2021 Apple News

Apple is handing out $1,000 holiday bonuses to its employees and announced that it will delay its full office reopening.

A letter that CEO Tim Cook sent to staff on Wednesday, which was obtained by The Verge, stated that the official date for returning to work is “yet to be determined.” Cook also took the opportunity in his letter to encourage Apple workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine and booster shots.

“Our offices remain open and many of our colleagues are coming in regularly, including our teams in Greater China and elsewhere,” Cook wrote. “As we look forward to more of our teams being together again, we will continue to make decisions based on local conditions and will be sure to notify you at least four weeks before beginning the pilot.”

Rising cases and variants cause concern

The original plan was for Apple employees to return to work on February 1, 2022, but the rising number of coronavirus cases and the spread of the new Omicron variant caused concern. Apple closed three of its retail stores this week in response to growing COVID-19 infections and began requiring customers to mask up when they visit an Apple store. 

In his letter, Cook said that every Apple employee – including retail staffers – would be getting $1,000 in their next paycheck – minus tax and withholding. 

“These funds are intended to help you with your home workspace and can be used as you see fit,” Cook wrote. “Keep in mind that when you return to the office, you’ll be bringing your Apple-owned equipment back, so you should consider what you’ll want for your home workspace.”

Apple is offering a free repair to its customers after discovering that a “very small” percentage of iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro devices may have sound issues stemming from a component that “might fail.” 

There are a handful of important caveats that the company requires for affected devices to qualify for the fix. They include:

1. The problem exists only on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro.

2. The program covers affected iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro devices for 2 years after the first retail sale of the unit. That “retail” caveat could be a sticking point, so make sure you have documentation of when the device was purchased.

3. The phones must have been manufactured between October 2020, and April 2021. ConsumerAffairs found these details on how you can determine your device’s manufacturing date.

The company noted that repairing a phone through this program does not extend the standard warranty coverage of the iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro.

What to look for and how to get service

Apple says the most evident factor that the phone may be eligible for a repair is if it doesn’t emit sound from the receiver when a user makes or receives calls. If that’s the case, then an Apple Retail Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider will service the device free of charge. 

If the iPhone owner doesn’t live close to an Apple Store or a service provider, they can call Apple Support to arrange to mail in the phone. As part of the process, the service provider will check the iPhone to make sure that it’s fully eligible for this program.

Apple asks that users back up their phones to iCloud or their computer before bringing or sending it in for a repair. If a backup is not performed, there is no guarantee that the device’s data will be preserved.

Apple says if someone’s iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro has any damage that impairs the ability to complete the repair -- such as a cracked screen -- then that issue will need to be resolved prior to the service. In some cases, there may be a cost associated with the additional repair.

You’re driving down the highway when your car skids off the road and into a ditch, knocking you unconscious. But help is on the way because your iPhone automatically dialed 911 to report the accident.

That’s the vision laid out in Apple documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. According to the documents, Apple plans to harness crash detection data built into Apple devices to detect car crashes. Apple engineers say it’s possible to do so by looking for a sudden increase in G-forces.

Industry analysts say it would be similar to the way Apple is able to detect hard falls by people carrying an iPhone or wearing an Apple Watch. The devices automatically dial 911 if the user doesn’t respond to an automatic query. In 2021, Apple added a new iPhone feature that analyzes how steady a user is walking and alerts them if it detects that they are about to fall.

No confirmation

Apple isn’t commenting on the report. Sources tell the Journal that Apple hasn’t decided on timing for adding the feature and could decide to table the project for a while. Privacy could be a complicating factor. Apple has built much of its public reputation around privacy, and it’s not clear how close monitoring of a user’s device would fit into that narrative.

Jarvia, of Los Angeles, gave Apple a 5-star review on ConsumerAffairs and likes the idea that the company is pushing the technology envelope. 

“While other cell phone manufacturers are making tremendous headway in this space, Apple continues to lead in innovation, technology, design, and practical functionality with its highly integrable iPhone lineup,” Jarvia wrote in a ConsumerAffairs review. “These phones are extremely user friendly, integrate and share data seamlessly across other Apple devices and take the guesswork out how to stay connected.”

Currently being tested

In tests of Apple’s crash-detecting technology, some users have anonymously shared data from their iPhones and Apple Watches. The company documents show that Apple devices have already detected more than 10 million vehicle accidents, with more than 50,000 calls to a 911 dispatcher.

Other devices currently monitor vehicle activity for signs of a crash. The first was General Motors’ OnStar, built into many GM models. Google provided a similar feature to its Pixel phone two years ago, and several apps do much the same thing.

