‘Aliro’ open standard to be based on Apple’s HomeKey

Apple introduced HomeKey several years ago, and now The Connectivity Standards Alliance (Apple is a part of it) introduced Aliro – new open standard for electronic keys. CSA is also responsible for Matter standard.

The standard will include definitions for Near Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth® Low-Energy (LE), and Ultra-Wideband (UWB) experiences, as well as asymmetric cryptography and credential data.

CSA

CSA:

Reference: New 'Aliro' Standard Aims to Simplify Unlocking Doors With Smartphones

iOS 16.5 and other platforms get beta 2

Apple releases second beta for iOS/iPad 16.5, macOS 13.4, watchOS 9.5 and tvOS 16.5. No corresponding Xcode beta is published.

New beta seem to be focused on administrator users and Matter support in Home app.

Beta download: Operating Systems

Release notes:

Vendors slowly adopt Matter for their smart home devices

Philips Hue postpones plans to support Matter for their devices til the end of 2023. According to their messaging, firmware update for Hue Bridge takes more time that it was initially expected.

Eve on the other hand announces Matter firmware availability on April 17. And currently Eve already started selling accessories supporting Matter.

Matter smart home standard simplifies hardware development and unifies APIs between multiple smart home solutions. Matter is industry standard which is adopted by multiple venders including Apple. Home app and HomeKit support Matter accessories starting with iOS 16.1.

References:

Apple releases iOS 16.4 and other platforms, older releases receive security updates

Apple releases iOS/iPadOS 16.4, macOS Ventura 13.3, watchOS 9.4 and tvOS 16.4. HomePod software is also updated to 16.4. Apple also released Studio Display firmware update.

Xcode 14.3 receives RC 2.

Apple also releases iOS/iPadOS 15.7.4, macOS Monterey 12.6.4 and macOS Big Sur 11.7.5 with security fixes.

iOS

This update includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:

  • 21 new emoji including animals, hand gestures, and objects are now available in emoji keyboard
  • Notifications for web apps added to the Home Screen
  • Voice Isolation for cellular calls prioritizes your voice and blocks out ambient noise around you
  • Duplicates album in Photos expands support to detect duplicate photos and videos in an iCloud Shared Photo Library
  • VoiceOver support for maps in the Weather app
  • Accessibility setting to automatically dim video when flashes of light or strobe effects are detected
  • Fixes an issue where Ask to Buy requests from children may fail to appear on the parent's device
  • Addresses issues where Matter-compatible thermostats could become unresponsive when paired to Apple Home
  • Crash Detection optimizations on iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models

iPadOS

This update includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:

  • 21 new emoji including animals, hand gestures, and objects are now available in emoji keyboard
  • Apple Pencil hover adds tilt and azimuth support so you can preview your mark at any angle before you make it in Notes and supported apps on iPad Pro 11-inch (4th generation) and iPad Pro 12.9-inch (6th generation)
  • Notifications for web apps added to the Home Screen
  • Duplicates album in Photos expands support to detect duplicate photos and videos in an iCloud Shared Photo Library
  • VoiceOver support for maps in the Weather app
  • Accessibility setting to automatically dim video when flashes of light or strobe effects are detected
  • Fixes an issue with Apple Pencil responsiveness that may occur while drawing or writing in the Notes app
  • Fixes an issue where Ask to Buy requests from children may fail to appear on the parent's device
  • Addresses issues where Matter-compatible thermostats could become unresponsive when paired to Apple Home

macOS

This update includes new emoji along with other enhancements, bug fixes, and security updates for your Mac.

  • 21 new emoji including animals, hand gestures, and objects are now available in emoji keyboard
  • Remove background option in Freeform automatically isolates the subject in your image
  • Photos duplicates album expands support to detect duplicate photos and videos in an iCloud Shared Photo Library
  • Transliteration support for Gujarati, Punjabi and Urdu keyboards
  • New keyboard layouts for Choctaw, Chickasaw, Akan, Hausa, and Yoruba
  • Accessibility setting to automatically dim video when flashes of light or strobe effects are detected
  • VoiceOver support for maps in the Weather app
  • Resolves an issue where Trackpad gestures may occasionally stop responding
  • Fixes an issue where Ask to Buy requests from children may fail to appear on the parent's device
  • Addresses an issue where VoiceOver may be unresponsive after using Finder

watchOS

watchOS 9.4 includes improvements to Apple Watch and brings features to new regions. 

  • Wake-up alarms are no longer silenced with cover to mute gesture to avoid accidental cancellations during sleep
  • Cycle Tracking with retrospective ovulation estimates and cycle deviation alerts now supported in Moldova and Ukraine
  • AFib History now available in Colombia, Malaysia, Moldova, Thailand, and Ukraine

Beta download: Applications

References:

tvOS and HomePod software are updated to 16.3 today

Following the yesterday's updates to iOS and other platforms Apple now updates tvOS and HomePod software to 16.3.

Most notable feature would be enabling humidity and temperature sensors in HomePod mini.

HomePod software updates include: 

  • Temperature and humidity sensing measures your indoor climate with HomePod (2nd generation) and HomePod mini
  • Remastered ambient sounds are more immersive and can now be added to scenes, automations, and alarms in the Home app
  • Find My on HomePod now enables you to ask Sir for the location of friends and family, if they have shared it with you
  • Recurring Home automations can be set up using just your voice
  • Siri confirmation tone will now play to indicate when smart home requests are completed for accessories that may not visibly show a change or are located in a different room
  • Audio tuning optimizes spoken content such as podcasts for even greater clarity on HomePod (2nd generation) and HomePod (1st generation)
  • Updated volume controls on HomePod (1st generation) give you more granular adjustments at lower volumes

References:

Apple pulled out new Home architecture upgrade option in iOS 16.2

Apple now no longer offers users to upgrade Home architecture in iOS 16.2. This follows several reports claiming that home is stuck in upgrading state and couple of other issues including inability to invite residents and some accessory problems.

Existing users who already upgraded the architecture do not have an option to downgrade.

Reference: Apple Pulls iOS 16.2 Option to Upgrade to New Home Architecture

Weekend good reads for Apple developers, issue #55

It is last weekend before Christmas, so we have a bit more time to read something interesting.

And returning with video section! Great talk on JavaScriptCore usage – Make your app securely extensive with JavaScriptCore.

https://youtu.be/u1iJAalE8lw
https://youtu.be/u1iJAalE8lw

And that is for today! Have a great weekend!

Apple releases iOS 16.2 and other platforms

Following recent RC Apple now releases iOS/iPadOS 16.2, macOS 13.1 Ventura, watchOS 9.2 and tvOS 16.2. Xcode 14.2 is also released.

HomePodOS received corresponding update (which is required for Home updates and Matter support).

Apple also releases security bug fixes for previous OS releases - iOS 15 and macOS 11 Big Sur and macOS 12 Monterey.

This update brings several important updates:

Apple Newsroom: Apple launches Freeform: a powerful new app designed for creative collaboration

References:

Weekend good reads for Apple developers, issue #52

This week is a little bit shorter in US, so weekend good reads come a little earlier. Let's find some good reads for this long weekend.

And to wrap up this issue, here is a great video for those who are interested in security – Using A Magic Wand To Break The IPhone's Last Security Barrier by Tihmstar | hardwear.io NL 2022.

Happy holidays and see you next week!