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Apple has today rebranded its iTunes Podcasts offering as ‘Apple Podcasts’, encapsulating the podcast directory and the client Podcasts app available on iPhone and iPad. Although today’s announcement is merely a branding change, it may indicate a renewed focus by Apple on podcasting. Full marketing guidelines for podcasters can be found here. In February, Eddy Cue teased that the company is working on new features for podcasts at the Code Media conference....

Apple has released the first developer beta of iOS 13.4.5. This comes following last week’s public release of iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4. This week’s update focuses on bug fixes and performance improvements. The release notes for this update are generic. “This beta version of iOS 13.4.5 contains bug fixes and improvements,” Apple says. We’ll dive deeper into the update now that it’s rolling out to see what’s new for sure....

As promised yesterday, Apple has released the first iOS 11.3 public beta loaded with new features for iPhone and iPad. Apple previewed several new features yesterday prior to the first developer beta: 4 new Animoji on iPhone X: Lion, Skull, Bear, and Dragon ARKit 1.5 with support for vertical surfaces like walls, irregular shaped surfaces like circular tables, support for auto-focus, and 50% higher resolution Business Chat for iMessage in beta with Discover, Hilton, Lowe’s and Wells Fargo on board Health Records in Health app automatically updated from select partners More prominent music video features in Apple Music HomeKit software authentication without chip certification Advanced Mobile Location for sending your location to emergency services when calling from iPhone Apple has also promised new battery features on iPhones affected by performance throttling, although these won’t be in the initial beta....

Apple has rolled out an updated beta version of macOS 10.12.2 for Mac. The new build comes in at version 16C32f compared to 16C32e from the first beta release and may require installing an update utility from the developer center. Note that the new build is not macOS 10.12.2 beta 2 as it still lists version 1.0 on the release, just a newer build for some reason. macOS 10.12.2 includes Unicode 9....

Apple Pay is going international for the first time next month with its expansion into the UK, but for now Apple is steadily turning on support through more partnered banks and credit unions across the United States. The latest addition includes more than two dozen institutions now supporting Apple’s iPhone-, iPad-, and Apple Watch-based mobile payment service. Here are the latest banks joining Apple’s list as well as the full list of Apple Pay banks to date:...

Apple Pay compatibility in the UK grew by two major banks last week with the addition of Lloyds and Halifax, and today Apple has added over 40 to its list of participating issuers. Since launching in the United States nearly a year ago, Apple’s mobile payment solution has steadily been signing on and rolling out support for waves of new banks and credit unions around the country. These are the latest to join:...

Apple’s online support Discussions boards blipped out briefly this weekend after the site was allegedly hit by a malicious attack — and that’s when Apple quietly announced that “Apple Discussions is becoming Apple Support Communities“. “Very soon a major change will be taking place here at Apple Discussions. To help you prepare we have created some documents to give some insight and instructions on this major upgrade,” Apple informs on its website....

As promised earlier today, Apple has released the first iOS 11.3 developer beta loaded with new features for iPhone and iPad. A free public beta version will be available in the future. Apple previewed several new features this morning including: 4 new Animoji on iPhone X: Lion, Skull, Bear, and and Dragon ARKit 1.5 with support for vertical surfaces like walls, irregular shaped surfaces like circular tables, support for auto-focus, and 50% higher resolution Business Chat for iMessage in beta with Discover, Hilton, Lowe’s and Wells Fargo on board Health Records in Health app automatically updated from select partners More prominent music video features in Apple Music HomeKit software authentication without chip certification Advanced Mobile Location for sending your location to emergency services when calling from iPhone Apple has also promised new battery features on iPhones affected by performance throttling, although these won’t be in the initial beta....

Apple has released the second tvOS 11.4 developer beta for testing on Apple TV 4 and Apple TV 4K. tvOS 11.4 turns Apple TV into an AirPlay 2 speaker which supports multi-room AirPlay from iOS. The latest developer beta of tvOS follows the official release of tvOS 11.3 to all customers last month. The new version added support for frame rate matching to older Apple TVs and Apple Music highlighted new music video playlists....

