What’s New in iOS 10.3: Find My AirPods, APFS File System, New Apple ID Setting and More

Released this morning, iOS 10.3 is the third major update to the iOS 10 operating system. Its main feature is a new “Find My AirPods” mode for locating lost AirPods, but the update also includes many other smaller changes and feature tweaks.

There’s a new profile option in the Settings app, iCloud usage is broken down more clearly, SiriKit has been updated to include bill paying functionality, and there’s a new file system implemented when first installing iOS 10.3. Check out the video below for a quick rundown on all the new features introduced in iOS 10.3, and make sure to read the rest of the post for even more detail.

App animation – Apple has tweaked the animation for opening and closing apps very slightly. As they open, apps now have more rounded edges, a difference that’s noticeable on apps that open slowly.

Old animation on left, new animation on right
Apple ID Settings profile – There’s a new “Apple ID” profile option that’s displayed at the top of the Settings app. It shows all Apple ID info, including all devices you’re signed into, and it has links to iCloud, iTunes & App Store, and Family Sharing. All of these options used to be listed under an “iCloud” setting.

iCloud storage breakdown – In the iCloud section of the new Apple ID Settings feature, there’s a visual breakdown of how iCloud storage space is being used. It’s more immediately clear how much space photos or iCloud backups are using. Tapping on the new storage option opens the standard iCloud management options. This section also lists all apps that use iCloud and includes the settings for Keychain, Find My iPhone, and iCloud Backup.

Find My AirPods – Find My AirPods is a new option available in the “Find My iPhone” app. It keeps track of the last known location where AirPods were connected to an iOS device over Bluetooth, making a misplaced AirPod easier to find. It also allows users to play a sound to locate a lost AirPod. It does not work when the AirPods are in the case and its functionality is somewhat limited because AirPods have no connection of their own.

SiriKit – SiriKit, the iOS 10 feature that lets third-party apps access Siri, is being updated with new features that will let Siri be used to pay bills, check on the status of payments, and schedule future rides from services like Uber.

CarPlay – CarPlay has been updated with shortcuts for launching the most recently used apps and the location of EV charging stations.

Maps – In the Maps app, there’s now an option to 3D Touch on the weather icon to see a weather forecast and other weather-related details for your current location.

HomeKit – HomeKit has gained support for programmable light switches.

Apple File System – When installing iOS 10.3, the iPhone’s file system will be updated to use Apple File System (APFS). Apple recommends making a backup before downloading the new update. Announced at WWDC last year, APFS is optimized for Flash/SSD storage and includes features like strong encryption, space sharing, copy-on write metadata, cloning for files and directories, snapshots, and more.

App icons (developer) – Developers will be able to update the icons for their apps at any time, with an update no longer required to push out new icon artwork.

Analytics – The “Diagnostics and Usage” option in the Privacy section of the Settings app has been renamed to “Analytics” in iOS 10.3. It continues to allow users to decide whether or not to send usage information to Apple to help the company improve its services. There’s also a new “Share iCloud Analytics” section that allows analytics of usage and data from an iCloud account. Apple uses differential privacy to protect user information.

iPad keyboard – Hidden in iOS 10.3 is a setting for a one-handed floating iPad keyboard layout that can be used on a 9.7-inch or smaller iPad. The feature, discovered by developer Steve Troughton-Smith, is not currently available.

iOS 10.3 is currently only available for developers, but Apple will likely release a public beta for public beta testers in the near future. iOS 10.3 will likely remain in testing for a couple months before it sees a public release, so it could launch in March or April.

Related Roundup: iOS 10
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Apple CEO Tim Cook Cashes in Another $3.6 Million in Stock

Apple CEO Tim Cook sold an additional 30,000 shares of Apple stock over the course of the last few days, according to a disclosure shared by the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission.

Based on the Apple’s stock price of $120 to $120.41 at the time of the transaction, the sale, conducted as scheduled based on Cook’s trading plan adopted back in August of 2015, netted Apple’s CEO approximately $3.6 million.

Tim Cook also divested 30,000 Apple shares last week, so he’s received a total of $7.2 million in 2017 thus far. Following this week’s transaction, Cook continues to own just under 100,000 shares of Apple stock, valued at more than $117 million based on Apple’s current stock price.

In early January, an SEC filing revealed Cook earned just $8.7 million in 2016, down from $10.28 million in 2015. Cook and other Apple executives only received 89.5 percent of cash incentives during the year due to Apple’s failure to meet its target performance goals for net sales and operating income.

Cook’s 2016 salary was, however, supplemented by the vesting of previously awarded stock bonuses worth approximately $137 million, tied to Cook’s tenure and Apple’s performance under his leadership.

Tag: Tim Cook
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Hands-On With the New Night Shift Mode in macOS Sierra 10.12.4

macOS Sierra 10.12.4, seeded to developers this morning, introduces a major new feature: Night Shift for the Mac.

First introduced for iOS devices in iOS 9.3, Night Shift is designed to gradually shift the display of a device from a blue tint to a more yellow tint during the evening, cutting down on exposure to blue light. A quick overview of how Night Shift works on the Mac can be seen in the video below.

Night Shift can be toggled on and off using the new Night Shift switch located in the Today section of the Notification Center.

Preferences for Night Shift are available in the Displays section of System Preferences. In this section, users can schedule Night Shift to come on at sunset and turn off at sunrise or set a custom Night Shift schedule. There’s also a manual toggle and an option to change the color temperature of the display.

Night Shift-style functionality has previously been available on Macs through the popular and well-known f.lux software, but it will be a built-in feature in macOS Sierra in 10.12.4, eliminating the need for a third-party app. F.lux continues to offer a bit more customization, however, with the option to turn it off on a per-app basis.

macOS Sierra 10.12.4 is only available to developers at the current time, but it should be made available to public beta testers in the near future. It will likely be beta tested for at least a month or two prior to release, so expect to see the update in March or April.

Related Roundup: macOS Sierra
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‘Pokémon Duel’ brings Pikachu and friends to iOS, Android today

Pokémon Go has a new friend on mobile today: Pokémon Duel is available now, for free, on Android and iOS devices, courtesy of The Pokémon Company International.

Pokémon Duel is a strategy title that plays more like a board game than a traditional Pokémon experience. Players build a party of six Pokémon and move them across a playing field dotted with spaces where the creatures can attack, flank or block their opponents’ adorable armies. The first player to reach the enemy’s goal wins.

The Pokémon are designed like amiibo figurines, rather than animated pets, and players are still able to collect ’em all. Each character has unique abilities and a set number of steps it can take per turn. When a Pokémon lands on a space next to an enemy, the duel begins: Spin the Data Disk to determine which attacks your character will use. Plus, use a special plate at the beginning of each turn to power up your Pokémon in different ways.

Pokémon Duel can be played against real people in the online League Match mode or solo against the game’s AI.

The more you play, the more powerful Pokémon you’ll encounter. Plus, there’s a crafting mechanic that allows players to level up their creatures and improve their Data Disks as the game rolls on.

Pokémon Duel is free, but it includes some in-app purchase options. You can buy Time Boosters that grant you Pokémon and plates, or purchase specific plates directly. It’s also possible to use Gems to open Boosters and purchase items from the game’s shop — earn Gems each day you play Pokémon Duel or by completing daily missions. Of course, you can always buy Gems outright.

Source: Pokemon Duel

Final Android Wear 2.0 Developer Preview arrives, ready for developers to upload apps

App developers only have a handful of days left to get their apps ready for launch.

Google has just released the final Android Wear 2.0 Developer Preview leading up to its official release, which is rumored to be February 9. This final preview puts some final polish on the software, and signals to developers that it’s time to submit their apps targeting the upcoming release to the Play Store.

As developers wrap up their tweaks to apps to be ready for the launch of Android Wear 2.0 they can now use this latest Developer Preview to target watches that are paired to an iPhone, as well as those that need NFC HCE (Host Card Emulation) for mobile payments. If developers submit their apps prior to the launch, they’ll be ready for download the minute the software is released to consumers.

We’re expecting to see the official launch of Android Wear 2.0 alongside a pair of rumored watches from LG at an event in early February, and having a good number of apps that target the system from Day 1 will be important for adoption.

Huawei Watch 2 with cellular connectivity coming in 2017

Another Huawei Watch coming your way in 2017.

With the new Android Wear 2.0 release just around the bend, we’ve been seeing a flurry of news surrounding wearable devices. The latest comes from Huawei, via a report from VentureBeat, with the Chinese manufacturer reportedly working on a followup to their Huawei Watch from 2015.

According to a source familiar to the company, the new model will allegedly be “sportier” than its predecessor, but still feature an identically sized 1.4-inch display and swappable bands. The big addition here is an option to get a Huawei Watch 2 with cellular connectivity — a built-in e-SIM card will allow the watch to remain connected when out of range of Wi-Fi or a paired smartphone. It’s similar to what we saw from Samsung, which released a 3G model of the Samsung Gear S2.

The Huawei Watch is our current pick for the best Android Wear smartwatch, so you know we’re excited to see what Huawei brings to the table in their second go around.

The first Huawei Watch was announced at Mobile World Congress 2015. Based on the timing of this leak — with Android Wear 2.0 set to officially release on February 9 and MWC 2017 scheduled for Feb. 27 to March 2 — we expect Huawei to repeat history and officially unveil the details of this new wearable in Barcelona at the end of next month.

