Apple today previewed iOS 11.3 with a whole host of new features, including a new set of Animoji, an ARKit update, and the ability to view personal health records directly in the Health app. iOS 11.3 will be available to customers in the spring. A developer beta of iOS 11.3 will be released today. iOS 11.3 will also include the aforementioned battery health statistics features. Users will be able to disable the throttling in Settings → Battery, but may see more unexpected shutdowns in exchange for full performance....

China Business (via The Register) claims that Apple has returned between 5m and 8m iPhones due to quality issues. It’s not known which handsets are affected. The Register calculates that the total hit to Foxconn could be $1.6bn, but that of course assumes that the numbers are accurate and that nothing can be salvaged from the rejected phones. This is unlikely. Foxconn posted record profits in the final quarter of 2012 before experiencing a 19% year-on-year drop in the first quarter of this year....

Apple has issued a minor update for Final Cut Pro X 10.3 to squash several bugs. The 197MB update, which comes shortly after the major 10.3 release, fixes issues related to updating libraries, and more. All Final Cut Pro X users running 10.3 are encouraged to update to version 10.3.1. I’ve personally experienced many annoying crashes since updating to 10.3, so I’m hoping that this will eliminate the issues that I’ve been having....

Following the public release of iOS 13.5.1 today, Apple has also released the first beta of iOS 13.5.5 and iPadOS 13.5.5 to developers. This update likely focuses on bug fixes and performance improvements. [Update: Now rolling out to public beta users too.] Apple does not specify what new features are included in iOS 13.5.5 and iPadOS 13.5.5, but it’s likely that the update includes similar security enhancements to iOS 13.5.1. The build number for iOS 13....

Apple is releasing iOS 14.2 GM to developer beta testers today, and to public beta testers. Notably, today’s new iOS 14.2 GM should bring a fix for the erroneous “A new iOS update is now available. Please update from the iOS 14 beta” notification that many users are seeing right now. iOS 14.2 GM is rolling out now and can be found in the Settings application. The release of this beta is particularly notable given the notification about a non-existent update many users have been seeing for the past 24 hours....

Apple last year released the long-awaited Swift Playgrounds 4, which let developers submit their projects directly from the iPad to the App Store for the first time. Now the company is inviting developers to try out the new Swift Playgrounds 4.1 beta, which brings new features to the iPad app and especially the Mac app. For those unfamiliar, Swift Playgrounds is an Apple app to help developers and students learn the company’s Swift programming language....

Apple’s programing language Swift saw its first preview release branch for 3.0 hit yesterday as the programming language moves closer to a finalized 3.0 release due later this year. Though nowhere near a final release of Swift 3.0, this marks the beginning of the major Swift revisions that developers will see coming later this year. According to the Swift-Evolution GitHub page, the primary goal of Swift 3.0 is to “solidify and mature the Swift language and development experience....

Ahead of the release of the iPhone X in less than a week, Apple has reminded developers to get their apps ready for the device. In a post on its developer blog, Apple is reminding developers to test their apps using the iPhone X simulator in Xcode code… Apple’s post is a simple heads-up for developers to test new iPhone X features in their app using Xcode and subsequently capture screenshots and upload the new metadata and app to iTunes Connect....

. There is some backlash over Apple’s recent move to delist its products from the U.S. EPEAT Government standard for Green computers. Today, it was reported that San Francisco was no longer able to buy Apple computers because of the delisting, and many other education, government and other big business entities could theoretically follow suit. Apple released the following statement to the Loop this evening to clear up the situation somewhat:...

The announcement yesterday of Apple’s child protection measures confirmed an earlier report that the company would begin scanning for child abuse photos on iPhones. The news has seen mixed reactions from experts in both cybersecurity and child safety. Four concerns had already been raised before the details were known, and Apple’s announcement addressed two of them … CSAM scanning concerns The original concerns included the fact that digital signatures for child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) are deliberately fuzzy, to allow for things like crops and other image adjustments....

Apple opened its education-focused event in Chicago today with an inspirational video touting how “one person can change the world.” Speaking at the event, Tim Cook talked about Apple’s 40 year history in the education market. Cook talked heavily about Apple’s work in education, saying that initiatives such as Everyone Can Code help the company ensure that students get the most out of their education. Cook also pointed to the March For Our Lives events around the country this weekend that show just how much power students have with their voices....

Apple has launched a new “Personal Safety User Guide” that aggregates details and support documents that can help users “when your personal safety is at risk.” The launch of this dedicated hub comes after Apple published an initial round of support resources a year ago, and as concerns around AirTag safety and stalking continue to mount. Apple explains that the purpose of the new Personal Safety User Guide is to “offer strategies and solutions to help you regain control” if you’re concerned someone has unauthorized access to your device or account:...

Apple has launched a pair of new augmented reality experiences designed to promote Apple Pay Express Transit. Apple has added a new AR feature to its Apple Pay website highlighting Apple Pay with Express Transit in New York City, and there’s a new Apple-designed Lens in Snapchat as well. On the Apple Pay website, Apple touts that you can now “take a virtual trip with Apple Pay” to “experience” the platform in augmented reality....

It’s been reported that Apple will not make access to the NFC chip in the iPhone 6 generally available to developers in the first year. A new report says that an Apple spokesperson has confirmed that the chip is for use with Apple Pay only. But that’s likely only temporary… During the launch of the iPhone 6, Apple specifically referenced using NFC to unlock hotel doors at Starwood resorts – expected to be seen in the spring – suggesting only that Apple will initially be selective in granting access to the chip....

The Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) first called out Apple in August last year, issuing an order for the iPhone maker to update its app store policies so dating app providers could use payment systems other than the one offered by Apple. The ACM then blasted Apple again last month, accusing the company of failing to make sufficient changes to its app store policies while issuing a weekly €5 million fine in the process....

Apple appears to be readying for an UK iTunes Radio launch in the near future. As indicated by this tweet, Apple’s director of iAd Paul Wright has recently been visiting media marketing agencies to discuss iAd in relation to iTunes Radio. Bloomberg said that Apple was planning to launch in the UK in ‘early 2014’ last October, but so far this has not happened several months into 2014. Although many people have seen iTunes Radio sporadically appear on their devices in recent months, it is has only officially expanded to Australia beyond the US launch alongside iOS 7....

With Pandora Premium unveiled, we’ve decided to take a step back and compare all the major streaming music services. Read on for all of the details… Spotify is believed to be the most popular music streaming service at this point in time, having over 50 million paying subscribers. Apple Music, on the other hand, has “well past” 20 million paying users, according to Eddy Cue. Because there are a variety of different factors to consider when looking at which streaming music service deserves your money, we’ve created the below comparison chart for making it a bit easier to digest everything....

Apple continues its expansion South of US borders, with launch today of its own online Apple retail store in Brazil – and has also opened up the iTunes Store for business in China. The new store twins with iTunes Stores which are now open in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and many more Latin American territories. We’re not sure when these opened, (sorry about that – perhaps you, dear reader, can educate us)....

A source says that Atienza will be the director of all retail matters for many regions within the West Coast of the United States, and this role is one of the highest ranking retail positions inside of Apple. Several internal and external candidates were considered for the position, but the external Atienza is said to have been the best fit. While Atienza has already signed on with Apple, he is yet to actually begin his management role....

Apple has just released the fifth iOS 10.1 beta, marking the second developer beta released this week. iOS 10.1 includes the Portrait camera for iPhone 7 Plus that applies a DSLR-like blur effect over photos using the dual lens system. The iOS 10.1 beta 5 is a larger download, weighing in at 1.95 GB. The beta is available to registered developers and public beta testers. Apple has also pushed out the beta 5 for macOS Sierra 10....