Flickr has rolled out a new update to iOS app this week, bringing support for home screen widgets on the iPhone. The Flickr widgets bring in images from the Flickr Explore feed, so you can see the images directly on your home screen.
Flickr explains:
Introducing Widgets! Now you can see the best of Flickr Explore throughout the day right from your Home Screen.
To add a Flickr widget to your iPhone’s home screen, long press on your home screen and tap the “+” button in the upper-right corner. Then, look for Flickr in the list of widgets and pick which size widget you’d like to add to your home screen.
Flickr doesn’t give you any customization options for the widgets other than size. Once you add a widget to your home screen, it will automatically pull in images from Flickr Explore, which “displays a rotating array of images from Flickr members.” The Explore feed is based on two factors:
Interestingness – An internal Flickr algorithm that determines which photos are interesting to our community.
Activity – Involvement in the Flickr community, like groups joined and photos with trending tags.
Flickr is available on the App Store as a free download. For more apps with support for iOS 14 home screen widgets, be sure to check out our full roundup right here. What are some of your favorite home screen widgets? Let us know down in the comments!
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In this week’s topstories: iOS 14.4 released, Apple Watch Series 7 rumors, ‘Time to Walk’ feature now available, AAPL’s record-breaking Q1 earnings, and much more. Read on for all of this week’s top Apple Stories.
Time to Walk
Apple this week officially launched its new Time to Walk feature for Apple Watch and Fitness+ subscribers. . Time to Walk offers “an inspiring new audio walking experience on Apple Watch for Fitness+ subscribers,” Apple announced.
Time to Walk is launching with four episodes with guests including Country music star Dolly Parton, NBA player Draymond Green, Musician Shawn Mendes, and Emmy Award winner Uzo Aduba. New episodes will be released with a different guest each Monday through the end of April.
iOS 14.4
After beta testing with developers and public beta users, Apple this week officially released iOS 14.4 to the public.
Apple says that iOS 14.4 includes support for recognizing smaller QR codes in the Camera app, as well as the option to classify Bluetooth device types in Settings. Notably, the update also adds new notifications for when your iPhone can’t verify if you’re using a “genuine Apple camera.”
iOS 14.4 also includes a handful of bug fixes related to HDR photography, the Messages app, and more. There is a fix for keyboard lag, which is an issue that has been plaguing many iPhone users since iOS 14 was first released.
In addition to the new features, iOS 14.4 also brings a trio of notable security improvements. In a new Support document, Apple said that iOS 14.4 fixes a kernel vulnerability and two WebKit vulnerabilities, all three of which “may have been actively exploited.”
iOS 14.4 is available to users via an over-the-air update in the Settings app. Simply open the Settings app, choose General, then choose Software Update. With these major security improvements included, we highly recommend updating as soon as possible.
The leading change with HomePod Software Version 14.4 is an all-new Handoff experience powered by the Ultra Wideband, or U1 chip, in the iPhone. Now, when you bring an iPhone near the HomePod mini to use Handoff, you’ll feel physical feedback from the iPhone’s Taptic Engine, as well as a card on the iPhone’s display and a visual indicator on the top of the HomePod mini.
Apple published a new press release this week detailing the multiple ways it will be celebrating Black History Month in February. The company is launching new editorial collections, Apple Maps Guides, limited-edition Apple Watch hardware, and more.
Apple is introducing the Black Unity Collection for the Apple Watch. This collection includes a limited-edition Apple Watch Series 6 as well as a Black Unity Sport Band. Through this collection, Apple is supporting global organizations to help advance their missions in promoting and achieving equality and civil rights.
The Black Unity Sport Band uses colors inspired by the Pan-African flag with the words “Truth. Power. Solidarity.” laser-engraved onto the closure. Meanwhile, the limited-edition Apple Watch Series 6 features “Black Unity” laser-etched onto the back crystal.
Apple Watch Series 6 Black Unity and the Black Unity Sport Band will be available starting February 1. The Watch starts at $399 for the GPS and the cellular model starts at $499. The Black Unity Sport Band is $49.
AAPL Earnings
Apple (AAPL) has officially reported its earnings for Q1 2021, covering the lucrative holiday shopping season. For the first fiscal quarter of 2021, Apple reported a record-breaking $111.44 billion in revenue and profit of $28.76 billion.
For comparison’s sake, Apple reported revenue of $91.8 billion and profit of $22.2 billion during Q1 2020 last year. This time around, there are a handful of different factors. For instance, the Mac and iPad businesses have seen major growth because of the work-from-home trend driven by the pandemic.
Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. Enjoy the podcast?: Shop Apple at Amazon to support 9to5Mac Daily!
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Apple (AAPL) reports record-breaking Q1 2021 earnings with $111.4 billion in revenue Apple crosses 1 billion active iPhone users for the first time as install base reaches new milestone Apple says App Tracking Transparency feature will launch in ‘early spring’ with iOS 14 update
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Jeff Benjamin joins Zac Hall to give Apple Watch Series 3 and Series 5 an exit interview before new models are announced. 9to5Mac Watch Time is a podcast series hosted by Zac Hall. In this series, we talk to real people about how Apple Watch is affecting their lives.
Miles Somerville is one half of 9to5Mac's YouTube channel alongside Jeff Benjamin. This week we're catching up with Miles to learn how he uses the Apple Watch. 9to5Mac Watch Time is a podcast series hosted by Zac Hall. In this series, we talk to real people about how Apple Watch is affecting their lives. Subscribe now to catch up with each episode and automatically hear new episodes as soon as they’re released every two weeks: 🟣 Apple Podcasts | 🟠 Overcast | 🟢 Spotify Sponsored by HabitMinder: Change your habits, change your life. HabitMinder helps you form healthy habits and stay accountable. Get started for free on iOS, Mac, and Apple Watch. Sponsored by Pillow: Pillow is an all-in-one sleep tracking solution to help you get a better night’s sleep. Download it from the App Store today.
9to5Mac’s Benjamin Mayo and Zac Hall unpack the newest MacBook Air rumors about a thinner and lighter model with higher performance, iOS 14.4 and Apple’s latest software updates and new features, Dan Riccio’s mysterious new role at Apple, and the company’s big earnings results. Sponsored by Amazon Pharmacy: Amazon Prime Members can save on prescription medication when not using insurance and get FREE 2-Day delivery! Learn more at amazon.com/happyhourrx. Sponsored by Headspace: You deserve to feel happier, and Headspace is meditation made simple. Go to headspace.com/mac to start your free one-month trial. Sponsored by TextExpander: Visit textexpander.com/podcast and select 9to5Mac Happy Hour to save 20% off your first year!
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Read More Bloomberg: Apple to launch ‘higher end’ MacBook Air with thinner bezels as soon as later this year, brings back MagSafe charging Face ID for Mac ‘developed’ by Apple but not coming soon; 5G same iOS 14.4 now available with Apple Watch Unity face support, bug fixes, and more iOS 14.4: How to label Bluetooth devices as a speaker, headphones, hearing aids, more Apple says iOS 14.4 patches 3 security flaws that ‘may have been actively exploited’ watchOS 7.3 now available with new Unity watch faces, ECG in more countries, more Apple officially launches new ‘Time to Walk’ feature for Apple Watch and Fitness+ Apple unveils limited-edition Apple Watch Series 6 and more for Black History Month Apple releases HomePod Software Version 14.4 with new Handoff experience, more macOS Big Sur 11.2 RC now available with Bluetooth improvements, M1 Mac fixes, more macOS Big Sur 11.2 RC 2 now available as a public release nears Apple engineering SVP Dan Riccio transitioning to oversee ‘new project,’ John Ternus takes lead of hardware team
The joy of writing apps using SwiftUI and modern UIKit, a review of the AirPods Max, will FaceID come to the iMac anytime soon, and what sort of things are good to consider when working with third party SDKs and frameworks?
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The next big update coming to iPhones around the world will almost certainly be called iOS 15, and we expect to hear all about it at the company's WWDC 2021 conference expected to take place in June this year.
Little is known about iOS 15, but a number of rumors have given us a suggestion of whether your iPhone will be able to download the latest software when it lands - and it differs to iOS 14 compatibility.
Every phone that was capable of downloading iOS 13 was also compatible with the latest iOS 14 software that landed in 2020 before the iPhone 12 series was unveiled. iOS 14.4 is the latest upgrade, and that was made available before the end of January 2021.