BlackBerry ‘Mercury’ to get official announcement in late Feb at MWC

BlackBerry will announce new phone name, specs on February 25 in Barcelona.

While we still don’t officially know the new name of BlackBerry’s forthcoming device (code name: Mercury), we will soon enough, as BlackBerry teased the announcement in a short video tweeted from the company’s official Twitter account. The new device will be formally launched on February 25 in Barcelona, the Saturday before the official start of Mobile World Congress 2017 on the 27th.

25.02.17 #MWC2017 #BlackBerryMobile pic.twitter.com/uChVjp62TJ

— BlackBerry Mobile (@BBMobile) January 24, 2017

Designed and developed by Chinese company TCL, our very own Andrew Martonik went hands-on with a pre-production version of the BlackBerry Mercury at CES this past January. It’s no secret that BlackBerry has been struggling as a brand in recent years, but there’s some genuine excitement surrounding this new phone, with its physical keyboard (sans slider) and it running on Nougat out of the box.

BlackBerry will certainly be looking to build upon the momentum it has gained from its previous Android devices; the Priv, DTEK-50 and DTEK-60.

You can now use Google Home to control Belkin and Honeywell devices

Google Home is slowly adding more partners.

At launch, you could use the voice-activated speaker to control connected devices from Philips Hue, Nest, and Samsung Smart Things. You could also control services like Google Play Music, Spotify, Pandora, and TuneIn. But that’s about it. In our review of Google Home, we praised its look, digital assistant, and price, but we noted it paled in comparison to Amazon Echo in terms of what you could control.

Now, however, Google is beginning the catch-up process. The company has announced that Google Home now supports Belkin WeMo and Honeywell connected devices, presumably allowing you to control these products with your voice via Google Assistant. Belkin’s smart products include everything from lightbulbs to power switches, while Honeywell’s range extends from thermostats to home security.

Keep in mind Google Home is only a few months old, where as Amazon Echo has been out for a couple of years, so naturally, there are way more things you can do with Amazon’s speaker. Still, Google is no small startup. It has the power and resources to be just as good in a short amount of time. Google isn’t yet specifying which products can be controlled using Assistant, but it has said you can add the devices.

To add them, use the Google Home app on your smartphone (Settings > Home Control > click “+” to add a new product).

• Google Home tips and tricks
• Google Assistant tips and tricks: Master your Android assistant

Apple to launch Find My AirPods feature with iOS 10.3

Have you seen the new Apple AirPods commercial?

The one with the guy basically dancing on buildings and whatnot throughout a city? No? Well, here it is:

Okay, so after watching that, if you’re anything like us, you probably wondered how the dude didn’t lose at least one earbud. It’s an edited marketing video, we get it, but still. If you own a pair of AirPods, inevitably, you will lose one. Apple must’ve realised the same thing at some point, because it’s releasing a new feature designed to help you find lost AirPods, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Apple plans to add AirPods support to the Find My iPhone app. This functionality will be available with the release of iOS 10.3, an iPhone and iPad software update that is suppose to roll out to the public in the coming weeks. With AirPods support in Find My iPhone, you will be able to see the current – or at least the last known – location of your AirPods case.

Pocket-lint

The location data won’t be too specific. You’ll be able to tell if you left them at home or at work, for instance. It’s not like you’ll see granular data pinpointing their location on the coffee table in your living room. If you do happen to lose your headphones themselves, Apple will blare a sound out of each earbud. As long as it has power still, you should be able to find them nearby.

Either way, we still wouldn’t recommend doing parkour with £159 headphones.

Apple’s ‘Find My iPhone’ app will help you locate lost AirPods

When Apple announced its wireless AirPods last fall, there was some anxiety over how easy it would be to lose one of the wireless earbuds. Well, the company is looking to ease that burden a bit. As part of the upcoming iOS 10.3 update, you will be able to use the Find My iPhone app to locate a lost AirPod. Just like the app helps you find a misplaced laptop, iPad or iPhone, it will soon tell you were that earbud fell out of your pocket.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the app uses the AirPods’ wireless tech to locate them. The earbuds don’t have a GPS connection, so Apple employs the iPhone’s GPS tech. The map inside the Find My iPhone app will show you the last place the AirPods were in range of an iOS device connected to your iCloud account. If you happen to lose one out of range, the software will show you a general location of where it was last connected to one one of your gadgets. However, you will have to use your phone to employ this method.

What happens when you drop an AirPod at home and you just can’t see it? The app will also let you play a sound through the earbuds to help you locate them. Here, you have the option beaming a noise through one or both of the audio accessories. Of course, this is dependent on the fact that the AirPods haven’t run out of battery yet. iOS 10.3 was released to developers today, so it shouldn’t be long before it and its earbud-locating tool are available for everyone to use. Hey, at least it might save you $69 on a replacement set.

Source: The Wall Street Journal