Apple users are being urged to install the latest iOS software which fixes a security issue in both iPhones and iPad.
The tech giant released both iOS 14.4.2 and iPadOS 14.4.2 on Friday which, according to its security support website, relates to Webkit - the web browser engine used by Safari, Mail, App Store and dozens of other iOS apps.
The update aims to fix a security issue, which it describes as: “Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to universal cross-site scripting”.
“Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited,” it said.
It added that the issue had been addressed by “improved management of object lifetimes”.
Apple users are being urged to install the latest iOS software. File.Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
The updates are available for devices including iPhone 6s and later, all iPad Pro models, iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch 7th generation.
“Keeping your software up to date is one of the most important things you can do to maintain your Apple product’s security,” Apple said.
To update a device, go to Settings > General > Software Update and follow the directions to download and install.
For a full list of available Apple security updates, visit the Apple Support website.
Apple has constantly been updating their devices for a long time and the users certainly love it. A recent update was released that has managed to gain a lot of popularity amongst the users. Because of this, they have been asking a lot of questions about the new iOS 14.4.2 features. To help them out, we have managed to gather some information about the update right here. Read more about iOS 14.4.2 features.
iOS 14.4.2 Features
The users have recently been asking a lot of questions related to the latest iOS 14.4.2 features. The users have recently been trying to find answers to questions like should I update to iOS 14.4.2 and what does iOS 14.4.2 do to your phone. This is because the makers of the phones have managed to add a number of updates that keep the users devices up to date with all the issues and their fixes. We have managed to gather a lot more information about this new update that will clear all your doubts. This information could also help you by answering your questions including should I update to iOS 14.4.2 and what does iOS 14.4.2 do to your phone. So without any delay, let’s take a deep dive into more information about 14.4.2 features.
To answer the question "should I update to iOS 14.4.2", it is important to know what the update does. This update is basically released to improve the security of your phone and is certainly a must. Such updates must be installed instantly in order to help you with your phones. Apart from this, we have also managed to gather some information about how to install this update on your device. We have also listed the official description of the iOS 14.4.2 update that was uploaded on Apple’s official website.
Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)
Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to universal cross site scripting. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.
Description: This issue was addressed by improved management of object lifetimes.
iOS 14 was a major release for the platform, adding things like widgets, the App Library, updates to Messages, a redesigned Siri, and so much more. It was lauded as a key feature update so it would only be natural for iOS 15 to be a smaller update focused on refinements. While brainstorming what made the most sense for an iOS 15 concept, I had to weed out lots of ideas. I chose to focus on small changes to existing apps and features.
In 2021 Apple’s mobile platform is incredibly polished, but there are still some important features missing from it. Apple’s enhanced focus on privacy, changes they made to the Home Screen last year, and apps like Weather and Stocks could use some updates.
iOS 15 appears to finally be on the horizon, this morning 9to5mac found references to “iOS 15.0” in the latest version of Apple’s open-source WebKit framework. While we wait for WWDC 2021 to be announced, let’s talk about what we might see in the next release of iOS.
Home Screen
The Home Screen was huge piece of iOS 14, and with iOS 15, it’s more than likely that Apple will polish some of the enhancements they made. For me, it starts with the ability to resize widgets already on your Home Screen. It’s a small but important thing missing from the current widget set up. The App Library has become integral to the iPhone experience, but the alphabetical list of apps needs to be set free. I’d like to be able to swipe down from any page and access it.
The new page overview was a nice hidden feature of iOS 14. With iOS 15, I’d love for them to make it even more useful. I’d love to be able to rearrange Home Screen pages and remove entire pages of apps. It could even be useful to have a button that adds a new blank page.
Privacy
App privacy labels are a major component of Apple’s privacy strategy. But they aren’t any help if a user never sees them. If a user has already installed an app and has had it for a long time, they likely won’t see the privacy labels or the data that’s being collected.
What if after every software update or app update from the App Store, a new launch screen would show up with the release notes? It could also offer customers the ability to view privacy labels after every update in case changes are made by the developer. This could apply to both Apple’s apps and third-party apps. If a developer adds a new label, the user will see it highlighted in the launch screen after updating. The labels would only be shown automatically one time and there’d be a button to view them after every subsequent update.
FaceTime
Apple has let FaceTime fall behind the competition, especially amid the pandemic that has forced us all to use video calling platforms more and more. With iOS 15, Apple could add the ability to schedule FaceTime calls with other Apple IDs and attach them to calendar invites.
