Apple Products Are Evolving

It's deeper than just the iPhone.

Good morning! ā˜€ļø *Tim Cook voice*

Apple is essentially a bank now, sideloading is coming with iOS 17, Angry Birds bought for $700+ Million, the HomePod is evolving, and much more.

Estimated reading time: 4.3 minutes

šŸ“Š Poll

Last week I asked if youā€™d take $10k to never buy an Apple product again..

Here were some of my favorite replies:

ā€œ10,000 will buy the wife and I a nice vacationā€ Fair enough! Hope you have an iPhone 14 Pro Max since youā€™ll never be able to buy another iPhone to take vacation pics with šŸ¤£

ā€œI can make $10,000 disappear within minutes with paying things off like school loans. My apple products can help me make $10,000 and use that to pay off things over time. Iā€™ll take long term gratification vs instant gratificationā€ Donā€™t even get me started on student loans.. what a joke. Anyways, good thinking!

ā€œI thought long and hard about this. Thing is my Apple gear is very old, iPhone 8, MacBook from 2017. I'm hard pressed for cash right now. And at my age I don't see my chances improving much, so reluctantly I'd have to take the cash.ā€ Yep. The correct answer to this question is based on personal circumstance. Bravo for not living beyond your means & being responsible.

ā€œApple products improve our workflow every day. I think I can save more than 10k every year because of our apple ecosystem in our company. We started in 2020 with one MacBook Pro (intel) and now everything including many smartphones are from Apple. Not cheap but the update and app deployment is so much easier.ā€œ This is a common theme: continuity in the workplace, and Apple crushes with this!

This week: How long is your iPhone passcode? More on why this matters later.

How long is your iPhone passcode?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

šŸ“² Quick Tip

Crop Image to Wallpaper

One of the wallpapers included at the end of this issue was too big, so I used this trick.

  • Once on a photo, tap Edit

  • Tap the Crop button

  • Tap the Square button in the top right (next to the markup pen)

  • Select Wallpaper

  • Position the image to your liking

šŸ’° Apple Savings is Here

Yeah, I buy a lot of Apple products with my Apple Card

Apple announced this high-yield savings account feature back in October, and now itā€™s finally available in the US for Apple Card holders!

  • 4.15% interest rate (APY) - compounds daily

  • No fees, No minimum balance requirements

  • All Daily Cash earned automatically deposits into the account

  • Can deposit money from an external account

  • Instant access to the cash

  • $250k maximum. FDIC insured

  • Setup process took less than 2 minutes - just had to verify SSN & agree to terms

Iā€™m impressed with this. The UI is amazing, 4.15% APY is competitive, itā€™s easy to check your balance/graph, and itā€™s FDIC insured. Not much more you can ask for!

Fun fact: Deposit $25k into this account and youā€™ll get a free iPhone every year, just from the interest youā€™ll receive!

Will you be opening an Apple Savings Account?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

šŸ”Š HomePod is Evolving

After being announced a while back, the HomePodā€™s Sound Recognition feature is finally here!

  • Detects the sound of smoke & carbon monoxide alarms

  • Sends you a notification when detected, so you can be aware even if you are away from home

  • Tap the notification to check in and hear whatā€™s going on and ask if everything is okay. Siri also announces to those at home that a Home member is checking in

  • If there is a HomeKit camera in the same space, the video feed is also included in the notification

  • Requires iOS 16.4 & HomePod Version 16.4 (works with all HomePod models)

You know how many people have had their house burn down while they were out getting groceries? All because nobody was home and there was no way to notify then that the smoke alarm was going off.

Well now, with this new feature, your home might get saved since you can call emergency services immediately after getting notified. That alone is worth the sub-$90 price tag for a HomePod mini imo!

šŸ“² Sideloading on the iPhone

The EU law is forcing Apple to adapt and change, and sideloading will be our first taste of it.

According to Bloomberg, iOS 17 will allow iPhone users to download apps from 3rd party sources, and not just the official App Store!

This is something weā€™ve been able to do on the Mac for a long time and honestly, some of my favorite apps on macOS are not on the official App Store, so Iā€™m ready for this.

Iā€™d expect Apple to do something similar with iOS - where thereā€™s a warning that the app is from a 3rd party & ensures you want to run the app. I can also see Apple adding some sort of verification/vetting process for apps downloaded from 3rd parties so that itā€™s not the Wild Wild West.

And while this is cool for us normal users who download apps, it is a far bigger deal for developers, since they wonā€™t need to pay Apple's egregious 15-30% fees any longer. In theory, of course, because Apple could easily find a loophole to still get their cut. Regardless, itā€™ll be less than what it is now and thatā€™s a win!

šŸ” Update Your iPhone Passcode

WSJ

Back in February, The Wall Street Journal shared a shocking iPhone theft story that caused much concern.. but now, weā€™re hearing that itā€™s even worse than expected.

To catch you up:

  • Thieves are spying on iPhone user's passcodes in public and then stealing their devices, sometimes after befriending them at a bar

  • The thieves access financial apps, where they transfer the money to themselves

  • They then reset the victim's Apple ID password in the Settings app, disable Find My, and wipe the device. All from simply knowing the device passcode

Now, WSJ reports this:

  • Some thieves are using Apple's recovery key security option to permanently lock out iPhone users from their Apple ID account after stealing their phones

  • Without this recovery key (that the thieves generate), you will lose access to your Apple ID account, meaning all photos, videos, contacts, etc.. GONE

How do you protect yourself? Well, first off, try to always use Face ID or Touch ID while out in public. The passcode is the weak link, not the biometrics.

The report also recommends for users to switch from a 4-digit passcode to an alphanumeric passcode, which would be more difficult for thieves to spy on & remember.

And lastly, donā€™t store important passwords in your iPhoneā€™s password manager. Use a 3rd party password manager with its own, separate passcode to get in.

āŒšļø High Expectations for watchOS 10

iMore

Although iOS 17 isnā€™t expected to be anything too crazy, watchOS 10 is!

  • watchOS 10 will be a major update with bigger enhancements, including an "updated interface." -Mark Gurman (Bloomberg)

  • Will have a redesigned home screen layout/grid, folders, and will act similarly to iOS. -analyst941 (leaker)

Last week, Gurman said that watchOS 10 will be the Apple Watch's ā€œbiggest software update since 2015.ā€ And now that we have more rumors pointing to big changes, I am officially excited!

šŸŽØ Set Wallpaper

Click the image to download the full res file.

šŸŽ¶ Now Playing

  • Foo Fighters - Rescued (single, rock)

  • Daniel Caesar - Always (single, R&B)

  • Kane Brown & blackbear - Memory (single, pop)

Every week I share some podcast episodes & music Iā€™ve been listening to. Feel free to reply with the music/podcasts youā€™ve been listening to!

šŸ«¶ Reader Love

This makes me so happy to hear! Appreciate it Francee!

Hope this week was just as enjoyable as the last!

Until next week, āœŒļø

What did you think of today's newsletter?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Reply

or to participate.