But what's the latest we know about iOS 15? We've taken a look at the biggest rumors so far to give you our best knowledge on whether your phone will be upgraded.
iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and iPhone SE (2016)
(Image credit: Future)
If you own the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus or original iPhone SE, you're unlikely to be able to upgrade to iOS 15. That's the harsh truth, and while it isn't yet confirmed we've heard this from at least twosources now.
The iOS 14 upgrade was available on these three devices, but that in itself wasn't expected as many had anticipated Apple would drop support for those devices in its 2020 upgrade.
While this isn't confirmed, it would make sense for Apple to drop support for these older devices as they'll all be over five years old by the time iOS 15 lands and some are even older than that.
The switch to iOS 15 won't mean your phone is useless, but if you're looking for the latest features and security updates you'll want to switch to a more modern smartphone from Apple or an alternative.
iPad Air 2, iPad (2017) and iPad mini 4
The iPad mini 4(Image credit: TechRadar)
It's also likely these three iPad models won't be able to download iOS 15, or more accurately the company's offshoot software that's likely to be called iPadOS 15, when it lands.
We've yet to hear this specifically from any key sources, but it would make sense for the company to drop the next-gen of its devices from the iOS 15 update so keep an eye out when the iOS 15 details land.
iPhone 7 and beyond
Own an iPhone 7 or a smartphone from Apple released after 2017? It's likely you'll still be supported by iOS 15. There's no gurantee of that at the moment, and we'll have to wait for official confirmation from Apple before we know that for certain.
All of the leaks so far have suggested iOS 15 will be coming to all devices that are older than the iPhone 7 series though so we're inclined to agree with those sources and hopefully it'll be positive news for you.
Apple just confirmed a stunning new privacy move coming in an iOS 14 update that will be a game-changer for all iPhone users.
Apple just confirmed a stunning new privacy move coming in an iOS 14 update that will be a ... [+]game-changer for all iPhone users.
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
It’s been a long time coming. Apple first announced a stunning new privacy feature that would require all apps to ask for explicit permission to track in summer 2020. The feature, dubbed App Tracking Transparency (ATT), was expected to launch when iOS 14 arrived in September last year, but it was delayed after pushback from firms including Facebook.
But now, finally, Apple has confirmed a date for the anti-tracking feature to arrive—or at least a timescale. The iPhone maker chose Data Privacy Day (January 28) to announce that ATT will be coming to an iOS 14 update, in “early spring” 2021.
The feature had been expected in Apple’s iOS 14.4—indeed, it had appeared in the beta versions. However, when iOS 14.4 arrived this week, it instead included a major security fix for three vulnerabilities that had already been exploited. The urgent nature of this release, which might have pushed it forward, perhaps explains why the ATT feature was missing.
What exactly is the new privacy feature?
When you use apps on your phone, they may track you across other apps and websites in order to target you with advertising. This is currently done through something called the identifier for advertisers (IDFA), which tracks without revealing your personal information.
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The aim of the new iPhone feature, Apple says, is to add transparency to this process. Now you know what’s happening, it’s up to you to choose whether apps can track you.
In its announcement, Apple states: “App Tracking Transparency will require apps to get the user’s permission before tracking their data across apps or websites owned by other companies.
“Under Settings, users will be able to see which apps have requested permission to track, and make changes as they see fit.”
In reality, this means an active opt in to the tracking on your iPhone and iPad. You’ll receive a pop up notification that reads: “x would like permission to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies. Your data will be used to deliver personalized ads to you.”
You will then be able to choose between “Allow Tracking” or “Ask App Not To Track.”
Opting in to data collection, rather than having to opt out, is at the heart of data privacy regulation such as the EU’s GDPR. So Apple’s new iPhone privacy feature really is the right thing to do by its users.
The feature builds on Apple’s privacy labels, which allow people to see what data an app collects and how this is linked to you.
You can opt out of tracking now, via your iPhone’s privacy settings, which I have detailed in my simple guide.
The backlash against Apple’s ATT feature
Facebook and others are worried that most iPhone users will opt out of the tracking. Google is also concerned. This week it announced that it would stop using the IDFA ahead of this upcoming Apple privacy change, to avoid the opt in popping up on people’s iPhones.
