Apple Releases iOS 11.2 With Apple Pay Cash, Faster 7.5W Wireless Charging, Date Bug Fix and More [Updated]

Apple today released iOS 11.2, the second major update to the iOS 11 operating system available on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. iOS 11.2 comes a month after iOS 11.1, the first major update to iOS 11, and it follows several other smaller bug fix updates.

The iOS 11.2 update is available on all eligible devices over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the update, go to Settings –> General –> Software Update. Eligible devices include the iPhone 5s and later, the iPad mini 2 and later, the iPad Air and later, and the 6th-generation iPod touch.

iOS 11.2, as a major 11.x update, brings several new features and important bug fixes. It introduces Apple Pay Cash, Apple’s peer-to-peer payments service. Apple Pay Cash works through the Messages app and is designed to allow for quick person-to-person money transfers, like Square Cash or Venmo.

You can quickly and easily send and receive money through iMessage conversations with Apple Pay Cash. Cash is sent from a linked debit or credit card, while received cash is stored in an Apple Pay Cash card in the Wallet app and can be used for purchases or transferred to a bank account. For more on Apple Pay Cash, check out our how to.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
For the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus iOS 11.2 appears to introduce faster 7.5W wireless charging speeds through compatible Qi-based wireless charging accessories. At 7.5W charging speeds, the three new iPhones are able to charge faster wirelessly than with the standard 5W wired iPhone power adapter.

When it comes to the iPhone X interface, iOS 11.2 adds a small bar underneath the status bar icons located at the upper right side of the Lock screen, which is designed to make the location of the Control Center gesture more clear. On the iPhone X, Control Center is accessed by swiping down from the top of the device.

In Control Center on all devices, there are two new informational pop-ups that are displayed when using the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth toggles. These pop-ups explain that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are disabled temporarily rather than permanently when accessed from the Control Center.

iOS 11.2 introduces a new Sports section in the dedicated TV app, which offers up access to live sports games through integration with the ESPN app. The Sports app can be accessed through a new “Sports” tab at the bottom of the app, and it offers up custom content based on team preferences and current sports seasons.

There are multiple bug fixes in the update, including a fix for an animation bug in the Calculator app that caused some numbers and symbols to be ignored when entered in rapid succession. The update removes the animations from the calculator app so calculations can be done quickly with no need to pause between entering numbers to obtain the correct result.

The update also addresses a date bug that caused continual crashing in iOS 11.1.2 after December 2. The problem was linked to local notifications, and according to a support document, it is fixed in iOS 11.2.

Other new features in iOS 11.2 include redesigned camera emojis and other emoji tweaks, a new loading animation for Live Photos effects, and Live wallpapers for the iPhone X. For developers, the update introduces a new feature that allows them to offer new customers discounted introductory pricing for auto-renewable subscriptions in the App Store. Full release notes for the update are available below:

iOS 11.2 introduces Apple Pay Cash to send, request, and receive money from friends and family with Apple Pay. This update also includes bug fixes and improvements.

Apple Pay Cash (US Only)
Send, request, and receive money from friends and family with Apple Pay in Messages or by asking Siri

Other improvements and fixes
– Adds support for faster wireless charging on iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X with compatible third-party accessories
– Introduces three new Live wallpapers for iPhone X
– Improves video camera stabilization
– Adds support in Podcasts to automatically advance to the next episode from the same show
– Adds support in HealthKit for downhill snow sports distance as a data type
– Fixes an issue that could cause Mail to appear to be checking for new messages even when a download is complete
– Fixes an issue that could cause cleared Mail notifications from Exchange accounts to reappear
– Improves stability in Calendar
– Resolves an issue where Settings could open to a blank screen
– Fixes an issue that could prevent swiping to Today View or Camera from the Lock Screen
– Addresses an issue that could prevent Music controls from displaying on the Lock Screen
– Fixes an issue that could cause app icons to be arranged incorrectly on the Home Screen
– Addresses an issue that could prevent users from deleting recent photos when iCloud storage is exceeded
– Addresses an issue where Find My iPhone sometimes wouldn’t display a map
– Fixes an issue in Messages where the keyboard could overlap the most recent message
– Fixes an issue in Calculator where typing numbers rapidly could lead to incorrect results
– Addressed an issue where the keyboard could respond slowly
– Adds support for real-time text (RTT) phone calls for the deaf and hard of hearing
– Improves VoiceOver stability in Messages, Settings, App Store, and Music
– Resolves an issue that prevented VoiceOver from announcing incoming Notifications

For more details on the iOS 11 operating system, make sure to check out our dedicated roundup.