Apple threw down the first gauntlet of the fall 2021 phone release challenge on Tuesday. The company introduced the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini, both featuring anticipated camera upgrades and extended battery lives at a lower price than expected.

Google is set to respond in early October with its Pixel 6 phone, equipped with similar features ​​and a new processor focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Should consumers buy the new iPhone?

Should you invest another $700 to $800 on a new phone and an extended service contract to pay for it? ConsumerAffairs did a survey of how tech writers feel about the new iPhone and there were mixed opinions.

Here’s how much love critics give the iPhone 13:

Not a giant leap over iPhone 12. Wired reviewers claim the iPhone 13’s changes are basically modest improvements. “The OLED displays are smoother, batteries last longer, and internal storage sizes are larger. So it's a lot like last year's iPhone, just nicer.”

Camera, camera, camera, camera. Apple may wax poetically about the camera upgrade, but in all honesty, the company says pretty much the same thing about its camera every time it releases a new iPhone.

A lot of attention is being given to the iPhone 13's new “Cinematic” technology that has the power to follow a subject and keep it in focus “so anyone can capture cinema-style moments, even if they aren’t a professional filmmaker,” says Apple.

Apple hired a top AI executive from Google to work on the new phone’s camera and, “partly as a result, its newer iPhone cameras have received higher ratings than the Pixel,” noted the New York Times’ Jack Nicas. But, at the end of the day, Nicas came away with this: the 13 is “better, but not by much.”

Is there that much of a difference between the 13 Pro Max and the 13 mini? If you decide to buy a new iPhone 13, the most important question to get answered is which model -- the Pro or the mini? “Notably, the ‌iPhone 13 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 13 Pro‌ Max now have identical camera systems, a departure from the different cameras featured in the iPhone 12 Pro and the 12 Pro Max,” wrote MacRumors. “As usual, the ‌iPhone 13 Pro‌ models have the best camera systems, while the more affordable ‌iPhone 13‌ models have step-down cameras that lack some of the Pro capabilities.”

Bring it, battery lovers! Other than the camera, the most anticipated upgrade for the iPhone 13 was probably the battery life. Since we eat, work, and sleep with our phones at our side, battery life can make a considerable difference. 

“Apple didn't share the size, but claims that the new battery along with iOS 15, the A15 chip and updated display adds two-and-a-half hours more battery life to the iPhone 13 compared to the iPhone 12,” said CNET. 

In its test, CNET came away with enough evidence to say that the iPhone 13 mini should get an hour-and-a-half more than the iPhone 12 mini. “That's a significant increase. The battery life on the iPhone 12 Mini was a compromise some people weren't willing to make. So it's exciting to see the new Mini get such a big bump in just a year.”

Who’s got the better phone -- Apple or Android? Apple fans tend to be die-hards and so are Android lovers. But, if someone were thinking about switching platforms, what should they consider?

“When compared to the Android competition, Apple isn’t doing much to outgun them on the hardware front,” reports TheVerge’s Sam Byford. “Apple is never going to have the flashiest hardware, but it’s made some welcome improvements in areas that make sense, and thankfully it hasn’t locked any features to the Max-sized iPhone. We’re looking forward to seeing the results — as well as those of looming competitors like the Pixel 6.”

On the day it planned to roll out its new iPhone, Apple instead has been stunned by the discovery that cyber attackers may have found a way to worm their way into an array of Apple-made products from the iPad to the Apple Watch.

The company is on the case, actively patching two vulnerabilities in its software that allows hackers to take command of its devices. An inventive bunch, those cyber thugs — Apple said that an attacker can actually trigger an iOS-run device to run deviant computer code, such as downloading a malicious program from the internet onto the user’s device. 

This is Apple's second major security flaw in as many months.

What to look for and what to fix

In PCMag’s coverage of the situation, one way an attack can happen comes via iMessage, where the attacker sends a mischievous PDF. Security analysts at Citizen Lab have concluded that the attackers use the vulnerability to spread the Pegasus — a particularly nasty spyware program — which can clandestinely take over an iPhone.

Not to be left out of the flaw circus, researchers at Citizen Lab also found that suspicious animated GIFs masquerading as Adobe PDFs are also able to exploit Apple’s flaw. Like Apple, this is also Adobe's second recent run-in with security issues — the first coming in mid-August when it found a vulnerability in its iOS and Windows versions of Photoshop.

Apple immediately released a system software update designed to patch the issue. The company is advising owners of Apple devices to update them immediately. 

Here is a list of the devices affected by the breach and links to the security update. You can also follow Apple’s suggested method for updating your device’s system software.

We’re coming up on Big Tech’s new release season, and the gadget swamis are already predicting big changes. At the top of the list is Apple, which is reportedly taking a big step forward in the photography department on its upcoming iPhone 13. 

The new tech offering will sport a big camera if leaked photos of the device are any indication. Among the predicted bells and whistles are a new six-element ultrawide lens with autofocus and a video Portrait mode. As part of its investigation, Bloomberg News found out about a new feature called Cinematic Video that will allow users to record video with portrait blurring effects. That feature may be new to Apple fans, but Samsung phone owners have had it for several years.

Google lovers aren’t being left out in the cold on the phone camera upgrade battle. The new Google 6 has a 50-megapixel camera sensor that gives users nearly five times the performance power as the Google Pixel 5.

How much camera power do we need?

One ConsumerAffairs reviewer -- Prakash from Richmond, Texas -- said their iPhone camera’s quality was “as good as it can be.” Nonetheless, the pixel war rages on. In fact, the camera technology being used on phones today is getting so good that it may soon make interchangeable lens cameras a thing of the past.

“Over the past few years, smartphone cameras in general have improved significantly. So much so in fact, that many people no longer see the need to carry or buy a dedicated camera,” contends Statista data journalist Felix Richter.

“While professionals and photo enthusiasts will (probably) always get better results using high-end cameras and lenses, modern smartphones take pictures that are easily sufficient for the demands of the average consumer.”

The impact on the camera companies of the world has to be concerning. According to CIPA -- a Japan-based industry group that includes Olympus, Fuji, Sony, Panasonic, Canon, and Nikon -- worldwide camera shipments dropped by 93% between 2010 and 2020 and are on another downward trajectory in 2021, wiping out more than four decades of growth. Richter says the cause of that slide could come from only one place -- smartphones. 

“The steep decline was mainly driven by a drop-off in shipments of digital cameras with built-in lenses, the type that casual photographers used to rely on prior to the rise of smartphone photography,” he wrote.

A jury has decided against Apple in a patent dispute and awarded Optis Wireless Technology $300 million because it felt Apple used the company’s technology in its iPhones, iPads, and Watches without securing a license. 

It’s interesting to note that Optis doesn’t manufacture any actual products. In fact, it doesn’t appear to be in the mobile technology business at all. It describes itself as a “people data services and cloud software solutions” company that just happens to own the patents that are the cornerstone of this case. 

Those patents once belonged to Panasonic, LG, and Samsung before Optis purchased them. According to a report by Bloomberg, the lawsuit is built around technology that Optis claims is crucial to carrying out the 4G communications standard, a key component in Apple’s mobile devices. 

Apple vows to fight the award

Apple’s been down this road before. In 2019, the company paid Qualcomm over $4 billion as part of a settlement in another royalty dispute. Although the award to Optis is lower than a previous ruling because it is focused on damages only, Apple says it intends to appeal the ruling as a matter of principle.

In an email sent to The Verge, the tech giant said it values invention and respects intellectual property, but it called Optis out because the company “makes no products and its sole business is to sue companies using patents they accumulate.” 

“We will continue to defend against their attempts to extract unreasonable payments for patents they acquire,” Apple stated.

Apple thinks it has sufficient reason to lay blame at Optis feet for being lawsuit-happy. Not only does the company have a track record of suing others -- like Tesla and Huawei -- on similar grounds, but it is also pursuing Apple in the English High Court, where it’s seeking to establish a global royalty rate for its patents. As a result, Apple threatened to pull out of the United Kingdom if it was ordered by London judges to pay a “commercially unacceptable” amount.

Apple’s blueprint to scan iPhone users' photo libraries for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) has raised the ire of some of its own employees. According to a report from Reuters, Apple staff have begun using internal company Slack channels to post hundreds of messages that voice their concerns about the proposal.

Their biggest concern is that governments that have been known to use mobile phones to spy on people will employ the software for uses other than CSAM, like finding material they could use to censor or arrest people. 

Past security changes at Apple have also prompted concern among employees, but the volume and duration of the new debate are surprising, the workers said. Some posters worried that Apple is damaging its leading reputation for protecting privacy.

Employee opinions are mixed

The pushback by Apple employees may sound earth-shattering, but not everyone at the company is up in arms. Reuters said some employees have questioned their peers’ criticism in the Slack thread devoted to the photo-scanning feature. Others said Slack wasn't the proper place to hold discussions like this.

One integral workgroup at Apple -- the security team -- was staying away from the back-and-forth on Slack, but opinions vary. 

