iOS 14.5 delivers Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch, new privacy controls, and more

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/04/ios-14-5-offers-unlock-iphone-with-apple-watch-diverse-siri-voices-and-more/

by jmsflknr • 5 years ago

334 405 5 years ago

apple.com

tosh• 5 years ago

Not mentioned in the press release but this update also brings a new version of Safari (and WebView).

Anyone knows if Safari in 14.5 is equivalent to a specific Technology Preview release?

https://developer.apple.com/safari/technology-preview/releas...

HugoDaniel• 5 years ago

it would be cool if Safari finally got WebGL 2 enabled by default

ghughes• 5 years ago

Cool for the web, not so cool for the growth of Apple Arcade.

asiachick2• 5 years ago

It's not in this version. I'm 50/50 on whether it will ever be enabled. If it's not enabled in iOS 15 around September then I'll raise my probability it will never be enabled to 90%. What incentive does Apple have for enabling it? 4 years ago when other browsers got it it was important. Now, with WebGPU 6-12 months from shipping there isn't much reason for them to ship a bunch of code to Safari that has to be maintained and tested forever. I know the code is already written and tested ATM, just pointing out why my probably that it won't ship is > 0.

turblety3• 5 years ago

If only it included Web Push API capabilities. But of course, Apple won't do that, as then developers wouldn't have to beg to be in their app store, and pay a 30% commission on any payments.

I would have more respect for Apple if they just came out and said it, but the fact they haven't mentioned it at all, is just cowardly.

pfraze• 5 years ago

I specifically came into the comments to see about this, and am disappointed. It’s the biggest feature PWAs can provide and would really reduce the pressure to create native apps.

havernator2• 5 years ago

I hope they never enable it. Watching people in my life “use” that feature, I wouldn’t be surprised if well over half if web push messages are sent to people who don’t know how they got enabled, or how to disable them (they just clicked away an annoying pop-up on a site they’d never, ever want messages from, not realizing what they did)

Tomte• 5 years ago

Scribble should now be supported in German (and a few other languages). That's the main feature I've been waiting for.

drewg1232• 5 years ago

That's a step in the right direction, but I sorely miss the Android "trusted bluetooth device" that would keep your phone unlocked.

I have really poor timing, and upgraded from a Google Pixel 2 to an iPhone with face id (and no touch id)just before the pandemic. Now I have to type my passcode to unlock whenever I'm wearing a mask because I have a Garmin watch and won't consider downgrading to an Apple watch. The Garmin watch kept my Pixel unlocked for me since it was a trusted bluetooth device.

pcl• 5 years ago

Anecdotally, in the last few weeks, FaceID just started working for me with a couple of the types of masks I’ve been wearing. I wonder if they have made some tweaks to their recognition algorithms / are doing any sort of additional training on the fly.

I don’t have an Apple Watch, and am running 14.4.2.

Operyl• 5 years ago

Every time you attempt authentication, and it doesn’t recognize you’re wearing a mask in particular, it’ll “retrain” the model when you authenticate with your passcode. If it was only a little bit off, eventually you’d retrain enough to get there with a mask. They mention this in their Security doc if I recall correctly.

dannyphantom3• 5 years ago

I thought that AI could identify someone even if they were wearing a mask and our iPhone's were being silly. I've seen a few videos of Chinese grocery shoppers paying with their face with a mask on.

kitsunesoba• 5 years ago

I don't have any links to back it up or anything, but my impression is that Face ID continually trains itself as you use it to help keep up with facial changes over time. At the very least I know it takes the data from failed attempts immediately followed by passcode unlock and uses it for training.

Depending on how either is implemented I could see it getting "used" to a masked face with enough samples. The question for me is if this makes it more susceptible to false positives, e.g. unlocking for people other than the owner wearing a mask.

krrrh• 5 years ago

I know a lot of people love their Garmin watches. Even though I have an Apple Watch I considered also getting a Garmin just for tracking outdoor workouts.

Other than battery life, the excellent app WorkoutOutDoors roughly replicates the workout functionality of Garmin watches for $10, but with arguably better maps. A feel like I need to mention it when there‘s an opportunity because the solo developer behind it is doing such great work.

http://www.workoutdoors.net/

fuzzy24• 5 years ago

Very nice app indeed, its offline maps allow me to just leave the phone at home when riding my bike.

Also some very useful features like backing up the on-watch settings, allowing you to restore them if you ever have to reset your Watch.

drewg1232• 5 years ago

The battery life is the key issue for me. My watch goes over a week between charges, and Apple watches seem to generally last a day or less. I went through a series of watches before the Garmin, and they either died quickly (MS Band and LG) or their battery life dropped to Apple Watch levels (Polar M600) and I know from experience that they will die at just the wrong time for me.

The Garmin I have is 3 years old and still going strong.

GordonS• 5 years ago

I have my Android phone linked to my Bluetooth headset, so my phone remains unlocked while I'm at my desk - I really like this feature.

Another neat feature was/is "trusted location", where your phone would remain unlocked while at home, for example. I used to have this enabled, but unfortunately the option disappeared after an update on my Xiaomi phone a whole back :(

kiwijamo8• 5 years ago

Aha that explains why I can't find it on my Xiaomi. Was this an stock Android feature or something Xiaomi added in then took out?

Tsiklon2• 5 years ago

5G on Dual Sim is a useful update, prior to this it was only possible to have 5G on one of the accounts (The hardware SIM, I think was the default not the eSIM)

vmception2• 5 years ago

They finally did it!?

I had resigned to thinking they got screwed with bad hardware from qualcomm

enos_feedler• 5 years ago

Apple has communicated this limitation since the beginning and said when it was coming.

Hamuko• 5 years ago

Are people actually on 5G?

BBC-vs-neolibs• 5 years ago

I am, not sure how common that is. But only when downtown.

martin_• 5 years ago

Yes - I live in Austin on Verizon and it often shows 5G but is usually slower than my AT&T LTE was in San Francisco -- however -- occasionally I get 5G Ultra Wideband and got 1915mbps down this weekend https://i.imgur.com/BuQF13Y.jpg

Tsiklon2• 5 years ago

In the part of London I live in there's 5G available when I walk to the local shops - my network is Three UK. My secondary sim is EE, they also have a 5G network too, but i'm not completely certain where it's present

janandonly• 5 years ago

Sure. Here in Holland 5G from t-mobile is super fast too. We get 300Mbit down and 60Mbit up, easily.... I should remark though, that I used to get 200Mbit down anyways on 4G, only the upload was a lot slower..

treesknees• 5 years ago

Yes, I use Verizon and my iPhone 12 regularly connects to 5G around my house and work in South East Michigan. I haven't noticed it being any faster than LTE when running speed tests, but I'm sure it will get better over time once they're no longer running in a hybrid deployment.

samrolken• 5 years ago

5G on eSIM with Verizon worked great for me when it was all I had or it’s the only one enabled. 5G wouldn’t work at all on either line if both SIMs were in use.

TechBro8615• 5 years ago

Nice. When I bought my iPhone 12 Mini this was a feature I specifically wanted. I saw them mentioning it was a software issue only, so it's great to see they solved it and followed through.

danpalmer• 5 years ago

Sadly it also breaks a fairly common navigation flow in SwiftUI – having 2 navigation buttons on the same screen causes nav pushes to immediately pop back.

This does however show an interesting trade-off of SwiftUI: by being a more abstract definition of a view hierarchy, they can change out implementations more easily than before to further optimise in each OS release.

I'm hoping that they're essentially going down the route of rendering SwiftUI directly to Metal, their graphics API, as I'd expect that to be much faster and less energy intensive.

nindalf• 5 years ago

Happy about being able to unlock the phone with my watch. Arrived after a year of mask wearing, but better late than never. Impossible to say right now when we'll put our masks away, if ever.

ASalazarMX7• 5 years ago

I already have an Apple watch, and still resent that their solution for removing the fingerprint scanner is buying a new expensive accessory. Under-display fingerprint readers have existed for years, so it's not an aesthetics issue.

turtlebits• 5 years ago

Under display fingerprint scanners suck. I have a Galaxy S20 for work and it rarely works. I also have a A71 5G which is even worse.

With winter dry skin (and/or light abrasion from woodworking projects), I can't even unlock the phones at all.

fastball4• 5 years ago

No it's a usability issue. Have you tried the under-display fingerprint readers?

namdnay• 5 years ago

sad that i still can't unlock my macbook with my iphone (without resorting to dodgy third party hacks). That would be really useful when the macbook is docked

hyperbovine• 5 years ago

I have an iPhone SE (which came with a fingerprint reader, as I assumed did all recent phones made by anyone), and I had no idea what all the hubbub was about until reading this comment thread. Another ridiculous own-goal by Apple. First MagSafe, now this.

da_big_ghey2• 5 years ago

In obvious mask will have gone before this year is completed. I am not wearing in most place now that we are not having mandate and i am having had my shots. It is in similar for persons around me. "if ever" is silly.

Someone12342• 5 years ago

In regard to unlock w/Apple Watch:

- This is an issue of Apple's own artificial creation.

- This doesn't even solve the issue.

So this all started because Face Unlock didn't work with masks, that's not Apple's fault. But what is entirely Apple's fault is that they break an option which resolves this only when Face Unlock is enabled: "Require Passcode."

When you disable Face Unlock you can set Require Passcode to e.g. 15 minutes/1 hr, and it largely mitigates the aggressiveness by which your iPhone re-locks itself while you're e.g. out grocery shopping in a mask and trying to use a shopping list. But when you enable Face Unlock this option is removed (forced to "Require Immediately").

So Apple enforces "Require Immediately" in Require Passcode, it blows up in their face, and then instead of backing down when masks broke Face Unlock, they instead over-engineer a solution where you have to buy an Apple Watch to work around it.

Their new work-around solution doubles down on exactly the same anti-choice problems discussed above because they forget to mention in this press release that you MUST enable a passcode on your Apple Watch to use this feature at all (and they're relying on the Apple Watch being less aggressive to re-lock than the iPhone).

If you jailbreak your iPhone you can just switch it from "Require Immediately" to e.g. 30 minutes and this mask issue is almost completely gone in one fell swoop. This Apple Watch fix only kinda works (e.g. lost connection to the watch = relock, Watch thinks it is off your wrist = relock, etc).

dkdbejwi3833• 5 years ago

An even better solution would be to just show the "unlock with passcode" button at all times, and not just after Face ID has spent 15 seconds not recognising you because you have a mask on.

aikinai• 5 years ago

They fixed this a few versions ago. Now if it sees a mask, it shows the passcode input immediately.

zuppy• 5 years ago

they actually do this, but it doesn’t look like a button. the “face id” text that is shown when it tries to recognize your face is clickable and it brings the password form. awesome ux...

drdaeman• 5 years ago

It's order of magnitude less than 15 seconds for me. And they have specifically implemented mask detection so if FaceID spots a face with a mask on it immediately shows the passcode keyboard.

Personally, I'm getting the passcode prompt in less than 1 second.

boardwaalk• 5 years ago

I’ve never seen it take 15 seconds… it takes 2 seconds with a mask and 3 seconds with no face visible at all, for me. Versus 1 second when Face ID works.

fiddlerwoaroof• 5 years ago

If you tap the “Face ID” text, it pops up the passcode entry form. I discovered this by accident a couple years ago.

milansm• 5 years ago

Well now that I’m so used to a level of privacy that locked iPhone provides (notification details are hidden), I just don’t mind having the phone relocked each time. It’s a trade-off that works for me.

Also, it wouldn’t surprise me if significant percent of users actually checks their phone at least one in 15 minutes. This would mean that their phones would be at unlocked almost all the time.

Someone12342• 5 years ago

- This is about choice. Namely, expanding choice. So if that is your comfort level, keep doing what you're doing.

- When Face Unlock is enabled the iPhone doesn't take 15 minutes to re-lock. That's what is being requested, not what we have. 15 minutes would be much longer than the status quo.

fuzzy24• 5 years ago

- This doesn't even solve the issue.

Right you are, but for a different reason: Face masks entirely break Apple Pay. If you have an Apple Watch, lucky you, you can use the watch to pay instead. If you don’t? Well, tough luck.

Unlock with Watch apparently does not work with Apple Pay.

/e: Wasn’t aware of activating Pay using the code. Oops. :D

rustyminnow• 5 years ago

You can't just enter your passcode for Apple Pay?

imwally• 5 years ago

You can still use Apple Pay with a passcode.

tomduncalf• 5 years ago

Face masks entirely break Apple Pay

I might be misunderstanding you, and it’s far from ideal, but you can still use your passcode - I do it all the time.

macintux3• 5 years ago

Unlock with Watch apparently does not work with Apple Pay.

I find Apple Pay so much easier to use with the Watch that I never can remember how to use it on the phone.

tinus_hn3• 5 years ago

If you want this, why not pay with the watch itself?

bobbylarrybobby• 5 years ago

Yep, I had to disable Face ID for Apple Pay because it was too frustrating to use in stores with a mask on.

_jal2• 5 years ago

I just fixed it by turning off FaceID.

Apple reached phone perfection with the iPhone 4; they reached access perfection with touchID. Things have gotten worse since then.

walterbell2• 5 years ago

Latest iPhone SE and iPad Air are both TouchID only - and wonderful.

dylan604• 5 years ago

One of the last reasons that I still use a 6s+ is the TouchID. I still like my headphone jack too, but the TouchID is the biggest feature I don't want to lose

WrtCdEvrydy• 5 years ago

Apple reached phone perfection with the iPhone 4;

Thank you, I tell people that I liked developing on that platform and the only reason I still don't is because XCode no longer supports it and I get critized like I'm a luddite.

It's a phone, you can't do a lot more on device other than add new sensors and new networking technology... it's like buying a new car because it has a 2021 instead of a 2020, it hasn't changed that much....

drexlspivey• 5 years ago

Touch ID had to go because the home button was removed. They are now developing on screen fingerprint detection to bring back touch ID as a secondaryunlock mechanism.

jeffbee3• 5 years ago

The iPhone SE is physically the same shape and size as the 4 but with much better internals. To me, that is "peak iPhone".

I still use an SE to control a few things around the house. Without a SIM, with the mobile radios and bluetooth disabled but wifi enabled, and with Apple's idiotic News app that nobody wants disabled, the battery lasts for 20 days. Peak iPhone.

jensvdh3• 5 years ago

I hate TouchID, never works when my fingers are sweaty or I'm cooking or anything like that.

FaceID is perfect.

kennywinker2• 5 years ago

I'm sorry to be pedantic but there is no way anyone would pick an iPhone 4 over a 4S, and neither of those had touchID.

kevindong• 5 years ago

One of the core parts of Apple is having fewer choices, but striving to have the available options be good options.

Apple doesn't always succeed with picking the ideal middle point between too few and too many choices (most frequently, it's skewed towards the 'too few' side) however.

ghaff2• 5 years ago

MUST enable a passcode on your Apple Watch to use this feature at all

In all fairness, I believe they require you to set a passcode on your watch if you use it for Apple Pay. And, honestly, especially right now--while I don't always use my watch to pay mostly because the Magsafe wallet makes pulling out a card very easy--it's pretty convenient.

WorldMaker8• 5 years ago

I have found the watch the most convenient NFC payment option of them all, if a place supports NFC payments at all. So many places still put the readers too close to the cashiers and getting a phone near them is awkward, but usually you can wave your wrist at them without problem. I still love how spooked cashiers sometimes get when you do that for the first time around them (and they often don't realize they support NFC payments because no one wants to try the awkward phone angle) and it looked like you just waved your arm to pay.

gshakir• 5 years ago

I have a Samsung Galaxy as work phone and it has a fingerprint sensor unlock in addition to FaceID. Would love that in Apple iPhone due to masks becoming so prevalent.

vineyardmike• 5 years ago

While it might just be theater, not requiring a password immediately seems like a pretty big security regression.

mirthflat834• 5 years ago

Yeah what a hilarious suggestion. Might as well just not lock your phone at all.

cglong• 5 years ago

The "Require Passcode" feature actually saved my data (and possibly my life) when I got robbed at gunpoint. The robber turned on my iPhone and was able to unlock it, so he assumed there was no PIN. He then turned off the phone to disable tracking (and inadvertently locked the phone, protecting my data and rendering the phone useless to pawn shops).

mensetmanusman2• 5 years ago

Our corporate iPhones require passwords every 2 minutes, because apparently having to type the passcode in dozens of times a day in the public is a better security model.

jdminhbg• 5 years ago

you MUST enable a passcode on your Apple Watch to use this feature at all (and they're relying on the Apple Watch being less aggressive to re-lock than the iPhone).

When you refer to the Apple Watch being “less aggressive to re-lock,” you’re really overselling it. The Watch does not re-lock for the entire time it’s on your wrist after you first unlock it (which you can do with FaceID on your phone). I go weeks without typing a passcode on my Watch.

toxik2• 5 years ago

Your battery lasts weeks? I unlock once per day, which is when I put the watch on my wrist.

hnick• 5 years ago

Do we need the whole face? Could it work with a quorum of points?