Personally, I think Apple’s approach to privacy is laudable, but a reduction of the information collected for advertising does mean apps and services will have to fund their businesses in other ways. We all need reminding sometimes that if we are not paying for the product, we are the product.
Are iPhone users happy to pay for apps instead, effectively paying for privacy? I would be happy to do so, but perhaps others won’t.
This week saw a good mix of Apple news and rumors, led by the release of iOS 14.4, a blockbuster earnings report from Apple, and a fresh report that the next Apple Watch might be able to monitor blood glucose levels.
We also went hands-on with Apple's new "Time to Walk" feature for Apple Watch, while AirPods Max owners can now purchase standalone ear cushions to mix and match colors. Read on for all of the details!
iOS 14.4 introduces a notification on iPhone 12 models with non-genuine cameras, the option to classify Bluetooth device type in Settings for correct identification of headphones for audio notifications, and more.
Apple also released watchOS 7.3, which expands the ECG app on the Apple Watch Series 4 and newer to Japan, Mayotte, Thailand, and the Philippines, and introduces a new "Unity" watch face based on the Pan-African Flag. tvOS 14.4 is out too, while macOS 11.2 remains in beta.
Apple this week announced that its App Tracking Transparency privacy measure will be required starting with the next beta versions of iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14, meaning that apps will need to request permission to track users and collect their device's random identifier for advertising purposes. Apple says the software updates will be publicly released in the early spring.
Apple Reports Record-Breaking Quarter With $111B in Revenue
Apple this week reported its earnings results for the first quarter of the 2021 fiscal year, which corresponds with the fourth quarter of the 2020 calendar year.
Apple has thrived financially during the pandemic as many customers work, learn, and connect with others from home. Apple launched many new products and services during the quarter, including the entire iPhone 12 lineup, rave-reviewed M1 Macs, a redesigned iPad Air, the HomePod mini, the AirPods Max, Apple Fitness+, and Apple One subscription bundles.
Apple Watch Series 7 Rumored to Feature Blood Glucose Monitoring
The Apple Watch Series 7 will reportedly feature blood glucose monitoring via an optical sensor, according to a report this week by ETNews.
The report, which mainly focuses on the blood glucose capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, explains that Apple is intending to bring blood glucose monitoring to the upcoming Apple Watch Series 7 using a non-invasive optical sensor.
Apple has been gradually expanding the health monitoring capabilities of the Apple Watch, most recently adding the ability monitor blood oxygen levels in the Apple Watch Series 6 introduced last September.
Hands-On With the New Apple Fitness+ 'Time to Walk' Feature
Apple this week officially introduced Time to Walk, a new feature that allows Apple Watch users who subscribe to Apple Fitness+ to listen to audio stories from celebrities, musicians, athletes, and other influential guests while they walk — similar to podcasts. For wheelchair users, the feature is named Time to Push.
Time to Walk episodes are automatically downloaded to the Apple Watch with a Fitness+ subscription, and users can start an episode directly from the Workout app. New episodes ranging from 25 to 40 minutes in length will appear in the Workout app from a different guest each Monday through the end of April, according to Apple.
The first guests include musicians Dolly Parton and Shawn Mendes, NBA star Draymond Green, and actress Uzo Aduba, known for her role as Suzanne Warren on the Netflix original series "Orange Is the New Black."
AirPods Max ear cushions attach to the ear cups magnetically and can be popped right off, so making a swap to a new color is simple.
MacRumors mocked up all of the AirPods Max color combinations that are possible, so if you're wondering how a particular color might look with your AirPods Max, the article is a valuable resource. The replacement ear cushions were initially estimated to ship in one business day, although delivery of colors other than silver and black quickly slipped into late March or early April. The first orders are, however, already arriving in customers' hands.
In other product news, Apple this week announced that it will be releasing a limited-edition "Black Unity" version of the Apple Watch Series 6. This special model will be available throughout February in honor of Black History Month and comes with a "Black Unity" Sport Band based on the Pan-African Flag.
MacRumors Newsletter
Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.
Apple released iOS 14 with some promising new features, including finally getting app widgets and the intriguing quick interaction App Clips. While first-party apps like Fitness and Weather got widgets the day of the update, third-party apps have barely adopted either, leaving the promising additions unsupported.
