Matthew, I just checked and there is no new update to Mac OS, at least not one that I could find.
Mark -----Original Message----- From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of matthew dyer Sent: Friday, March 30, 2018 9:19 AM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Apple releases iOS 11.3, the biggest update for iPhones since iOS 11 first launched, Ars Technica Mac OS 10.13.4 also dropped according to apple. Matthew > On Mar 29, 2018, at 9:19 PM, M. Taylor <mk...@ucla.edu> wrote: > > Apple releases iOS 11.3, the biggest update for iPhones since iOS 11 > first launched This is a big update, and Apple also released updates > to tvOS and watchOS. > by Samuel Axon - Mar 29, 2018 2:39pm PDT > > Apple > Today, Apple released iOS 11.3 to all supported devices, including the > iPad Air and later, the iPad mini 2 and later, the iPhone 5S and > later, and the sixth-generation iPod touch. The update is available > for download now in supported regions. > With several new features, it's arguably the biggest update to iOS > since iOS > 11 first released. iOS 11.3 addresses battery-based performance > throttling on older devices, adds significant new capabilities for > augmented reality, adds the ability to chat with customer support reps > from companies in Messages, and lets users access their personal > health records in the Health app. > Apple also released smaller updates for tvOS (tvOS 11.3) on the Apple > TV and watchOS (watchOS 4.3). Let's dive into what each of these > updates adds for users. > Battery Health > > You'll find the new Battery Health settings nested under "Battery" in > the Settings app. Note that it's prominently listed as still in beta. > As promised, Apple has made it possible to disable performance > throttling on older iPhones whose batteries have degraded to the point > that that they pose a risk for unexpected shutdowns resulting from > voltage shortages. Apple lists this as a beta feature. > There is now a section in the Settings app, nested under "Battery," > called "Battery Health." If you visit this on a phone with a battery > Apple deems healthy, it will simply serve up brief copy explaining > some key concerns with iPhone batteries, along with a link to a > webpage that goes into more detail. It will also show a value for > "maximum capacity." This value is a percentage. > Apple explains it this way: > This is a measure of battery capacity relative to when it was new. > Lower capacity may result in fewer hours of usage between charges. > There's a section of this settings screen labeled "Peak Performance > Capacity." If your phone has never experienced an unexpected shutdown > due to low battery health, it will simply say: "Your battery is > currently supporting normal peak performance." However, if your > battery has dropped to a low-enough maximum capacity, you'll be shown this > copy instead: > This iPhone has experienced an unexpected shutdown because the battery > was unable to deliver the necessary peak power. Performance management > has been applied to help prevent this from happening again. > Next to this, you'll see an option to disable the > performance-management feature that has so irked iPhone owners. It > also tells you that you can upgrade the battery to solve this problem > completely: > Your battery's health is significantly degraded. An Apple Authorized > Service Provider can replace the battery to restore full performance and > capacity. > Notably, performance management is disabled until the phone first > experiences an unexpected shutdown; it's not activated simply by a > maximum capacity below a certain value, and you can't turn it on > unless you've run into the problem. > The note about the Apple Authorized Service Provider is meant to > address a consumer complaint that Apple was not transparent with users > about the option to upgrade the battery—that complaint is key in the > class-action lawsuits that have popped up in response to the > performance management controversy that began last December when > Reddit users and the dev behind benchmarking app Geekbench confirmed > that iOS throttled performance on devices with underperforming batteries. > Apple does not offer this feature on iPads, but this update does add a > new iPad feature called "charge management." The update notes say it > "maintains battery health when iPad is connected to power for > prolonged periods of time, such as when it is used in kiosks, > point-of-sale systems, or stored in charging carts." > > ARKit 1.5 > ARKit is Apple's augmented reality application programming interface. > Apple introduced ARKit at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) last > year. > The framework handles some of the lower-level heavy lifting for > augmented reality so developers can focus on customization of its > experiences and on content. > Previously, ARKit could only accurately place objects on flat, > horizontal planes, limiting the range of applications developers could > make. With ARKit 1.5, developers can now place objects on vertical > planes like walls, and accuracy is improved when mapping objects onto > surfaces that aren't completely flat. > It also adds image-recognition capabilities. For example, an AR app > could show a full-sized robot if a poster for an associated robot > movie is seen by the phone's camera, or it could provide additional > context in a museum when a certain