Tag: Siri

Following recent updates to tvOS and HomePod software, Apple now releases updates to iOS/iPadOS, watchOS and macOS. tvOS and HomePod software are updated to 16.3.2 to address Siri and HomeKit issues.

iOS 16.3.1 updates Crash Detection algorithms to address recent reports of false positives.

These updates fix issues and address important security vulnerabilities. Notably, WebKit security issue is resolved in macOS 13.2.1.

However, there are reports that iOS 16.3.1 is breaking Google Photos app.

References:

• iOS 16.3.1 Breaks Google Photos App
• macOS 13.2.1 update fixes WebKit security breach that has been ‘actively exploited’
• iOS 16.3.1 includes iPhone 14 Crash Detection changes after false positive complaints
• macOS 13.2.1
• iOS 16.3.1 and iPadOS 16.3.1
• Big Safari & Kernel issues fixed in iOS 16.3.1, macOS 13.2.1 updates
• PSA: Make Sure to Update Soon, macOS Ventura 13.2.1 and iOS 16.3.1 Address Actively Exploited Vulnerability
• Apple fixes Siri bug in tvOS 16.3.2 & HomePod update
• Apple Releases HomePod 16.3.2 Software With Fix for Siri Request Failures
• Apple fixes annoying HomePod bug that caused HomeKit requests to time out and fail the first time you ask

Apple announces HomePod mini availability in Finland, Norway, Sweden in December 13. South Africa joins December 19. Denmark and possibly other countries to follow in spring.

Apple Newsroom: HomePod mini er tilgjengelig fra neste uke (no)

References:

• HomePod Mini Launches in Finland, Norway, and Sweden on December 13 [Updated]
• HomePod Mini Coming to Denmark in the Spring, Says Apple
• HomePod mini countries will soon include Finland, Norway, Sweden, South Africa, more

It is officially winter and here is new great pack of good articles for all Apple developers.

• Interesting observation by Christian Tietze on mutating functions that do not actually mutate the structure – Mutating Struct and State Observers: How the Latter Will Be Notified Even for 'No-Ops';
  
  
• Good deep dive into SwiftUI performance – SwiftUI is convenient, but slow by Alin Panaitiu;
  
  
• Series of articles on app design by David Smith – Design Notes Diary #1, Design Notes Diary #2, Design Notes Diary #3 and Design Notes Diary #4;
  
  
• Animated Background in SwiftUI by Leonardo Maia Pugliese is a great example of how to use animations to make apps more appealing;
  
  
• Majid Jabrayilov continues his series of articles on SwiftUI layout system – Building custom layout in SwiftUI. Caching.;
  
  
• Provide custom size for UIViews wrapped in UIViewRepresentable by Natalia Panferova helps improving usage of UIKit views in SwiftUI environment;
  
  
• Ole Begemann shares one caveat on view clipping in SwiftUI – clipped() doesn’t affect hit testing;
  
  
• Great tutorial on Shortcuts in iOS by Jordan Morgan – Create a Basic Shortcut using App Intents;
  
  
• Sheets in SwiftUI explained with code examples by Antoine van der Lee gives examples of sheet view presentations in SwiftUI;
  
  
• If you want to build your own build automation scripts, Developer guide on the App Store Connect API by Natascha Fadeeva will be a good start;
  
  
• CloudKit Console Act As iCloud Account by Keith Harrison provides hints on how to work with CloudKit data using specific account in CloudKit Console;
  
  
• Couple of interesting reads by Sarun W. – How to fix "The compiler is unable to type-check this expression in reasonable time" error and What is Swift If Case.

Have a great first winter weekend and see you soon!

Live Activities in iOS 16.2 will have more frequent updates option. Sport scores are also enabled for Live Activities by Apple TV app.

Also, Sleep Lock Screen widget is now available in iOS 16.2. It is also mentioned that Medication widget soon to be available.

tvOS 16.2 brings Siri voice recognition to Apple TV.

References:

• Live Activities to Get More Frequent Updates Option in iOS 16.2
• iOS 16.2 Beta Reenables Live Sports Scores on Lock Screen and Dynamic Island via Apple TV App
• tvOS 16.2 Beta Enables Siri Voice Recognition on Apple TV for Personalized Usage
• iOS 16.2 Beta Adds New Sleep Widget to Lock Screen
• iOS 16.2 adds new Sleep widget for your Lock Screen, Medications widget also coming soon

Some places will have longer weekend this time, so let's pack it with great reads!

• Leonardo Maia Pugliese publishes two articles – How to update or refresh Widget and Siri Intent programmatically in Swift for WatchOS? and comprehensive guide on architectural pattern – Memento Pattern with SwiftUI;
  
  
• Building widgets for iOS applications with WidgetKit and SwiftUI by Natascha Fadeeva covers widget development which would help your app make it to Lock Screen on iOS 16;
  
  
• Lock screen widgets in SwiftUI by Majid Jabrayilov continues Lock Screen widgets topic with more details;
  
  
• Great article by Antoine van der Lee on SwiftUI accessibility integrations – VoiceOver navigation improvement tips for SwiftUI apps;
  
  
• And if you're quite new to SwiftUI – SwiftUI View Modifiers Tutorial for iOS by Danijela Vrzan explores view modifiers;
  
  
• SwiftUI AnyLayout - smooth transitions between layout types by Sarun W. provides great overview of new addition to SwiftUI layout;
  
  
• Jordan Morgan touches important aspect of SwiftUI – testability – in Testing SwiftUI Bindings in Xcode Previews;
  
  
• And another great article by Leonardo Maia Pugliese – New MapKit Configurations with SwiftUI with MapKit integration improvements in upcoming releases.

