Lifehacker: Finally, There’s an Easy Way to Reduce Background Noise on Your iPhone. “As reported by 9to5Mac, Apple is adding Voice Isolation mode to phone calls as part of iOS 16.4. According to Apple, Voice Isolation mode ‘prioritizes your voice and blocks out ambient noise around you,’ a simple solution to clearer audio during phone calls.”
Engadget: How to declutter your iOS devices. “If you’ve owned your iPhone or iPad for a while, there’s a good chance there are apps, contacts and settings that you either don’t use anymore or aren’t serving you as well as they could. This guide will take you through how to reclaim your notifications and your device’s storage.”
WIRED: A New Kind of Bug Spells Trouble for iOS and macOS Security. “FOR YEARS, APPLE has hardened the security systems on iPhones and Macs. But no company is immune from such issues. Research reveals a new class of bugs that can affect Apple’s iPhone and Mac operating systems and if exploited could allow an attacker to sweep up your messages, photos, and call history.”
The Register: What Brit watchdog redacted: Google gives Apple cut of Chrome iOS search revenue. “Google has been paying Apple a portion of search revenue generated by people using Google Chrome on iOS, according to a source familiar with the matter. This is one of the aspects of the relationship between the two tech goliaths that currently concerns the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).”
Emojipedia: First Look: New Emojis in iOS 16.4. “New emoji designs have arrived on iOS as part of the first iOS 16.4 beta, including the shaking face, two pushing hands, and the much-requested plain pink heart emoji.”
The Register: Japan joins ranks of nations plotting smackdown for Apple, Google. “Japan’s competition regulator has recommended big changes to local laws to reform the ‘oligopoly’ it’s assessed Google and Apple enjoy in the markets for mobile operating systems and the apps that run on them.”
Lifehacker: Your iPhone Can Scan and Copy Any Text Into a Note. “‘Scan Text’ can scan any text from any document you point your camera to, which means you have a one-click option to copy someone’s homework, a contract, or a grocery list that’s hanging on the fridge. And, once it’s scanned, you are can format or share it any way you want.”
Six Colors: New tool generates more useful Mastodon link previews in Messages. “Just the other day, I was lamenting one of my big frustations with Mastodon—that links to posts, unlike tweets, don’t display nicely in Messages. Instead you get a preview that shows the poster’s profile image and their name, rather than the actual text or image of the post itself…. Well, the ball may be in Apple’s court, but not everybody’s waiting for them to return the serve. iOS developer Tyler Hillman has come up with a workaround: a web service that can provide the necessary metadata to show post content in Messages.”
Lifehacker: 45 of Lifehacker’s Favorite iPhone Hacks of 2022. “From iOS 16 to the iPhone 14, the iPhone had a big year. We started 2022 with iOS 15.2, which gave us features like Apple Music Voice and legacy contacts, and end the year appropriately with iOS 16.2, with Apple Music Sing and end-to-end encryption for iCloud backups. In between, we discovered a lot of hacks that make life with an iPhone even easier. Here are 45 of our favorites.” Slideshow.
Engadget: Twitter is reportedly raising Blue subscription’s pricing on iOS to $11. “According to The Information, the company informed some employees that it’s going to charge users $11 for Blue subscription if they pay through its iOS application. But if they pay through the web, it will only cost them $7 a month for the service, which includes getting the website’s blue verification badge.”
The Verge: Epic’s free app that turns real-life items into 3D models is available now on iOS. “Epic Games’ RealityScan app, which lets you scan real-life objects and turn them into 3D models for video games or other projects, is now officially available on iOS as a free download after an initial limited beta launch in April.”
WIRED: How to Declutter Your Home Screen. “The home screen of your Android phone or iPhone probably shows evidence of this growing clutter: apps you forgot about, widgets you barely use, and shortcuts you’re not 100 percent sure about the origin of. Mobile home screens aren’t unlike the desktop screens of Windows and macOS computers, with a tendency to attract all kinds of digital detritus that builds up over time. With that in mind, it’s worth committing yourself to some regular home screen decluttering.”
How-To Geek: How to Automate Your iPhone Based on Time, Activity, or Location. “Your iPhone can become more efficient with a few simple automations that show relevant information and hide distractions, depending on what you’re doing. Automating your iPhone can help you be more productive at work, get a better night’s sleep, or surface useful reminders at the best possible time.”
How-To Geek: 5 iPhone Screenshot Tricks You Should Know. “Taking screenshots on an iPhone is a simple thing to do, but there’s more than meets the eye. Apple includes a handful of nifty tools for screenshots, and there are some clever ‘unofficial’ tricks you should know about.”
Ars Technica: Facebook users sue Meta for bypassing beefy Apple security to spy on millions. “After Apple updated its privacy rules in 2021 to easily allow iOS users to opt out of all tracking by third-party apps, so many people opted out that the Electronic Frontier Foundation reported that Meta lost $10 billion in revenue over the next year. Meta’s business model depends on selling user data to advertisers, and it seems that the owner of Facebook and Instagram sought new paths to continue widely gathering data and to recover from the suddenly lost revenue.”
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