The website for the Apple Beta Program has gone down ahead of the WWDC 2016 keynote, due to start at 10 AM PT (in about 40 minutes). With Apple about to unveil iOS 10, macOS 10.12, watchOS 3 and new tvOS, the Beta Program site going down indicates that at least something new will be available for wider release today. There’s a chance iOS 10 will be available for public betas today but it is slim given tradition; a developer beta for iOS 10 will almost certainly debut today....

Amid its ongoing encryption battle with the FBI, Apple has published its latest biannual transparency report. This report reveals how many requests were made for user data by governments around the world, and how many with which Apple could comply. This data covers January 1, 2019 through June 30, 2019. Apple is required by Justice Department rules to delay the release of these figures by six months, as noted by TechCrunch’s Zack Whittaker....

For the first time, Apple has released an Apple Store app optimised for the iPad, via TechCrunch. The app uses the now-standard iOS 7 colour scheme and design elements, focusing on white space and text. The app is a separate download to the iPhone app, but offers all the same functionality you would expect, although some of the location-based features for retail are absent due to the different use cases of the devices....

Following the launch of iOS 13.5 last week, Apple today has released macOS Catalina 10.15.5 as well. This update brings a new feature to improve the lifespan of Mac notebook’s battery, besides bug fixes and performance improvements. The biggest change in macOS 10.15.5 is a new Battery Health Management feature. The goal of the change is to reduce the chemical aging of a MacBook’s battery and extend its lifespan, but without comprising battery life....

Apple today released the MagSafe Battery Pack accessory for iPhone 12 models. Many months after the iPhone 12 series was unveiled, Apple has quietly released a new first-party MagSafe accessory in the form of a wireless battery pack. (Unofficial magnetic battery packs for iPhone 12 have been around for several months from third-party makers.) The MagSafe battery pack attaches magnetically to the back of the iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max offering additional hours of battery life....

Alongside beta 3 of iOS 8, Apple has released the third preview of OS X 10.10 Yosemite to developers. The update is available in the Mac App Store and under Software Update. We’ll be updating this post with new discoveries. You can let us know what you find at tips@9to5mac.com. – New QuickTime icon – Bookmark folders are now accessible via the address bar in Safari. – Dark Mode has also been enabled....

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is now in talks with Comcast about the possibility of a collaborative television streaming service. The plan, according to the report, is for Comcast to provide preferential streaming treatment to an Apple-built set-top box like the existing Apple TV. The service would allow subscribers to stream live TV shows as well as on-demand content provided by Comcast. The agreement between the two companies would allow Apple’s box to continue streaming smoothly even when other connections were bogged down by high traffic and bypass bandwidth issues....

Apple is reportedly scaling back one of its most ambitious healthcare projects. According to a new report from Insider, Apple is scaling back HealthHabit, an internal application that Apple employees can use to track fitness goals, talk to clinicians, and manage hypertension. Insider offers some background on HealthHabit, which some employees believed could have been a consumer-facing offering at some point if it had been a success internally. The report says that more than 50 employees were “spending a significant amount of time” working on the application....

Apple hinted in November at its plans to add more features to Siri in the near future with a job listing that sought individuals to translate Siri into a handful of new languages. Today, we came across another interesting job listing posted by Apple. This one looks for a creative writer skilled in character-driven dialog to “help the Siri team evolve Siri as a distinct, recognizable character.” Not only will the person help “refresh and refine” existing Siri content, Apple is also looking for someone to “develop and write original dialog to support new Siri capabilities....

Apple Maps now shows 3D images of the Apple Park campus, with detailed representations of buildings, walkways and other landscape features. The detail extends as far as the sun-shade slats and solar panels on the main building. The app added 3D satellite imagery back in March, though this was rather out of date. At that time, the map view was still rather sparse, something Apple has now fixed, though another issue remains unresolved …...

Apple has added the ability to find bike sharing stations in its Maps app much more easily as it has integrated new data in over 175 cities. The update comes as Apple has struck a deal with data company Ito World. As reported by TechCrunch, Apple was able to seamlessly include information for many bike sharing services by integrating the data from Ito World, instead of doing the work on its own....

Apple Pay, which was unveiled to the world at the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, has officially launched in the U.S. today alongside iOS 8.1. Experiences with the service on its first day have been mixed, and notably, Eddy Cue this morning to acknowledged that in saying that Apple still has “a lot of work to do.” Some banks are requiring verification processes which are taking time, and some widespread credit card companies, like Discover, aren’t yet supported at all....

Ahead of the House Judiciary Committee holding another hearing on antitrust legislation later this morning, Apple has published its full letter explaining how the proposed legislation would undermine the security of the iPhone and App Store. The letter is addressed to Chairmen Nadler and Cicilline, and Ranking Members Jordan and Buck and is signed by Timothy Powderly, Apple’s senior director of government affairs. In the letter, Apple says that the five pieces of proposed antitrust legislation would “undermine consumers’ ability to choose products that offer state-of-the-art Privacy and Security....

Apple has reportedly poached multiple engineers and research staff from Intel for a new facility in Washington County, close to the chipmaker’s home base. The hiring appears to have begun back in November, and is likely to further fuel speculation about Apple replacing Intel chips with its own ARM-based Mac CPUs within the next few years … The news was reported by local site Oregon Live (via Patently Apple). The roles call for ‘design verification expertise,’ aka the ability to compare a finished product with the original design specification to ensure that it fully meets requirements....

Apple has launched a new campaign to highlight both the new Apple TV and the many games and entertainment services on its App Store with a new series of short video clips. Each 15 second video starts with the same Apple TV graphic, then promotes a popular game or video service app on the new Apple TV with some gameplay or a popular show available on the service, and ends with the same multicolor graphic....

Apple has released iOS 10.2 beta 5 for developers — the second iOS 10.2 beta released this week. iOS 10.2 includes several upcoming features like new Unicode 9.0 emoji, three new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus wallpapers, a new TV app, additional camera features, new Messages screen effects, and more. iOS 10.2 will be released to everyone in the future, and a free public beta program is available for non-developers....

After releasing iOS 13 and watchOS 6 to the public today, Apple has also launched its new augmented reality prototyping app, Reality Composer on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Apple announced both of these at WWDC in June and now Reality Composer is available as a free download from the App Store. The app does require iOS 13. Here’s how Apple describes Reality Composer: Features: Built-in AR Library Import your own USDZ files or take advantage of the hundreds of ready-to-use virtual objects in the built-in AR library....

Apple today changed the name of one of its Scottish retail stores from Apple Buchanan Street to Apple Glasgow. The quiet change comes at a moment when the world is reflecting on issues of deep-rooted inequality, and Apple has recommitted to challenging systemic barriers to opportunity and dignity. Apple renames stores from time to time, but typically only when a store moves, or the location’s surrounding mall changes names. Glasgow’s Buchanan Street store hasn’t moved and is a standalone location....

Project Titan has gone through many phases since its introduction into the rumor mill in 2015. For a while, Apple had focused on autonomous driving technology rather than hardware. Although the actual car is still several years away, most publications now believe that Apple is once again aiming to ship an actual electric vehicle. Digitimes today has a report on the battery supply chain. Recent hiring news continue to show Apple’s push to make an actual vehicle....

Update: Now at over 30,000 1-star reviews: Apple launched its ‘Move to iOS’ Android app yesterday as part of the iOS 9 launch, which streamlines the process of migrating data and apps from an Android phone to an iPhone. Just hours after launch however, Android users are not taking well to Apple’s first Android app (if you discount Beats Music, which existed before Apple acquired them). The app has accrued over 2700 1-star ratings in the few hours it has been available, with a less-than-spectacular 1....