IOS - Rondea

YouTube will bring picture-in-picture to iPhones and iPads

The YouTube app on iOS will be getting picture-in-picture support, allowing all users to watch videos while doing other things on their iPhones and iPads. A YouTube spokesperson told The Verge that the feature is currently rolling out to Premium subscribers, and that a launch for all iOS users (including the free ones) in the US is in the works.

Apple added support for picture-in-picture video for iPads with iOS 9, and brought it to iPhones with iOS 14. Since then, YouTube’s support for the feature on iPhones and iPads has been spotty — it works for iPad if you’re using Safari (though some have reported it doesn’t work for non-Premium subscribers); iPhone users have only been able to access the feature periodically.

That complication seems to be going away, at least for those in the US: iOS users, with or without a YouTube Premium subscription, will soon have access to it using the YouTube app as Android users have for years. YouTube did not provide a timeline for when the feature would arrive for free users, but stated the rollout to Premium subscribes is in progress.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that PiP video came to the iPad with iOS 13. It in fact arrived with iOS 9. We regret the error.

Sonos Arc review: Dolby Atmos soundbar delivers big sound

(Pocket-lint) – Sonos is not one for racing new products out for the sake of it. Its Playbar, for example, ruled the roost for seven years, being its only full-fledged soundbar in that time.

The Sonos Beam arrived in the meantime, but was more meant for smaller TVs and rooms, giving you a better alternative than the speakers on your flatscreen rather than cinematic experience. So, a replacement to the Playbar was long overdue.

That’s where the Sonos Arc came in. But it didn’t just replace the Playbar, it brought so many new bells and whistles to the party that it is an altogether different beast. One with Dolby Atmos – a first for the company – to deliver a virtual surround-sound experience from the single ‘bar.

Design

Dimensions: 87 x 1141.7 x 115.7mm / Weight: 6.25kg
Can be wall-mounted or laid on a TV cabinet
Black and white options available
Adjustable status LED

Putting its tech and audio prowess to one side for a minute, the Sonos Arc is a sleek looking soundbar that matches the aesthetic of the company’s One and Move standalones.

Best soundbar: Options to boost your TV audio

It is long – almost the length of a modern 55-inch flatscreen TV – but more subtle than its predecessor, with a plastic alloy build and grille to front and sides. Even the logo fades away when you’re not staring directly at it, whichever finish you choose (there’s black or white, nothing more outlandish than that).

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We particularly like that there are no contrasting flourishes in the design, as there’s nothing worse than catching a soundbar out of the corner of your eye while watching an intense moment in a film. Unlike children, speaker systems – and especially soundbars – should be heard and not seen. The subtlety of Sonos’ bar ensures that is the case, whether it’s wall-mounted or laid flat on a TV stand.

There are a few touch buttons on the top for play/pause and volume adjustment, but the Sonos app is so simple to use we couldn’t see ourselves bothering with them. Plus, as it is HDMI eARC-enabled, you can mainly control the soundbar through your TV remote for general use.

What is HDMI eARC? Why is it different to HDMI ARC?

The only other distinguishable icon on the bar itself is a microphone symbol, indicating that it is voice-enabled, with support for both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. You can tap it to turn on/off the listening mode – signified by a small LED light.

Connections

Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) and Wi-Fi (802.11b/g, 2.4GHz)
HDMI eARC (with optical digital audio adapter)
IR sensor on the front

Around the rear, hidden in an alcove, there are connections for power, HDMI and Ethernet. That’s it.

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Those not wanting to connect the Arc through HDMI will be pleased to know that a digital optical audio adapter is included in the box, but that will effectively disable any Dolby Atmos support, as that requires hooking it up to an HDMI eARC/ARC port on a compatible TV. You’ll still get very effective multichannel surround sound, just not Atmos.

Also missing (if setup using the optical connection) will be the ability for full automation through your TV’s remote control. There is an infrared (IR) sensor, so you can set your remote to also adjust volume, but that’s a less elegant solution than using HDMI CEC (standing for Consumer Electronics Control) between TV and Arc. It also emits automated audio sync between them.

Still, if it’s all you’ve got then that’s fine – you’re still getting a superb sound system and are future-proofed to boot.

Plus, while there are plenty of TVs with at least one ARC-enabled HDMI port, only more recent models support Dolby Atmos decoding or passthrough. Even fewer support the full HDMI eARC standard, so it’s possible you might consider the soundbar with an eye on upgrading your TV somewhere down the line.

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As well as 10/100 Mbps Ethernet for wired network connection, single-band (2.4GHz) Wi-Fi is available too.

Features

Dolby Atmos support (through HDMI eARC/ARC)
Built-in Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa voice assistants
Runs on new Sonos S2 software
Apple AirPlay 2 support
Sonos multiroom compatible

As well as Dolby Atmos – which we’ll come to in a bit – the Sonos Arc is quite a step up over the Playbar when it comes to features.

Support for Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant is wholly welcome, for starters, implementing in similar fashion to Sonos One and Move.

The Arc has a four far-field microphone array built in that detects voice from a fair distance. We walked around a decent sized living room, even stepped outside for a moment, and it could still hear and recognise our voice.

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FEATURE UPGRADE

Both services are setup through the Sonos app and, subsequently, their own individual applications on iOS and Android, so once complete act almost exactly as they would on any other supported device.

You can only use one assistant, having to disable the other if you swap, but it’s great to be given the choice. And, depending on Amazon and Google’s compatibility, it means you can play and control music by vocal command, across streaming services, and your own digital library.

You can also technically use your Arc to control your TV, if it too is Alexa and/or Google Assistant-enabled.

Apple AirPlay 2 is also supported by the soundbar, to present the cleanest possible audio sent wirelessly from an iPhone, iPad or Mac. And, Sonos’ Trueplay audio tuning during setup ensures that the output matches your surroundings through very simple instructions.

What is Sonos Trueplay and how does it work?

Of course, the Arc’s biggest, most attractive feature is that it is a Sonos speaker.

Sonos has provided an integrated, connected multiroom solution for many years, and has refined the experience over time. Today it is compatible with all the big music streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Tidal, and more. There is also Sonos Radio, the brand’s own free service with ad-supported stations and curated playlists, so even if you aren’t a member of a third-party platform, you will still have plenty to listen to.

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As Sonos products also connect wirelessly to each other, through your home network, you can sync the same songs playing on your Arc to, say, a Sonos Five speaker in another room, for example. You can group multiple speakers together and have them all play the same music. It’s great for house parties, that’s for sure.

Alternatively, you can use the interoperability to hook up a couple of Sonos One speakers to work as rear speakers, using your Arc as the front, centre and height channels. And adding a Sub for extra bass is made as simple as possible.

Performance

11 drivers: 8 eliptical woofers, 3 angled silk-dome tweeters
Each connected to Class-D digital amplifiers
Four far-field microphone array
Adjustable equaliser (EQ)

A decent feature set is all well and good, but the most important aspect of a soundbar is the sound itself. And the Arc does not disappoint when it comes to spatial performance.

Sonos

It effectively presents a virtual 5.0.2 soundfield with Atmos engaged, 5.0 when not. Dedicated centre, left and right channels provide the front-facing effects. Two other channels angled at either end of the bar provide virtual surround, while a pair of additional drivers point upwards to reflect Dolby Atmos height channels off the ceiling and back to the listening position.

There are eight woofers and three tweeters in all, each with its own Class-D digital amplifier, and when all are working in unison it presents a wall of sound that belies the simple, thin form factor.

We advise pairing the Arc with the Sonos Sub, as that will put extra growl into the bass, but we’re already impressed with the overall effect when it’s playing solo, including low frequencies.

As we’ve mentioned above, you can also add a pair of additional Sonos speakers for true rears/surrounds, but the reason why many invest in a soundbar is for its simplicity. Unless you are a true home cinema buff, you’ll already be impressed with the Arc’s out-of-the-box experience.

We tested the Arc using the latest Sonos software (Sonos S2) and several sources. We also used a Philips OLED754 TV, which has Dolby Atmos processing on board and passthrough – which we activated.

This allowed us to play a few Netflix shows that come with Atmos sound, plus several 4K Blu-rays: The Rise of Skywalker, John Wick 3 and Ready Player One. The second John Wick sequel is an especially good check disk for Dolby Atmos, with rain effects utilising the height channels throughout the first few scenes.

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Perhaps the best test came via our Xbox One X. The Dolby Access app for the console (plus the One S) comes with a great collection of game and movie trailers featuring Atmos mixes, plus a few of Dolby’s own demo clips. They each gave the Sonos Arc a great workout, which it passed with flying colours. It provides a wall of sound, with clear precise spacing, even at extreme volumes.

When listening to the Arc you get an impression of audio above the seating position, plus a widening of the soundscape. But you also get a bold, cinematic presentation that seemingly comes straight from the TV screen. Having a dedicated centre also allows for clean vocal tracks.

In music terms, listening to high-res mixes of Price’s Purple Rain and The Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want streamed over Tidal perfectly illustrated the bar’s ability with mid and high frequencies. Even bass response is more than acceptable for music playback.

You are still likely to want a separate Sub to get the most from genres utilising sub-bass – d&b and dubset heads, that’s you – but even without that additional cost the Arc’s neutral tones are a great starting point for all genres.

Verdict

The Sonos Arc is a highly-accomplished bit of kit. There are caveats: it only works with the Sonos S2 software, so cannot be part of the same multi-room setup as older legacy kit; and, without a separate source input on the bar, your TV needs to have Dolby Atmos and HDMI ARC/eARC support to use it at its fullest.

However, those are minor points really as, like the Playbar before it, this is a speaker with the potential to be relevant for the next seven years or more. Your surrounding kit will inevitably catch-up.

In the meantime, the Arc presents an exemplary sound experience even without Dolby Atmos – which accounts for 90 per cent or so of the audio you’ll pump through it anyway. And, with Alexa and Google Assistant built-in, plus AirPlay 2 and Sonos’ own feature-filled music platform, you have yourself a very compelling speaker system to elevate your entertainment no end.

It’s pricey, granted, but you’re getting a tough-to-rival feature set and a very classy act all told.

Also consider

Samsung

Samsung HW-Q90R

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If you’re not bound to Sonos’ multi-room system idea, yet want a true surround sound system in the one box, Samsung delivers a 7.1.4 with ‘bar, sub, rear speakers and Dolby Atmos support out of the box. All for a very reasonable price considering.

Read our review

Writing by Rik Henderson. Editing by Britta O’Boyle.

Slack is rolling out a new scheduled send feature

Slack has announced a new Scheduled Send feature that the company is starting to roll out today, which — as the name implies — will let users schedule messages to send at a later time and date.

The scheduled send feature adds a new drop-down arrow to the green “send message” button in Slack’s desktop app. Clicking it will reveal a new menu that allows for scheduling a message to send to a room, direct message, or group thread later on. Mobile users will be able to access a similar menu by long-pressing on the send button in the Slack app on Android and iOS.

Slack will offer both pre-filled options (like “tomorrow morning at 9:00AM”) as well as the ability to set a custom date and time to send a message. Messages can be scheduled up to to 120 days in advance, and users will be able to reschedule, edit, or delete scheduled messages before they’re sent.

“Today we launched Scheduled Send to empower users to communicate and collaborate in a way that works best for them,” the company announced in a statement, explaining that “teams shouldn’t be obligated to sync their schedules in order to communicate effectively.”

The ability to schedule messages is a critical one given the various time zones and locations that offices — both remote, in-person, and hybrid — stretch across in today’s work world. And while email services like Gmail have offered the ability to schedule emails for later (so that users aren’t pinging teams at odd hours or getting messages lost overnight), the feature has been notably absent from Slack until now.

Beats Studio Buds are noise-cancelling, AirPods-rivalling true wireless earbuds

(Image credit: Apple )

Following a number of leaks, the Beats Studio Buds have been officially announced. Apple’s first Beats-branded true wireless earbuds feature active noise-cancellation and “Hey Siri” voice control for £130 (around $190, AU$250).

As predicted, the Beats Studio Buds boast an elliptical-shaped earpiece that is unlike any of Apple’s AirPods buds. They also offer one-touch pairing to both iOS and Android devices (not something you’re likely to see on Apple’s upcoming AirPods 3 buds, that’s for sure).

Digging into the spec sheet, it looks like Apple has pitched the Beats Studio Buds at a sporty audience. The IPX4 rating should provide decent level of protection against sweat and rain, while the choice of three soft silicone ear tips and lightweight design (5g per earbud) could boost comfort during workouts.

The promised “booming” sound might not be everyone’s cup of coffee but, if you’re attempting to smash your personal best, or simply fancy a good dollop of beefy bass, the Beats Studio Buds could be worth considering.

Much like Apple’s pricier AirPods Pro, the Beats Studio Buds feature tiny vents to relieve pressure on your eardrum when listening for longer period. If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, the Studio Buds will automatically play Apple Spatial Audio Dolby Atmos tracks when available.

(Image credit: Apple)

Battery life sounds pretty average. You get 5 hours’ listening time from the buds with ANC on, plus another 10 hours (two charges) from the supplied charging case. If you’re prepared to switch ANC off, the buds will last 8 hours. Throw in another two charges from the case and you’re looking at up to 24 hours playback.

On the subject of noise cancelling, there are two listening modes. ‘Active’ aims to block out all unwanted external noise, whether it’s a rumbling train or a howling wind. ‘Transparency’ lets you have a conversation without removing the buds by pressing the ‘b’ button on the stem of the buds. And, as expected, iOS users can activate Siri hands-free with the familiar “Hey Siri” command.

There’s no mention of Apple’s H1 chip, as found in the Beats Powerbeats Pro wireless earbuds, only ‘Class 1 Bluetooth’. Perhaps because the Beats Studio Buds are the first Beats headphones to offer one-touch pairing for both iOS and Android users.

Last but not least, the Beats Studio Buds are the first Beats to support both FindMy in iOS and Find My Device on Android. The buds can emit a high-pitched sound to make them easier to locate when dropped in the street or lost down the back of a sofa.

If you’re in the market for the best Beats headphones with ANC, the Beats Studio Buds will be available in the UK this summer, priced at £130. They come in eco-friendly “plant-based” packaging, too.

MORE:

Read all our Beats reviews

See all our Apple reviews

Want the AirPods 3 intel? See AirPods 3: release date, price, design, leaks and news

Beats announces $149.99 Studio Buds earbuds with active noise cancellation

Beats today announced its second pair of true wireless earbuds, the new Beats Studio Buds. Priced at $149.99 and available in red, black, or white, the Studio Buds have a much different, more compact design than the previous Powerbeats Pro. There are no ear hooks on these, nor any stems, and that results in a very lightweight, comfortable fit. Preorders start today in the US and Canada from Apple and other retailers like Amazon and Best Buy, and the earbuds will be available in stores on June 24th.

The Studio Buds include active noise cancellation, IPX4 water and sweat resistance, and can last for up to five hours on a charge. (If you leave noise cancellation off, they can eke out eight hours of continuous playback. They also use USB-C for charging — there’s no wireless charging, unfortunately — and either earbud can be used independently.

The Studio Buds have a sleek, lightweight design.

Image: Beats

Interestingly, Beats is supporting both iOS and Android features with the Studio Buds. On iPhone, you get the familiar, easy AirPods-like setup and Control Center integration. They can also do hands-free “Hey Siri” commands. On Android, Beats now works with Fast Pair and Google’s Find My Device features.

Beats came up with an all-new acoustic architecture design for the Studio Buds, which have 8.2-millimeter drivers, and the company claims you can expect “outstanding stereo separation and low harmonic distortion across the frequency curve so you hear every note.”

If you’re wondering how the Studio Buds might stack up to the AirPods Pro or other competitors, I’ve been spending some time testing the just-announced earbuds, and you can read my full review of the Beats Studio Buds here.

Devialet Phantom I 108dB

Our Verdict

A powerful, striking and truly one-of-a-kind wireless speaker, but not the most entertaining one at this level

For

Big, broad, room-filling sound
Heart-in-your-mouth bass
Striking aesthetic

Against

Lacks transparency and subtlety
App isn’t a UPnP controller
In-app multi-room flakiness

Despite having welcomed many Devialet Phantom wireless speakers into our test rooms over the past few years, we still find ourselves struck by the beauty and bass reproduction of the latest iteration.

This new flagship Phantom I brings with it a simplification and expansion of the iconic, brand-defining line: the compact Phantom Reactor is now ‘Phantom II’ (in 95dB, 98dB and special-edition Opéra de Paris models), above which sits the ‘Phantom I’ (in 103dB, 108dB and Opéra de Paris variants).

Devialet has now introduced a £349 ($350) Arch configurable connectivity hub for Phantom too, giving owners the option to add sources (including a turntable) either via its built-in phono stage and RCA line-level inputs, or alternatively two coaxial digital inputs.

Features

(Image credit: Devialet)

Without that accessory, the Phantom I is reliant upon a network, with support for AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, UPnP and Roon (both up to 24-bit/96KHz) over ethernet or wi-fi, although there is Bluetooth onboard, as well as an optical input (up to 24-bit/96KHz) at the rear.

Devialet Phantom I 108dB tech specs

(Image credit: Devialet)

Power output 1100W

Airplay 2 Yes

Spotify Connect Yes

Bluetooth Yes

Roon Ready Yes

Dimensions (hwd) 25.5 x 25.2 x 34.2cm

Weight 11.4kg

The decibel ratings attached to the names represent their maximum sound pressure level at one metre – something that sets Devialet Phantoms apart not only from one another but most of their competition, considering they can go between the approximate relative loudness of a lawnmower and a chainsaw.

The sample on test here is the Phantom I 108 dB, which is available in dark chrome or white/gold finishes and covers a claimed frequency range of 14Hz to 27kHz. The Phantom I 103 dB, meanwhile, comes in light chrome or matte black and encompasses a slightly narrower bandwidth (16Hz to 25kHz).

Many of Devialet’s patented technologies are present in the new Phantom I, including its ADH (Analog Digital Hybrid) amplification, designed to combine the benefits of Class A analogue (high performance) and Class D (high efficiency and power) designs.

At the risk of using too many acronyms, HBI (Heart Bass Implosion) represents Devialet’s efforts to produce deep, impactful bass from the compact enclosure; its ACE (Active Cospherical Engine) design takes care of outputting sound evenly in various directions from the spherical chassis; and Speaker Active Matching (SAM) processing works to optimise the signal and performance in real-time.

Such patented technologies have been part of the Phantom line-up from the start, but the new Phantom I aims to take performance further with a next-generation system-on-chip and improved thermal dissipation (it’s four times more energy-efficient than the previous model).

Build

(Image credit: Devialet)

The Phantom’s iconic, visually striking spherical design, which we’ve likened to an ‘Alien bug’ and ‘Storm Trooper’s lunchbox’ lives on, but not totally unchanged. It’s now like a miniature jet engine, with a matte finish, new signature side panels and LED status lights at the rear – it’s eye-catching in the best way possible.

The Phantom I comes with a new puck-like remote that’s as other-worldly and premium as the speaker aesthetic and price deserves, too. We like how you rotate the whole outer ring to change volume (you can also play/pause and skip tracks with the central touchpad), although ergonomically it doesn’t feel all that natural in the hand to do so.

The alternative is Devialet’s dedicated app, which provides similar playback functions, as well as settings such as ‘AV sync’ for reducing latency if you’re using the Phantom I with your TV via its optical input, and ‘Night mode’ for sucking some of the bass out of the performance (which it does effectively, too).

Somewhat disappointingly, the app doesn’t also serve as a UPnP streaming controller, so those wanting to access local or networked files or music services will need to use the paid-for Roon platform (the Phantom I is Roon Ready), or download another third-party UPnP app such as BubbleUPnP (Android) and mconnect Player (Android, iOS), both of which are perfectly usable free apps.

We’re also a little let down by the app’s imperfect multi-room and stereo pairing experience, which in our testing proves occasionally flaky by not displaying the connection, or doing so but not initiating through the speakers. If you’ve spent several thousands on a multi-room wireless speaker set-up, you are perhaps entitled to expect seamlessness.

Sound

(Image credit: Devialet)

You also expect a ‘wow’ performance, which in some areas the Phantom I delivers. This is one of the clearest, most bassy and broadest-sounding single-chassis wireless speakers we’ve come across since the previous full-sized Phantom we tested.

For a wireless speaker of its size, Devialet’s latest can, like the iterations before it, excavate a bass line. The jaunty electro-funk lows underpinning Childish Gambino’s 19:10 are deep and impactful – and visually represented by the enthusiastically pumping side-firing drivers. Play something denser such as 65daysofstatic’s Retreat! Retreat!, and it’s not afraid to get down and dirty with the cacophony of drums and electrics while ensuring they don’t bog down the whole presentation.

The Phantom I produces a broad, open soundstage that far belies its compactness. If you’re looking for the biggest sonic footprint from a small physical one, a single Phantom I can output more than is necessary to fill most living rooms. But, while one of the Devialet’s unique selling points is its spectacular power output, the presentation ultimately becomes harsh and, consequently, less listenable when really pushed.

Such is the Devialet’s midrange clarity that upon hearing it for the first time, you’ll want to queue up songs by your favourite vocalists. We find ourselves doing just this; Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, ANOHNI, and The Tallest Man on Earth’s Kristian Matsson come through with purity and polish. But it isn’t long before we realise that such tangibility isn’t complemented by the levels of transparency we’d expect at this price – and especially from a Phantom.

While the Phantom I can distinguish between a soprano and a piano, it’s only able to draw the silhouette of a vocal or instrument rather than reveal any of its colour or shading. It doesn’t rise and fall with Simone’s dynamic delivery, nor does it get under Matsson’s subtle inflections.

We play Ludovico Einaudi’s piano-led Oltremare, and while the notes float across a soundstage that, if you closed your eyes, could pass for one from stereo speakers placed close together, there isn’t the dynamic insight or finesse necessary for you to thoroughly appreciate the variation in his masterstrokes.

We find ourselves creeping the volume up in an effort to feel more involved in the piece – a sign of a performance that falls short of captivating. For the Devialet’s not insignificant asking price, we expect more in the way of sonic sophistication.

Verdict

Devialet’s original Phantom arrived at a time where wireless speakers were slowly but surely maturing into the high-end market. Today, that premium space is more competitive, and with it, the level of performance has improved too.

You’ll struggle to find another that can fill a room or dig up a bass line quite like the Phantom I, but your search for a wireless solution – single-box or otherwise – capable of more insight for the money will be easier. The Phantom I remains a one-of-a-kind option with undisputed talents, but overall its performance leaves us a little cold.

SCORES

Sound 3
Features 4
Build 4

MORE:

Read our guide to the best wireless speakers

Read our Devialet Gold Phantom review

Final Fantasy 1-6 are being rereleased for new ‘pixel remaster series’

Square Enix announced that the first six mainline Final Fantasy games are getting remasters for Steam, Android, and iOS. The games will each be released individually as part of the “Pixel Remaster Series,” but Square Enix hasn’t shared release timing beyond the fact that they’re “coming soon.”

In a tweet, Square Enix said that the games will be getting a “pixel-perfect makeover,” which makes it sound as if these games will be improved versions of the originals that retain the original visual style (as opposed to the 3D remasters). But because Square Enix hasn’t shared much info just yet, we’ll just have to wait for the company to announce more information until we can be sure.

Among Us expands to 15 player lobbies on June 15th

Among Us lobbies will be expanding from a maximum of 10 to 15 players as part of a new update coming out on June 15th (a date that happens to be the game’s third birthday). The update will also bring new colors for crewmates, support for mobile controllers, and the ability to honk the horn on the game’s airship level.

Here’s a look at all of the player colors being added to the game: tan, coral, banana, rose, gray, and maroon. (I’m a big fan of the coral and maroon colors, personally.)

The update will be available on all platforms where you can currently play Among Us, which include PC, iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch. PlayStation and Xbox versions are also in the works and are expected to be released this year.

As part of Thursday’s Summer Game Fest Kickoff Live event, developer Innersloth also shared some future updates coming to the game, including a new hide and seek mode, visor cosmetics, achievements, and a fifth map. The developer hasn’t shared any details about when those updates might hit, though.

Apple added beautiful 3D details to Maps, but it still can’t get me out of this forest

During the iOS portion of Apple’s WWDC keynote, it showed some amazing demos of 3D cities and AR transit directions, but amid all the beautiful features there were a few things missing from the stage and Apple’s iOS 15 feature list. Namely, some basic navigation tools that would let me get around easier.

Since Apple seems to be focusing a lot on Maps (it got stage time at last year’s keynote, too), perhaps they’re also taking requests? Here’s my wishlist.

Don’t forget, you’re here forever.

Without a cellular signal or Wi-Fi, Apple Maps turns into a brick — you can’t search for locations, find routes, or do anything useful. This is, to put it lightly, a bit of a problem for a navigation app that’s been around for eight years. Imagine you used Apple Maps to navigate to somewhere that doesn’t have reliable cell service (like, say, many national parks), then want to go home. Apple Maps can get you through a dead zone, but if you’ll be staying a while, you won’t be able to use Apple Maps to get back.

While leaving civilization and never coming back may appeal to some people (hello), it’s not the experience most are looking for. There are various ways to solve this — Apple could create a system where Maps caches the places you’ve recently traveled through, making at least basic routing available without an internet connection, or it could go full Google Maps and let you arbitrarily download massive parts of the map that will be available offline. There just needs to be some way to navigate your way out of a cellular dead zone should you find yourself in one.

Since Apple Maps will work offline if you’ve got navigation going, maybe there’s a workaround? Could you create a route that brings you to a place, but then also takes you back home? That’s very clever, but no, because Apple Maps doesn’t have…

The ability to create routes with more than one destination is, admittedly, more useful while you’re planning a trip than while you’re actually traveling, but it can still save you the hassle of having to choose a new destination every time you arrive somewhere. Apple Maps, however, doesn’t have this ability — you can do point-to-point travel, and that’s it. As far as I (and people on Apple’s forums and Reddit) can tell, you can’t even do multiple stops in the desktop Apple Maps, which would at least help with planning. Meanwhile, in Google Maps land…

But wait, isn’t there an Add Stop button in Apple Maps? Indeed, there is, but I regret to tell you that it’s not for creating multi-stop routes — it’s for adding a brief detour. And, to add insult to injury, it’s almost useless for what it’s actually designed to do.

The Add Stop button brings nothing but frustration. In my two years using Apple Maps, I’ve never successfully used it.

The Add Stop button lets you find a temporary pit stop along your route, so you can take a break from driving to get food, gas, or whatever. The problem is that it’s extremely limited in this capability — it only lets you choose from a few predetermined categories and will only show you a few from each one. It does provide a quick and easy interface for use while driving, but if you want to do something specific, you’ll be in for a rough time.

Tapping on Restaurants (currently labeled “Breakfast” because it’s morning) will give you a list of 10 places that are nearby.

If you want to stop at a specific restaurant, you can’t search for it using the Add Stop menu. As an example, say I was traveling to Seattle but wanted to stop at a McDonald’s along the way. I’d have to stop my navigation to Seattle and set it to McDonald’s instead. Then, after I was done there, I’d have to set my navigation to Seattle again. With Google Maps, I’d just be able to search along my route, add McDonald’s, and be good to go.

Google Maps’ search along route feature is great for another reason — if I want to stop in, say, 60 miles instead of right now, I could set Google Maps to a gas station that’s a ways up the road. Apple Maps can only show what’s around you, not further on along the route.

This one is small, but if you’re trying to visually plan out a route where you’ll be walking or biking, you’ll really have to hunt for paths in Apple Maps. Look at this comparison between a local paved trail in Apple Maps versus what it looks like in Google Maps.

The path on Apple Maps.
The path on Google Maps.

It’s safe to say that the one in Google Maps is just a tad easier to notice and trace. Apple did mention improving details like this in iOS 15, but those improvements seemed to be in the cities that were getting the upgraded 3D maps, not everywhere (though I’d love for that to not be the case). Either way, Apple obviously knows my trail exists, so it’d be great if it could highlight it in some way.

This is, again, a small one — Apple talked about Maps helping people navigate better while driving, but for the areas that won’t get 3D mapped anytime soon, actually being able to see a satellite view while driving could help improve their navigation experience. Satellite view may not be for everyone all the time, but if you’re navigating a tricky intersection, or a dense area where landmarks may be key, being able to see a top-down picture instead of just an abstracted map could help you avoid missing a turn.

Of course, there are navigation apps available that have these features — I’ve directly compared Apple Maps with Google Maps several times, and Google also makes Waze. However, while Google Maps and Waze do have CarPlay integration, they’re generally not as well-integrated as Apple Maps is (for obvious reasons). There’s also the matter of privacy — some people, myself included, would rather not give Google all the location data that comes with using their mapping service.

Whatever reason people decide to stick with Apple Maps, they deserve to have a useful navigation experience, and it’d be nice to see Apple getting the basics done before adding an (admittedly lovely looking) moonlight aesthetic to Maps.

Apple is trying to dominate watch parties, but it needs more help

Apple is bringing one of streaming’s trendiest features to iPhone users with the debut of SharePlay in iOS 15 later this year, allowing FaceTime users to stream music, online videos, and movies together with friends. The move positions FaceTime to compete more directly with platforms like Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Houseparty, which all offer ways to video chat while watching things as a group. It offers Apple a chance to hook a new generation of users on FaceTime — but the service is still missing some key integrations to make that happen, particularly for the teens most likely to use it.

SharePlay, announced earlier this week and likely arriving in the fall, will allow FaceTime users to share and stream media in real time from an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV. It’s a neat tool for the pandemic era, and it takes inspiration from the watch party modes that many major streaming platforms — including Disney Plus, Hulu, and Prime Video, among others — added themselves in the last year. For services where it’s not supported, like Netflix, there are popular extensions that enable simultaneous streaming and chatting as well.

The goal isn’t to compete with those native platforms, though. After all, you’re still watching Hulu, just in a different space. Instead, the update puts FaceTime square against services like Facebook Messenger that dominate messaging and have already been trying to build out co-watching experiences, but without as robust of a service list as Apple has the ability to line up.

SharePlay particularly makes sense for the next generation of iPhone users, as teens are more inclined to watch videos on their phones. Video-based social media apps like Instagram and TikTok are immensely popular among teens, and an overwhelming majority of teens have access to these apps on their own personal smartphones. Video chatting is hugely popular, too, with a 2015 survey from Pew Research finding that 59 percent of US teens video chatted with their friends.

The introduction of SharePlay also jibes with Apple’s reported plans to make iMessage compete more directly with Facebook-owned WhatsApp by becoming more of a social network. It makes a lot of sense that the company would similarly invest in developments for its video-calling product as well, which is just a couple of taps away.

But if Apple wants SharePlay to be a success among the demographic of consumers most likely to use it, it’ll need to expand the number of apps that support it.

Apple said that at launch, Disney Plus, ESPN Plus, HBO Max, Hulu, MasterClass, Paramount Plus, Pluto TV, TikTok, and Twitch will be supported on SharePlay, which is a somewhat limited grab bag of streaming options. Granted, there’s plenty of time for that list to get longer before iOS 15 officially rolls out to users in the fall. And Apple told The Verge that SharePlay will be available to any streaming app that wants to support it, so we’re likely to see wider adoption down the road.

Some of the best applications of this feature failed to make their way into Apple’s initial slide of supported services, though. Netflix is perhaps the most obvious of these simply on the basis that virtually everyone has a Netflix login, whether they’re actually paying for it or not (at least until the inevitable password crackdown). But YouTube was not mentioned either, and neither company had comment to share about potential support down the line when contacted by The Verge this week. A spokesperson for Peacock, however, told The Verge that SharePlay support was on its “roadmap.”

YouTube, in particular, seems like a huge miss for Apple, especially where teens are concerned. YouTube hosts just about every digital media format imaginable — music, movies, news, personalities, tutorials, live feeds, etc. — but most importantly, it’s free. As video callers tend to skew younger already, apps with highly shareable content like livestreams seem like the best use case for SharePlay outside of live sporting events. That’s particularly true given that for paid services, each participant in a SharePlay streaming session will need a login for the app. After all, if the tool didn’t require credentials and allowed just anyone to drop in a FaceTime stream of content from a paid service, SharePlay would be a piracy nightmare.

But that’s part of what makes the practical application of SharePlay a bit of a puzzler. Streaming the game or a movie premiere could get expensive fast. If your friends are watching NFL coverage on Sling TV, you’ll need a $35 subscription to join in (assuming the content is included in one of the service’s base plans). If you wanted to watch a Premier Access release like Cruella on Disney Plus, you’d need to pay the $8 monthly subscription cost on top of an additional $30 early access ticket fee. (A spokesperson for Disney Plus confirmed to The Verge that SharePlay users still need to pay for access to watch.)

It’s hard to imagine that most users would pay for a service just to be able to FaceTime while they’re watching a title. Then again, based on recent media consumption trends among teens, maybe SharePlay is part of the future of how entertainment is consumed, at least for the younger subset of Apple users.

It makes sense that a company investing heavily in its services offerings would jump on the watch party trend, if not a little late, and it does feel like a natural way for Apple to not only stay relevant but also sell subscriptions and hardware — even if right now, SharePlay alone seems unlikely to balloon numbers for streaming services. Free, social-leaning services and streaming titans are most likely to see success with this feature, and livestreaming apps seem likely to perform best. But they’ll actually have to be on SharePlay for that to work. As it currently stands, many are not.

Vergecast WWDC: iOS 15, spatial audio, macOS Monterey, and more

iOS 15 gives you better tools to fight the firehose of notifications — with a catch

Apple’s iOS 15 preview earlier this week gave us a look at an important new feature coming to your iPhone’s notifications: help. A few new tools may act as a life preserver for those of us up to our eyeballs in a sea of notifications every day, regulating which apps and people are allowed to bug us, and when. But on the flip side, app developers get some additional tools for getting your attention, too, and could very well start sending you even more notifications — albeit in a less disruptive way.

First, the good news: the new notification features in iOS 15 look genuinely good and useful. There’s a new feature called Focus that allows you to choose which people and apps you’d like to see notifications from at a given time. It’s like Do Not Disturb but with much more customization than simply turning off every possible disruption. You can set up modes for work, sleep, personal time, and other scenarios like workouts.

People who message you in third-party apps can be associated with their profile in your contacts list.

Image: Apple

When setting up a new Focus mode, Siri can scan your outgoing messages and calls and automatically suggest allowing notifications from the people you talk to most. There’s a neat trick here too: communications from the people you approve can come from other apps, like Facebook Messenger, not just from iMessage or texts. When you get that Facebook Messenger message in iOS 15, you may see prompts to associate that person in that app with a matching person in your contacts list, too. Once you’ve done this, communications from that person in a third-party app will be allowed to interrupt your Focus mode, provided that you approved them to do so.

You’ll also have the option to set a kind of away message when you’re using a Focus mode that will let others know you’re temporarily unavailable when they send you an iMessage. When your friend doesn’t hear back from you for hours, they won’t have to guess whether you hate them or you’re just really busy with work, and that’s nice for everyone. iOS 15 also adds notification summaries, which will batch lower priority notifications into digests you’ll receive at certain times of day.

Notification summaries.

Image: Apple

All of this gives you more control over interruptions, which is great! But what about app developers who want you to ~engage~ with their platform? They have new options too. They can now use one of four notification interruption types, two of which are new in iOS 15. First are passive interruptions, a new, less obtrusive kind of notification available to developers that doesn’t wake your screen or cause your phone to vibrate — they go straight to your notification center. Previous versions of iOS allowed the user to designate notifications from certain apps to be delivered silently, but this new framework lets the app developer choose to deliver them this way.

Notifications classified as “passive” appear in your notification center silently, without buzzing your phone or breaking through a Focus mode.

Image: Apple

These are the types of notifications likely to end up in summaries if you’ve enabled that feature. They don’t just appear in chronological order in the summary digest either — machine learning helps sort them by priority. They’ll likely include images and other visuals too, since Apple encourages developers to include media as part of the notification to increase its chances of showing up at the top of the summary list. And since the risk of annoying you is lower, developers have some incentive to send more frequent, more engaging notifications. They’ll be less disruptive, but these are the kinds of notifications we’re likely to see more of in iOS 15.

The other new interruption type is “time sensitive,” which is kind of a Notification Plus. It behaves like a standard notification, lighting up your screen and playing a sound or vibrating, but with an important difference: it’s allowed to break through your focus mode settings and notify you even if they aren’t from an “approved” app. The option to see time sensitive notifications can be turned on and off by the user, so if you really don’t want to see them, you don’t have to. In theory though, they should be for truly time sensitive events, like a package being delivered or your credit card company making sure it was you who bought two round-trip tickets to Maui.

In theory. Apple lets developers decide which notifications deserve time sensitive designation, so it’s more or less on the honor system. The company urges them to maintain trust and keep in mind that users can turn off notifications for their app if they feel they’re being bothered unnecessarily. And lest we forget, Apple itself has bent the rules before on what’s considered too intrusive for a notification. Could developers end up overusing time sensitive notifications? Possibly, but they likely won’t gain much from doing so, since users can opt out of them and may decide to silence the app entirely.

There are a few other things worth noting about notifications in iOS 15:

With compatible audio devices like AirPods, Siri will be able to read any incoming notification to you. Previously, this function was limited to things like incoming messages. By default, Siri will read the contents of messages and time sensitive notifications.
Notifications with a “critical” interruption type basically remain unchanged: these are things like Amber Alerts, which bypass your ringer settings to play a sound and get your attention. App developers still need special permission for these notifications, so we shouldn’t suddenly start seeing more of them in iOS 15.
Notifications will look a little different, with bigger app icons and images of contacts included in messages. The actions you can take on a notification (liking an image, etc.) will get graphical icons, too.

iOS 15 and macOS 12 take a small but significant step towards a password-less future

Apple’s upcoming iOS 15 and macOS Monterey will preview a new feature called “Passkeys in iCloud Keychain,” which is an attempt to help replace passwords with a more secure login process. Instead of logging into an app or website using string of text, a WWDC presentation showed how you could instead use Face ID, Touch ID, or a security key, to gain access. The Passkeys are then synced across your Apple devices using iCloud.

Although passwords are currently the most popular way to secure accounts, they’re plagued with a host of problems. Passwords can be phished, forgotten, and they’re insecure if not used properly (think about the number of times you’ve been tempted to re-use one across multiple accounts). But Apple thinks its new Passkeys solution can solve these problems, as shown by the comparison table below.

Apple argues its new system is more secure than regular passwords, and more convenient than security keys.

Screenshot: Apple

In a demonstration, Apple showed how the new feature could remove the need to ever create a password to sign in to an app or website in the first place. Instead of creating a username and password during the sign-up process like normal, Apple authentication experience engineer Garrett Davidson just enters a username and allowed the app to register his Face ID as a Passkey. Then he showed how he could use Face ID to log into the app in future, or even log into his account via the service’s website. It works on Macs with Touch ID, too.

The functionality rests on the WebAuthn standard, which Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others have been slowly adding support for over time. Last year Apple added support for it to offer password-less logins in Safari in iOS and macOS. But the new approach goes deeper, integrating WebAuthn into an app’s sign-up process, and syncing your credentials across Apple devices via iCloud.

Behind the scenes, WebAuthn uses public key cryptography to let you log in without your private credentials ever having to actually leave your device. Instead, your phone or computer is only sending a “signature,” which proves your identity without having to share your secret private key.

WebAuthn’s process means your most sensitive information never leaves your device when you log in.

Screenshot: Apple

Apple admits that the feature is in its early stages. It’s only releasing in preview this year, and will be turned off by default in iOS 15 and macOS Monterey. Developers can enable it, but it’s not meant for widespread use. There’s also the obvious limitation that the feature relies on iCloud to function, so you’re out of luck if you need to log in to the same service on a Windows or Android device. Apple admits this is a problem, however, suggesting it’s working towards improving cross-platform support in future. Apps and websites will also need to enable support for the new process.

But the move is another sign of the growing momentum behind ditching passwords. Microsoft has announced plans to make Windows 10 password-less, and Google has been working to make it possible to sign into its services without passwords.

Apple iOS 15 will feature a new ‘Spatialized Stereo’ mode

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple made several major Apple Spatial Audio announcements at its WWDC developer conference this week, but it seems to have held back a key feature, reports 9to5Mac.

On Wednesday a Reddit user spotted a new function called ‘Spatialized Stereo’, hidden in the iOS 15 beta. The feature is said to take any non-Dolby audio – such as a song from Spotify or a movie soundtrack from Netflix – and simulate the effect of Spatial Audio.

“The greatest thing about this is that it supports EVERY audio track,” wrote the shocked Reddit user. “Sure I’d pick Atmos Spatial Audio mixes over Spatialized Stereo every time, but for the moment there are only a dozen or so options for Atmos available on Apple Music, so this is such an amazing feature to have!”

Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos is a version of surround sound. It lets you use your AirPods Pro and AirPods Max wireless headphones to experience dynamic head tracking, which means means that the sound always stays relative to the screen, even when you move your head.

The Cupertino giant recently rolled out expanded support for Spatial Audio – it’s now available to Apple Music subscribers for no extra cost. Apple has also announced plans to bring it to tvOS and MacOS.

Spatialized Stereo is a different kettle of fish. It seems to be Apple’s attempt to simulate the effect of Spatial Audio without using Dolby Atmos. It works with any content but you’ll still need a pair of AirPods Pro or AirPods Max wireless headphones to access it.

Lucky enough to be on the iOS15 beta and fancy trying Spatialized Stereo for yourself? Hit play on some non-Dolby audio content and then bring up the Control Center. Press and hold the volume slider and then tap ‘Spatialize Stereo’. With any luck, the track should sound more like 3D audio, and less like two channels being piped into your left and right ear.

MORE:

Apple spatial audio: what is it? How do you get it?

Apple Music’s spatial audio with Dolby Atmos launches today

Apple Music lossless: which devices will (and won’t) play lossless and Spatial Audio

Among Us is getting a hide and seek mode, visor cosmetics, and a fifth map

Among Us is getting a new hide and seek mode, visor cosmetics, achievements, and a fifth map, developer Innersloth announced at Summer Game Fest on Thursday. However, there wasn’t a date shared for any of those updates, so it’s not clear when you might be able to check them out for yourself.

In a blog, Innersloth also announced that account linking is on the roadmap as well, which should be handy if you play the game across multiple platforms.

In the lead-up to Thursday’s announcement, Innersloth teased a number of new features for the next big update, including upping the max player count from 10 to 15 players, new player colors to pick from (including tan, gray, rose, and maroon), and, perhaps most importantly, the ability to honk the airship’s horn.

Among Us is currently available on PC, iOS, Android, and Switch. Innersloth has also announced that the game is on the way for PlayStation and Xbox sometime in 2021.

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