Update: We’re seeing several reports that Apple Pay Cash is not available in the release version of iOS 11.2. Given that this update was released at an unusual time, it may not be activated as of yet. It’s likely we’ll see Apple Pay Cash become available early next week.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
Discuss this article in our forums

iOS 11.2 Update Fixes ‘I.T’ Autocorrect Bug

iOS 11.2, which was released at midnight on Saturday, appears to fix an autocorrect bug that caused the word “it” to be autocorrected to “I.T” on earlier versions of iOS 11.

Not all users were affected, but those who were saw their keyboards offering up “I.T” as a predictive text suggestion and an automatic autocorrection when typing “it.” Some people also saw the word “is” autocorrect to “I.S.”

Image: Sean James via Twitter
The I.T. autocorrect problem has been around since iOS 11 first launched in September, but not every iPhone user experienced the issue. It appeared to be more limited in scope than a similar autocorrect bug that caused the letter “i” to autocorrect to “A[?].”

The “A[?]” bug was fixed in an iOS 11.1.1 update that was released to the public on November 9.

Reports on Twitter and reddit indicate that the iOS 11.2 update successfully fixes the I.T. autocorrect bug, so affected users should install it immediately.

iOS 11.2 also fixes several other bugs, including a major date-related bug causing crashing starting at 12:15 a.m. on December 2, and it introduces faster 7.5W wireless charging and Apple Pay Cash.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
Discuss this article in our forums

SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy will carry Musk’s Tesla Roadster to Mars

SpaceX chief Elon Musk has revealed the new schedule for Falcon Heavy’s maiden flight: the company is aiming to send it to the Martian orbit next month from the same launch pad where Apollo 11 took off. The business magnate has also divulged that Falcon 9’s more powerful sibling will carry his personal midnight cherry Tesla Roadster to space. While playing David Bowie’s Space Oddity, of course. Musk expects his Roadster to remain in deep space for a billion year — unless Falcon Heavy blows up on its way to the red planet.

Falcon Heavy to launch next month from Apollo 11 pad at the Cape. Will have double thrust of next largest rocket. Guaranteed to be exciting, one way or another.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2017

Payload will be my midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing Space Oddity. Destination is Mars orbit. Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn’t blow up on ascent.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2017

While it would be spectacular to see SpaceX’s heavy-lift rocket ferry a Tesla to Mars next month, it may be best to temper your expectations. The company pushed back Heavy’s maiden flight more than once: it was originally gunning for a summer launch but eventually moved it to November (and then again to December). On the last day of November, SpaceX announced that it had to push the launch back yet again to next year.

Company reps previously spoke of how difficult it is to build such a large rocket powered by three Falcon 9 cores. Musk said at a press conference earlier this year that Heavy might not even make it to orbit the first time it leaves the atmosphere. If that’s the case, we’ll bet he’s already made peace with the possibility of his Roadster blowing up into a million pieces.

Source: Elon Musk (Twitter)

Date Bug in iOS 11.1.2 Causing Crash Loop on iPhones as December 2 Hits

A date-related bug in iOS 11.1.2 appears to be causing iPhones to continually crash or respring when time-based local notifications are received after 12:15 a.m. on December 2, according to reports on Twitter and reddit.

The problem seems to be tied to local notifications received from apps that offer daily or repeat reminders. For example, meditation app Headspace, one of the affected apps, sends daily reminders to users to encourage them to take some time to meditate. Any app using local (as in not pushed from a remote server) notifications that repeat will cause a crash.

If you have an app that has local notification with repeating settings, it will crash iOS Springboard on Dec. 2 (Tomorrow!) Here is a reproducible app by @takayamahttps://t.co/ecEoxFN2hM

— Yoshimasa Niwa (@niw) December 2, 2017

On reddit, users have had some success fixing the issue by disabling notifications and turning off background app refresh, while Apple’s support staff appears to be recommending a manual date change to a time before the problem occurred as a temporarily solution. Reinstalling apps and restarting does not fix the issue. The problem looks like it’s limited to devices running iOS 11.1.2 — devices on the current iOS 11.2 beta aren’t affected.

Apple Stores in Australia, where it is late afternoon on December 2, are reportedly being inundated with support requests from customers who are experiencing the issue.

PSA from staff: if you have an iPhone, it will likely crash due to a date bug when date rolls over to 2 December, depending on time zone.

The temp fix is to manually set date/time to a date prior to 2 Dec. This will make some apps unusable due to date checks on server.

— J (@jeremybank) December 2, 2017

Apple will undoubtedly fix this problem quickly through an iOS update, but as people wake up on December 2 in the United States and other countries throughout the world, there’s likely to be quite a lot of confusion when devices begin inexplicably respringing over and over again.

If you’re experiencing continual crashing, the first thing to try is disabling notifications for apps that send regular reminders. It can, however, be difficult to tell which apps are responsible, so a secondary solution is to set the date on your iPhone to before December 2 as you await a fix from Apple.

If you aren’t experiencing any crashes, there’s no need to turn off notifications or adjust the date on your device.

Related Roundup: iPhone XBuyer’s Guide: iPhone X (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums

The best motherboards for gaming on your PC

So you’re putting together a list of components for your desktop gaming behemoth — you know which GPU you want, which processor, how much RAM, and even which case you’re going to buy.

But when it comes time to pick a motherboard, which one do you go with? Do you go with something cheap in order to spend extra on the big-ticket items or do you pick something every bit as colorful and powerful as your LED bedazzled graphics card?

Despite its importance, the motherboard doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. To help you decide and break down just how much you should spend, these are the best motherboards for gaming on your PC.

Our pick

X299 Aorus Gaming 9

The X299 Aorus Gaming motherboard from Gigabyte will run you about $500, and it’s worth every penny — especially if you’re already investing in a spendy Intel Core i9 processor. Built to support Intel’s latest Skylake-X or Kaby Lake-X processors with an LGA 2066 socket, it’s a standard-sized ATX motherboard optimized for gaming with a few important tweaks. First up, it features eight RAM sockets, offering support for up to 128GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory. They also support up to 512GB of Registered DDR4 quad-channel memory.

Additionally, it features support for both Nvidia’s and AMD’s multi-GPU setups. That means you can run up to four Nvidia GeForce GTX graphics cards in SLI, or up to four AMD Radeon graphics cards in CrossFire mode. It also sports three M.2 ports, four PCIe expansion slots, and eight SATA 3 connections. Plus, and this is the most important part for a gaming motherboard, it features a robust lighting setup with tons of customization options to match any color scheme.

Amazon Newegg

Best mid-range

X399 Aorus Gaming 7

All right, admittedly $390 for the X399 Aorus Gaming 7 isn’t a huge step down from the $500 monster at the top of our list here, but it’s notable for a few reasons. First off, the X399 features support for AMD’s Threadripper series of CPUs, so you’re not only spending less on a motherboard, you’re also spending less by going with a slightly cheaper processor. AMD’s Threadripper 1920x starts at about $750 to the Intel Core i9’s starting price of $970.

Secondly, you’re getting the same eight RAM sockets as the Aorus Gaming 9, with support for up to 128GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory, or 512GB of Registered DDR4 quad-channel memory. It also features three M.2 ports, eight SATA 3 connections, four PCIe expansion slots, and perhaps most importantly, the same support for four AMD or Nvidia graphics cards to be used in CrossFire or SLI configurations.

Also, it features the same dazzling array of lighting options as its more expensive Intel cousin.

Newegg

Best budget gaming motherboard

Asus ROG Strix B350-F Gaming

The Asus ROG Strix B350-F Gaming motherboard supports AMD’s latest Ryzen processors with an AM4 socket, and a standard ATX form factor, it starts at just $120. It’s not the cheapest motherboard you’ll find out there, and it’s not even the cheapest gaming motherboard but it strikes an excellent balance between price and performance.

It’s also worth mentioning that by picking up the Strix B350-F, you’ll not only be saving money because of its relatively low price, but you’ll also be saving money by going with a quick and capable AMD Ryzen processor. Ryzen chips are, in our experience, perfectly suited for gaming on a budget — you get all the performance you need, without having to spend extra.

All right, so what’s it have going on under the hood? It features four RAM slots, and with a Ryzen processor, supports up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM. It also features three-way multi-GPU support with AMD’s CrossFire. For storage, it features one M.2 slot, two SATA ports, and two PCIe expansion ports.

And of course, it wouldn’t be a gaming motherboard without its most important feature: LEDs. LEDs everywhere. It’s not as robust a lighting setup as you’ll see on more expensive motherboards, but there’s enough there to make sure everyone knows your budget rig is still a purpose-built gaming machine.