Clearly, we aren’t the only ones to notice: Apple is holding several developer sessions in February dedicated to walking iOS developers through adding these features. iOS developer Simon Støvring tweeted an email from Apple inviting developers to a special online training session on February 1 for building widgets, and noted that invites also went out for sessions to build App Clips and transition iPad apps to Mac.
Apple invite developers to a session on “building great widget experiences”. pic.twitter.com/jtWuSAxvtIJanuary 26, 2021
This in itself doesn’t prove developers are disinterested in App Clips or widgets or dragging their feet implementing them - because, while Apple clusters most of its developer-training sessions around WWDC, the tech giant does hold special sessions to promote new tech, like it did late last year to help developers optimize their apps for upcoming Apple M1 processors, as Apple Insider pointed out.
But there’s no getting around how few non-Apple apps support widgets and App Clips. While iOS 14 launched with widgets for over a dozen first-party apps, not many third-party apps have introduced their own widgets.
CES 2021: all the best gadgets, TVs, devices, and robots a the online-only tech show
iOS 14.4: Update immediately to shield against security threats
iOS 14.5 will bring a big privacy feature to iPhone
(Image credit: Apple)
And yet, the few third-party apps that have added widgets haven’t offered much capability: the Spotify widget, for instance, just lets you look at the last song you played. You can’t use it as a mini-player, despite the ‘small widget’ (2x2) size exactly matching the mini-player in the Control Center, for instance.
This seems like it would be a great use of the space dedicated to a widget, but it’s likely the limit of their functionality: their value is in catching quick glimpses of info without needing to open the app, like glimpsing your movement ring progress in the Fitness app. Otherwise, they only act as big buttons, with widgets for apps like IMDB showing a ‘Search’ bar that, upon tapping, opens the app and takes you right to the Search functionality. Clever, but basic.
App Clips (not to be confused with the bundled Apple Clips photo editing app first released years ago), which give limited functionality of an app without having to download it, have yet to roll out in an impactful way. While some of the use cases for this ‘app preview’ have not materialized in the present moment given the COVID lockdowns – press material suggested it could be handy when in-person venues require an app to download, say – we still haven’t been prompted to use App Clips over text messages or the internet, as was also proposed.
(Image credit: Apple)
That’s not to say iOS 14 didn’t bring meaningful changes: picture-in-picture is a long-awaited feature, the intelligent App Library allows you to hide plenty of app-filled home screen pages without losing access to most-used apps, and Maps got a few improvements for cyclists and electric vehicle drivers. There are plenty of small quality-of-life upgrades, like showing colored dots when your microphone or camera are on, that make the iOS experience better.
But these weren’t the headline additions that felt like they would not just change but improve how iPhone owners got to use their devices.
It’s only been a few months since iOS 14 launched, but it’s a little disappointing that our home screens look more or less identical to how they have for years, and even the promise of something like widgets feels limited by their capabilities. We’re hoping Apple has more to teach the developers headed into its upcoming online sessions so they can add widgets, App Clips, and other functionality to their apps – hopefully before iOS 15 comes out.
Many of us tend to ignore system updates or take our time getting to them eventually. In this case, the words "actively exploited" should have you drop what you're doing and update your device ASAP.
It’s standard practice for developers to pause app updates over the December holidays and resume in early January. That was the case for Google this year, but the lack of new iOS releases oddly continued for almost the entire month until app updates resumed yesterday and today.
The lack of updates comes in the context of speculation at the start of the year that Google was not updating its iOS apps to avoid Apple’s App Privacy label. As of December 8, developers are required to list their privacy practices and how they handle data directly on the App Store. However, this was not the case as TechCrunch pointed out how updates for two Google apps (Slides and homework helper Socratic) were released about a week after that deadline.
Google on two occasions — the most recent being yesterday — reiterated that it would add privacy labels to all of its applications as new versions are released. In fact, the company is adding disclosures without app updates, with The Verge noting how the count was up to 12 listings as of Tuesday.
As Google’s iOS apps are updated with new features or to fix bugs, you’ll see updates to our app page listings that include the new App Privacy Details. These labels represent the maximum categories of data that could be collected—meaning if you use every available feature and service in the app.
