Apple has released the third iOS 11 public beta for iPhone and iPad. This allows users who are not registered developers to test pre-release versions of iOS with new features for free. In terms of stability, the same warnings apply to any pre-release software: apps may crash, battery life won’t be optimal, and expect performance to be sluggish. Still tempted to try the iOS 11 public beta? Check out our guide for how to install the iOS 11 public beta on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch here....

Apple has published its latest Transparency Report covering government and private party requests for data from January 1 to June 30, 2020. This report reveals how many requests were made for user data around the world, and how many with which Apple could comply. As first reported by TechCrunch’s Zack Whittaker, this latest Transparency Report shows a year-over-year decline in requests for data. In the first half of 2020, Apple received 28,276 device requests covering 171,368 devices....

At its September media event Apple showed off the new iTunes 11, software complete with a redesigned player, new mini player, redesigned store, preview history, iCloud integration, and more. Apple promised the new iTunes was going to be released during October, however, an Apple spokesperson speaking to CNET just announced that Apple has delayed iTunes 11 until November in order “to get it right.” Many of you may remember that iTunes Match was also delayed last fall....

One analyst has a suggestion for how Apple could put pressure on Google: acquire DuckDuckGo. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi says that an acquisition of privacy-focused DuckDuckGo would allow Apple to put pressure on Google and tap into lucrative advertising revenue. According to Sacconaghi, Apple should acquire DuckDuckGo for around $1 billion as a way to put more pressure on Google and capture the advertising revenue that comes from the search industry....

$AAPL stock has opened below $100 in the first minutes of trading, erasing any gains since October 2014. Apple’s stock officially opened at $95.12 but has corrected slightly upwards since to circa $101. The fall in share price saw Apple’s market capitalization lose about $60 billion dollars in value today. Although any fall in price is bad news for the company, the 7% fall should not be taken at face value....

Following the release of iOS 14.4 last week, Apple today stopped signing iOS 14.3. That means users who have updated their devices to iOS 14.4 can no longer downgrade to iOS 14.3. iOS 14.4 brought changes to the Camera app, bug fixes for keyboard input lag, and it also includes support for the new Apple Watch Unity watch faces. Prior to that, iOS 14.3 was released in December 2020 with Apple ProRAW for iPhone 12 Pro users, as well as support for AirPods Max and Apple Fitness+ service....

Apple’s official Apple Store app for iOS sees an update today with further Touch ID support and the ability to check local iPhone stock availability. Users will also be able to look into Apple ID account settings using Touch ID. Previously when users wanted to complete purchases with Touch ID, they needed to have cards configured within Wallet. Today’s update allows buyers to checkout using the card on file for their Apple ID....

Apple is set to give its retail employees a services perk for the new year. The company will giveaway Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade for free to employees starting in January. Apple retail stores currently feature large advertising campaigns for Apple Arcade, including preloading Arcade titles on the demo iPads and Macs, but the company has been more restrained on retail placement for TV+ thus far. The freebie will help Apple retail store sales staff learn about Apple’s slate of services and make it easier for them to explain Apple’s offerings to customers....

Customers all over the world are now receiving shipment alerts for their shiny new Apple product orders. We have seen shipping notifications for iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, as well as Apple Watch Series 4. Whilst there is less hype this year for the new iPhones compared to the drastically redesigned iPhone X generation last year, it’s nevertheless exciting to see the final stepping-stones fall into place ahead of the Friday, 21 September launch....

The wizards over at iFixit tore down the new 27-inch Apple Thunderbolt Display which has two Thunderbolt ports that let you hook up the display to a Thunderbolt-equipped Mac and have the display’s USB, FireWire and Gigabit Ethernet ports at disposal, all via a single $49 Thunderbolt cable. iFixit “were struck” by the Thunderbolt Display’s ease of disassembly. Inside, they found a lot of chips that support a plethora of ports on the back....

Last week, Apple briefly allowed people who wanted to order a new iPhone 5s to purchase the device via its online store (or Apple Store app) and pick it up at their local Apple Retail Store. However, after just one day, the feature was retracted. Apple did not reply to a request for comment regarding why the service was made available then quickly removed, but we speculate that it was due to two factors: a general lack of iPhone 5s supply and Apple’s want to save as much iPhone 5s inventory for customers that walk into stores wanting to buy a new iPhone 5s....

Great news from Cupertino, California: The wait is finally over. After nearly four months of extensive public testing, bug squashing, teeth gnashing and under-the-hood tweaking, Apple today released the final consumer version of iOS 5, a major and most ambitious upgrade to its mobile operating system yet. Note: iOS 5 may not be available for some users yet as usually these things take a while to propagate thoughout all regional iTunes stores....

