Tag: VPN

WWDC23 highlights

by Danis Tazetdinov

WWDC23 week is over, all announcements are already made, Apple and developers are going through highlights of the conference.

Apple lists important sessions on spatial computing, developer tools, Swift, UI frameworks, design, graphics and games, ML, privacy and security, and other topics.

Apple also asks developers to take part in survey that could shape the future of conference.

macOS 14 Sonoma

Developers highlight FaceTime reactions, presenter mode for screen sharing and various of other features.

Widgets availability for macOS should help bringing more apps to Mac from iPhone and iPad.

Another area of interest is support for web apps.

tvOS 17

Apple TV is to support VPN apps with tvOS 17. This will put tvOS on par with other Apple platforms.

Also, tvOS will improve sound for dialogs to make voice more audible. This feature requires second generation HomePod (original HomePod and HomePod mini are not supported) and Apple TV 4K.

iOS/iPadOS 17

DockKit SDK and Standby mode bring interesting capabilities for apps and also could hint on more standalone home devices.

Autocorrect in standard keyboard is expected to become much better with iOS 17.

iCloud

iCloud Drive now could be switched off and third-party apps will still be able to sync via iCloud.

Vision Pro

Analysts expect that more affordable version of Vision Pro will be released in 2025.

M2 Ultra

Benchmarks for M2 Ultra show significant improvements over M1 Ultra chips. New chip is 20% faster than previous generation.

Apple Developer:

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Security researcher describes iOS VPN issues

by Danis Tazetdinov

Security researcher Michael Horowitz reported issues with iOS VPN implementation that allows some data to be sent via unsecured connection even when VPN is enabled and running.

As soon as you activate a VPN app, it should immediately close down all existing (non-secure) data connections, and then re-open them inside the secure ‘tunnel.’ This is an absolutely standard feature of any VPN service.

The problem, says Horowitz, is that iOS doesn’t allow VPN apps to close all existing non-secure connections.

9to5Mac

Possible workaround could be using Airplane mode to disconnect all existing connections. This workaround worked in previous iOS versions but seems not to work in iOS 15.

Apple reported that since 2019 there is way of fixing this issue – includeAllNetworks property.

var includeAllNetworks: Bool { get set }

There is a report though that Proton company found that it was only partially effective. Insecure connections to some Apple services are still made even when this option is turned on.

Michael Horowitz: VPNs on iOS are a scam

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