Normally, I don't talk about beta software on iPhone J.D. because you never know whether something is a real feature until software actually ships, but I'm very excited about a new feature that is currently included in the beta version of iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4. As reported by Juli Clover of MacRumors, this new feature lets you use Face ID to unlock your iPhone, even if you have a mask on, as long as you are also wearing an Apple Watch. Jason Snell of Six Colors reported that he installed the beta and tried out the feature, "and it worked flawlessly." My understanding of how it works is that if your iPhone recognizes just part of your face (your eyes) it then checks to see if you have an Apple Watch that has remained on your wrist since the last time that you unlocked the Apple Watch (either by entering the passcode on the Apple Watch or by using your iPhone to authenticate your Apple Watch). If so, the iPhone will unlock your iPhone — but only if you previously enabled this function in Settings. (And your Apple Watch gives you a notification that it was just used to unlock your iPhone.) Even though you can use this to unlock your iPhone to see a grocery list, your Messages, your Mail, etc., if you want to use Apple Pay, buy an app, or access protected parts of the Settings app, you will need to show your whole face for Face ID or enter your passcode. (Of course, you can also just use Apple Pay on the Apple Watch.) I'm glad that Apple is making this an optional feature that you have to consciously turn on, but it is nice to give folks the option during the pandemic to give up a small amount of security in exchange for a big increase in convenience. Indeed, I find that throughout this pandemic, I am constantly deciding whether to accept a certain amount of risk in exchange for certain conveniences (such as shopping in a grocery store around other people versus using a delivery service, working in my office versus working from home, etc.) so I see this as just another one of those decisions to make, depending upon the circumstances. There is no way to know for sure when we will see iOS 14.5 released, but my hope is that it will come out this month. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Not that many of us are traveling internationally right now, but I've previously written about the tricky issues that lawyers face when they travel in and out of the United States with a smartphone because of border patrol policies on searching iPhones. Debra Cassens Weiss of ABA Journal reports on Texas immigration lawyer Adam Malik who is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to challenge this practice after his iPhone was confiscated at the border. This is a complicated issue, and unfortunately, I don't have any good answers for how attorneys should deal with this risk.
- In an article for USA Today that was trending this week, Kim Komando recommends five apps that you should delete right now. I agree that you no longer need a special app to scan QR codes (just use the Photos app) or to use a flashlight (that function is now built-in), and it is a personal choice as to whether you want to delete Facebook and/or some of the built-in apps. But I disagree with her suggestion to delete scanner apps and just use the Notes app instead. It is nice that you can scan a document in Notes, but you get far more features and can get better results by using a third-party app, such as Scanner Pro.
- Apple Maps has a "Look Around" feature that is similar to Google's Street View but produces better results. But unfortunately, it is only available in certain cities. Juli Clover of MacRumors reported that this week the cities of San Diego and Portland were added. That makes the feature available in 17 U.S. cities, nine cities outside of the U.S., and Southern Canada (including all of Canada's 35 metro areas) according to Justin O'Beirne, who also notes that Apple has been adding new cities about once every four to six weeks.
- Alex Guyot of MacStories reviews version 5 of the CARROT Weather app.
- Apple's own Newsroom shared a story about a man who received an Apple Watch as an anniversary gift and it helped to save his life.
- I am interested in smart home technology, so I often discuss HomeKit-compatible products on iPhone J.D. In an article for TechHive, Christopher Null wrote a good overview of Apple's HomeKit technology.
- Jason Aten of Inc. interviews David Smith, the developer of the incredibly popular Widgetsmith app.
- And finally, in this video, Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal tries to predict features that might be coming to the iPhone based on some new features added to a Samsung phone:
