In a campaign called “Fix it Already!,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is urging tech giants to remedy nine security and privacy problems in their products.
In Apple’s case, it wants the iPhone maker to encrypt iCloud backups so that only users can access them.
This tip is exhibit A in the case for Apple being really, really good at hiding features. I imagine if you went around to Apple’s house for dinner, and the company asked you to set the table, you’d have some real trouble finding the cutlery. Maybe you’d open the cutlery drawer and see only the spoons. Then you’d open the drawer below, expecting that Apple had just set things out differently, as usual.
But in that second drawer you’d find nothing but fruit. WTF Apple? And then you’d notice that the top drawer is a little thicker than it appears when open. You try the top drawer again. This time you see that if you press down on one of the wooden spoons, the others move aside — animated a little too slowly — to reveal the knives and spoons. But where the hell are the forks?
Back to today’s tip. It’s a combination of two tricks you may already know:
What do you think today’s tip might be?
Problem: Your iPhone is full of downloaded music. There’s probably a lot of it that you don’t need taking up space on there, but deleting it is a pain. The solution? As ever, it’s hidden inside the Settings app. There’s a dedicated page just to solve this exact problem, listing your downloaded music and making it easy to delete. Let’s check it out.
Apple has revealed which user data is being stored on Russian servers as part of its compliance with a local law which came into effect in Russia in 2015. The user data affects only Apple users in the region, and includes their name, delivery address, email, and phone number.
A filing by Apple makes no mention of other forms of personal data, such as iMessages, documents, or photos. In the event of Apple employees, Apple also stores information such as passport numbers, income information, and more.
Apple will comply with a Russian law that could force them to decrypt data on Russian customers at the government’s request.
The law took effect last year and requires the tech giant to store data on servers in Russia for up to six months. Apple acquiesced to a similar law last year in China, a smartphone market in which it has invested heavily.
Apple has updated its iCloud client for Windows to restore syncing with the Windows 10 October 2018 update.
Microsoft’s most recent release prevented iCloud for Windows from being installed or syncing for many users. The company actually halted its rollout for iCloud users as a result.
Hot on the heels of Tuesday’s big keynote, Apple is set to unleash its final earnings report of 2018 on Thursday, November 1. The report will give investors their first glimpse into how well the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max are selling.
Apple shares are trading up again today after climbing Tuesday, signaling that Wall Street is pretty optimistic about Apple’s ability to rake in the cash. Tim Cook and Apple CFO Luca Maestri are set to get on the phone with investors at 2 p.m. Pacific today — and there are some key areas investors will be watching intensely.
Analysts are predicting big things for Apple’s App Store business ahead of the company’s Q4 2018 earnings report coming on November 1.
Search ads from the App Store could generate over $500 million in revenue during all of 2018, according to Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi. Even better, Sacconahi thinks the App Store ad business could be worth a whopping $2 billion by the end of 2020.
Despite Apple’s denials, it’s “highly plausible” that secret spy chips could have been planted on the company’s servers, said a former Apple hardware engineer.
Anna-Katrina Shedletsky, who spent nearly six years at Apple helping build several generations of iPod, iPhone and Apple Watch, said spy chips could have been slipped into the design of servers used for Apple’s iCloud services, as alleged in a Bloomberg Businessweek story.
“With my knowledge of hardware design, it’s entirely plausible to me,” she said. “It’s very highly plausible to me, and that’s scary if you think about it.”
Update: Apple and Amazon both issued lengthy statements Thursday concerning the Chinese spy chip allegations. We updated this post to include those statements.
Apple denies that Chinese spy chips infiltrated its iCloud server hardware after claims that motherboards used by Apple, Amazon and dozens of other tech companies contained microchips used for surveillance purposes.
Cupertino insists the story is “wrong and misinformed.” Apple also says Chinese spying had nothing to do with the company’s decision to cut ties with a supplier.
iOS 12 adds a great new feature in the Photos app. Now, when you share a photo, you can choose to copy a link to that photo, and share that instead. This is a lot like sharing a file from Dropbox. You can even copy a link to a whole slew of files and share them by sending a single URL.
Shared photos are stored in iCloud, and the link is accessible to anyone that has it, for up to a month. Let’s see how it works.