My face unlock works fine with sunglasses. If it detects a mask could it fall back to judging the remainder more thoroughly?

iso16312• 5 years ago

I have a 2016SE, with touch ID. It works perfectly well when I wear a mask. If fingerprint doesn't work it immediately pops up the passcode box.

It such a shame that apple are good at removing useful features rather than just adding them.

SilverRed4• 5 years ago

There is no way Apple could have possibly predicted faceid would fail like this. Under normal circumstances it works really well.

WorldMaker8• 5 years ago

If Face ID doesn't work it does pop up the passcode box. They tweaked it a versions back so it was faster to pop up when "mask detected" (though how well that worked as with any ML-based solution varied from person to person). Additionally the upward "home swipe" and "tap the Face ID indicator" options have both always immediately given the passcode box for me. (My favorite thing that happens sometimes is impatience with Face ID will have me swipe for the passcode box, the box will come up, and I get maybe one or two inputs in before Face ID catches up and finishes the unlock.)

This new Watch feature is great for people like me who are paranoid about punching in my passcode in front of a shop full of cameras and strangers, but it's a nice-to-have feature not a "required" feature as some of the above comments seem to complain it is.

mlang23• 5 years ago

Strictly speaking, covid is not apples fault of course. However, as a long time apple user, I was always against forcing me to move from fingerprint to face ID. And my next iPhone will be an SE for exactly that reason. So I cant resist and feel a bit of "I always knew thats not a good idea". Face ID was a bold move which was punished by, well, lets call it reality.

CharlesW• 5 years ago

This doesn't even solve the issue.

Having used it for several weeks, this feature elegantly solves the issue.

dannyphantom3• 5 years ago

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/ios-14-5-makes-using-the-iphones...

...and the ability to unlock your iPhone using Face ID while wearing a face mask.

Unlocking the iPhone with Face ID during the pandemic has been an exercise in frustration...

ASalazarMX7• 5 years ago

The new iPhone will include a revolutionary feature where just touching your phone will unlock it, and it will not unlock if someone unknown touches it. It will be called "dactylogram scourer".

Edit: 5 minutes and already got the first downvote

verst2• 5 years ago

I go to the same coffee shop a few times a week and they always think I'm struggling with Apple Pay. Of course I am not - I am just waiting for Face ID to fail so I can use the PIN. Finally changed the setting to skip Face ID for Apple Pay directly.

eddyg• 5 years ago

Just tap the Face ID icon to immediately switch to the keypad.

smiley1437• 5 years ago

Feels a bit of a Rube-Goldberg workaround when TouchID exists. Love my TouchID to the point I'm dreading when Apple makes no more TouchID phones

gambiting11• 5 years ago

Apple's insistence on only having face ID when competitors have fantastic and very fast in-screen fingerprint readers is just idiotic. I was kind of onboard when they first introduced FaceID, the argument that they don't want the sensor on the back and there is no room on the front was fair enough, but right now the technology has caught up. It's crazy that you can unlock a Samsung with your face OR an in-screen fingerprint reader, but you can't an iPhone.

3grdlurker• 5 years ago

Or they could put it on the lock button like they did with one of their iPads.

jdhawk• 5 years ago

The S10's in screen reader drove me away from the platform and back to an SE2 w/ TouchID....it was that unreliable.

Have they fixed it?

joshstrange2• 5 years ago

Apple's insistence on only having face ID

For now. I'd wager in the next year or two we will see TouchID in the power button or under the screen. Are there Android phones with this tech already? Yes, you can almost always count on Android phones to have new types of tech before Apple but in my experience Apple's version is much more polished/solid/secure as whole. Android had "Face unlock" for at least a year or two before Apple but it was total crap. I had a coworker who had it and he ended up turning it off because it was so buggy/unreliable. FaceID for me had been pretty rock solid and I'm very happy with it. I'll be happier with a TouchID backup but I'm more than willing to wait for a secure and seamless version and not something rushed to market.

Lammy• 5 years ago

I wonder if it was really on Apple’s insistence lol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI%E2%80%93Apple_encryption_d...

tinus_hn3• 5 years ago

These competitors aren’t held to the same standards Apple is. If it turns out you can unlock these phones with a printed fingerprint copy, nobody cares. But if it happens on iPhone it’s fingerprintgate.

adrr3• 5 years ago

Face unlock for Samsung phones provides no security unlike FaceId. So really Samsung just has a fingerprint scanner.

https://www.samsung.com/ph/support/mobile-devices/can-you-un...

milkytron• 5 years ago

the argument that they don't want the sensor on the back and there is no room on the front was fair enough

No room on the front - fine, but under the screen readers have been improving a ton and I'm sure Apple could figure out something.

Don't want the sensor on the back - I don't understand this. Why not? It works for other devices, and they could even make the Apple logo into a reader to be discreet.

mikestew2• 5 years ago

It's crazy that you can unlock a Samsung with your face OR an in-screen fingerprint reader, but you can't an iPhone.

I don't think it's crazy when one considers that Samsung will put that stuff on a phone, and whether it works or not is the customer's problem. We've forgotten Samsung's earlier "face unlock" attempts, haven't we? I haven't, it was bad enough to be one of the major factors in getting me to quit using Samsung phones (and Android in general). So to argue "well, Samsung does it", meh, maybe Samsung does, maybe Samsung lets the person that stole my phone unlock that phone with my photo.

dannyphantom3• 5 years ago

With the frustration of the past year in iPhone not unlocking due to your face mask it seems like a proof of concept that iPhone should bring back TouchID.

mxcrossb• 5 years ago

Weirdly enough, facial recognition works for me with a mask already, but only if I take off my glasses.

gbrown_• 5 years ago

Lack of TouchID on newer models is one of the main reasons I've yet to upgrade from my iPhone 8.

hkh282• 5 years ago

Stayed with my iPhone 7 until iPhone 12 for the same (main) reason. Being able to have the phone unlocked on the way from my pocket was fantastic. Unlocking with Face ID takes at least two seconds extra, every time.

scintill76• 5 years ago

The iPhone SE (2020) has it.

minimaxir2• 5 years ago

macOS/tvOS/watchOS are also updated with analogous features.

jetpackjoe• 5 years ago

tvOS should include the new color balancing feature, correct?

minimaxir2• 5 years ago

Yep, including for the older A8 Apple TV.

kristofferR• 5 years ago

The "Unlock with Apple Watch" feature was the reason I used all the betas, thankfully they were totally trouble free for me this time.

gentryb• 5 years ago

This was a reason I inadvertently got some previous co-workers over-excited about a feature (only to find it was only in the betas I happened to be running). Still remember having to break it to the first person who really wanted to enable the feature that it must be in beta - and I spoke too early.

As an aside - earlier betas didn't seem to like various colored masks in my experience (turquoise being the main one) - which seemed to be fixed in later versions.

For context: worked at a COVID-19 Testing/Vaccination site - mask on more hours than not each 24... I _LOVE_ this feature still.

dmitriid2• 5 years ago

I wish they added "unlock Mac/use id on Mac with iPhone". But no, they only introduce TouchId on a keyboard that only works with M1 chips.

ascagnel_3• 5 years ago

For what it's worth, if you have a system with the T1 chip (Apple's been using the watch chip rebadged as a T1 for a few years as a SSD controller+security module), you can both unlock your laptop with your watch (built-in to the OS) and as a biometric sudo auth[0].

[0] https://github.com/insidegui/pam-watchid

dmitriid2• 5 years ago

I don't have a watch and I don't want someone else's code accessing my TouchID :)

rrebelo4• 5 years ago

I wish they added "unlock Mac/use id on Mac with iPhone".

Me too. So I made a program that does exactly that: https://www.gadgetish.com/osx.html

It also works with Android phones, Android Wear watches, Tizen (Samsung) watches, ... even some earbuds or smart tags.

quenix• 5 years ago

This sounds insecure. Do you store the user’s password on disk?

DC1350• 5 years ago

The real story is the woman with beard emoji and two new ways to represent vaping

idlewords• 5 years ago

Of course to unlock the Apple Watch, you'll be wanting the Apple Ring...

lemax2• 5 years ago

My Face ID is completely broken after getting water on my "waterproof" iPhone X. I downloaded the beta in the hopes of using my Apple Watch to unlock my iPhone without Face ID enabled. My employer enforces a device policy with passcode required immediately and auto-lock in 1 minute, so this would have been really nice. Unfortunately this feature only works a) with Face ID enabled and b) while wearing a mask. Not exactly just "Unlock with Apple with Apple Watch".

gpm• 5 years ago

b) while wearing a mask

Wtf? What possible benefit does this have? Securing your phone against people who stole it (and your watch) but aren't willing to put on a mask?

abadaba• 5 years ago

I wonder if Face ID is still able to partially detect a masked user's face, just with a much lower confidence interval. Maybe the presence of the watch allows Face ID to lower the confidence threshold when it detects a mask blocking half of the face. This is just a guess, I have no idea how Face ID works.

If Face ID can't detect anything when a user wears a mask then I completely agree with you. It seems really silly to require the mask in order for the watch unlock to work. I don't understand the security model there.

reaperducer• 5 years ago

my "waterproof" iPhone X

Oh, wow. I'm usually aware of Apple's new offerings, and I completely missed that there's a "waterproof" version of the iPhone X available. I just have the regular water resistant version.

freeslave• 5 years ago

I'm pretty happy that I will finally be able to cast fitness plus workouts to a bigger screen.

mcbutterbunz• 5 years ago

I really wish there was the option to disable the lock screen at home or on my home wifi.

Or even disable the lock screen altogether but require it for certain apps.

r0fl• 5 years ago

Someone who knows you could steal your phone, go near the front door of your house/apartment to be within wifi reach, login to your phone, unlock it and then wreck havoc on your life.

robotnixon• 5 years ago

Android has had this feature for years and it still requires an initial unlock of the device to remain unlocked at the location you've picked. So when I get home I still have to manually unlock my phone once to keep it unlocked. As an extra safety measure the phone locks itself again after 4 hours.

mrgreenfur• 5 years ago

Lots of comments here on the watch unlock, while the new privacy controls are requiring apps to ask for IDFA before it's given (and before you'retracked across apps with any identifiers). The MarTech industry is panicking to adapt and become compliant and there are estimates that it will drop ad targeting by ~75%. I see this as a huge win for privacy, if Apple actually enforces it (They have given no guidance on how this will happen).

RangerScience2• 5 years ago

Yuuuup. It's unclear to me if this is collateral damage, but it's also wreaking havoc in directly measuring the impact of your own ads (ex: see and ad for an app, install the app, make a purchase in the app - folks want to be able to tell if that purchase is attributable to that ad).

Closi• 5 years ago

Folks want to be able to tell if that purchase is attributable to that ad

Well, marketers and advertisers want to be able to tell if the purchase is attributable.

Everyday folks typically either don't care or would actively prefer not to be tracked in this way.

propogandist2• 5 years ago

it doesn't stop device fingerprinting and there'll be a bigger dash from virtually every company to fingerprint the hell out of all devices, get geolocation data, hoard up all possible IP information (wifi), identify nearby bluetooth device information and secure additional data points to link devices to users.

clairity• 5 years ago

also, a little poke in the eye of google: apple is proxying google's safe browsing lookups through its own servers so google gets less direct info about ios users.

justapassenger3• 5 years ago

Protect yourself against one giant tech corporation, by sending all your data through other giant tech corporation.

Apple is really great at marketing.

tomjen34• 5 years ago

I don't know if I should be happy that Apple fixed that, or mad that they introduced the IDFA in the first place.

drak0n1c• 5 years ago

IDFA was initially introduced to discourage tracking via hardware such as serial numbers. Everything is an evolution.

rabuse3• 5 years ago

When the hell is Apple going to finally allow push notifications for the web?

ta9999• 5 years ago

Never, they make way to much money and have an incredible amount of power over developers by keeping it disabled.

People just leave you out of group chats if you don't have an iPhone now because building a decent chat application for iOS is too fucking hard.

adrr3• 5 years ago

Never. They make too much money off the App Store.

kiwijamo8• 5 years ago

Consider that users don't want notifications. I turn this off on other devices and I'm sure many others also do so.

turblety3• 5 years ago

You don't get notifications when you get a new Email or Social Message? You don't have Facebook/WhatsApp/Email?

If not, then I applaud you. If you do, but keep notifications off, that's kinda respectable too.

But I'm guessing you do get a notification when you get a new text message, chat message or email.

Why should only native apps, that go through a dictatorship approval process from Apple, be allowed to send you notifications.

Of course, you should always be able to say "No" to a site or app sending you notifications. This is the case on Android, as could be the case on Apple.

Progress Web Apps are opening up the potential for developers to spend less time on the *worst* development platforms (xcode and android studio), and more time on their product.

That being said, it would be cool if an app could not "force" notifications to be allowed. Like, you could choose "Allow", "Deny" or "Hide" which would trick the app into thinking you had allowed notifications, but then just not show them.