Screen sharing is another thing missing from FaceTime. You can already share your screen on your Mac using the Messages app, but with FaceTime on iOS Apple could add a new share toggle to the control panel. Indicators in the status bar would tell you if your iPhone is projecting its display.
Screenshots over FaceTime could be a problem, so Apple could require you to approve screenshots remotely if someone attempts to take one.
Stocks
The Stocks app rarely gets updated, but there’s been an explosion of stock interest among the general public with the Gamestop phenomenon. It would be incredibly useful if Stocks could let you enter your actual positions and track the value in real time.
Even better, Apple could create a new API so that you can connect the Stocks app with trading services like Robinhood and E*Trade and have your positions automatically added to the app.
Keyboard
Emoji are one of the most popular features on iOS, but it’s still missing the ability to save your favorites for easy access. A new favorites tab in the emoji keyboard could be separate from recently used. You could easily tap and hold on an emoji and slide your finger over to select the start icon. It’d be just as easy to remove a favorite.
One feature of the popular Gboard app is haptic feedback on key presses. Apple could add a new toggle so that when typing you’d have physical feedback.
Keychain
Passwords are stuck inside the Settings app as of now, but they deserve to have their own home and app. The Mac already has its own Keychain Access app so why shouldn’t iOS? A new Keychain app could let you organize your passwords by category and get quick access to frequently used ones.
Apple could also add a new authenticator to the app so that users wouldn’t need to download apps like Google Authenticator or Authy. With one tap, you could copy a code or generate a new one. Autofill for passwords could even include the code generator so you wouldn’t need to switch apps to generate a code.
Nightstand Mode
Apple Watch’s nightstand mode could come to iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro models with MagSafe. When an iPhone detects it’s connected to a MagSafe charger or stand, it could display a large clock. Below the clock you’d see the date and any upcoming alarms.
If you wear an Apple Watch to sleep and it detects that you are awake, it could tell your iPhone to illuminate the display so you don’t have to touch it to wake it up.
Nightstand mode could serve as the first feature of an always-on display in the next-generation iPhone and be a foundation for which users could build their understanding of its use cases on.
Weather
The Weather app hasn’t received a redesign since iOS 7, and with the acquisition of Dark Sky last year, it’s time for it to finally happen. The new design could be modeled after widgets and show more glanceable data at once. Tapping on a location would expand out to the current full-screen animated view.
Information could be more accurate and sourced from Dark Sky instead of the Weather Channel. The same awesome notifications about upcoming precipitation that made Dark Sky so useful could come to the built-in Weather app as well.
Home
HomePod and HomePod mini are important pillars of Apple’s HomeKit strategy, and the Home app should reflect that. A new HomePod tab could let you access settings for all of your HomePods in one nice place. But a new feed called “What’s Happening” could show you all of the audio playing on your HomePods as well as things like alarms that are currently set.
You could even see what’s playing on your Apple TVs in the new What’s Happening feed and access the remote directly from there.
Since the HomePod has no display to show you what you’ve requested of it, a new Siri History page could be added to HomePod settings so you can see any request that has been made. Apple wouldn’t record any audio and all of the transcripts would remain local on your HomePod, although projected to your iPhone.
MagSafe
The animations that appear when you connect a MagSafe accessory to the back of your iPhone 12 are really nice, but they can be cumbersome. A new toggle could let you reset them if they stop appearing or disable them completely. You could even see all the details of a connected accessory like the color, release date, and more.
There’s so much that I’ve considered for iOS 15 so you can check out the release notes below and get all of the details. Let us know what you think in the comments below and what other features you might want to see later this year!
“Release Notes”
Home Screen
Swipe down on any page for the App Library
See all installed apps in the A-Z list
Combined Siri suggestions and suggested apps
Tap and hold an app to drag it to any page
Resize existing widgets
Tap and hold for the context menu and tap resize
Choose from all available size classes for that widget
Edit Home Screen pages
Rearrange pages on your home screen
Delete entire pages and send all apps to the library
Add new pages with a tap
Launch Screens
Release notes upon launch
When you launch an app post update, you’ll see the release notes
You can create custom bullet points with icons in addition to standard release notes
Privacy labels are accessible for users who never see the App Store listing
Updates to privacy labels are highlighted to the user after an update to them
Works with Apple apps and third-party apps
Facetime
Schedule Facetime calls
When creating a new calendar listing you can create a future call with invitees
Checks for invitees’ Apple IDs before confirming the future call
Share your iPhone or iPad’s display
Tap the new share button to project your device’s display to a friend
Take screenshots of callers’ devices remotely with their approval
Status bar indicator tells you when you’re sharing your screen
Stocks
Track your personal positions
Enter stocks you own manually and track their value in realtime
New positions tab separates stocks you own from stocks you follow
Connect with stock trading apps
Like TV channels, connect to apps like Robinhood & E*Trade
Automatically adds stocks you own
News tab
The new News tab lets you follow your favorite business news sources
Keyboard
Favorite emoji
Scroll over to the far left page of your emoji keyboard for favorites
Tap and hold an emoji and slide your finger over to star it
Tap and hold favorite emoji and slide your finger over to remove it
Haptic taps
Enable haptic feedback for every key press on your iPhone
Keychain App
Standalone app
Removes passwords from Settings and sets them free
Organize your passwords by category
Quickly access your frequently used passwords
Two-factor authenticator
Add services you use two-factor codes with to Keychain
Quickly copy the code with a tap or generate a new one
Nightstand Mode
Alarm clock
Large clock displays the time when your iPhone detects movement
Shows your next alarm
Lets you know if your iPhone is connected to wifi and how much battery is left
Only appears while your iPhone is on a MagSafe charger
Apple Watch integration
The display will illuminate if your Apple Watch determines you’re awake in Sleep mode
Weather
Completely redesigned
Modern design shows you more information at a glance
Tap a location to expand the animations full screen and see more information
Quickly add a location to your Home Screen as a widget
New app icon reminiscent of Dark Sky
Dark Sky integration
More detailed precipitation graphs sourced from Dark Sky
Notifications for upcoming precipitation
Home
New HomePod tab
See all of your HomePods at once
What’s Happening feed with playback, alarms, and more
Drag and drop HomePods to create and remove stereo pairs
Siri Request History
Read transcripts of what has been asked of Siri on your HomePods
The transcripts remain local on your HomePod but are projected to your iPhone
MagSafe Accessories
New Settings panel
Enable or disable MagSafe animations when you connect accessories
See information about your MagSafe accessories
Check if an accessory is genuine
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Focus Live was introduced in 2020 with the ability to record and edit videos in portrait mode on iPhone and iPad using depth data from multi-lens cameras. The app was updated this week with some great new features, including a redesigned media selector and new effects that can be added to videos.
Version 1.3 of Focus Live makes it easier to find specific videos from your Photo Library. You can now change the layout of the results and also filter videos by aspect ratio, resolution, duration, date, and colors.
With the newly designed media selection interface, it is easier for you to choose videos & images by filtering them under the conditions of aspect ratio, resolution, duration & creation date. You can also mark the videos & images with color tags, then filter them with colors.
In addition to a new media selector, the update brings video effects to the app. Users now have access to multiple effects, including glitch, TV, dots, zoom, and more. These effects can be added during the editing process in Focos Live and work not only for videos with depth but with regular videos as well.
Transition effects and support for the Danish language have also been added to the app with version 1.3, as well as bug fixes and performance improvements.
As we covered last year, Focos Live generates a bokeh effect for videos, while the iPhone’s Portrait Mode works only with still photos. The app uses the depth data captured by the cameras, which requires a device with two or three lenses. Focus Lens works even better with the TrueDepth camera and the LiDAR scanner.
You can download Focos Live for free on the App Store, but some features are only available through in-app purchases.
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Great development frameworks make creating and maintaining apps easier. Like developers for so many platforms, iOS developers have tons of options when it comes to app development frameworks.
Picking the ‘best’ framework is impossible. Every developer has unique needs, and their choice of frameworks and languages is necessarily subjective. Although iOS developers are building a variety of apps and games, Apple is dogmatic about how its platforms work and how developers can utilize tools and services, which makes picking a solid all-around framework a bit easier.
We queried several experts to find out which frameworks they recommend. While some of their picks were obvious, a few are pretty surprising.
“React is handy in simple projects when budget and time might be an issue,” Boris Abazher, CEO of Triare, said. “This framework offers familiar UX patterns and the same high quality of apps thanks to Views, Text, and Images as native UI building blocks. It is also helpful to know that React’s community is the biggest among these frameworks.”
It’s also worth mentioning the white-label apps Apple banned have since reappeared—sort of. White-label apps were simplistic experiences, often just web pages or other features bundled as apps. App Clips, a new feature from Apple, allows app developers to offer experiences, such as viewing a menu, without downloading an entire app.
Among our panel, SwiftUI was widely viewed as the single framework an iOS developer should learn in 2021. If you’re going to learn just one framework, make it SwiftUI.