However, Apple’s App Privacy mandate aside, Google’s update cadence has been oddly delayed in 2021. Earlier this month, a former Google employee chimed on Twitter how Google “tends to go into code freeze mid-Dec until first full week of Jan (at least when i was there).” This practice ensures that services remain stable and no updates are pushed out during the holiday period where there might not be many engineers on-hand to fix problems. Other iOS developers (big and small) have returned to their normal cadence, while Android updates resumed early in January.
It took almost three weeks before the first updates were released. Yesterday, the Google Fiber client was the first app to see an update since mid-December. Play Movies & TV followed today, with both seeing “bug fixes and performance improvements.” Google Translate is the latest on Thursday with a bigger release that allows users to “continuously translate someone speaking a different language in near real-time.” First introduced on Android, the feature is ideal for translating lectures and speeches.
Apps like Google (Search) and YouTube that previously saw weekly updates have yet to be refreshed, along with Maps, Gmail, and Photos.
Another example of Google iOS app updates not proceeding in their normal fashion is Chrome. Chrome 88 for Mac/Windows/Linux and Android was released last Tuesday, but that version has yet to arrive on iOS. Usually, Google’s iPhone and iPad browser is updated simultaneously (on a six-week cadence) with the other platforms. Past delays have lasted one or two days, while the only notable exception was due to COVID-19 pushing back the release schedule.
Desktop release
iOS update
Difference
76
July 30, 2019
Jul 30, 2019
None
77
Sept 10, 2019
Sep 10, 2019
None
78
Oct 22, 2019
Oct 22, 2019
None
79
Dec 10, 2019
Dec 10, 2019
None
80
Feb 4, 2020
Feb 5, 2020
+1
81
Mar 17, 2020
Apr 7, 2020
COVID + delay
82
Skipped
~
~
83
May 19, 2020
May 21, 2020
+2
84
Jul 14, 2020
Jul 14, 2020
None
85
Aug 25, 2020
Aug 25, 2020
None
86
Oct 6, 2020
Sep 30, 2020
-7
87
Nov 17, 2020
Nov 18, 2020
+1
88
Jan 19, 2021
+9
For end users, this lull in updates is slowly coming to an end, while they have not missed out on major features due to the lack of new releases. However, as the year ramps up and feature announcements commence, it will be interesting to see when updates return to normal.
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Apple's iOS 14 operating system includes a new security sandbox system designed to protect Messages users from potentially malicious code, according to new research shared on Thursday.
Discovered by Samuel Groß, a member of Google's Project Zero team, the new sandbox is named BlastDoor and is restricted to the Messages level of iOS, reports ZDNet.
BlastDoor quietly shipped with iOS 14 last year, though Apple has not publicly referenced the security feature. Groß detailed the "tightly sandboxed" service in a blog post today.
Written in the relatively safe Swift programming language, BlastDoor is responsible for parsing nearly all untrusted data in Messages, Groß says. Prior to iOS 14, steps like decompressing binary data, decoding the plist from a binary serialization format, field extraction, and decoding of the "x" key were all performed by imagent. Now, imagent is at the head of the processing flow, but critical operations are forwarded to BlastDoor.
According to Groß, the sandbox prohibits communication with most IPC services, blocks nearly all file system interaction, forbids any interaction with IOKit drivers and denies outbound network traffic. Essentially, the system unpacks content — both text and attachments — in a safe environment and prevents malicious code from interacting with iOS or accessing local data.
"Overall, these changes are probably very close to the best that could've been done given the need for backwards compatibility, and they should have a significant impact on the security of iMessage and the platform as a whole," Groß writes, noting that Messages in iOS 14 also allows for resliding of the shared cache and exponential throttling. "It's great to see Apple putting aside the resources for these kinds of large refactorings to improve end users' security."
The security researcher was tipped off to the new security protocol after reading a report from University of Toronto's Citizen Lab that detailed a Messages vulnerability leveraged to infiltrate and spy on journalists' iPhones. Called "Kismet," the exploit was in circulation for at least a year before being neutralized with the release of iOS 14.
Along with security improvements, Apple introduced a number of user-facing features to Messages in its latest mobile OS including pinned conversations, chat threads, and inline mentions.
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