Some couched Apple’s effort as a rational response to pressure to get tough on illegal and illicit material. Others said they hoped the scanning tool would eventually lead to the development of better encryption tools for iCloud customers who want a more powerful layer of security.

Critical employees have outside support

Other privacy advocates have also expressed their concerns about Apple's proposed scanning tool. They claim Apple is softening its stance on privacy and that the company’s willingness to do these kinds of scans could potentially start a boulder rolling downhill that would allow governments to ask for more information in the future.

One group -- the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) -- says Apple’s proposed changes create new risks to children and all users while marking a significant departure from long-held privacy and security protocols.

"What Apple is showing with their announcement last week is that there are technical weaknesses that they are willing to build in," CDT project director Emma Llanso said in an interview. "It seems so out of step from everything that they had previously been saying and doing."

“Apple is replacing its industry-standard end-to-end encrypted messaging system with an infrastructure for surveillance and censorship, which will be vulnerable to abuse and scope-creep not only in the U.S., but around the world,” says Greg Nojeim, Co-Director of CDT’s Security & Surveillance Project. “Apple should abandon these changes and restore its users’ faith in the security and integrity of their data on Apple devices and services.”

Big Tech, say hello to Big Bipartisanship. A new across-the-aisle congressional bill has been drafted in an attempt to regulate how digital app stores are run.

​​U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN.), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced the Open App Markets Act -- a bill designed to “promote competition and reduce gatekeeper power in the app economy, increase choice, improve quality, and reduce costs for consumers.”

In the crosshairs are Apple and Google, the two biggest companies that the trio of legislators feel have gatekeeper control over the app market. The lawmakers say the control the companies have allows them to call all the shots and keep other app resellers picking up what scraps they can. Together, Apple and Google have 5.7 million apps that produced $110.9 billion in sales in 2020. 

“Big Tech giants are forcing their own app stores on users at the expense of innovative start-ups,” said Sen. Blackburn. “Apple and Google want to prevent developers and consumers from using third-party app stores that would threaten their bottom line. Their anticompetitive conduct is a direct affront to a free and fair marketplace. Senators Blumenthal, Klobuchar, and I are committed to ensuring U.S. consumers and small businesses are not punished by Big Tech dominance.”

Blumenthal said the legislation is intended to “tear down coercive anticompetitive walls in the app economy, giving consumers more choices and smaller startup tech companies a fighting chance.” He also said the bill will “give mobile users more control over their own devices.”

This will take a while

Keep in mind that this legislation has only been introduced. It still has to pass in the Senate and the House before finally getting President Biden’s signature. Given their historic sales trends, Google and Apple can sell a lot of apps before the act becomes law.

In the meantime, the companies have other app store issues to deal with. The European Union has been relentless in punishing Apple over issues with its App Store. In March, it launched an investigation over unfair App Store dominance. It followed that up with accusations in April that the company was breaking antitrust rules with its App Store policies. 

Google hasn’t had it any easier. In the U.S., the company was hit with an antitrust lawsuit filed by 37 states that claimed the Google Play Store is an illegal monopoly. Like Apple, it was also targeted by the E.U. earlier this summer for allegedly abusing its ad tech power.

With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise, Apple has decided to delay its workers’ return to offices. 

Last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook told workers that they would have to go into the office at least three days a week starting in early September. Cook reiterated at the time that he believes face-to-face collaboration plays a crucial role in driving innovation and results. 

"For all that we've been able to achieve while many of us have been separated, the truth is that there has been something essential missing from this past year: each other," Cook said in a June memo. "Video conference calling has narrowed the distance between us, to be sure, but there are things it simply cannot replicate."

On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that Apple is pushing back its deadline for the resumption of in-person work “by at least a month to October at the earliest.” Employees will reportedly be given a month’s notice before they’ll be required to return to offices. 

Some employees pushing back 

Apple’s decision to have employees come back to offices has faced criticism. On an internal Slack channel, thousands of “remote work advocates” began circulating a petition asking for the company to adopt a more flexible work-from-home policy. 

"We continue to be concerned that this one-size-fits-all solution is causing many of our colleagues to question their future at Apple," employees said in a letter last month. "With COVID-19 numbers rising again around the world, vaccines proving less effective against the delta variant, and the long-term effects of infection not well understood, it is too early to force those with concerns to come back to the office."

In response, company executives underscored their belief that “in-person collaboration is essential to our culture and our future.”

Chalk one up for consumer privacy. At its worldwide developer conference, Apple announced that it’s turning up the heat on tracking and targeting to allow more privacy for the end-user.

The upgrades will be part of Apple’s forthcoming system software -- iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and watchOS 8 -- which is scheduled to be released in the fall to coincide with the new iPhone models.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been on a two-year privacy crusade and wants consumers to know that Apple takes its responsibility to safeguard user data seriously. He hopes the new upgrades will help illustrate that stance.

Changes for Apple, Android, and Windows users

While the privacy boost will generally be seen across the entire Apple product landscape, there are some specific places where consumers face privacy challenges.

FaceTime: FaceTime users have experienced privacy issues in the past, but Apple says that is coming to an end. Effective with the new system software, FaceTime calls will extend beyond Apple devices, with the ability to create a link from an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and share it through Messages, Calendar, Mail, or third-party apps. 

The pro-user advantage here is that anyone can join a FaceTime call from their web browser, but it won’t be an Apple-only feature going forward. That change will now also include Android and Windows devices. Apple says FaceTime calls on the web will remain encrypted end-to-end to keep privacy from being compromised.

Siri: Apple is tightening the privacy on Siri -- but only on iPhone and iPad. In iOS 15, Siri’s on-device speech recognition will be processed entirely on iPhones by default, and the company says Siri’s performance should improve significantly. 

Mail: When it comes to Mail, Apple says the upgraded privacy protection will stop senders from learning whether an email has been opened. It will also hide IP addresses so senders can’t learn a user’s location or use it to build a profile on them. 

Apps: Want to know what app is on your trail? The forthcoming App Privacy Report contains an overview of how apps use the access that users have granted app developers when it comes to locations, photos, cameras, microphones, and contacts. The report will include information for the previous seven days of use and will also detail other domains that an app may have contacted.

Stopping sketchy behavior

What do privacy and security experts think about Apple’s move? Dr. Don Vaughn -- the Head of Product at Invisibly, a digital privacy ecosystem -- says he has mixed feelings.

"Apple's iOS 15 will certainly help stop some of the sketchy data collection practices that apps and websites use to make money off people's personal data,” he told ConsumerAffairs.

“However, Apple's scorched earth approach to data completely misses the opportunity to help people derive value from their own data. Rather than deleting data like browsing behavior, Invisibly believes people should be allowed to collect and license that data to earn money and personalize content."

With vaccination rates continuing to climb, Apple employees will soon have to go into the office at least three days a week. Apple CEO Tim Cook told workers that the change will go into effect in early September. 

"For all that we've been able to achieve while many of us have been separated, the truth is that there has been something essential missing from this past year: each other," Cook said in a memo seen by The Verge. "Video conference calling has narrowed the distance between us, to be sure, but there are things it simply cannot replicate."

Most employees will be asked to work in the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and they will have the option of working remotely on Wednesdays and Fridays, according to the email. Teams that require in-person work will return to the office four to five days a week.

Apple employees will also have the opportunity to work remotely for up to two weeks a year, “to be closer to family and loved ones, find a change of scenery, manage unexpected travel, or a different reason all your own,” the memo said. Remote work requests will need approval from a manager. 

Returning to normal

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple was quick to allow employees to work remotely full-time. But before the pandemic, the company discouraged working from home. 

“There’s no replacement for face-to-face collaboration, but we have also learned a great deal about how we can get our work done outside of the office without sacrificing productivity or results,” Cook told staff last year. “When we’re on the other side of this pandemic, we will preserve everything that is great about Apple while incorporating the best of our transformations this year.”

In closing Wednesday’s letter to staff, Cook encouraged all employees to get vaccinated and said he was looking forward to the resumption of in-person work.

“For now, let me simply say that I look forward to seeing your faces,” he said. “I know I’m not alone in missing the hum of activity, the energy, creativity and collaboration of our in-person meetings and the sense of community we’ve all built.”

The European Commission has charged Apple with breaking competition rules in the EU with its App Store practices for music streaming. 

The decision comes roughly two years after an initial complaint from Spotify. In 2019, the music platform accused Apple of using its market dominance to stifle competition. The Commission now says it believes Apple has “dominant position in the market for the distribution of music streaming apps through its App Store” based on two rules it requires developers to abide by. 

The first rule is that developers must use Apple’s in-app purchase system, for which it charges a 30% cut. The second rule bars app developers from informing consumers of other purchasing options outside of apps. The Commission said the 30% cut has resulted in higher prices for consumers. 

“Most streaming providers passed this fee on to end users by raising prices,” the European Commission said. “Apple’s rules distort competition in the market for music streaming services by raising the costs of competing music streaming app developers. This in turn leads to higher prices for consumers for their in-app music subscriptions on iOS devices.” 

Initial charges as part of longer process

The Commission’s finding marks the first phase of its formal antitrust proceedings against Apple. The company has been given the opportunity to respond to the Commission’s list of objections within the next 12 weeks. 

If Apple is found guilty of violating EU rules, it could face a fine of up to $27 billion (10% of its annual revenue of $274.5 billion). The tech giant could also be required to change its App Store policies for developers. 

Spotify praised the Commission’s initial findings and called its objections “a critical step toward holding Apple accountable for its anticompetitive behavior, ensuring meaningful choice for all consumers and a level playing field for app developers.”

This case specifically involves the music streaming portion of Apple’s App Store, but the EU said there are other App Store practices that need to be examined. 

“This is not the last case we will have when it comes to the App Store,” European commissioner Margrethe Vestager said at a Friday press conference.

During a Senate antitrust hearing on Thursday, Apple’s Chief Compliance Officer Kyle Andeer was grilled on the company’s apparent inability to combat subscription scammers on its App Store. 

Apple has argued that one of its reasons for requiring developers to pay App Store commissions is that the money goes toward helping to keep scams from proliferating in the marketplace. However, developers have claimed that Apple still isn’t effectively keeping scams off its App Store. 

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) said it’s “trivially easy” to find predatory scam apps on the company’s platform, yet Apple still appears to be unable to locate them. Ossoff said these scam apps are drawing in big bucks, and Apple makes money every time a scammer takes money from a consumer. 

Highlighting Apple’s efforts

Andeer noted that Apple spends “hundreds of millions” each year curating the store and reviewing each app “for privacy, safety, security and performance.” 

“Unfortunately, security and fraud is a cat-and-mouse game. Any retailer will tell you that. And so we’re constantly working to improve,” Andeer said. He added that Apple is investing in more resources and technologies aimed at fighting scams.

He noted that the App Store rejects thousands of apps each year that it deems to be a risk to consumers. Without Apple’s efforts, he argued that the situation would be far worse. 

” … No one is perfect, but I think what we’ve shown over and over again that we do a better job than others,” he said. “I think the real risks of opening up the iPhone to sideloading or third-party app stores is that this problem will only multiply. If we look at other app stores out there, we look at other distribution platforms, it scares us.”

Profiting off of scam billing practices?

Ossoff then circled back to his question about the scam apps and whether Apple profits off of them. “Apple is making a cut on those abusive billing practices, are you not?” he asked.

Andeer replied that he didn’t believe that was the case and reiterated that Apple strives to fight issues quickly after they’re found. “If we find fraud — if we find a problem, we’re able to rectify that very quickly. And we do each and every day,” he said.

Ossoff then asked if Apple refunds 100% of the money it makes from scam billing practices. In his response, Andeer stressed that Apple works hard to make sure that customers who report a scam or file a complaint are made “whole” -- but he stopped short of saying that Apple refunds “all customers.” 

“Senator, that’s my understanding. There’s obviously a dedicated team here at Apple who works this each and every day. But my understanding is that we work hard to make sure the customer is in a whole position. That’s our focus at the end of the day. If we lose the trust of our customers, that’s going to hurt us,” he said.

‘Non-answers’

Developer Kosta Eleftheriou, who has drawn attention to the fact that Apple is making massive amounts of money from scams on its App Store, said Apple’s “non-answers” should “anger all of us.” 

“They did not offer any explanation for why it’s so easy for people like me to keep finding multimillion-dollar scams that have been going on unchecked on the App Store for years,” he told TechCrunch. “They also gave no clear answer to whether they’re responsible for fraudulent activity in their store.” 

“Apple appears to profit from these scams, instead of refunding all associated revenues back to affected users when they belatedly take some of these down. We’ve been letting Apple grade their own homework for over a decade. I urge the committee to get to the bottom of these questions, including Apple’s baffling decision years ago to remove the ability for users to flag suspicious apps on the App Store,” Eleftheriou said.

It’s been confirmed that both Google and Apple will be headed to Capitol Hill to take place in a Senate Judiciary Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights hearing on April 21. Companies don’t always like getting these kinds of invitations, and this one has the earmarks of a grilling.

In a letter to CEO Tim Cook, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said the committee has serious concerns about “competition issues” related to how Apple prices, distributes, and makes apps available to end users.

Klobuchar said in a statement that the hearing will delve into “whether Apple and Google are using their power as gatekeepers to charge high fees and impose restrictions that suppress competition in mobile applications and related markets, and both companies‘ participation in the hearing is necessary.” Of particular concern is Klobuchar’s perception that the companies “have the power to control how and if mobile app developers can reach app users, and ultimately, which apps become successful.”

It’s all about the Benjamins

App stores are quite the revenue spigot for Apple and Google. With a reported 1.96 million apps available for download in its App Store, the subsequent windfall for Apple is reported to be close to $500 billion. There’s also $72.3 billion made on in-app purchases, subscriptions, and premium apps. Comparatively, Google has an estimated 3.4 billion apps on its Play Store and makes about $40 billion in revenue from them. 

Much of that money comes from a 30 percent commission both companies have historically taken out of the gross receipts on an app sale. In late 2020, Epic Games -- the company behind Fortnite, one of the most popular games ever -- decided it would pick a fight. The company tried to circumvent Apple and Google’s app stores by encouraging users to pay it directly for add-ons. Epic’s hope was that the ploy would help it avoid Apple and Google’s fees and keep the extra money for itself.

That idea went nowhere fast. In response, Fortnite got kicked off both app stores. 

Let’s make a deal

Google and Apple will no doubt try to fend off the subcommittee’s ire by saying they recently reduced their benchmark 30 percent cut, reducing it to 15 percent -- albeit with caveats. In the olive branch that Apple offered, the fee reduction will apply only to developers that make under $1 million per year. After hitting a million, the rate goes back to 30 percent.

In Google’s offer, it said it would reduce its commission to 15 percent on the first $1 million a developer makes on Google Play each year. According to Google, its offer would make life better for 99 percent of Android developers, who should see a 50 percent reduction in fees.

If Europe is any indication

U.S. lawmakers may be taking their cue from their counterparts across the Atlantic. In Apple’s case, it will be heading to Capitol Hill with a fresh antitrust blemish courtesy of France, where it was slapped with a €1.1 billion fine, the country’s largest antitrust penalty ever. 

The European Union (EU) is also on Apple’s case. Last summer, it launched its own antitrust investigation against the company. Spotify has also lodged a complaint with the EU regarding the App Store’s rules on competition in music streaming and e-books/audiobooks.

"Mobile applications have fundamentally changed the way we access content. Apple sets the rules for the distribution of apps to users of iPhones and iPads,” claimed Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of EU competition policy. “It appears that Apple obtained a ‘gatekeeper’ role when it comes to the distribution of apps and content to users of Apple's popular devices. We need to ensure that Apple's rules do not distort competition in markets where Apple is competing with other app developers.”

Apple has released an update that it says contains “important” fixes for several of its most popular devices. 

The company says all iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch users should install iOS 14.4.1 right away, as the update patches a “memory corruption issue” in WebKit -- the browser engine that powers Safari and third-party browsers on iOS. 

To researchers’ knowledge, the bugs haven’t yet been exploited. To mitigate future cybersecurity risks, Apple says “all users” should promptly install the update.

“This update provides important security updates and is recommended for all users.” Apple instructs users to visit the Apple security webpage for more details, which has now been updated to include information on iOS 14.41,” the company said in the release notes. 

Users can install the update by going to the Settings app in their iPhone and choosing “Software Update.” The update is available for iPhone 6s and later, iPad Air 2 and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation).

Apple has partnered with Common Sense Media to launch curated collections of podcasts for children and families. 

Four collections of podcasts geared towards kids are available starting today. The first four collections include: podcasts recommended by kids, mysteries and dramas, story-driven shows that “transport kids into a world of imagination,” and Common Sense Media’s “all-time favorite” picks. 

Apple said it plans to update its podcasts listings for kids on a monthly basis. Future collections will be grouped by popularity and pertinent themes, such as Back to School and Women’s History Months. The shows will come from Tinkercast, American Public Media, WNYC Studios, Rebel Girls, and Nickelodeon, among others. 

Common Sense will provide age group recommendations for the podcasts. 

Apple’s collaboration with Common Sense comes amid ongoing competition between Spotify and Apple. Unlike Spotify, Apple hasn’t corralled kid-oriented content into separate apps and experiences. 

The company’s partnership with Common Sense coincides with a pandemic-driven increase in the popularity of podcasts suitable for children. Starting today, users can find the podcasts suggestions on Apple Podcasts’ main homepage carousel. 

The European Union (EU) is reportedly readying formal charges against Apple related to concerns of anti-competitive behavior on its App Store, as well as its music streaming service Apple Music. 

Citing sources familiar with the matter, the Financial Times reported Thursday that the EU plans to argue that Apple restricted music streaming services other than its own Apple Music, giving the tech giant an unfair advantage over competitors and reducing consumers’ options. 

The charges come two years after Spotify accused Apple of using its App Store policies and market dominance to stifle competition. Spotify said Apple’s practice of charging a 30 percent tax on in-app purchases forced rival streaming services to compete with Apple Music.

“In recent years, Apple has introduced rules to the App Store that purposely limit choice and stifle innovation at the expense of the user experience—essentially acting as both a player and referee to deliberately disadvantage other app developers,” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek wrote in 2019. “After trying unsuccessfully to resolve the issues directly with Apple, we’re now requesting that the EC take action to ensure fair competition.”

The U.K. is also currently investigating Apple’s terms and conditions for app developers. The probe will focus on whether Apple’s terms and conditions are unfair and whether they violate the U.K.’s competition laws. 

"Millions of us use apps every day to check the weather, play a game or order a takeaway," Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the U.K.’s competition regulator, said in a statement. "So, complaints that Apple is using its market position to set terms which are unfair or may restrict competition and choice – potentially causing customers to lose out when buying and using apps – warrant careful scrutiny."

For the first time since last March, all Apple Stores in the U.S. are open for business. It’s a sign of growing confidence that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is fading in the rearview mirror.

Apple has confirmed that all 270 stores are open daily in some capacity, either for appointment shopping or for curbside pickup. Houston-area stores were the last to reopen on Monday.

All Apple stores closed in mid-March 2020 as the pandemic began to reach critical mass in the U.S. Apple had some experience on the subject since it closed all of its stores in China in the middle of February 2020.

Over the last 12 months, Apple has mostly followed local COVID-19 guidelines, closing stores when local officials imposed restrictions on businesses and mandated other mitigation measures. 

Apple stores in the U.S. remained closed throughout April of last year but slowly began to reopen in early May. It closed stores again when cases began to spike in the fall.

Employees served customers from home

As the virus began to sweep across the country last year, Apple launched a unique program in which it closed physical locations and asked employees to work from home. 

“If your store is closed, please sign up for Retail at Home,” Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of retail and people told staffers in July. “Please talk to your manager, because we really need to make sure that we shift our teams to greet our customers remotely in this time. We may need to be working remotely for some period of time.”

The industry site 9to5 Mac reports Apple stores have had a rough 12 months. With the on-again, off-again store openings 2020 also subjected the stores to looting and vandalism during urban unrest, an intense heatwave and wildfire smoke in many parts of California, and a need for extra security protection on Election Day and Inauguration Day.

The latest setback was the frigid winter storm that socked Texas last month, delaying store reopenings in several cities.

As the pandemic wears on, Apple is testing a new way to let iPhone users unlock their phones without having to remove their face mask in public. 

The company is testing a new iOS 14.5 feature that allows people to get past their device’s face recognition security tool if they are also wearing an unlocked Apple Watch. 

“iPhone can use your Apple Watch to unlock when Face ID detects a face with a mask,” Apple said. “Your Apple Watch must be nearby, on your wrist, unlocked, and protected by a passcode.” 

Consumers must opt in

Users will be able to opt into the feature by going into "Settings" and then navigating to "Face ID & Passcode.” Once enabled, mask-wearers with an unlocked Apple Watch can look at their iPhone and the phone will be unlocked. Users will hear a buzz when the device has successfully been unlocked, and they can also re-lock their iPhone from their Apple Watch.

This is the second update that Apple has introduced to address changing consumer needs during the pandemic. Last spring, the tech giant released iOS 13.5 and made it easier to skip the Face ID prompt while wearing a mask by automatically displaying the passcode entry screen.

The latest version of iOS 14.5 is currently being beta tested by the public.

Apple has put out a warning saying that iPhones could interfere with pacemakers, Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICDs), and other medical devices. 

In a notice published on the company’s support page over the weekend, Apple said iPhones contain magnets and radios that emit electromagnetic fields -- and implanted medical devices contain sensors that could interact with these magnets and radios.

“IPhone contains magnets as well as components and radios that emit electromagnetic fields. All MagSafe accessories (each sold separately) also contain magnets — and MagSafe Charger and MagSafe Duo Charger contain radios. These magnets and electromagnetic fields might interfere with medical devices,” Apple said.

Avoiding potential interactions

The company said all four iPhone 12 models have more magnets inside than older models. However, the new iPhones are “not expected to pose a greater risk of magnetic interference to medical devices than prior iPhone models.”

To ensure the efficacy of implanted medical devices, Apple recommends keeping iPhones and MagSafe charging docks a “safe distance” away. The company defined a “safe distance” as more than six inches apart, or 15 inches apart when it is wirelessly charging. 

"Consult your physician and medical device manufacturer for information specific to your medical device and whether you need to maintain a safe distance of separation between your medical device and iPhone or any MagSafe accessories," Apple said. 

The company added that consumers who feel like their iPhone 12 or MagSafe charger is interfering with their medical device should stop using them.