With SwiftUI, all developers’ thoughts are focused on what functionality the application will have, not how to implement that functionality. This approach significantly speeds up development, which is good news for engineers. It’s also worth mentioning that SwiftUI is available across the entire Apple ecosystem, which means developers can write apps for multiple platforms at the same time, which is amazing.
In the future, it will be possible to forget that previously UIKit framework was used exclusively for iOS, and AppKit for macOS. Moreover, SwiftUI allows your product to support various system settings out of the box, be it the appearance of the system or dynamic fonts.
Dane Hale of Twin Sun Solutions likens Flutter to SwiftUI, telling us: “Frameworks like SwiftUI and Flutter help developers make better apps in several ways, with efficiency being the main benefit. One of the main benefits that makes these frameworks super-efficient is they are able to target several products, form factors, and operating systems all with a single code base.”
Hale points out Flutter’s advantage may be its maturity: “Flutter does have a wider reach than SwiftUI due to SwiftUI only reaching different products within Apple’s ecosystem. Flutter can reach all the popular mobile operating systems, the web, Linux, and Windows.”
“Flutter is universal,” Abazher added. “It looks the same on various platforms and resembles the simplicity that Google propagates. It’s programmed using Google’s Dart language, although accessible via JavaScript. Also, 3rd party compatibility is high.”
“Ionic permits to deliver a cross-platform app for all devices more conveniently given a 98 percent code reusability,” Abazher said. “It also has a simple architecture.”
The Ionic framework has a bespoke API library and native mobile toolkit that can be distributed anywhere. Ionic is great for those who know Angular, underscoring another point from Abazher: “Developers choose a framework based on their professional background.” If you have already mastered a language, find a framework that’s suitable to your area of expertise when available.
Out of left field comes Tim Kersey, Senior Software Engineer at Carbon Five, tossing the KMM (Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile) hat into the ring:
“Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile (KMM) enables the use of a single codebase for sharing business logic between native iOS and Android apps by writing it once in Kotlin. Apps that mostly consist of UI logic won’t reap the full benefits of KMM. Apps that have complex business logic for features like networking, authentication, analytics, data synchronization or complex computations can benefit from writing this logic in Kotlin and sharing between iOS and Android.
“KMM integration can be executed incrementally by taking one existing feature implemented in Kotlin and making it cross-platform. Whenever a feature is not solvable by using shared code or the use of a specific native feature is required, platform specific code can be seamlessly integrated. KMM is now in Alpha and the Kotlin team is fully committed to improving and evolving the technology.”
It’s an interesting position. Like SwiftUI, KMM is a native-first framework for creating back-end logic for bespoke platform experiences. Though there is a Swift for Android, Kersey notes, “With Swift on Android it is technically possible to compile Swift code for Android and even create an APK, but it is still far from easy. In fact, for most it is really still not possible.”
Choose SwiftUI or Stay in Your Bubble
Based on our developer feedback, it seems that iOS developers should be choosing SwiftUI, even though it needs a lot of work. It’s native to Apple platforms, familiar to Xcode users, and will have the bells and whistles you need for working across Apple’s ecosystem.
Those unfamiliar with Swift, iOS, or Apple’s developer tooling should follow Abazher’s advice and find a platform suitable to the language you’re familiar with. It’s sound advice for a few reasons; if you’ve not yet learned Swift, chances are good that your needs on the iOS platform are basic, and any framework that helps you build a good app will do.
Second, using a framework for a language you already know will keep things familiar and manageable. Supporting the app and adding features shouldn’t require continuous learning of another language… unless you really need to take advantage of deep tooling for iOS.
WebKit source code has seemingly confirmed Apple is all in with the change in macOS numbering, by including references to "macOS 12.0" and "iOS 15.0."
For quite a few years, macOS had a version number that started "10." followed by incremental changes. For macOS Big Sur and its Apple Silicon introduction, Apple moved macOS to version 11, and it seems the numbering convention will continue for the next version.
Located in the open-source WebKit repository after being updated in February, references in the code found by9to5Mac mention macOS "12.00" and iOS "15.0." This is an unusual discovery, as typically the WebKit code refers to future operating system iterations as "TBA" instead of using version numbers.
The update was conducted by an Apple employee who worked on WebKit, with the commit message "Update WKWebView getUserMedia delegate to latest proposal."
