It’s been just over a month since Apple Fitness+ launched – the company’s latest move wading further into the health and fitness market. Now Apple’s senior director of fitness technologies, Jay Blahnik has shared some thoughts on why metrics can be our biggest motivator, how Apple Fitness+ comes into play with that, and more. Blahnik joined the podcast Healthy-ish for a short 8-minute interview on getting excited about health and fitness, metrics, Apple Fitness+, and rethinking how we workout....

While Apple is using an A6 processor for this new iPad mini, developer Nick Frey has shared with us that Apple is also developing a new A7 processor. A reference to an s5l8960x (likely A7) processor, which is a leap over the s5l8950x (A6) and s5l8955x (A6X), was located inside of the iOS 7 filesystem. Based on recent chatter, it seems plausible that this will be the chip powering the new iPhone 5S....

Apple updated its Apple Store app today with a few new features to spotlight Today at Apple sessions and make participating in the Apple GiveBack program easier. The update brings the app to version 5.3. Following the rollout of over 50 new creative and educational sessions this past January, Apple completely redesigned its Today at Apple website to organize sessions by topic and feature upcoming events. Now, a similar design can be found on the Sessions tab in the Apple Store app....

Apple has published its latest Transparency Report covering government and private party requests for data from January 1 to June 30, 2020. This report reveals how many requests were made for user data around the world, and how many with which Apple could comply. As first reported by TechCrunch’s Zack Whittaker, this latest Transparency Report shows a year-over-year decline in requests for data. In the first half of 2020, Apple received 28,276 device requests covering 171,368 devices....

At its September media event Apple showed off the new iTunes 11, software complete with a redesigned player, new mini player, redesigned store, preview history, iCloud integration, and more. Apple promised the new iTunes was going to be released during October, however, an Apple spokesperson speaking to CNET just announced that Apple has delayed iTunes 11 until November in order “to get it right.” Many of you may remember that iTunes Match was also delayed last fall....

One analyst has a suggestion for how Apple could put pressure on Google: acquire DuckDuckGo. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi says that an acquisition of privacy-focused DuckDuckGo would allow Apple to put pressure on Google and tap into lucrative advertising revenue. According to Sacconaghi, Apple should acquire DuckDuckGo for around $1 billion as a way to put more pressure on Google and capture the advertising revenue that comes from the search industry....

$AAPL stock has opened below $100 in the first minutes of trading, erasing any gains since October 2014. Apple’s stock officially opened at $95.12 but has corrected slightly upwards since to circa $101. The fall in share price saw Apple’s market capitalization lose about $60 billion dollars in value today. Although any fall in price is bad news for the company, the 7% fall should not be taken at face value....

Following the release of iOS 14.4 last week, Apple today stopped signing iOS 14.3. That means users who have updated their devices to iOS 14.4 can no longer downgrade to iOS 14.3. iOS 14.4 brought changes to the Camera app, bug fixes for keyboard input lag, and it also includes support for the new Apple Watch Unity watch faces. Prior to that, iOS 14.3 was released in December 2020 with Apple ProRAW for iPhone 12 Pro users, as well as support for AirPods Max and Apple Fitness+ service....

Apple’s official Apple Store app for iOS sees an update today with further Touch ID support and the ability to check local iPhone stock availability. Users will also be able to look into Apple ID account settings using Touch ID. Previously when users wanted to complete purchases with Touch ID, they needed to have cards configured within Wallet. Today’s update allows buyers to checkout using the card on file for their Apple ID....

Apple is set to give its retail employees a services perk for the new year. The company will giveaway Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade for free to employees starting in January. Apple retail stores currently feature large advertising campaigns for Apple Arcade, including preloading Arcade titles on the demo iPads and Macs, but the company has been more restrained on retail placement for TV+ thus far. The freebie will help Apple retail store sales staff learn about Apple’s slate of services and make it easier for them to explain Apple’s offerings to customers....