Update: iOS 13, iPadOS 13, and watchOS 6 beta 8 are now available. No updates to macOS Catalina beta 6 or tvOS 13 beta 7. iOS 13 public beta 7 also coming today. Apple is releasing iOS 13 and iPad OS 13 beta 8 to developers (possibly alongside new seeds of watchOS 6, tvOS 13, and macOS Catalina) today. The release comes just under one week since the last round of releases — save for macOS Catalina which was just updated this week....

In the notice, Apple notes that Mac Pros manufactured between February 8, 2015 and April 11, 2015 are eligible for repairs due to issues with the machine’s graphics cards that “may cause distorted video, no video, system instability, freezing, restarts, shut downs, or may prevent system start up.” Apple goes into a bit more detail about the symptoms eligible for repair: Distorted or scrambled video on the external display No video on the external display even though the computer is on Computer freezes or restarts unexpectedly Computer will not start up Apple has instructed staff and authorized service providers to fix eligible Mac Pros showing signs of graphics issues at no charge to the customer....

Apple has released the second developer beta version of iOS 10.2 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. iOS 10.2 includes several upcoming features like new Unicode 9.0 emoji, three new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus wallpapers, additional camera features, and more. iOS 10.2 will be released to everyone in the future, and a free public beta program is available for non-developers. These are the initial changes discovered in iOS 10....

Four days after the last iOS 12 beta for developers, Apple has released an updated build. iOS 12 developer beta 11 is now available. iOS 12 public beta 9 is also available. While we don’t expect any noticeable changes at this point in the process, we’ll update and look out for any changes. iOS 12 includes several significant changes for iPhone and iPad including performance improvements, especially on older devices; ARKit 2....

Apple has just released the second beta of iOS 8.2 to developers, for testing, as an over-the-air update. The beta can also be downloaded from Apple’s developer site. iOS 8.2 includes WatchKit, so developers can create apps and Glances for Apple Watch. You can read about how such apps work with our previous coverage of the WatchKit APIs. Apple released the first beta of iOS 8.2 a few weeks ago....

Following an extensive developer beta process, Apple has just released OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 to end users. The update brings a few new features and enhancements, including: FaceTime Audio in the FaceTime and Messages apps Contact blocking for FaceTime and iMessage Mail app improvements Autofill fixes for Safari Audio fixes VPN fixes VoiceOver fixes The release notes do not make mention of the SSL security bug that was squashed on iOS late last week, but a fix is present in this new OS X update....

There has been a recent upswell in complaints from AirPods Pro owners that their earphones aren’t quite working as well as they did when they first got them. One such issue making waves on the Apple forums is that users are noticing crackling noises coming from their earbuds. This week, Apple has released a couple of support articles that specifically mention troubleshooting steps to try, for users experiencing issues with Active Noise Cancellation or if they are hearing crackling/static noises....

With the launch of the latest iPad model, Apple debuted its own SIM card that allows users to choose between three different cell carriers and change service on-the-fly. Rumors that such a card could be included in the next iPhone appeared almost immediately, and now a new report confirms that Apple is in talks with cellular carriers and other handset makers to bring this type of system to all cell phones....

Apple has just released the first iOS 8.4 beta, which includes Apple’s upcoming revamped Music app. The seed for developers is available via the Apple Developer Center website. As we reported earlier this year, iOS 8.4 includes an all new Music application. The new software design is present in this beta, while Apple is expected to announce the streaming service component in June at WWDC. Here are the release notes from Apple for the new app:...

During the company’s Q1 2017 earnings call today, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced some new milestones for Apple Pay. The company also confirmed that Comcast would soon begin accepting Apple Pay on the web for bill payments. The Comcast news came alongside some stats for Apple Pay and other services shared by the company today. Cook confirmed that the number of Apple Pay users has tripled over the last year while noting billions in transactions during the December quarter alone....

While Apple today released iOS 13.5, iPadOS 13.5 and tvOS 13.4.5 for all users, macOS Catalina 10.15.5 is still in beta, as the company has just launched the fifth beta of macOS 10.15.5 to developers. The biggest change in macOS Catalina 10.15.5 is a new Battery Health Management feature. According to Apple, the new feature reduces the rate at which the battery chemically ages by monitoring the battery’s temperature history and its charging patterns....