Based on this discovery, it seems that Apple is taking the same numbering route for macOS as it has done for its other operating systems, instead of keeping it on the same main version for as long as possible. The numbering of beta releases and public releases hinted that this could occur, since the first number after the period is increasing multiple times in the year instead of being static.
It ultimately seems like a confirmation that Apple is changing the numbering strategy to bring macOS in line with iOS, iPadOS, and others. Each have a main yearly milestone release that changes the first number of the version string.
Apple is anticipated to reveal the official name and numbers of its next milestone operating system releases at WWDC 2021, due to be held in the summer. Apple is expected to announce when the event will take place soon, as well as other details developers could expect to encounter this year.
iOS 14.5 may still be in beta, but the march towards iOS 15 continues with Apple almost certainly planning to reveal the next major iteration of its mobile operating system at WWDC 2021.
Apple unleashed a host of awesome new features on iPhone users last year including customizable widgets, the App Library, improved multitasking, the ability to choose some new default apps and more. Based on the early rumors it looks like Apple is planning to build on some of these features while introducing quite a few more.
Software rumors can be more ephemeral than hardware rumors, but we have nonetheless gathered up everything there is to know about iOS 15 including its release date, which devices will be supported, new features and more.
iOS 15 release date
While the first look at iOS 15 will no doubt happen at WWDC 2021 sometime in June, the actual release should come with the launch of the iPhone 13. The projection from reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is that Apple is back on track this year for a September iPhone launch, so that is when iOS 15 will be available to all.
Apple has been reasonably unfailing in this release schedule, the company is more likely to cut features that can't make it in time rather than delay the release of the new OS. The first beta usually arrives immediately following WWDC so that will be a good check on the status of the release schedule for iOS 15.
iOS 15 supported devices
There's naturally nothing official from Apple here, but a rumor from back in November indicated that the iPhone 7 will be the oldest to support iOS 15. The claim is that devices must at least feature the A10 chip, leaving the iPhone 6s, 6s Plus and original iPhone SE behind. The rumor originated from The Verifier, a site with a somewhat checkered history on Apple rumors, but it has hit on these device compatibility rumors previously so has more credibility there.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that a generation of devices is likely to fall off this time around as iOS 14 managed to maintain support for all devices that ran iOS 13. Potentially good news for iPhone 7 users though as a feature coming in iOS 14.5 is already laying the groundwork for security updates to continue beyond the feature updates for iPhones.
(Image credit: Laptop Mag)
iOS 15 new features
Unlike iPhone hardware leaks, software rumors are a bit harder to nail down as Apple could switch things out right up until the last minute. Some things announced on stage at WWDC don't even make it into the final OS release.
However, we do have a number of clues as to what we can expect in iOS 15 this year.
One potentially welcome change would be the ability to switch the default app for more services. We first saw this in iOS 14 with Safari and Mail and while hopes of a similar fate for the Music app in iOS 14.5 were dashed by Apple, the update does allow you to express a preference for which app Siri uses to play audio content. It's a step in the right direction that coupled with last year's change at least suggests Apple is weakening on this point.
(Image credit: Laptop Mag)
Another feature that could evolve from its debut in iOS 14 according to PhoneArena is the home screen widget. While the ability to finally add widgets to the home screen proved massively popular for iPhone owners that loved customizing their home screens, the widgets don't offer a tremendous amount of functionality. In iOS 15 we may see them add interactivity as well as greater freedom in the size and shape of the widgets.
There is one feature that seems like a potential lock and that's because it is tied to a rumored hardware change coming to the iPhone 13, which is the addition of an always-on display. If true this will almost certainly include a method for displaying notifications when the screen is powered down. Leaker Max Weinbach shared some alleged details on this feature with EverythingApplePro indicating that it would display the clock and battery level at all times, while notification pop-ups would be temporary.
(Image credit: Apple)
How to get iOS 15
Following the anticipated announcement of iOS 15 at WWDC 2021 the company will typically make developer betas available immediately. Unless you are a registered developer with Apple you won't be able to access these betas.
However, Apple will then follow with a public beta within 2-3 weeks. In 2020 for example the iOS 14 developer beta was released on June 22 and the public beta followed on July 9.
While putting any beta on a primary device isn't usually advisable, if you have a spare device or just like living dangerously then signing up to be a part of the public beta is easy. You just go to beta.apple.com using Safari on your Apple device and hit the Sign up button.
From there you just need to log in with your Apple ID and the page will walk you through the rest of the process which involves installing a configuration profile that will then allow you to view the latest beta release as a software update. If you are interested you can jump on this right now to test out the public beta of iOS 14.5.
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