Amazon Newegg

Editors’ Recommendations

• Time to upgrade your gaming PC? These are the best processors to choose from
• AMD is more than the Threadripper. Here are the best AMD CPUs on any budget
• These are the best processors for building a PC on any budget
• Leaked photo shows upcoming Intel/AMD module on a compact motherboard
• How to build a computer from scratch: A beginner’s guide

Bezelless as a buzzword needs to die [#acpodcast]

In this episode, Daniel Bader and Andrew Martonik talk about how well the Pixel 2 is holding up after a month of use. It offers a fantastic overall experience and great battery life at a comparatively reasonable price. They also discuss Huawei’s Mate 10 Pro. Daniel says it comes close to greatness, but the software is its Achilles’ heel.

Other topics include: Android 8.1 Developer Preview, the ‘Pixel Visual Core’ SoC, and Google Photo Books. Andrew and Daniel remind us that as good as smartphone cameras have become, their sharpness and resolution still does not truly equal a DSLR or mirrorless camera.

Show Notes and Links:

• Google Pixel 2 review: One month on

• With the Mate 10 Pro, Huawei comes close to greatness

• This year, I’m thankful there are no more bad phones

• When cheap phones can do everything, what happens to flagships?

• Android 8.1 Developer Preview released, enables Pixel Visual Core on Pixel 2

• The Pixel 2 camera’s secret weapon: A dedicated ‘Pixel Visual Core’ SoC

• How to enable the Pixel Visual Core for HDR+ in third-party apps on Android 8.1

• Google Photo Books

• Android Central Podcast April 28, 2017: Winning the Title II

Podcast MP3 URL: http://traffic.libsyn.com/androidcentral/androidcentral363.mp3

Apple’s macOS ‘root’ bug can be reopened by updating

After news broke of a devastating security flaw in its most recent version of macOS, Apple responded quickly by releasing a patch. Installing Security Update 2017-001 on either macOS 10.13 or 10.13.1 will resolve a problem that allowed anyone to login with admin access simply by typing the username “root” and leaving the password blank, but people have discovered there’s another wrinkle.

As Wired mentions, if someone is still on the initial release of High Sierra (10.13), and installs the patch, then later updates to 10.13.1, then the security flaw will return. It can be fixed by reinstalling the patch, but it’s important for users to know that the computers won’t restart itself, and it needs to be restarted before it will be secure. It’s hardly impossible, but it could leave people insecure even if they think they’ve installed patches the right way, and probably explains why (when they can) companies wait for more testing before rolling out a patch.

tl;dr: Mac owners, mash that update button — reboot, check again to make sure you have all the updates, and if they need to install then reboot your system again once they’re done. If you have any problems afterward with file sharing, then just take a look here for a fix.

Source: Wired

PSA: If You Upgrade to macOS High Sierra 10.13.1, You’ll Need to Reinstall Apple’s Root Security Fix

Mac owners who are still running macOS High Sierra 10.13 and who have already installed Apple’s root security fix on that version of the operating system will need to install it once again upon upgrading to macOS 10.13.1, reports Wired.

Security researchers running a patched version of the original macOS High Sierra update, 10.13.0, told Wired that the root bug was reintroduced upon installing the macOS 10.13.1 update. After updating, they needed to install Apple’s security patch again. Even that didn’t fix the issue until their machines were rebooted.

Those who had not yet upgraded their operating system from the original version of High Sierra, 10.13.0, to the most recent version, 10.13.1, but had downloaded the patch, say the “root” bug reappears when they install the most recent macOS system update.

And worse, two of those Mac users say they’ve also tried re-installing Apple’s security patch after that upgrade, only to find that the “root” problem still persists until they reboot their computer, with no warning that a reboot is necessary.

The root fix, released on Wednesday for macOS High Sierra 10.13.0 and 10.13.1, addresses a serious vulnerability that was first discovered a day earlier on Tuesday. The bug enabled the root superuser on a Mac with a blank password and no security check, letting anyone bypass the security of an admin account with the username “root” and no password.

While the security update successfully fixes the issue, it appears Apple may not have releases a modified and patched version of macOS 10.13.1, so customers who installed the update on 10.13 might think they’re protected upon updating to 10.13.1, but they’re not. Instead, the bug is fully re-introduced.

Apple may fix this problem now that the oversight has been pointed out, but in the meantime, customers upgrading from macOS High Sierra 10.13 to 10.13.1 should make sure to download the security update a second time and restart to be certain the root vulnerability is patched.

This won’t be an issue when the macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 update is released, as Apple patched the bug in the macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 beta that was released this morning.

Related Roundup: macOS High Sierra
Discuss this article in our forums

TouchArcade iOS Gaming Roundup: Reigns: Her Majesty, Cat Quest, Animal Crossing, and Mobile Esports

As we barrel towards the climax of the holiday season, the pace of things happening in the iOS gaming world becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with. Getting good positioning on the App Store over the holiday iTunes Connect freeze has resulted in unbelievable rewards for developers, so it seems like everyone and their brother targets these few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas to make as large of a splash as possible.

Fighting for top positioning in our most anticipated games list is the sequel to Reigns, Reigns: Her Majesty. It’s something I’ve mentioned here before, but we’ve finally got an early copy of the game and posted some first impressions. Basically, the game is exactly what we wanted: More Reigns with some fabulous quality of life improvements and additional variety added through a zodiac system, persistent items, and a bunch of other neat stuff.

Cat Quest is a cat-packed action RPG which we loved in our review. It’s a real-deal premium game that feels delightfully out of place in the current App Store which has largely been overrun by super simple free games. Cat Quest is getting way better with additional updates, the latest of which hit this week. It comes at a great time where a lot of people have beaten the game and provides way more replay value through New Game+ modes. Our favorite is the new “Mew Game” mode which features modifiers like not being able to equip armor, and a bunch of other wild variety.

Things are heating up in our two favorite digital CCG’s on the App Store: The Elder Scrolls: Legends and Hearthstone. Card games thrive on a constant cycle of new content, and these are no different. Elder Scrolls recently added a whole new card set titled Return to Clockwork City, which is based on the Clockwork City featured in The Elder Scrolls III Tribunal expansion. Meanwhile, in the world of Hearthstone, the dungeon crawling and treasure hunting expansion Kobolds & Catacombs is due out next week on December 7th. You have until then to buy the $49.99 pre-order pack to get 50 packs of cards and a fancy card back when the set launches.

While Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp has been available for a while now, Nintendo isn’t wasting any time when it comes to running events in the game. Currently, there’s a holiday event running where you can unlock all sorts of holiday-centric stuff for your camp and camper. Potentially more interesting than that is the impact Pocket Camp is having on Animal Crossing: New Leaf sales on the Nintendo 3DS. In Japan, New Leaf has seen a 214% boost in sales, perfectly illustrating that Nintendo’s strategy of bringing people into these core franchises on Nintendo hardware via giving them a taste on mobile is working quite well.

With the success of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds on Steam, it’s not surprising to see the unbelievable amount of clones that have been hitting the App Store. What is surprising is the recent announcement that there’s an official PUBG coming to mobile, backed by Chinese megacorp Tencent. Things get stranger from there, as a few days later it was announced that Tencent is also releasing a second PUBG mobile game. Seems odd, but, it seems like everything Tencent touches turns to gold so, who knows.

Last, but not least, is two different mobile esports events happening this weekend. I’m actually writing this from London right now, as I’m in town to attend the Clash Royale World Championships this Sunday. Clash Royale is an absurdly massive game, and I’m really curious to see what it looks like to be played in a competitive setting. On the other side of the pond is Amazon’s Champions of Fire which is taking place this Saturday and Sunday in New York City (and tickets are free if you’re local). Champions of Fire is in its second year, and features a variety of different casual games being played by popular YouTubers and streamers. Both are being streamed on Twitch, so click the above links for all those details.

Those seem to be some of the biggest stories of the week, cherry picking from a massive amount of new games and other associated mobile gaming news. If these are the things you’re into, be sure to visit TouchArcade!

Tag: TouchArcade gaming roundup
Discuss this article in our forums

Netflix picks up ‘Riverdale’ spin-off based on Sabrina Spellman

The CW show Riverdale has been a surprise hit, modernizing the soda pop Archie comics of yore with ’90s WB melodrama and a topical murder mystery. So it’s no surprise that CW was looking for other shows to spin off from the same comics universe. One, based on the character Sabrina Spellman (of The Teenage Witch fame), was in development at the network in September. Instead, the show is coming to Netflix, which signed a 20-episode two-season deal for the show.

Unlike the cheery ’90s ABC show starring Melissa Joan Hart, Netflix’s as-yet-unannounced series will likely be based on the darker current comic book, Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina. But as Deadline points out, moving to the streaming titan means the new show won’t be able to cross over with Riverdale, as the CW has done with its DC superhero series to create a connected universe. But at least the new Sabrina project will probably have the same magic: The Riverdale creative team is coming over, with the writer and director of that show’s pilot repeating it for Netflix’s new series.

Source: Deadline