Earlier this week we saw Apple Pay add another 30 banks across the United States, and today Apple’s digital wallet gains support for online bank Chime. Similar to Ally and Simple, Chime has no physical banks and instead relies on its website and mobile apps for supporting customers. Chime’s support for Apple Pay works through bank issued Visa debit cards. After setting up Apple Pay with Chime, customers can use supported iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches to make payments in stores and in apps when available....

POS service Clover is out today with a neat new solution for quick and secure payments at restaurants that leverages QR codes and Apple Pay. “Scan to Pay” lets customers seamlessly pay on iPhone without having to download an app or hand over their cards to servers. And the feature sounds like a win for restaurant owners and employees with tables turning faster and more. Clover announced Scan to Pay in a press release today with the tagline “Let them dine ‘n dash....

In addition to a going live in Canada and adding two more banks in the UK, Apple Pay has seen a giant expansion of new bank partners in the United States today as well. If you’re still waiting for your bank to work with Apple Pay so you can use the mobile payment service, check the list below to see the latest: Acme Federal Credit Union Alpine Bank Alpine Credit Union Altier Credit Union American 1 Credit Union American Trust and Savings Bank Ashland Credit Union Augusta Metro Federal Credit Union Avidia Bank Bank Independent Bank of New Hampshire Bay Area Credit Union Broadway National Bank Calumet Bank Camden National Bank CapCom Credit Union Calumet Bank (removed) Century Bank & Trust Citizens Bank of Edmond Citizens Bank of Washington County Citywide Banks CoastHills Credit Union Commercial Banking Company Community Bank NA Decatur Earthmover Credit Union EverBank F&M Bank Farmers State Bank First Atlantic Federal Credit Union First Citizens Ban First Command Bank First Commerce Credit Union First Florida Integrity Bank First National Bank & Trust Co....

Thirteen days after the first developer beta, Apple has released iOS 11.3 beta 2 for registered developers to test on iPhone and iPad. We’ll dig in to the new version and detail changes below. 4 new Animoji on iPhone X: Lion, Skull, Bear, and and Dragon ARKit 1.5 with support for vertical surfaces like walls, irregular shaped surfaces like circular tables, support for auto-focus, and 50% higher resolution Business Chat for iMessage in beta with Discover, Hilton, Lowe’s and Wells Fargo on board Health Records in Health app automatically updated from select partners More prominent music video features in Apple Music HomeKit software authentication without chip certification Advanced Mobile Location for sending your location to emergency services when calling from iPhone Messages in iCloud New privacy page during setup (photo incoming) and a new Privacy icon in Settings (gray becomes blue) Splash screen for Messages in the Cloud, backup can be disabled in Settings iBooks is now just Books App Store lists version number and update size on Updates screen App Store following text size Hello, Feedback app… Apple TV shows up in Home app with tvOS 11....

Apple has released the second iOS 12 public beta for iPhone and iPad. The new version follows iOS 12 developer beta 3 which was released earlier this week. iOS 12 public beta 2 is the same build version as the latest developer beta version which means GPS and CarPlay bugs should be resolved. Apple has also released the second tvOS 12 and macOS Mojave public betas. The latest iOS 12 beta version also includes a redesigned Voice Memos user interface on iPad, new Activity stickers in Messages, Low Power Mode indicators for battery stats, and several minor tweaks to Notification Center....

After three years without a substantial update and several months of teasing and promoting, Apple has finally announced that tomorrow it will begin selling the newly designed and more powerful Mac Pro it first showed off at WWDC back in June. (Full press release below.) The road was certainly not rapid between update cycles with two years of nary a word on whether or not the Mac Pro line had any life left in it and a full year of teasing and promoting the 2013 model being released tomorrow....

Following a recent ruling that Apple would have ten days to remove the anonymous social app Secret from its Brazilian App Store, Apple has complied with the order. The justification for the removal, according to a source close to the situation, can be found in section 22.1 of the App Store Guidelines: As noted by the judge, the Brazilian constitution prohibits anonymous freedom of expression, which essentially makes Secret and other apps like it illegal with that country....

According to a report today from SemiAccurate, a semi-accurate site that has been hit and miss on Apple rumors in the past, Apple has just bought into a chip fab plant, backing up recent rumors that the company could be moving to build its own CPUs. The full report remains behind a paywall, so it’s unclear if the site mentions a specific company that Apple has bought into. The tags for the report, however, do list “UMC”, a hint that the company in question could be Taiwan-based chipmaker United Microelectronics Corporation…...