable charger or search desperately for a wall socket so you could charge up your failing phone (assuming you had a power cord with you), you could pull off the back of your phone, replace the out-of-power battery with a fully charged one, and proceed happily on your way.

However, at some point, manufacturers (and, perhaps, most consumers) decided that they wanted their smartphones as light and slim as possible — so slim that there was no room for a battery that wasn’t glued into place. They also wanted to add water and dust resistance, and that’s a lot harder to accomplish with a device that easily opens. So slowly but surely, the replaceable battery disappeared, and we all learned to carry around chargers or cords for just-in-case scenarios (especially if your phone’s battery was starting to age).

I have to admit that the first time I bought a phone without a replaceable battery, I felt a little peeved. It was probably akin to what a music enthusiast feels purchasing a phone with great audio but without an audio jack — you can adjust to the change, but you wish you didn’t have to.

Now, however, there’s a chance that one day, I may be able to adjust back. Back in 2020, there was a proposal by the European Parliament for new laws concerning the regulations of batteries, which included a clause that demanded “Portable batteries incorporated in appliances shall be readily removable and replaceable by the end-user or by independent operators during the lifetime of the appliance.” (Other regulations concerned batteries for various vehicles and industries.) In September 2022, the EU reached a provisional agreement to move forward with those laws. And on June 14th, 2023, the European Parliament approved it, sending out a press release explaining that portable batteries must be designed “in such a way that consumers can themselves easily remove and replace them” (emphasis theirs).

Huh.

A final vote is still upcoming, but considering that this month’s approval was passed with 587 votes in favor, nine against, and 20 abstentions, I would say that this is pretty much a done deal. The part about batteries being replaceable goes into force three and a half years after the final vote.

What this means is that, in a few short years, any phone sold in Europe will have to be designed so that its battery can be replaced by the person who owns it. And that any manufacturer who does business in Europe will have to decide whether they want to create completely different phone models to fit that market — or come up with phones that can be sold in other parts of the world as well. Like the US.

Since this news hit, there has been a lot of discussion about the exact interpretation of the phrase “readily removable and replaceable.” Kevin Purdy makes some good points in his Ars Technica article in which he notes that batteries are actually replaceable now if you have the know-how (and courage) to get through the adhesives holding your phone together and holding your battery into the phone. Of course, it’s a little hard to argue that this would qualify as “readily removable” by the typical user. But what does? Using specialized instruments to get at the battery — so that “replaceable” means putting in a new, semi-permanent battery? Simply unscrewing the back of the phone? Or going back to the way it was and just prying it out with your fingernail?

I have to admit that I’m very curious as to how this will pan out. Odds are, it will probably look different than the replaceable batteries we had 15 years ago. It’s more likely to be about extending the longevity of your device, not getting a few extra hours of use before needing to recharge. Still, I like to daydream about once again being able to shrug and swap a battery in under a minute when my phone is running low on power. I could get used to that again.

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