Customers all over the world are now receiving shipment alerts for their shiny new Apple product orders. We have seen shipping notifications for iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, as well as Apple Watch Series 4. Whilst there is less hype this year for the new iPhones compared to the drastically redesigned iPhone X generation last year, it’s nevertheless exciting to see the final stepping-stones fall into place ahead of the Friday, 21 September launch....

Apple has released two new ads that use Animoji to sing Grammy nominated songs, as spotted by Adweek. The exclusive iPhone X feature has been very popular and also controversial as some see it as gimmicky. Apple has just added an additional four Animoji characters in iOS 11.3. The 60-second clips each feature a Grammy nominated song. The dog Animoji sings ”Stir Fry” by rap trio Migos, and the alien Animoji performs “Redbone” by Childish Gambino....

Over the last week, Apple executives have made appearances on several podcasts to talk iPadOS, Project Catalyst, the Mac Pro, and more. Now, Apple’s Josh Shaffer and Wiley Hodges have joined the Upgrade podcast to talk more about SwiftUI. At Apple, Wiley Hodges serves as a director of product marketing, focusing on developer tools, security, and privacy. Shaffer, meanwhile, is a software engineer at the company. Speaking to Jason Snell on the Upgrade podcast, the two offered interesting context on SwiftUI and its role in the developer community:...

For a few months, Apple has maintained a secretive office near the MIT campus. Now, Xconomy reports the company has been hiring notable speech recognition talent to use the location as a speech recognition research office. Many companies build small liaison offices near suppliers of products and technology to help in cross-collaborative work… Based on their online job profiles, we can say that members of the Apple speech team here are working on Siri, the company’s voice-activated virtual assistant....

The most significant change to Apple’s developer ecosystem this decade has been the introduction of the Swift programming language – and we’ll probably see the next big change come during this year’s WWDC with the introduction of third party UIKit apps on the Mac. As for Swift, the new language was announced at WWDC 2014. With contributions from both Apple engineers and the open-source community, it has seen constant updates and is now in version 4....

Back in November of last year, Apple confirmed plans to build a new stunning waterfront flagship retail store on the Chicago River. At the time a few renders of Apple’s plans for the location were floating around courtesy of architect Foster + Partners, which Apple has worked with on several projects including the design of the company’s Spaceship campus, as well as the redesign for London’s Regent Street store. But Apple has rapidly made progress on demolition of the existing site and construction on the new store in recent weeks, as evidenced by these photos sent in by a reader (Thanks Tim King!...

There’s been no shortage of controversy surrounding the new iPhone 6/s battery case released yesterday. Most complaints were around the capacity which is at the low end, the shape, or its actual existence which would seem to indicate that Apple made the iPhone 6 with too small a battery. Tim Cook, in discussing with Mashable the new accessory, had an alternate take on its use: Cook expanded on some of the nuances of the battery pack design:...

After one week since the release of macOS 11.4 beta 2, Apple is now seeding developers with the third beta of macOS Big Sur 11.4. Update: macOS 11.4 beta 3 is now available to public beta users as well. While macOS 11.3 comes with new sorting options in Reminders, the ability to set audio output to Stereo HomePods as default, and support for the latest Xbox/PlayStation controllers, autoplay in Apple Music, and more, macOS 11....

Apple gave a heads up to developers today that there is planned downtime for the App Store Connect this weekend on October 20th. The downtime for scheduled maintenance will occur from 6 am PT to 2 pm PT this Sunday, October, 20th. Apple gave a reminder to developers to make “critical deliveries or changes” before that window in a post today on its developer site. Apple introduces new Billing Grace Period feature for failed App Store subscription renewals Apple adjusted App Store algorithm to reduce presence of its own apps in search results Apple delaying crack down on third-party analytics and advertising in kids apps App Store Today editorial stories are now available on the web in full

Apple’s third store in Japan to feature modern styling opens alongside the release of the iPhone XR this Friday. Before customers begin lining up, Apple Shibuya’s design details have been revealed. The renovations represent the culmination of 11 months of construction work during which two more stores opened in Japan. Compact and tall, the new Apple Shibuya extends three public stories above the Tokyo district’s pavement, with a fourth floor accessible for meetings only....