ZDNet: This app teaches you how to make your iPhone secure. “First and foremost, iVerify is a security scanner that makes sure you are making use of the basic security features such as Face/Touch ID, Screen Lock, and are running the latest iOS version. It also runs a device scan that looks for security anomalies and gives you a heads up if something seems out of place.” Not free, but the price is only $2.99.
Engadget: FaceTime is coming to PC and Android via a web app. “When iOS 15 arrives later this year, it will come with some significant upgrades to FaceTime. Apple’s Craig Federighi previewed those changes during WWDC 2021. One of the biggest tweaks is that Facetime will work with Android and Windows 10 PCs thanks to new shareable links Apple will let you send to your friends and family.”
MakeTechEasier: Everything You Need to Know About the iOS Keyboard. “As a key component for typing anything, the iOS keyboard is an essential and invaluable part of the whole iOS system. Since you are spending a lot of time typing on it, why not learn the best iOS keyboard tips and tricks and get the best out of it? While there are numerous third-party keyboards that promise to make your life better, learning the default keyboard is the best course of action. Here are some of the most important things you need to know about the iOS keyboard.”
CNET: Parler is back on Apple’s App Store. “Conservative social media service Parler is once again available on Apple’s iOS App Store after being after being taken down following the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol. The updated version of the app includes ‘enhanced threat and incitement reporting tools,’ according to its App Store listing.”
Ars Technica: Apple brass discussed disclosing 128-million iPhone hack, then decided not to. “In September 2015, Apple managers had a dilemma on their hands: should, or should they not notify 128 million iPhone users of what remains the worst mass iOS compromise on record? Ultimately, all evidence shows, they chose to keep quiet.”
Wired: Don’t Buy Into Facebook’s Ad-Tracking Pressure on iOS 14.5. “For the first time, users can tell apps not to track their activity across different sites and services. In an attempt to dissuade them from doing so, the Facebook and Instagram iOS apps are admonishing users that tracking helps keep those platforms ‘free of charge.’ This is technically true; Facebook is an advertising company that profits from showing ads that its users are more likely to click. But the iOS 14.5 notice also frames the issue in a way that implies Facebook can’t make money if it foregoes this kind of tracking, or worse, that Apple’s App Tracking Transparency update may force the social network to start charging its users a fee. So it’s worth being absolutely clear: Neither of those is the case.”
Wired: The New iOS Update Lets You Stop Ads From Tracking You—So Do It. “IF YOU’RE SICK of opaque ad tracking and don’t feel like you have a handle on it, a new iOS feature promises to give you back some control. With the release of Apple’s iOS 14.5 on Monday, all of your apps will have to ask in a pop-up: Do you want to allow this app to track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites? For once, your answer can be no.”
Washington Post: He believed Apple’s App Store was safe. Then a fake app stole his life savings in bitcoin.. “Phillipe Christodoulou wanted to check his bitcoin balance last month, so he searched the App Store on his iPhone for ‘Trezor,’ the maker of a small hardware device he uses to store his cryptocurrency. Up popped the company’s padlock logo set against a bright green background. The app was rated close to five stars. He downloaded it and typed in his credentials. In less than a second, nearly all of his life savings — 17.1 bitcoin worth $600,000 at the time — was gone. The app was a fake, designed to trick people into thinking it was a legitimate app.”
TechCrunch: Apple releases iPhone, iPad, and Watch security patches for zero-day bug under active attack. “Apple has released an update for iPhones, iPads and Watches to patch a security vulnerability under active attack by hackers. The security update lands as iOS 14.4.2 and iPadOS 14.4.2, which also covers a patch to older devices as iOS 12.5.2. watchOS also updates to 7.3.3.”
Ars Technica: “Expert” hackers used 11 0-days to infect Windows, iOS, and Android users. “A team of advanced hackers exploited no fewer than 11 zero-day vulnerabilities in a nine-month campaign that used compromised websites to infect fully patched devices running Windows, iOS, and Android, a Google researcher said.”
Search Engine Journal: DuckDuckGo Blasts Google Over New iOS Privacy Labels. “As is now required by Apple, Google is providing privacy labels for each of the apps which list the data they collect from users and what the data is used for. The long list of information Google collects from iOS app users is the subject of DuckDuckGo’s latest attack against the search giant.”
Mashable: TikTok users are teaching iPhone owners how to screenshot an entire webpage. “Did you know you could screenshot an entire webpage on your phone, then save it as a PDF and revisit its contents whenever your little heart desires? Full-page screenshotting is a super simple and helpful trick, yet I, a person who’s owned an iPhone for over a decade, had no idea it was possible until I watched this TikTok video.”
CNET: Apple’s new privacy-label database lets you see what data its apps gather on you. “Apps are everywhere, and pretty much all of them gather data about us whenever we use them. In light of that, Apple in December began requiring app developers to list information about the data their apps gather, in an accessible privacy label. Now the company is taking things one step further, with an easily searchable database of privacy labels for Apple’s own apps.”
TechCrunch: Hackers release a new jailbreak tool for almost every iPhone. “An iPhone hacking team has released a new jailbreak tool for almost every iPhone, including the most recent models, by using the same vulnerability that Apple last month said was under active attack by hackers.”
