| Cult of Mac

Fix the mess caused by Sign in with Apple and Hide My Email

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Silence the spam
Apple’s privacy-focused features in Mail are really handy at keeping spam at bay, but you might still need to find that secret email address or delete an account after a while.
Image: Ascánder/Wikimedia Commons/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

I always use Apple’s privacy-focused Sign in with Apple and Hide My Email services whenever I get the option.

The Sign in with Apple feature, which lets you log into third-party accounts using your Apple ID while keeping your personal info private, is so easy to use that I utilize it everywhere. But that also means my disguised logins pile up, accumulating in the digital junk drawer that is iCloud Settings.

I’ll show you where you can find, manage or delete these accounts. Perhaps you’re jumping ship from iPhone to Android, and you want to make sure you still have another way of signing into your Chipotle account.

The Hide My Email service is similar. It creates a temporary email address that forwards to your real one — handy if you’re signing up for a shady website, or if you need a public contact email. I’ll show you where you can create new ones and delete the old ones.

Twitter finally gets on board with ‘Sign in with Apple’

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Twitter finally gets on board with ‘Sign in with Apple’
You can now sign up for a Twitter account a little more privately.
Graphic: Twitter

Twitter added the option to ‘Sign in with Apple’ on Monday. This is a privacy feature that lets users hide their email address from the online service. And avoid hassle when signing in.

The social-networking service also implemented support for logging in with Google.

Fortnite-maker says ‘Sign in with Apple’ logins will continue to work

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Sign in with Apple
Epic Games says login feature won't disappear after all.
Photo: Apple

Fortnite developer Epic Games say Apple issued it an “indefinite extension” for use of the “Sign in with Apple” API.

Epic previously said Apple would stop it offering this feature, meaning that people who signed up using the Apple login service would have been unable to access their Epic Games accounts.

Act now to save your Fortnite account if you use ‘Sign in with Apple’

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Fortnite on iPad with SteelSeries Nimbus
Don't let yours disappear.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Epic Games’ ongoing battle with Apple has made it so that you will no longer be able to log into your Fortnite account using “Sign in with Apple” from September 11, 2020. If you don’t save your account today, you could lose access to the game — and all your data.

Fortunately, salvaging your account is simple, and it only takes a couple minutes. We’ll show you how.

Security researcher scoops $100,000 bounty for helping squash Sign in with Apple bug

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Sign in with Apple
Now hopefully bug-free.
Photo: Apple

A security vulnerability with “Sign in with Apple” could have allowed hackers to carry out a full account takeover of user accounts accessed using the feature. Fortunately, the bug was spotted by India-based security researcher Bhavuk Jain.

In a blog post published over the weekend, Jain noted that he made Apple aware of the vulnerability back in April. It was subsequently fixed. Thanks to Apple’s bug bounty program, he was then paid $100,000 as a thank you from the Cupertino tech giant.

New York Times, IFTTT, Medium, others add ‘Sign in with Apple’ support

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Sign in with Apple
Everyone's hopping on Apple's privacy-conscious feature.
Photo: Apple

A number of big name services have added their support for Apple’s privacy-conscious “Sign in with Apple” feature by integrating it into their apps. These include The New York Times, IFTTT, Medium, Strava, Ritual, Freshii, Fiverr, and more.

It shows how rapidly adoption of the service is increasing ahead of Apple’s June 30 deadline for apps to implement the feature. This deadline was recently pushed back from April 30.

Apple restores banned BlueMail app but devs say fight is not over

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Mac App Store
The email app BlueMail finds itself on the outside of the "closed garden."
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Banned email app BlueMail is back in the Mac App Store, just one week after its developers tried to publicly rally other small companies to speak out against Apple’s App Store practices.

Ben and Dan Volach’s eight-month appeal of Apple’s ban ended Tuesday when the App Store relisted BlueMail. But the brothers say they will continue to fight Apple in court on claims the tech giant stole patented features of the app before booting it from the App Store.

Beta users can now sign into iCloud using Face ID or Touch ID

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The latest Apple betas offer the option of signing in with Face ID or Touch ID.
The latest Apple betas offer the option of signing in with Face ID or Touch ID.
Screenshot: Charlie Sorrel

Users running the latest iOS 13, iPadOS 13 or macOS Catalina betas can now sign into iCloud using either Face ID or Touch ID.

If you’re using these beta versions, visiting iCloud in Safari will present a pop-up asking if you want to log in using biometrics.

Apple prods devs to give ‘Sign in with Apple’ top billing

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Sign in with Apple
Get ready to see this button everywhere.
Photo: Apple

Sign in with Apple could give Facebook and Google some serious headaches when it launches as part of iOS 13 this fall, however, Apple’s strict rules could bring some pushback.

Not only will Apple require all apps that use third-party login services like Facebook to also support Apple’s privacy-focused login service, but it is also asking that the button be placed above competitors’ options.