That is all for this weekend! Enjoy the extra day, if applicable :)

After several beta versions and RCs, Apple finally releases iOS/iPadOS 15.6, macOS 12.5, watchOS 8.7 and tvOS 15.6. HomePod 15.6 software is also released.

Operating systems add improvements for sports live programming in TV app and fix some issues in all platforms, including critical security fixes.

HomePod software adds support for more Siri voice recognition languages.

Reference:

• Apple Releases HomePod 15.6 Software With Siri Voice Recognition in Additional Languages
• iOS 15.6 and iPadOS 15.6 now available to all users, here’s what’s new
• Apple Releases macOS Monterey 12.5 With Safari and TV App Updates
• Apple Releases iOS 15.6 With New Live Sports Features, Storage Bug Fix and More
• Latest iOS 15 and macOS 12 updates contain critical security patches
• macOS 12.5
• iPadOS 15.6 Fixes iPad Mini 6 Charging Issue
• Apple Removes AirTag Battery Level Indicator From the Find My App
• HomePod and HomePod Mini Gain Support for Swedish and Norwegian

Apple news coverage will come back gradually. We'll start with important technical news over last weeks.

Apple published Release Candidate for its OSes. Xcode 13.3 RC is also published

Latest betas and RC added couple of new features that include:

• New anti-stalking alerts for AirTags
• New voices for Siri, voice recognition for Dutch users on HomePod
• Face ID with mask support
• Universal Control
• A lot of small tweaks here and there

Beta download: Beta Software Downloads

Release notes:

• iOS & iPadOS 15.4 Release Notes
• macOS Monterey 12.3 Release Notes
• watchOS 8.5 Release Notes
• tvOS 15.4 Release Notes
• Xcode 13.3 RC Release Notes

Reference:

• Apple Seeds Release Candidate Version of iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4 to Developers and Public Beta Testers
• Apple Seeds Release Candidate Version macOS Monterey 12.3 Beta to Developers and Public Beta Testers
• iOS 15.4 RC now available to developers, here’s what’s new
• tvOS 15.4 and HomePod 15.4 RC version now available, here’s everything new
• watchOS 8.5 RC version now available to developers, features new American Siri voice
• Apple seeds macOS 12.3 RC with Universal Control, new emoji, Siri voice, and more

Big day for Apple users – macOS 12.1 Monterey with SharePlay support is released. iOS/iPadOS 15.2 is also released together with watchOS 8.3 and tvOS 15.2.

Important new features in the updates:

• SharePlay is available on macOS 12.1 Monterey;
• iOS, iPadOS, watchOS provide App Privacy Report allowing users to inspect app network activity in a friendly form;
• Communication safety features for children are added, will notify children of potentially unsafe content;
• Digital Legacy is now added allowing users to designate people to take care of Apple ID when user passes away;
• Updates add support for Apple Music Voice plan;
• Xcode 13.2 brings support for upcoming Swift Playgrounds 4 project format;
• Swift Concurrency back deployment is now enabled in Xcode 13.2.

Together with macOS Monterey, Apple also pushed security updates for macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina.

Apple also updates Developer Agreement to reflect changes related to Swift Playgrounds 4 and Xcode Cloud.

HomePodOS gets 15.2 update which brings new Siri languages including Dutch and Russian, hinting new territories for HomePod sales. tvOS 15.2 also gets new languages supported for Siri.

Notably, Universal Control feature is postponed til Spring 2022.

Release notes:

• About iOS 15 Updates
• About iPadOS 15 Updates
• About watchOS 8 Updates
• What's new in the updates for macOS Monterey
• About Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD software updates
• Xcode 13.2 Release Notes

Reference:

• Apple Releases tvOS 15.2 for Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K
• Apple Releases watchOS 8.3 With Apple Music Voice Plan and App Privacy Report
• Apple Releases iOS 15.2 With App Privacy Report, Legacy Contacts, Hide My Email Improvements and More
• Apple Releases HomePod Software 15.2 With Apple Music Voice Plan Support
• Apple Releases macOS Monterey 12.1 With SharePlay
• Apple Officially Delays macOS Monterey Universal Control Until Spring 2022
• macOS 12.1
• iOS 15.2 and iPadOS 15.2
• iOS 15.2 Features: Everything New in iOS 15.2
• Xcode 13.2 update hints at upcoming Swift Playgrounds 4 release
• Apple updates its Developer Program agreement to clarify use of Swift Playgrounds, Xcode Cloud, more
• Apple releases macOS Big Sur 11.6.2 and Catalina update with security fixes

Security researcher Jose Rodriguez discloses steps to access contents of Notes on iOS 15 bypassing Lock Screen. Process requires use of Siri, VoiceOver and Control Center.

Being unsatisfied with Apple's Bug Bounty program he decided to publicly disclose the vulnerability instead of reporting it through the program.

Apple is removing some of intents used to add Siri support to the application in iOS 15. Apple states that these Intents had very low adoption.

When iOS 15 is released if user asks Siri to perform such action Siri will respond that this is not possible. Also, when building on iOS 15 SDK usage of these intents will trigger compilation warning.