Apple came out with a new beta for its Shortcuts app that will be released to the public as part of iOS 12 and in the latest build, you can finally take advantage of iCloud syncing.
This is the fourth beta build of Shortcuts and it contains some pretty major changes that make it even more useful for iPhone and iPad users.
This post is presented by iMobie.
These days, cloud storage is pretty much a must. It’s so common that many of us use at least two cloud services — maybe iCloud for photos and music, Google Drive for professional files, Dropbox for work stuff and so on. That means a lot of passwords to remember, and a lot of jumping between windows.
The latest phishing scam targets iCloud users, trying to scare them into installing malicious software on their iOS devices.
Some users have received emails recently that push them to fake Apple Support websites. Once there, the sites prompt them to call “Apple Care” because their devices are supposedly “locked for illegal activity.” Here’s how to avoid the scam.
Dropbox just added terabytes of storage to some of its offerings without increasing their cost. This makes its plans stronger competitors against iCloud.
The company is doubling the amount available through a Professional account to 2 TB. Business Standard teams now have 3 TB to share, up from 2 TB.
When Apple moved iCloud data for Chinese customers over to Apple partner Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry earlier this year, a lot of privacy advocates were worried about the implications.
They might have even more cause for concern now, as Apple’s iCloud data in the country — including users’ emails and text messages — is now being stored by a division of the state-owned China Telecom. Apple confirmed the change late on Tuesday.
Scheduling a meeting should be a simple task, but it never is. WhenWorks is a new app that takes away the pain by allowing clients and colleagues to book time with you only when you’re free.
All you have to do is decide when you want your meetings to take place.
In this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine: Imagine if your Apple Watch could tell you which days were best for you to do a workout, and what kind of workout you should do. Well it can, sort of, thanks to a hidden feature that few people have yet discovered or know how to use.
You’ll find that story and more in this issue. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.
Apple released macOS 10.13.5 today, an update that brings the long-awaited Messages in iCloud feature to Mac users.
The new feature, which Apple rolled out to iPhones and iPads earlier this week in iOS 11.4, should free up space on your Mac. More importantly, it will finally allow you to sync iMessages with all your Apple devices via the cloud.
The iOS 11.4 update finally brings Messages in iCloud, which means you can treat your iMessages like you treat your photos.
Your messages will sync across all iOS devices and should work soon on Mac. (Update: It works on Mac now, once you update to macOS 10.13.5). You can even delete them from an iPhone or iPad that’s short on space. But they will remain accessible from the cloud. Here’s how to switch on iCloud support for Messages.
A locked iPhone can’t be accessed without the passcode, and even Apple can’t unlock it. But Apple has to comply with government requests for iCloud information.
And there are a lot of them. The company received 3,358 requests to access personal data in the second-half of 2017, with about half of these coming from the United States.
Apple is looking to hook more people to subscribe to its iCloud storage service — and like good salespeople they’re willing to give you the first hit for free, after which you’ll have to start paying.
At present, Apple offers you a tiny amount of storage for free as a preview of its iCloud storage. However, this is such a small amount that users will run out even if they’re only backing up the videos and photos on their iPhone. For most customers, it’s therefore necessary to pay a monthly subscription fee to Apple to cover all your storage needs.
Apple is now giving users the opportunity to download a copy of all the data the company has collected from them. This includes App Store and iTunes activity, Apple ID account and device information, online and retail store activity, AppleCare support history, and more.
The tool is part of Apple’s new Data and Privacy website, which also allows users to correct any information Apple holds about them, and deactivate their account completely.
iOS 11.4 looks like it’s on track for a public release sometime around WWDC 2018.
Apple just released a big batch of betas for developers this morning, including the fifth build of iOS 11.4 which brings a number of new features and improvements to the iPhone and iPad.
The second Apple earnings report of 2018 is set to come out on May 1 and Wall Street’s top analysts are worried that disappointing news is on the horizon.
Rumors have been circulating for months that iPhone X sales have been far weaker than Apple expected. The company’s stock price has been slipping in the last two weeks leading up to the Q2 2018 earnings report. Everyone’s waiting to see if Apple can pull out another surprise, but the signs don’t look too promising.
Per usual, Cult of Mac will be here to live blog all the action as it transpires on Tuesday, May 1, at 2 p.m. Pacific. Here’s what to watch for on the call: