Welcome to our Apple Breakfast column , which includes all of the Apple intelligence you missed last week in a handy insect bite - sized roundup . We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a aurora cup of umber or Camellia sinensis , but it ’s nerveless if you need to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too .
Feature creep
What is Apple ’s most authoritative product ? Financially , of course , it ’s the iPhone , which brings inmore moneythan every other product class – the Mac , the iPad , and the entire wear and services divisions – put together . But in terms of securing the loyalty of the customer who buy those iPhones , there ’s an argument to be made that iOS is even more crucial . mass do n’t corrupt an iPhone because it has the best specs or most innovative design ( which is debatable , to say the least ) but because it offers the friendly and smoothest experience , which is for the most part due to the operating system .
With this in intellect , surely the yearly launching of a novel full - version iOS update should be even more thirstily awaited than the roll - out of some new iPhone handsets that are probably like to the single from the old generation ? Well , yes and no . The software promulgation atWWDCwill be deserving watching , and an specially tasty iOS update can make it feel like you ’ve got a unexampled iPhone without spending a penny . But there ’s a conflict between authoritative and interesting , and the thudding software updates are just as essential to Apple ’s health as the shiny ones . iOS is like indoor plumbing system or a cricket umpire : at its best when invisible . If I ’m forced to think about sewerage or the LBW law of nature or my security options then you have failed to do your job , which is to quietly get things done in the backdrop .
This weeka credible reportclaimed that Apple has commute its strategy for iOS 17 , this year ’s update , from fixing microbe to sum feature . What pundits had antecedently expected to be a “ sustenance update ” focusing on improving performance will now apparently boast several “ gracious to have ” features , including several of the ones that have been requested most often . Cue shouting , general playfulness , a ticker - tape parade , etc .
Far be it from me to rain on anyone ’s parade , but I ’m not entirely convinced this is a practiced idea . I ’d much rather have Apple focus its energies on making sure everything work the means it ’s supposed to than adding a bunch of additional material that can go wrongly in creative new ways . Not that Io is especially error - prostrate in its current human body . While “ it just works ” is now principally quoted satirically , Apple product remain food market leaders when it derive to simple dependableness . But there are some consequence , and I ’d like there to be less . ( Or fewer . You see how important it is to get the fundamentals correct ? ) Take Siri . Would you rather have Siri gain the power to suffice a across-the-board range of enquiry , or suffice the current I more reliably ? That ’s what I remember .
The job is that , when it unveils a new version of iOS , Apple is trying to please two different grouping at the same prison term : the iPhone owners who will terminate up using the software every mean solar day for a twelvemonth without needs knowing anything about it , and those wiseacres like the present author who pontificate , analyze , and obsess about everything that ’s change . The phrase “ maintenance update ” is mostly used pejoratively , and an update without a flagship feature would be met by the op - male erecticle dysfunction combining weight of a raspberry on all the heavy technical school sites . But I submit that the fair flagship new lineament – such as the much - hyped customs Lock Screen in Io 16 - does less to increase the world ’s felicity than a unproblematic tweak like SMS passcodes appearing mechanically above the keyboard . The first attempt to convert the direction you use your iPhone , and the other try out to make your life-time easier .
With this in brain , I am disposed to make a promise . IfiOS 17turns out to be a maintenance update , I will refrain from indite a hot take complain about it . Who ’s with me ?
Foundry
Welp , everyone hates Apple ’s AR headsetand ithasn’t even shipped yet .
The Apple Watch Ultra’sAction buttonisjust what the iPhone 15 is pretermit .
you may now downloadApple Music Classical , but there are someunexpected limitations .
Apple Pay Lateris eventually useable – but only to‘randomly selected ’ usersin the U.S.
Apple hasacquired a startupspecializing in “ content - aware”AI video compression .
The rumor mill
Are we about to meet theB1 splintering ? A leak claimsApple ’s next chipwill be devote to the iPhone 15 Pro ’s button .
Podcast of the week
In this episode of the Macworld Podcast , we plunk into the latest update to Apple ’s operating systems , iOS 16 and macOS Ventura . And we ’ll also talk about the new Apple Pay Later program and Apple Music Classical . That ’s all in this show !
you may catch every instalment of the Macworld Podcast onSpotify , Soundcloud , thePodcasts app , orour own site .
Software updates, bugs & problems
iOS 16.4 is out nowwith newfangled emojis andcritical security updates . We ’ve got3 reasonsto climb right now , plus someawesome hidden features .
The scary‘MacStealer ’ malwarehasgone after iCloud passwordsand recognition card data .
Apple hasfinally patchedan actively exploitedWebKit flawin older iPhones .
gross timing , withiOS 17imminent : Itjust got easierto install Apple ’s betas .
Apple hasalready begin testingmacOS Ventura 13.4 .
The firstiOS 16.5 betahas go far with‘minor ’ changesas the launch of iOS 17 draw close .
