The iPhone Apple Store app has been updated over-the-air today to offer a free iBook download to customers. The book is Away in My Airplane by Margaret Wise Brown. According to a note sent to Apple retail employees today, the free book download is meant for employees to have context when discussing and pushing the iBooks app and iBookstore to customers. As we reported last month, Apple will be pushing free content to the Apple Store app in order to entice customers to download the app....

As part of the iOS 14.5 beta, it appears Apple is testing new ways to monetize the App Store. Building on the existing App Store Search Ads program, users are now seeing a new sponsored ad slot appearing on the Search tab as a “suggested” item. Previously, Apple only showed ads in the App Store when users searched for an app with advertisers bidding on keywords, similar to Google Search ads....

Apple TV on Google TV The new Apple TV app for Google TV does everything as you’d expect. From playing your library of content purchased from Apple to access to the Apple TV Plus streaming service. Apple TV Plus includes original programs like The Morning Show, For All Mankind, and Ted Lasso. And movies like Greyhound starring Tom Hanks and Palmer starring Justin Timberlake. In the announcement, Google exec Jonathan Zepp writes: The Apple TV app experience is similar to owning an actual Apple TV....

In the notice, Apple notes that Mac Pros manufactured between February 8, 2015 and April 11, 2015 are eligible for repairs due to issues with the machine’s graphics cards that “may cause distorted video, no video, system instability, freezing, restarts, shut downs, or may prevent system start up.” Apple goes into a bit more detail about the symptoms eligible for repair: Distorted or scrambled video on the external display No video on the external display even though the computer is on Computer freezes or restarts unexpectedly Computer will not start up Apple has instructed staff and authorized service providers to fix eligible Mac Pros showing signs of graphics issues at no charge to the customer....

Apple has released the second developer beta version of iOS 10.2 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. iOS 10.2 includes several upcoming features like new Unicode 9.0 emoji, three new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus wallpapers, additional camera features, and more. iOS 10.2 will be released to everyone in the future, and a free public beta program is available for non-developers. These are the initial changes discovered in iOS 10....

Four days after the last iOS 12 beta for developers, Apple has released an updated build. iOS 12 developer beta 11 is now available. iOS 12 public beta 9 is also available. While we don’t expect any noticeable changes at this point in the process, we’ll update and look out for any changes. iOS 12 includes several significant changes for iPhone and iPad including performance improvements, especially on older devices; ARKit 2....

Apple has just released the second beta of iOS 8.2 to developers, for testing, as an over-the-air update. The beta can also be downloaded from Apple’s developer site. iOS 8.2 includes WatchKit, so developers can create apps and Glances for Apple Watch. You can read about how such apps work with our previous coverage of the WatchKit APIs. Apple released the first beta of iOS 8.2 a few weeks ago....

Following an extensive developer beta process, Apple has just released OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 to end users. The update brings a few new features and enhancements, including: FaceTime Audio in the FaceTime and Messages apps Contact blocking for FaceTime and iMessage Mail app improvements Autofill fixes for Safari Audio fixes VPN fixes VoiceOver fixes The release notes do not make mention of the SSL security bug that was squashed on iOS late last week, but a fix is present in this new OS X update....

There has been a recent upswell in complaints from AirPods Pro owners that their earphones aren’t quite working as well as they did when they first got them. One such issue making waves on the Apple forums is that users are noticing crackling noises coming from their earbuds. This week, Apple has released a couple of support articles that specifically mention troubleshooting steps to try, for users experiencing issues with Active Noise Cancellation or if they are hearing crackling/static noises....

With the launch of the latest iPad model, Apple debuted its own SIM card that allows users to choose between three different cell carriers and change service on-the-fly. Rumors that such a card could be included in the next iPhone appeared almost immediately, and now a new report confirms that Apple is in talks with cellular carriers and other handset makers to bring this type of system to all cell phones....

Apple issued an email notice to developers today, informing them it has been able to resolve an issue with faulty code signing certificates. The company’s update on developer certificates reads as follows (hat tip to our reader Jan!): This could be the reason for this morning’s outage over at the Apple Developer Center portal. A quick look at recent posts on Apple Developer Forums reveals that programmers have experienced various issues with faulty code signing certificates since Friday....

Over the past day or so, Bloomberg reported that some of Apple’s servers were compromised by way of a third-party implementing micro chips, and sending data back to China. Apple came back with a strong response noting that it was never made aware of such accusations nor did it have any ongoing investigations with the FBI or law enforcement. Apple’s recently retired general counsel, Bruce Sewell, has today chimed in (via Reuters) on the debacle and says that he was also not aware of any sort of investigations....

Every time an app is closed, iOS takes a screenshot. When the app is started back up the screenshot is briefly shown while the real app loads in the background. To anyone using this system it will just appear like the app instantly loads, but in reality it is a splash of a screenshot that hides the actual loading. It’s really quite clever, and the feature is hidden well enough that most people don’t even think about it....

Apple subsidiary FileMaker has announced a new version of their flagship software product, FileMaker 12, with new database creation tools and themes. The Mac version of FileMaker 12 gain improved 64 bit support as well as wide area network support, enhance support for large databases, and add fast file and multimedia-content streaming. Database and project creation are now easier and faster with new and more intuitive themes on the Mac. The most important addition to the product is its more streamlined interface for creating interfaces that run on iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches....

Apple has today confirmed the 70 new emoji that will be coming to iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac this fall. Announced in a newsroom post, Apple shared details about the new set of emoji that will become available to users with Unicode 11. As detailed by Emojipedia earlier this year, Unicode 11 means a total 2,832 emoji (including all variants) will be available. Apple highlighted the diversity of options today....

With every new major version of macOS comes a new codename. Since 2013, versions of macOS have been named after beautiful places in California. So far, we’ve had: Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, and Big Sur. It’s fun to speculate what upcoming versions might be called, but Apple has quietly and consistently left a trail of breadcrumbs that make it easier to decipher what a release could be named....

Apple has just released the first iOS 8.4 beta, which includes Apple’s upcoming revamped Music app. The seed for developers is available via the Apple Developer Center website. As we reported earlier this year, iOS 8.4 includes an all new Music application. The new software design is present in this beta, while Apple is expected to announce the streaming service component in June at WWDC. Here are the release notes from Apple for the new app:...

During the company’s Q1 2017 earnings call today, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced some new milestones for Apple Pay. The company also confirmed that Comcast would soon begin accepting Apple Pay on the web for bill payments. The Comcast news came alongside some stats for Apple Pay and other services shared by the company today. Cook confirmed that the number of Apple Pay users has tripled over the last year while noting billions in transactions during the December quarter alone....

While Apple today released iOS 13.5, iPadOS 13.5 and tvOS 13.4.5 for all users, macOS Catalina 10.15.5 is still in beta, as the company has just launched the fifth beta of macOS 10.15.5 to developers. The biggest change in macOS Catalina 10.15.5 is a new Battery Health Management feature. According to Apple, the new feature reduces the rate at which the battery chemically ages by monitoring the battery’s temperature history and its charging patterns....

Apple today has released the fifth beta of macOS Mojave 10.14.6 to developers. Today’s update comes one week after Apple released beta four of the operating system to developers. macOS Mojave 10.14.6 does not feature any notable changes or improvements, and instead focuses on bug fixes and performance boosts. You can download the latest beta using the Software Update feature in System Preferences. Apple is also beta testing iOS 12.4, likely to be released sooner rather than later....