painting is seen. Apple touts a > "higher-resolution real-world camera view when using AR experiences," > and auto-focus is now supported in AR views as well. > AR is a major focus for Apple this year; it has been the subject of > many of the company's top executives' comments about their strategy > and new initiatives, and many of the major additions and updates in > the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X—all released late last > year—were focused on laying the ground work for improved AR > experiences, either with new sensors or improved performance. > Tim Cook has said he believes AR will be a watershed moment for the > app store once AR developers find their stride. App intelligence firm > Sensor Tower recently estimated that apps built on ARKit have been > downloaded 13 million times since iOS 11's initial release. Half of > those apps are games, but Pokémon Go and several other popular AR apps > are not included in those numbers because, for all or some of the > reported period, they were not built on ARKit. > > New Animojis > This update also adds four new Animoji for the iPhone X: a skeleton, a > lion, a dragon, and a bear—not to be confused with the existing panda > bear Animoji. They're pictured below. These new Animoji don't add any > new functionality; they're just new skins for the TrueDepth > sensor-based, iPhone X-exclusive feature. > > Business Chat > iOS 11.3 adds the ability to chat with representatives from > participating companies directly in your Messages app. It's > essentially a platform for text-message-based customer support. > The conversation can be triggered by tapping the Messages icon that > appears in the Safari or Apple Maps apps, as well as in iOS searches. > In the course of the conversation, you can use Apple Pay for > transactions without leaving the app. If you need to set an > appointment, a menu listing available times will swipe up from the bottom of > the screen. > Apple claims no personally identifiable data is shared with the > companies unless you share it yourself and that businesses cannot > start conversations—users have to initiate. > > You start Business Chat by tapping the Messages icon in Maps or on > participating Business' websites in Safari. > The first participating companies include: > • Apple > • Discover > • Hilton > • The Home Depot > • Lowe's > • Marriott International > • Newegg > • Ameritrade > • Wells Fargo > • 1-800-flowers.com > Like the Battery Health settings, Business Chat is listed as a beta feature. > > Health Records > Apple's health-related efforts aren't always the most-touted > developments by tech enthusiasts, but they've been a significant area > of focus for the company lately. In iOS 11.3, Apple has added Health > Records to the Health app. This feature allows you to connect to > various health records networks in which your providers participate, > and it collects all those records in one place, even though your > providers might use completely different networks and systems. > Health Records are located in the Apple Health app under the Health > Data tab. > Health Records supports just shy of 40 systems in the United States, > but it is not yet comprehensive, and it is not available in all > regions. This information was available to people before, but it has > not always been centralized for the user in this way. The data is not > really centralized, though—it's still coming from those other systems. > The user just sees it in one place in the app. > In a way, Apple is looking to do the same thing with the Health app on > iOS that it does with its TV app—remove the friction inherent in > working with a plethora of unconnected, unstandardized systems and > providers. As with the TV app, success hinges on how many providers > participate. Health Records needs to be nearly comprehensive for the > value to be realized. This is a starting point, but Apple still has > work ahead of it, and this one feature, while laudable, will not > smooth out the US healthcare system's problematic records issues in general. > This feature is also in beta. > > Other features and bug fixes in iOS 11.3 Those are the major features > in iOS 11.3, but Apple added a few small things as well. > Software authentication of HomeKit-compatible devices increases the > number of devices that can support HomeKit. Support for the Advanced > Mobile Location (AML) standard gives emergency responders in supported > countries more accurate location information when responding to an > emergency call. A new "For You" section has been added to Apple News, > offering more personalized selections, and you can now sort App Store > reviews in new ways, including "most critical," "most favorable," > "most recent," and "most helpful." > There are numerous bug fixes, addressing issues like failed incoming > calls when waking the display, Mail messages reappearing in > notifications after they've already been read, and parents' inability > to use Face ID to approve purchase requests from their children on the iPhone > X. > > Apple’s privacy play > Apple has expanded its efforts to loop users in on when and how their > personal data is being accessed or used by the company's apps and features. > First off, it has added a new icon to represent user privacy that > appears to notify users whenever Apple is doing something with their > personal information. > Each instance of this comes with