iOS 10

Apple releases beta 4 of iOS 10.2, watchOS 3.1.1 & macOS Sierra 10.12.2 to developers

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 28, 2016

Apple on Cyber Monday seeded new beta downloads to its registered developers who are enrolled in the Apple Developer Program. If you're a developer, iOS 10.2 beta 4 (build 14C82), watchOS 3.1.1 beta 4 (build 14S879) and macOS Sierra 10.12.2 beta 4 (build 16C53a) are now readily available as standalone downloads through the company's portal for developers or as over-the-air downloads on devices with a prior beta and an appropriate configuration profile.

How’s your battery life after updating your iPhone to iOS 10.1.1?

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 28, 2016

Many people are complaining about poor battery life after deploying the latest iOS 10.1.1 software update on their iPhone, which released for public consumption on October 31 and squashed bugs where Health data couldn't be viewed for some users.

Aside from this, it seems that iOS 10.1.1 is also causing some iPhones to shut down abruptly when the battery charge falls below a certain percentage, according to a thread on Apple’s support forums that at post time had thirteen pages.

Notifications10 brings iOS 10 style notification banners to jailbroken devices

Anthony Bouchard ∙ November 24, 2016

A ton of people are sticking with their jailbroken iOS 9 devices, but are drooling over the new features and interface changes in iOS 10. Fortunately, a new jailbreak tweak called Notifications10 can help bring some of the iOS 10 look and feel to your jailbroken iPhone.

Notifications10, as the name suggests, brings iOS 10-style notification bubbles and banners to your jailbroken iOS 9 device.

DirecTV gains Single Sign-On support in iOS 10.2 and tvOS 10.1 betas

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 22, 2016

Single Sign-On, a feature that remembers and uses your cable/satellite logins across compatible video apps for the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple TV, was originally promised months ago and should finally go live alongside public releases of iOS 10.2 and tvOS 10.1 next month.

As noted by MacRumors, AT&T's DirecTV service is now being listed as a Single Sign-On compatible app alongside the previously listed compatible providers: Dish, Sling TV, Hotwire and GVTC Communications.

Know the Calculator app in iOS 10

Steffen Reich ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

Apple’s Calculator app is one of those stock offerings largely flying under the radar for its soberness. It is somewhat overlooked, but then again can be a lifesaver at times. For those who need to crunch numbers on a more regular basis it is presumably nothing but an emergency fill-in, when for the rest of us it definitely more than cuts the mustard for everyday computations.

On the back of such a broad user base with varying skill sets, it goes without saying that there is a large discrepancy in expertise and knowledge about the calculator app itself.

The fact you can still elicit the occasional gasp from an unknowing iPhone user, just by rotating the interface to landscape mode says a lot about the relevance of calculator to many. Yes, it is mostly a plain calculator representation, but Apple did implement more knacks than first meet the eye. Novice or professional, if you are keen to boost your productivity in calculator, continue reading to find out if you are up to speed on the following tricks:

Twitter for iPhone and iPad gains support for rich notifications on iOS 10

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 18, 2016

Twitter for iPhone and iPad, a free download from the App Store, now supports rich notifications on iOS 10 that come complete with embedded images and the usual options for interacting with tweets without having to open the app.

Pressing a rich Twitter notification on the Lock screen or in the Notification Center with 3D Touch pulls up an expanded view of the tweet with an enlarged image thumbnail, along with the usual options such as Like and Retweet.

iOS 10 found to store call logs for up to 4 months, Apple explains

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 17, 2016

iOS 10's been found to upload missed call logs from apps like WhatsApp and Skype to servers, as well as near-real time FaceTime call logs—even if iCloud backup has been turned off, according to a Russian company called Elcomsoft which makes iPhone forensic tools aimed at law enforcement agencies.

Elcomsoft CEO Vladimir Katalov suspects in an interview with Forbes that this is most likely a result of iOS 10's expanded scope of call logging due to the new CallKit framework which was designed to make VoIP calls from apps like Viber, WhatsApp and Skype behave like cellular calls and integrate with Phone's Recents and Favorites.

According to Apple itself, call log syncing through iCloud is a convenient feature that elevates user experience by allowing customers to easily return calls from VoIP apps.

How Apple can get users to connect with Apple Music’s Connect

Steffen Reich ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

Apple’s Connect service, the company's own aspiring social component to Apple Music, has visibly taken a back seat in iOS 10. In its original conception, Connect was resourceful and prominently placed in Music. Fast forward one year and you would be forgiven for thinking that Apple’s network for musicians and their followers had been as good as abandoned over night.

While we know that such is not the case just yet, Connect has undergone cosmetic changes with iOS 10 that have arguably ousted the service to a place now pretty much neighbouring on irrelevance. It's the consequence of a succession of ill-advised calls. Name-giving aside, Apple should have also known better when it comes to launching a barren product offer centre stage inside an app as meaningful as Music. Connect was not engaging or relevant in 2015, and as a result it went unsung in 2016. Is it too late or could an Apple still turn the ship around?

EmojiSuggest brings iOS 10-like emoji suggestions to the predictive keyboard

Anthony Bouchard ∙ November 11, 2016

One of the cool new features of iOS 10 is the ability to input Emojis through the predictive row at the top of the keyboard that tries to guess what you're trying to say before you say it.

When you express certain words, iOS 10 will recommend Emojis to communicate the word instead, and a new free jailbreak tweak called EmojiSuggest brings this functionality to jailbroken iOS 9 devices as well.

“Hey Siri, send Sébastien $100 using PayPal”

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 10, 2016

PayPal's iPhone and iPad application was updated on the App Store this morning with support for iOS 10's SiriKit integration for mobile payments, allowing you to send and request money in 30 countries around the world using just your voice.

With a simple voice command like “Send $20 to Dad using PayPal” or “Request $20 from John with PayPal”, Siri connects with the PayPal service and pulls up a custom sheet with details of your transaction before you authorize it.

Apple posts iOS 10.1.1 with build number “14B150”

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 9, 2016

A little more than a week following the public release of iOS 10.1.1 with bug fixes for Health data, Apple on Wednesday published a slightly revised build of the software update.

The Cupertino company admittedly has a good reason for replacing the existing iOS 10.1.1 installer on its servers with another one that shows a slightly bumped up build number.

We'll update the article when we learn more.

The new build of iOS 10.1.1 arrived two days after iOS 10.2 beta 2 was seeded to developers and less than 24 hours after its accompanying public beta launched.

iOS 10.2 brings Emergency SOS feature from the Apple Watch to your iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 9, 2016

The potentially life-saving Emergency SOS feature which debuted on the Apple Watch with the release of watchOS 3 this fall is coming soon to your iPhone via a forthcoming iOS 10.2 software update. As my colleague Cody pointed out, Emergency SOS is now available on an iPhone with iOS 10.2 beta 2. Here's a quick overview of Emergency SOS on the iPhone, how it's invoked and what happens when you use it.