In celebration of The Big Draw, said to be the world’s largest annual drawing festival, Apple is offering free hands-on art sessions with the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil at nearly every Apple Store worldwide throughout October.

During the Today at Apple sessions, participants will use the new Adobe Fresco app on the iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil to draw colorful faces and objects, create an abstract painting, and more. Each session is between 60 and 90 minutes in length, with free registration available on Apple’s website.

The Big Draw sessions include:

• Art Lab for Kids: Make Your Own Emoji: Kids will learn fun ways to create their own emoji. We’ll show them how to draw colorful faces and objects. They’ll get hands-on using the Adobe Fresco app on iPad with Apple Pencil to draw an emoji to take home. Devices will be provided.
  
• Art Walk: Discovering Color: Collect the colors you observe on your walk to capture your own color palette. Using the Adobe Fresco app on iPad Pro with Apple Pencil, you’ll combine them to create an abstract painting to take home. Devices will be provided. Recommended for all skill levels.
  
• Art Walk: Drawing from Observation: Transform the way you observe and sketch the world around you. We’ll show you how being mindful of people, objects, or places in your surroundings will help you add interesting details to your drawings using the Adobe Fresco app on iPad Pro with Apple Pencil. Devices will be provided. Recommended for all skill levels.

There are also special artist-led sessions at flagship locations like Apple Union Square in San Francisco and Apple Fifth Avenue in New York City.

The Big Draw sessions begin today and run through October 31.

This article, “Apple Stores Celebrating the World’s Largest Drawing Festival With Free Art Sessions Throughout October” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple has been rolling out HomePod support for live radio requests to Siri over the last few months, and now users in several countries are reporting success when asking their Apple smart speaker to play live radio stations.

After announcing the feature at WWDC in June, Apple said it would launch on September 30, but the company recently removed the date from its HomePod product page, suggesting an official global rollout is basically complete.

Apple began testing the live radio request feature in July, starting in Germany, but station requests to Siri on HomePod are now being routinely fulfilled in many countries including the U.S. and the U.K., despite the fact that Apple has yet to issue a HomePod-specific iOS 13 software update. Using a Siri request, HomePod owners should be able to choose from around 100,000 radio stations, according to Apple, with the broadcast catalog drawn from iHeartRadio, Radio.com, and TuneIn.

MacRumors has been testing the Siri feature on HomePod after updating iOS devices to 13.1.2, and it’s still a bit finicky, although it’s unclear whether that’s due to the HomePod software still languishing on 12.4. Radio requests have to be specifically worded – without key words like “radio station” in the question, Siri will often revert to an Apple Music search. Also, only some users appear to be seeing a new Broadcast Radio section in the Music app’s Radio tab that lists available stations.

In addition, HomePod owners in the United Kingdom who were hoping to listen to BBC Radio will be disappointed to learn that the British broadcaster has removed its flagship stations from the TuneIn catalog, after the U.S.-based radio app refused to share information on its listeners.

The BBC now wants people to access its content through BBC apps and via Alexa so that it can collect analytics and better understand what people are consuming, but unfortunately that has left only a handful of local BBC stations and the BBC World Service directly accessible through HomePod.

According to Apple’s website, additional HomePod features specific to iOS 13, including multi-user support, music handoff, and Ambient Sounds, will not launch until “later this fall.”

This article, “PSA: HomePod Supports Live Radio Requests, But Even UK Users Can’t Stream Most BBC Stations” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple today updated its investor relations page to announce that it will share its earnings results for the fourth fiscal quarter (third calendar quarter) of 2019 on Wednesday, October 30.

The earnings results will offer up some insight into how well the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Max did during their first week of availability, though Apple no longer breaks out iPhone unit sales so specific data won’t be available.

Apple’s guidance for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 includes expected revenue of $61 to $64 billion and gross margin between 37.5 and 38.5 percent. If on the higher end of the range, Apple’s revenue will beat its Q4 2018 revenue of $62.9 billion.

Guidance for the holiday quarter provided by Apple in its Q4 earnings results will give us the most insight into how the company’s newest iPhones are selling.

The quarterly earnings statement will be released at 1:30 PM Pacific/4:30 PM Eastern, with a conference call to discuss the report taking place at 2:00 PM Pacific/5:00 PM Eastern. MacRumors will provide coverage of both the earnings release and conference call on October 30.

This article, “Apple to Announce Q4 2019 Earnings on October 30” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Look Around, a new iOS 13 Maps feature that’s designed to provide a street level view of what’s around you similar to Google’s Street View is now available in Los Angeles and New York City.

At launch and during the iOS 13 beta testing period, Look Around in Maps was limited to the Bay Area of California, Las Vegas, and parts of Hawaii, but Apple is working to expand it to additional locations.

Look Around can be used across New York City, from Manhattan and the Bronx to Brooklyn and Queens, and it is also available in Los Angeles from Burbank to Long Beach to Pomona. It’s not yet available in Anaheim, Riverside, and other cities further south.

Look Around can be used in the main Apple Maps view whenever there’s a pair of binoculars visible. Tapping the binoculars icon launches into a close-up street level view of your location in a little card, which can be tapped again to get a full screen view of Look Around.

Look Around can also be brought up when searching for specific supported locations by tapping on the Look Around card in the search results.

When you’re in Look Around mode, tapping on the display lets you move through the area, while tapping in a far off spot in the distance zooms in quickly in a little zoom maneuver that’s fun to watch.

In Look Around mode, notable points of interest like restaurants, businesses, parks, and more are highlighted, but the view is limited to what can be captured from the street since it uses data captured from Apple’s mapping vehicles.

Look Around will be expanding to additional locations in 2019 and 2020, and Apple is also still in the process of rolling out its updated maps. Just this morning, the updated maps feature came to New York City right ahead of Look Around.

For those interested in where the new Maps are available and where Look Around is rolling out, the MacRumors forums has a long thread where members share information when new maps features come to additional areas.

(Thanks, Alan and our other MacRumors forum members!)

This article, “iOS 13 ‘Look Around’ Maps Feature Expands to Los Angeles and New York City” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Halide, a popular camera app designed for iOS devices, was today updated with support for the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro, with the company adding new features able to take advantage of the hardware in the new devices.

There’s a faster lens switcher that uses Haptic Touch to switch between the two focal lengths in the iPhone 11 (wide and ultra wide) and the three focal lengths in the iPhone 11 Pro (wide, ultra wide, and telephoto). Halide’s developers say it’s quicker, smoother and more intuitive than the standard lens switcher.

On the iPhone 11 Pro, there’s a new Lens Guides feature designed to help users compose shots. The Lens Guides appear when the lens switcher tool is opened, providing overlays of what a shot would look like using a different focal length.

There are no manual focus controls for the ultra wide-angle camera in Halide, and that’s because the lens has a fixed focus. The ultra wide-angle camera is not capable of RAW output, nor does Apple’s outside the frame feature work with RAW. Halide hasn’t added outside the frame functionality at this time.

Smart RAW has been updated for iPhone 11 and 11 Pro, with the exposure engine tuned to produce RAW shots with less noise. Smart RAW improvement for the new iPhones is an ongoing product though, with Halide planning to add additional refinements in the future.

For older iPhones, the new version of Halide includes bug fixes and enhancements, along with RAW exposure improvements for all Smart RAW iPhones.

Halide can be downloaded from the App Store for $5.99. [Direct Link]

This article, “Halide Camera for iOS Gains Support for iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple News+, Apple’s subscription news and magazine service, has launched for users who live in the UK and Australia, Apple announced today.

Apple News+ subscribers can access more than 150 publications in Apple News+, with a one month free trial available to test the service before having to pay the £9.99 (UK) or $14.99 (Australia) monthly fee.

Available magazines and publications in the UK include The Times and The Sunday Times, Cosmopolitan UK, Elle UK, Esquire UK, FourFourTwo, Empire, Hello!, Cyclist and Grazia, plus US-based newspapers and magazines like The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, Vox and more.

Magazines and publications in Australia include The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, The Courier Mail, The Advertiser, Vogue, Australian Women’s Health, Elle, The Australian Women’s Weekly, Harper’s Bazaar Australia, GQ, Australian Men’s Health, Delicious and Australian Geographic, plus US and UK-based newspapers and magazines.

Apple News+ has been available in the United States and Canada since March, and it is designed to present magazine and news content in a media rich format on iPhone and iPad. Apple said that Apple News+ would come to the UK and Australia as part of iOS 13, though it is also available for those using iOS 12.2 or later and those using macOS 10.14.4 and later.

Apple News+ was built using Texture, a now-discontinued magazine subscription service that Apple purchased in 2018. It has thus far received some criticism for its formatting (not all publications support Apple’s media rich format) and for its confusing interface, though some improvements have been made since the U.S. launch.

For more on Apple News+, make sure to check out our Apple News+ guide.

This article, “Apple Launches Apple News+ in the UK and Australia” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple today updated its line of iWork apps for iOS devices, introducing support for iOS 13 on Numbers, Pages, and Keynote.

Pages and Numbers now offer Dark Mode support, allowing them to work with either light or dark themes on iPhones and iPads. For all of the apps, Apple has also added support for accessing two iWork documents side by side on the iPad using Split View, so you can access two Pages documents side by side, or two Numbers spreadsheets.

Custom fonts are now supported, screenshots of entire documents can be captured, and files can be accessed from a USB drive, external hard drive, or file server. Additional changes are outlined in the release notes for each app below.

Pages Release Notes:

– Enable Dark Mode to emphasize your content.*

– On iPadOS, use Pages in multiple spaces or edit two documents side by side in Split View.

– Support for new iOS 13 and iPadOS text editing and navigation gestures.*

– Set the default font and font size used for all new documents created from basic templates.

– Use custom fonts installed from the App Store.*

– Capture a screenshot of an entire document, mark it up, then easily share it as a PDF.*

– Access files from a USB drive, external hard drive, or file server.*

– Listen to an audio representation of your chart using VoiceOver.*

– Add accessibility descriptions to audio, video, and drawings.

– Improved accessibility of exported PDFs.

– Support for HEVC-formatted movies, enabling reduced file size while preserving visual quality.

– Select multiple objects by pressing Shift or Command on a hardware keyboard.

Numbers Release Notes:

– Enable Dark Mode to emphasize your content.*

– On iPadOS, use Numbers in multiple spaces or edit two spreadsheets side by side in Split View.

– Support for new iOS 13 and iPadOS text editing and navigation gestures.*

– Use custom fonts installed from the App Store.*

– Capture a screenshot of an entire spreadsheet, mark it up, then easily share it as a PDF.*

– Access files from a USB drive, external hard drive, or file server.*

– Listen to an audio representation of your chart using VoiceOver.*

– Add accessibility descriptions to audio, video, and drawings.

– Improved accessibility of exported PDFs.

– Support for HEVC-formatted movies, enabling reduced file size while preserving visual quality.

– Select multiple objects by pressing Shift or Command on a hardware keyboard.

Keynote Release Notes:

– On iPadOS, use Keynote in multiple spaces or edit two presentations side by side in Split View.

– Support for new iOS 13 and iPadOS text editing and navigation gestures.*

– Use custom fonts installed from the App Store.*

– Capture a screenshot of an entire presentation, mark it up, then easily share it as a PDF.*

– Access files from a USB drive, external hard drive, or file server.*

– Listen to an audio representation of your chart using VoiceOver.*

– Add accessibility descriptions to audio, video, and drawings.

– Improved accessibility of exported PDFs.

– Support for HEVC-formatted movies, enabling reduced file size while preserving visual quality.

– Select multiple objects by pressing Shift or Command on a hardware keyboard.

In addition to updating its iOS iWork apps for iOS 13, Apple has also introduced updates for Numbers, Keynote, and Pages on the Mac. The iWork for Mac updates are minor in scale, focusing on performance improvements and bug fixes. Details are available in the release notes below.

Pages for Mac Release Notes:

– Set the default font and font size used for all new documents created from basic templates.

– Easily add HEVC-formatted movies to documents, enabling reduced file size while preserving visual quality.

– Jump to a specific page in your document using a new menu command.

– Add accessibility descriptions to audio, video, and drawings.

– Improved accessibility of exported PDFs.

Numbers for Mac Release Notes:

– Improved performance when working with large tables.

– Easily add HEVC-formatted movies to spreadsheets, enabling reduced file size while preserving visual quality.

– Add accessibility descriptions to audio, video, and drawings.

– Improved accessibility of exported PDFs.

Keynote for Mac Release Notes:

– Easily add HEVC-formatted movies to presentations, enabling reduced file size while preserving visual quality.

– Jump to a specific slide in your presentation using a new menu command.

– Add accessibility descriptions to audio, video, and drawings.

– Improved accessibility of exported PDFs.

All of the new updates are available now from the iOS App Store and macOS App Store.

• Pages for iOS [Direct Link]
• Keynote for iOS [Direct Link]
• Numbers for iOS [Direct Link]
• Pages for macOS [Direct Link]
• Keynote for macOS [Direct Link]
• Numbers for macOS [Direct Link]

Apple’s iWork apps are free downloads for everyone.

This article, “Apple Updates Numbers, Pages and Keynote for iOS With iOS 13 Support, Mac Apps Gain Bug Fixes” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple today seeded the tenth beta of macOS 10.15 Catalina to developers, one week after seeding the ninth macOS Catalina beta and over three months after the new Mac operating system update was first unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

The new macOS Catalina beta can be downloaded using the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences after installing the proper software from the Developer Center.

macOS Catalina eliminates the iTunes app, splitting it into Music, Podcasts, and TV apps. The three new apps offer similar functionality to iTunes, but are split up by feature. iOS device management is still available on the Mac, but it’s now done through the Finder rather than iTunes.

With a new Sidecar feature, you can turn your iPad into a second display for your Mac with just the click of a button. The Apple Pencil works with Sidecar, so you can turn your iPad into a drawing tablet in apps like Photoshop and Illustrator.

Your Apple Watch can be used to approve security prompts for passwords and other info in macOS Catalina, and Macs with a T2 chip now support Activation Lock, making them more secure. There’s a new Find My that brings the Find My Mac app to the Mac for the first time and even lets you track your devices when they’re offline, or, in the case of notebooks, closed.

Screen Time is available on the Mac as well as iOS devices, and Project Catalyst, a new Apple initiative, will let developers easily port their iPad apps over to the Mac to increase the number of Mac apps available.

There’s a new Photos interface that surfaces your best photos organized by day, month, or year, there’s a new start page in Safari, Mail has new tools for muting email threads and blocking senders, and the Reminders app has been overhauled.

32-bit apps no longer work in macOS Catalina, which is something to be aware of before installing the beta.

For more details on macOS Catalina, make sure to check out our macOS Catalina roundup. Apple is planning to release macOS Catalina sometime in October.

This article, “Apple Seeds macOS Catalina Beta 10 to Developers [Update: Public Beta Available]” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple today released watchOS 6.0.1, the first update to the watchOS 6 operating system that was released on September 19.

watchOS 6.0.1 can be downloaded for free through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General -> Software Update. To install the new software, the Apple Watch needs to have over 50 percent battery, it needs to be placed on a charger, and it needs to be in range of the iPhone.

Today’s update is minor in scale, addressing a bug with the Mickey and Minnie Mouse watch faces, fixing a calendar complications bug, and addressing an issue that could cause a loss of display calibration data. From Apple’s release notes:

watchOS 6.0.1 optimizes performance, provides security updates, and contains improvements and bug fixes, including:

– Resolves an issue where the Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse watch face does not speak time

– Addresses an issue where the calendar complication may not display events

– Fixes a bug that could result in a loss of display calibration data

For details on what’s new in the larger watchOS 6 release, make sure to check out our watchOS 6 roundup.

This article, “Apple Releases watchOS 6.0.1 With Bug Fixes” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple today released iOS and iPadOS 13.1.2, updates to the iOS and iPadOS 13.1.1 software that was released on Friday.

The iOS and iPadOS 13.1.2 updates are available on all eligible devices over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the updates, go to Settings > General > Software Update.

According to Apple’s notes for the beta, the iOS 13.1.2 update introduces bug fixes for several issues, including problems with the camera, iCloud backup, flashlight, and more.

iOS 13.1.2 includes bug fixes and improvements for your iPhone. This update:

– Fixes a bug where the progress bar for iCloud Backup could continue to show after a successful backup

– Fixes an issue where Camera may not work

– Addresses an issue where the flashlight may not activate

– Fixes a bug that could result in a loss of display calibration data

– Fixes an issue where shortcuts could not be run from HomePod

– Addresses an issue where Bluetooth may disconnect on certain vehicles

There are also separate release notes for the iPadOS 13.1.2 update:

iPadOS 13.1.2 includes bug fixes and improvements for your iPad. This update:

– Fixes a bug where the progress bar for iCloud Backup could continue to show after a successful backup

– Fixes an issue where shortcuts could not be run from HomePod

iOS 13.1.1, released last Friday, was also a bug fix update and came after iOS 13.1, released a week ago.

This article, “Apple Releases iOS 13.1.2 and iPadOS 13.1.2 with Fixes for Camera, iCloud Backup, HomePod Shortcut, and Flashlight Bugs” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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