a brief explanation of what > information is being accessed and why, with a small link to a more > detailed page that goes into greater detail. > > You'll see this privacy icon whenever Apple asks to use your personal > information. > > Apple CEO Tim Cook recently took jabs at Facebook and Google about > user privacy, saying Apple's approach is different. Apple's head of > services Eddy Cue made similar comments at a SXSW talk this year. > Apple has always made claims like this to differentiate itself from > competitors, but the tone and frequency changed as scandals like the > Cambridge Analytica controversy hit Facebook and others. > Apple is capitalizing on current controversies by actively seeking to > position itself as the tech company that cares about your privacy and > protecting your data, in contrast to other tech giants, and this > feature is intended to drive that point home to users. > > Apple Music Videos > Music videos have been available in Apple Music for a while now, but > they were difficult to discover. Apple has now added a section to the > Browse tab in the Apple Music app to find and watch music videos. > This section is curated just like other parts of Apple Music. It has > featured videos, playlists, and genre-based lists. Watching music > videos on Apple Music requires an active subscription to the service. > > "Music Videos" is a new section under the Browse tab. > We still don't know if Apple plans to add the numerous TV shows it is > developing to Apple Music, the TV app, or a new app. But if some or > all of that does end up in Apple Music, we can see this as a sampling > of what that might eventually look like. > > Notably missing: AirPlay 2 and Messages on iCloud AirPlay is Apple's > protocol for streaming media between devices over your Wi-Fi network. > It's been around by one name or another since 2004, but Apple > announced at WWDC 2017 that AirPlay 2 would be part of iOS 11, that it > would allow you to manage your multi-room speaker setup on your iOS > device, that it would improve streaming latency, and that it would > expand audio buffering so streaming could continue in some situations > even if devices moved out of range. Audio companies like Sonos > announced they would support the updated protocol. > At first, it seemed that Apple planned to launch AirPlay 2 alongside > the HomePod speaker launch in February. It didn't. Then Apple included > it in early betas of iOS 11.3, suggesting it would launch with this > update. It didn't. It was removed from later beta releases. Apple > clearly intended to launch this feature already, but it has faced > delays. The company hasn't explained those delays, and we still haven't seen > AirPlay 2. > > Apple also originally intended to include a new feature called > Messages on iCloud in iOS 11.3, but that feature is missing as well, > despite appearing in some beta releases of the update. Apple did > previously hint it might not be coming yet, though. Whenever it > launches, Messages on iCloud promises to free up space on your iOS > device by moving photos and other space-hogging items in Messages > conversations to the cloud. > > watchOS 4.3 > Alongside iOS 11, Apple also launched watchOS 4.3 for all Apple Watch > models. The release notes are as follows: > - Control volume and playback on HomePod from your Apple Watch > - Restores ability to control music on iPhone > - Use any orientation for Nightstand charging mode > - Siri watch face now shows progress toward closing Activity rings and > when new songs are added to Apple Music mixes > - Resolves an issue where Activity achievements were incorrectly > awarded for some users > - Fixes an issue where Siri music commands were not working for some > audio devices This is not as significant an update as iOS 11.3, > obviously, but many users were clamoring for the ability to use the > Watch in portrait during Nightstand charging mode. In watchOS 4, Apple > removed the previously available feature that allowed you to use your > Watch to manage playback from iPhone's Apple Music app. This feature > is back now. > > tvOS 11.3 > tvOS 11.3 dropped today for the fourth-generation Apple TV and the > Apple TV 4K, too. It's an even smaller update. Here are the notes: > - Apple TV App: Now available in Brazil and Mexico. > - Siri:* Siri now understands Portuguese in Brazil. > - Video playback: On Apple TV (4th generation), you can play videos in > their original frame rate. > The framerate feature was previously only available on the Apple TV 4K. > > Security updates > As always, there are numerous security updates for all three of these > releasesthat are not included in the regular patch notes. Apple shares > these notes in the security updates hub on its support site, with > dedicated pages for iOS 11.3, watchOS 4.3, and tvOS 11.3. > > Original Article at: > https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Farst > echnica.com%2Fgadgets%2F2018%2F03%2Fapple-releases-ios-11-3-the-bigges > t-&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cf6afb4fc2c0146ab4f1108d595dc52a4%7C84df9e7fe9f640 > afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636579695863378711&sdata=Jmyas9CgdLu3Cne3 > FzFx0b2b61%2FA94bPY%2F4JT4gfciQ%3D&reserved=0 > update-for-iphones-since-ios-11-first-launched/ > > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > mk...@ucla.edu. 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