Apple

iPhone and Android users will soon be able to send encrypted RCS messages to each other

Social /

Text messages sent between iPhones and Android devices will soon benefit from end-to-end encryption (E2EE), after the GSM Association (GSMA) yesterday published new specifications for the Rich Communication Services (RCS) protocol that include support for cross-platform E2EE. RCS is a longstanding effort to enable SMS-style cross-platform communications with richer features, such as group messaging, typing […]

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US lawmakers urge UK spy court to hold Apple ‘backdoor’ secret hearing in public

Security /

A group of bipartisan U.S. lawmakers are urging the head of the U.K.’s surveillance court to hold an open hearing into Apple’s anticipated challenge of an alleged secret U.K. government legal demand. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, along with four other federal lawmakers, said in a letter this week to the president of the U.K.’s Investigatory

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Apple’s Lockdown Mode is good for security — but its notifications are baffling

Security /

As a paranoid journalist, I am an enthusiastic user of Apple’s opt-in “extreme protection” feature, Lockdown Mode.  Apple launched Lockdown Mode in 2022, and since then the security feature is considered a must-use for dissidents in corrupt countries, human-rights defenders in oppressive regimes, and journalists speaking truth to power.  Lockdown Mode is designed to switch

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UK competition probe of mobile browsers finds Apple-Google duopoly is ‘anti-innovation’

Government & Policy /

A U.K. competition authority investigation of Apple and Google’s mobile browsers has concluded that the mobile duopoly’s policies are “holding back innovation” and could also be limiting economic growth. “Mobile browsers are apps which provide the primary gateway for consumers to access the web on their mobile devices, and hence for businesses to reach them

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Apple fixes new security flaw used in ‘extremely sophisticated attack’

Security /

Apple released patches for a bug that it says “may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals,” citing a report. The zero-day bug was found in WebKit, the browser engine powering Safari and other apps, and allowed hackers to break out of WebKit’s protective sandbox with “maliciously crafted web content,”

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Apple’s next major OS updates will bring the biggest design overhaul in years

Gadgets /

Apple’s next set of major updates for the iPhone, iPad and Mac operating systems could bring the biggest design changes across the company’s platforms in years, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources. The revamp, set to come in with iOS19, iPadOS 19 and macOS 16, will refresh icons, menus, apps, windows, and system buttons while simplifing

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Apple’s smart home hub reportedly delayed by Siri challenges

Hardware /

Apple announced this week that the “more personalized” version of Siri that it promised last year has been delayed — and according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, that’s also postponed the launch of the company’s planned smart home hub. In a statement, Apple said the upgraded Siri features, which are part of its broader Apple Intelligence

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UK quietly scrubs encryption advice from government websites

Government & Policy /

The U.K. government appears to have quietly scrubbed encryption advice from government web pages, just weeks after demanding backdoor access to encrypted data stored on Apple’s cloud storage service, iCloud.  The change was spotted by security expert Alec Muffet, who wrote in a blog post on Wednesday that the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)

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