iPhone 5c With Touch ID on Apple’s Website Fuels Unlikely Refresh Rumors [iOS Blog]

A collection of iPhones are modeled alongside the brand new Apple-branded Lightning Dock, revealed Tuesday, on the dock’s official store page. An iPhone 6, 6 Plus, and 5s are shown placed on the new dock’s lightning charger port, but a mysterious pink-and-black outlier, which appears to be an iPhone 5c at first glance, upon closer inspection can be seen including a Touch ID sensor instead of a traditional home button.

Rumors of a cheaper, 4-inch “iPhone 6c” model of the next generation of iPhones began late last year, backed by a few sources out of the Asian supply chain who manufacture the smartphones. More recently, however, reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed these rumors as false, noting that Apple will stick with 4.7- and 5.5-inch models this year.

While the iPhone on Apple’s website in question today could in fact be the accidental unveiling of a new iPhone 6c, it’s highly unlikely the company made such a slip-up in revealing an entirely new iPhone. It’s more likely a curiously egregious Photoshopping error having to do with one of Apple’s website designers, and will no doubt be taken down in due time.

iCloud, Mail, Photos and Other Apple Services Experiencing Issues

Apple has updated its system status page to reflect ongoing issues with eleven iCloud-related services: Back to My Mac, Documents in the Cloud, iCloud Account & Sign In, iCloud Backup, iCloud Drive, iCloud Keychain, iCloud Mail, iMovie Theater, iWork for iCloud Beta, Photos and Find My iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac. The services have been affected since around 12 AM Pacific.

iCloud is having issues since 3:11 AM EDT. http://t.co/z2kUNXWrcN RT if it's down for you as well #iclouddown

— DownDetector (@downdetector) May 21, 2015

Multiple users have turned to Twitter and the MacRumors discussion forums to confirm the issues, which range from services running slow for some users to being down entirely for others. The issues follow a prolonged iTunes and App Store outage in early March and lengthy iTunes Connect and TestFlight downtime for developers earlier this month.

This article will be updated to reflect any system status changes.

Photos Reveal Secrets Behind Apple Watch Retail Display Units

In its retail stores, Apple uses special Apple Watch display units to allow customers to test the Apple Watch ahead of making a purchase. The units, which have been available in stores since try-on appointments began on April 10, combine a functional Apple Watch (secured to prevent theft) with an iPad mini that gives details on various aspects of the device.

Most of us probably haven’t stopped to wonder about how these units work, but new Brazilian regulatory documents and images shared by BlogdoiPhone [Google Translate] give us a fascinating inside look at how Apple engineered the display units.

According to BlogdoiPhone, Apple Watches inside the display cases have special bands that incorporate a Lightning cable, which plug into the case to connect to the iPad. When an app is opened on the Apple Watch, this connection relays data to the iPad on what’s being viewed, letting the screen display additional information about each feature.

The specialized Lightning port band connects to the hidden 6-pin diagnostic port on the Apple Watch, using it to establish a connection between the watch and the case. It is not clear if the diagnostic port connection also allows the Apple Watch to charge, either through the iPad or through a battery built into the unit, but such a function would explain how the Apple Watches manage to stay powered through a full day of continual usage by customers.

One side of the unit also includes a USB-Type C port or a Lightning port, which we have previously heard is used to charge the entire unit on a nightly basis, so it’s possible there’s a built-in battery that powers both the iPad display and the Apple Watch during the day.

It is not known if the Apple Watches used in the display units are identical to retail Apple Watches aside from the bands or if they are custom built with extra functionality, but there has been speculation that the Apple Watch can charge through the diagnostic port. Specifically, the engineers behind the Reserve Strap accessory in the works for the Apple Watch have said they have confirmed the port can be used for charging.

Apple recently introduced band design guidelines for third-party accessory manufacturers, and while the guidelines say bands must not integrate magnetic chargers, there’s no mention of the diagnostic port, leaving its full capabilities largely a mystery. On watches delivered to consumers, the 6-pin diagnostic port is hidden behind a cover that resembles the SIM slot on an iPhone 6.

The Brazilian Agency of Telecommunications (or Anatel), where the documents and images originated, has approved the Apple Watch and the in-store display units, suggesting Apple is gearing up to begin selling the Apple Watch in additional countries in the near future.

Apple’s Streaming Music Negotiations in Russia Confirm Plans for Multi-Country Availability

Apple’s Beats Music and iTunes Radio streaming services are available in a limited number of countries, but Apple is working on launching its upcoming music service in a number of countries around the world. Previous rumors have suggested Apple’s upcoming music service will launch in multiple countries when it debuts in June, and a new report from Billboard confirms that Apple is seeking to establish deals in Russia.

According to Russian newspapers, leading Russian record labels have hinted at the negotiations and have suggested that Russia will be among the first countries where the new music service will launch. Apple is said to be working on deals with local labels that would expand its digital rights to streaming services. Currently, Russian iTunes users have access to music, movies, apps, and books through iTunes, as well as iTunes Match.

Beats Music is only available in the United States, while iTunes Radio is available in Australia and the United States. When iTunes Radio launched in 2013, Apple promised to bring it to additional countries, with iTunes chief Eddy Cue saying a worldwide launch for iTunes Radio was a “top priority” and service was planned for “more than 100 countries.”

It is not clear why Apple’s iTunes Radio expansion plans fell through, but the intricacies of establishing contracts in many countries around the world likely played a part, as did iTunes Radio’s lukewarm reception.

iTunes Radio is set to receive a major revamp alongside Beats Music, and while today’s report doesn’t state whether or not the Russian negotiations cover content for both streaming services, previous rumors have suggested that the new version of iTunes Radio, like the new streaming music service, will launch in multiple countries around the world.

The new version of iTunes Radio may feature improved curation and exclusive radio shows hosted by notable DJs. Apple hired BBC Radio DJ Zane Lowe earlier this year, along with a handful of other radio content producers. Exact details on Apple’s new iTunes Radio service are not known, but Apple may attempt to make the service more palatable to users through better tailoring towards regional markets.

As for the upcoming streaming music service, it’s rumored to be similar to the existing Beats Music service, with a focus on curated content and artist exclusives. While iTunes Radio will remain free, the new Beats-based streaming service will reportedly cost $9.99 per month.

Both the revamped iTunes Radio and the new streaming music service may debut in June, at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, and both will be integrated into Apple’s redesigned music app, introduced with iOS 8.4.

Spotify Announces Major Update Focused on Entertainment and Curated Content

Three weeks ahead of the rumored debut of Apple’s new streaming music service, Spotify has announced some feature additions to its own streaming service, with a major focus on curated content and original tracks, plus an expansion into entertainment with video and news clips.

Spotify is introducing a new “Now” start page that offers mood-based music playlists to users, much like Beats Music’s “The Sentence,” which provides users with curated music options to fit different moods and scenarios. Spotify’s “Now” music feature will include curated song selections and its recommendations adapt over time to fit an individual user’s tastes.

Another new feature, Spotify Running, focuses on original music. It combines “running compositions written by the world’s foremost DJs and composers” with song recommendations based on user listening history and multiple-genre playlists. It matches tempo when running and will be integrated into the Nike+ and Runkeeper apps.

Other original (and exclusive) content will include radio shows presented by various artists like Icona Pop and Jungle, and “Dance Move of the Day” from Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls brand.

The biggest addition to Spotify comes in the form of video and news clips, letting users watch videos, listen to podcasts, and get news updates. This entertainment content will come from ABC, BBC, Comedy Central, Condé Nast, ESPN, Fusion, Maker Studios, NBC, TED, and Vice Media.

Spotify’s push for more original content and its renewed focus on curated content mirrors some of what Apple is rumored to be doing with its upcoming Beats Music revamp. Beats Music is well-known for its human-curated content, which Apple will keep in the new service, and Apple may be introducing its own radio shows as well, possibly in a simultaneous iTunes Radio revamp.

Apple is also rumored to be pushing for exclusive content from artists for its new music service, to set it apart from competing services. Some of this may come in the form of artist social networking pages built into the new music service, which will allow artists to share clips, videos, concert updates, and more.

Spotify’s new “Now” experience will begin rolling out to iPhone users today in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Sweden. Spotify Running is also rolling out to iPhone users globally as of today.

iOS 9 Could Feature ‘Home’ App For Controlling HomeKit Accessories

Apple is planning a new “Home” app that would enable users to wirelessly discover, securely manage and control HomeKit-based accessories using an iOS device, according to 9to5Mac. The report also reiterates that the Apple TV would serve as a hub for all HomeKit connected devices.

The report claims that Home could be introduced alongside iOS 9 at Apple’s upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco next month, although the app may not be finalized in time and could remain limited to internal usage by employees only.

HomeKit was announced at WWDC last year as a software framework for communicating with and controlling connected devices in the home, but the home automation platform has experienced delays since then and has yet to officially launch. Fortune reported last week that HomeKit was pushed back until August or September, but Apple has since confirmed that accessory announcements will begin in June.

The rumored Home app would be the front-end platform for HomeKit, akin to the Health app and HealthKit on iOS 8, and reportedly has “fairly basic” functionality centered upon virtual rooms, the Apple TV and other features:

Wirelessly discovering and setting up compatible HomeKit devices

Creating a virtual representation of rooms in the home to easily organize and connect HomeKit devices

Utilizing the Apple TV as a hub connecting all of the HomeKit devices

Offering a series of screens to help users find new HomeKit devices and apps

If the Home app is not released, the report claims that Apple may elect for customers to control their HomeKit connected devices using Siri and accompanying App Store apps from accessory makers and developers. HomeKit partners confirmed to date, among others, include Belkin, Elgato, Schlage, iDevices and GE.

Apple to Use ‘San Francisco’ Apple Watch Font in iOS 9 and OS X 10.11

Though iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 are set to debut in three weeks at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, we’ve heard little detail on the content Apple might include in the new operating system updates. Neither operating system is expected to get a major visual overhaul, but there may be one significant design change for both iOS and OS X — a new system font.

Apple has plans to use the new San Francisco font that was introduced with the Apple Watch to replace the Helvetica Neue font used in iOS 7/iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, according to a report from 9to5Mac. The font will be used for menu items, app names, and more, throughout the operating systems.

Ever since switching to particularly thin weights of Helvetica Neue in iOS 7, Apple has been chastised for using a font that emphasizes clean lines over readability, and San Francisco is intended to solve this. According to the sources familiar with the decision to move to the San Francisco type face on iOS and OS X, Apple higher-ups also believe that the new look will serve to refresh its familiar operating systems, helping iOS and OS X to avoid becoming stale. However, some Apple engineers have told us that they are not fans of the new font, which may look particularly rough on non-Retina screens.

A condensed sans-serif that’s not unlike Helvetica, San Francisco is the first new font Apple has designed in-house in many years. In the 80s and 90s, Apple used several fonts that were created in-house, but the company largely ceased making its own fonts in the early 1990s. Apple’s early fonts were also named after major cities, so San Francisco pays homage to those first fonts.

Chicago, New York, Geneva, Monaco, and Cairo are all fonts that were designed by early Apple graphic artist Susan Kare. Kare even designed her own font called San Francisco in 1984, but that now-obsolete typeface looked quite different than the San Francisco Apple introduced in 2014.

San Francisco was created specifically for small displays like the Apple Watch, with extra spacing between each letter to increase legibility on the wrist. Since its debut, there has been speculation that it could be brought to iPhones and Macs in the future, due to its clean look on larger Retina displays in addition to the small display of the Apple Watch. That idea was further reinforced with the introduction of the Retina MacBook, which uses the San Francisco font for the lettering on the keyboard.

We may get our first official glimpse of San Francisco as a system-wide iOS and OS X font on June 8, when Apple is expected to show off iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 for the first time. Not much else is known about the two operating systems, but Apple may be opting to focus more on internal upgrades, improvements, and bug fixes over external changes to further polish features introduced with iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite.

Apple Rejects ‘Breaking’ App Due to One Small Mention of Android in a Screenshot [iOS Blog]

News alert app Breaking [Direct Link], which feeds topical news stories via a widget into the Today portion of the Notification Center, has faced a bit of blowback from Apple due to the mention of the term “Android” within a screenshot on the app’s store page (via iPhoneHacks).

The app was denied its newest update, version 1.3, due to the Android mishap, which is only mentioned within the screenshots for the app and not anywhere in its actual description. As a few fellow app developers voiced on Twitter, the screenshot in question doesn’t overtly promote the rival’s brand, either.

Wow Breaking 1.3 rejected by Apple because one of the screenshots has a news item with the word ‘Android’ in it 😮 pic.twitter.com/8gnc9S5UPa

— Michael Flarup (@flarup) May 20, 2015

A few similar stories have emerged so far this year, including a copyright issue Apple had with GIF curating app GIF Finder and creator Matt Cheetham’s heavy usage of copyrighted characters, despite his adherence to the individual terms of service for both Tumblr and Imgur. Prior to the Apple Watch launch, the Cupertino company also rejected boating app SeaNav US for citing Pebble support in its App Store description.

While the future of both apps was initially foreboding, both GIF Finder and SeaNav US returned to the App Store, with developer Cheetham documenting in detail his experience with facing Apple’s app review board. Today’s rejection of Breaking lies in a similar rejection field compared with SeaNav US, both appearing to violate App Store review guideline 3.1, which prohibits the mentioning of competing platforms.

Most developers haven’t faced such strict stonewalling on the issue before, which made SeaNav US‘ rejection – due to the use of “Pebble” – a day before the Apple Watch launch particularly interesting. Today’s rejection of Breaking appears to be a bit of a fluke, but no doubt Apple will allow the app’s 1.3 update once the particular screenshot in question is removed.

SwiftKey Keyboard for iOS Gains New Theme Store [iOS Blog]

SwiftKey is one of the more popular third-party keyboard choices on iOS, due to its autocorrect and word prediction capabilities that are able to adapt to an individual’s usage style over time. Since its debut last September, SwiftKey has been updated several times with features like predictive emoji and typing stats, and as of today, it’s getting another major update that will allow for deeper customization: a theme store.

The new SwiftKey theme store allows users to purchase new themes to personalize the look of their keyboards with unique color schemes. There are 12 new themes available for purchase, available in a range of different colors and styles.

Organized into categories, there are five new Nickel themes, six Minimal themes, and one animated theme — Shooting Stars. Colors range from black and white to pink, blue, and orange. In combination with the three free existing themes SwiftKey offers, there are now a total of 15 themes available. Themes range from $0.99 for basic themes to $1.99 for the animated Shooting Stars theme.

Shooting Stars, which features a beautiful night sky, changes as you move your phone, giving the theme a more realistic and dimensional look and feel by making use of parallax. Parallax is just a fancy word for when an object, or objects, seem to be in a different positions depending on where you’re viewing them from.

For $1.99, you can give your keyboard a twinkling background with stars that are dynamically generated each time the keyboard loads. If you look closely you may even see some shooting stars fly across the keyboard…

Today’s update also includes performance and stability improvements, along with a fix that cuts down on instances when SwiftKey is unintentionally replaced by the default iOS keyboard. SwiftKey recommends that existing users should restart their iPhones or iPads after installing the update to see the performance improvements.

SwiftKey can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]