As reported by Michael Simon of Macworld and many others, Apple rolled out updates this week for the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, and Apple TV. This is a full .1 update (for example, the new version for the iPhone is iOS 16.6), but it looks like this is primarily a security update. And as Simon notes, Apple deems these to be critical updates to address high-risk vulnerabilities, including at least one that is actively being exploited. I updated my iPhone, iPad, and Mac right away, and all was good. Thursday morning, my Apple Watch (a Series 7) alerted me that it had been updated to watchOS 9.6, and I was happy to see that it was also more secure. But around Noon on Thursday, I received an alert that my watch battery was almost dead. That seemed strange, but I thought that maybe my Apple Watch had not been properly based on the charging stand the night before, so I used the charger at my office desk to recharge my Apple Watch to 90% and then put it back on. But then around 5pm, I received another notice that my Apple Watch battery was almost dead. At that point, I shut down my Apple Watch and started it up again because something was obviously wrong. As I type this, it seems that the restart was a solution for me, but I'll be keeping an eye on this. Hopefully, the large majority of folks were able to install the important update on all of their devices with no problems. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- One of my favorite travel apps is Flighty. Felipe Espósito of 9to5Mac reports that the app was updated this week to version 3.0, which now makes it even easier to keep track of your friends' flights.
- If you have trouble hearing, you may be able to use AirPods instead of a hearing aid. John Gruber of Daring Fireball linked to a Mastodon post by Gary Knight, who explains that hearing loss has made him partially deaf, but he was able to use the accessibility settings on his iPhone to tweak his AirPods so that he can hear much better. He notes that he "literally gasped out loud at hearing the birds I'd been missing for some years!". As Gruber notes, Apple doesn't advertise AirPods as hearing aids for regulatory reasons, but they work wonders for many people. I followed the steps identified by Gary Knight to see if there was anything to tweak in my AirPods for my hearing, and after running through tests for just a few minutes, my iPhone reported that I didn't need to change anything. But it is neat that the iPhone can walk you through the steps to see if AirPods can help you to hear better.
- Rikka Altland of 9to5Toys reviews the Belkin BoostCharge Pro and is a fan. This $100 device has a 10,000mAh battery and 20W USB-C to recharge your devices, plus it features a built-in fast charger for the Apple Watch, all in a nice design. If you want something portable to recharge an Apple Watch without having to worry about a cord, this looks like a good option.
- Federico Viticci of MacStories, who has written extensively about the Stage Manager improvements in iPadOS 17, shares a few additional thoughts.
- Ann-Marie Alcántara of the Wall Street Journal reports that the once-criticized Apple Maps app has gotten quite good.
- In an article for Macworld, Dan Moren says that Apple's Notes, Reminders, and Podcasts apps have also improved quite a bit.
- Apple's location technology came to the rescue for many folks this week. Amber Neely of AppleInsider reports that two tourists got lost while hiking in the Apennine Mountains in Italy in an area with no cellphone service. Fortunately, they were able to use an iPhone 14 to send for help via a satellite test message.
- CBS News in Las Angeles reports that a man drove over a cliff and his car fell down 400 feet. The car was totaled but the driver was alive, although he was bleeding from the head so he could have died soon. Fortunately, his iPhone 14 detected the crash. According to the report, his iPhone automatically used the Emergency SOS via Satellite feature because there was no cellphone service in the location. (I knew that a person could manually enable the SOS via Satellite feature, but I didn't know that the iPhone could do it on its own.) The GPS coordinates were sent Apple's communication center and then relayed to local law enforcement who were able to recuse the man using a helicopter. The article quotes Steve Goldsworthy, the Rescue Operations Leader, as saying that "[h]e was 400 feet down in a canyon with virtually no way out ... So, who knows when, or if, we would've located him" without that GPS information.
- Caroline Williams of The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, reports that a man had successfully burglarized several bars and restaurants, including stealing $15,000 from the Sneaky Beagle restaurant, when the employees decided to ... well ... be sneaky. They put an AirTag inside of a stuffed animal and put that inside of a decoy safe. Soon thereafter, the criminal stole the decoy safe from the Sneaky Beagle, and thanks to the AirTag, he has now been arrested.
- Vi Nguyen of NBC 5 in Chicago reports a frustrating AirTag story. A man who kept an Apple AirTag hidden under the seat of his Honda motorcycle recently discovered that the motorcycle had been stolen. Using the FindMy app on his iPhone, he discovered where his motorcycle is apparently located—in a box truck in an alley—and he told the police, but the police said that if the motorcycle could not be seen in plain sight, they would not help him. The man is heeding advice from the police not to take matters into your own hands, so he decided not to knock on nearby doors to investigate, but that left him with no solution other than to file an insurance claim.
- Speaking of AirTags, they usually cost $99 for a 4-pack, and occasionally they cost a little bit less. But right now, they are under $85 on Amazon. That's a great price. There have been very few times in the past when you could get them for as little as $80, but those times are extremely rare.
- And finally, Apple released a short movie (13 minutes) shot entirely on the iPhone called Huracán Ramírez vs. La Piñata Enchilada. It's fun and full of color—not to mention pinatas and Mexican wrestlers. The making of video is also fun to watch. Here is the short film:
