The company’s lawyers said Monday that tools such as an encrypted “visited places” service that tracks and records where users have been won’t be rolled out in the EU when it releases its iOS 26 software update later this year.
[...]
“We’ve already had to make the decision to delay the release of products and features we announced this month for our EU customers,” Kyle Andeer, Vice President, Apple Legal, told a workshop with EU officials and developers in Brussels. Andeer said users’ security could be compromised if the company is obliged to open up its ecosystem to competitors.
“We want this to be an open house for artists, songwriters or any creator to come in, hang out and create content, connect with their fans or connect with other artists,” Apple Music’s top executive Oliver Schusser tells The Hollywood Reporter. “This is our interpretation of the intersection between technology and the arts.”
[...]
“We intentionally made it so it could be highly adaptable to any sort of creative,” says Apple Music co-head Rachel Newman. “It’s a blank space on purpose, so that an artist can come in and create whatever they want. Radio was always a front door for us to work closer with artists, and now they’ll be able to do so much more. Photography, writers rooms. We wanted the ability to scale and fit into any kind of vision the artist might have.”
So there was a growing internal sense that if a crowd-pleaser like “F1” didn’t work on the big screen, Apple would be forced to abandon the movie business in favor of television, where its successes include “Severance” and “Ted Lasso.” Though Apple’s future film strategy won’t hinge on a single film, insiders at the company now believe that momentum behind “F1” gives Apple a reason to at least stay the course.
Something that I really appreciate about the iOS 26 redesign is an emphasis on moving more toolbars and primary controls to the bottom of the screen, bringing them closer to the user’s thumb. Especially for Max-sized phones, starting a search for an old conversation in Messages used to require finger gymnastics to tap on the bar that was placed just below the navigation header. Now, that search bar is positioned at the bottom of the screen, and thereby easily reachable with one-hand no matter what form factor phone you are using.
At the same time, Apple’s new design guidelines also heavily evangelise making these bottom bars recede when not in use, such as minimising when the user scrolls down the page. I don’t appreciate this behaviour so much.
The aesthetics for icon design may have changed dramatically in the intervening years, but I just find it sad that, with the gorgeous displays we have today, Apple recommends simple designs made out of a few boring shapes, and everything is now in service of a ‘liquid glass’ effect the system superimposes on every aspect of the user interface — as if this surface gimmick is more important than the elements it distorts.
Moving from my beloved 27-inch iMac and ancient Thunderbolt Display to the 14-inch MacBook Pro with a pair of Apple Studio Displays has been more than just a hardware upgrade—it has been an opportunity to reconsider some long-standing ways of working. Starting fresh without Migration Assistant, although more time-consuming, has helped me create a cleaner, more intentional setup that should reduce quirks for years to come. Even without Migration Assistant, cloud storage significantly reduced the potential headaches of migrating much of my data. The addition of a third screen to hold ambient apps has proven welcome, and although I’ve liked the MacBook Pro’s keyboard and trackpad overall, I’m still addressing some ergonomic challenges of using it on a standing desk. In the end, what’s important is that the new MacBook Pro feels fast and fresh while still retaining the most essential aspects of my everyday Mac experience.
Pixelmator is now owned by Apple, so it was only a matter of time before the suite of photo apps was updated with Apple Intelligence support. Today, Pixelmator Pro for Mac is the first in Apple’s trio of products to get new AI features alongside accessibility improvements and more.
After twelve weeks of refining the public beta, DEVONtechnologies has released version 4 of its DEVONthink document and information manager. It’s a major upgrade with support for external AI providers (DEVONthink Pro required), an updated user interface, and a bounty of powerful new features.
This free, open source application by developer Uli Kaufmann places your entire second display in a window on your primary display. The basic idea is that you'll be able to see the presentation on your laptop without having to turn around and look at the display behind you. This means you can see the slides in front of you, instead of having to turn around to look at the presentation screen. It also means you can see and scroll through your notes and take control of the presentation, all on one screen.
In the latest beta of iOS 18.6, there is code that says automatic upgrades are coming.
The case’s progress is still early, and the judge isn’t ruling on any of the government’s claims just yet. But he is saying that the allegations are “sufficient” to support the claims that Apple acted in an anti-competitive manner. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The watchdog’s investigation will determine if apps embedded in the handsets at the time of purchase in 2023 and 2024 limited user choice.
[...]
Under the act, handset makers and operators are prohibited from unjustifiably blocking users from deleting pre-installed apps that are not essential to the functionality of the device.
Speaking of moving toolbars and stuff to the bottom of the screen, does Apple know that we still have to move our thumb all the way to the top of the iPhone screen to pull down the Control Center? Is the company doing anything to fix that?
Of all the older iOS designs that is no longer with us, the swipe-up-from-bottom-of-screen gesture to get to Control Center is the one major thing that I still miss.
~
Thanks for reading.