It would stop bad advert behaviour. Although, on Android, I have never seen this be abused (yet).

rabuse3• 5 years ago

That's why there's two buttons labeled "Allow" and "Don't Allow".

tomjen34• 5 years ago

Hopefully never. I website should not be able to do anything to my browser when i don't have it opened.

rabuse3• 5 years ago

Do you have apps installed with notifications?

halostatue• 5 years ago

Hopefully never.

I hard disable the permission to ask me for push notification permissions on every browser I can, because under no circumstances do I want a website to send me a push notification. Ever.

kccqzy• 5 years ago

The proxied safe browsing feature also launches as part of this release: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26110928

lwansbrough3• 5 years ago

Touch ID is an entirely superior technology and Apple is profoundly stupid for removing it. It doesn't have to be in the screen, just put it on the back. The lengths they'll go to offset the removal of Touch ID are astounding, from IR face tracking, to degraded biometric security, and now to requiring an Apple Watch to unlock the phone with your mask on. Talk about a Rube Goldberg machine.

conception• 5 years ago

Both is fine with me. FaceID is great for any time you've got gloves on.

I wish they had an external version of it, e.g. an apple keyboard with touchID or support for generic webcams for FaceID so it'd work when docked, etc.

crazygringo• 5 years ago

The new iMac has it on its external wireless keyboard.

So it's coming, just slowly.

FaceID surely won't ever work with webcams however -- it uses a custom-built depth sensor separate from the camera.

robertoandred• 5 years ago

Plain webcams don't have the 3d/infrared tech that FaceID uses.

csmiller• 5 years ago

The Apple Watch has a nice function where it can substitute for TouchID/password entry for things like unlocking your Mac, authorizing changes to settings, unlocking 1Password etc.

Makes using my laptop docked way more enjoyable.

https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/unlock-your-mac-with-a...

TetOn• 5 years ago

Apple Watch is not required; it is a convenience option that can be used to unlock the phone if you are masked.

lwansbrough3• 5 years ago

What I said was "requiring an Apple Watch to unlock the phone with your mask on", so I'm not sure what you're correcting.

esolyt• 5 years ago

Another reason to buy an Apple Watch. It works out perfectly for Apple.

apetrovic• 5 years ago

I have a dry skin and Touch ID works for me 50% if I'm lucky.

kiwijamo8• 5 years ago

I have sweaty skin and my success rate is at least as bad as yours. I confess to be very surprised at the love for TouchID here. I've used both TouchID and FaceID and I find the success rate of the latter to be much better. Perhaps we, dry and sweaty skins, are edge cases and most people apparently have 'normal' skin?

hkh282• 5 years ago

Completely agree. The new iPad Air even got it integrated in the sleep button, so Apple has the ability to continue offering Touch ID on all devices and keep the full screen display.

mirthflat834• 5 years ago

Sorry, it’s not. Face ID: Just pick up your phone and your phone automatically unlocks with your face. This experience is way superior than having to position your finger at a specific place every time you want to unlock it. Putting it on the back is even worse, you need to actually pick up your phone from the desk just to unlock it. I swear HN readers would create devices with the worst UX possible.

microtherion2• 5 years ago

I like Face ID with phones. For iPad, getting the angle right for the face to be recognized seems trickier, so overall the Touch ID experience was superior.

NoPicklez• 5 years ago

I'd argue that when I used to pick my phone up, I'd place my thumb on the touch ID location as I was raising the phone to my face and it would unlock quicker than face ID.

I don't have a problem with either options, but I do think touch ID was slightly faster.

lwansbrough3• 5 years ago

If you haven’t unlocked your phone by the time you’re looking at it you’re doing it slower than I am. Typically my phone is unlocked before I’ve even fully pulled it out of my pocket. The muscle memory for thumb (or finger placement if it’s on the back) is a pretty low barrier to usability, and can be learned quickly.

Can you unlock your phone without moving it in front of your face? I can, if it’s sitting across my desk I can unlock it without picking it up or moving my head towards it. I do this regularly.

Perhaps you’ve forgotten how many usability compromises you’ve made in using Face ID, but I guarantee it’s slower.

katbyte2• 5 years ago

they both have their place, but with touchid my phone is often unlocked before i even look at it or without looking at it which is nice at times.

stjohnswarts• 5 years ago

It's not "way superior" it's just different and slightly easier.

Dort• 5 years ago

Putting TouchID on the back would render it unusable for me due to my phone case.

drngdds• 5 years ago

Cases can (and do, for other devices) have a hole in the back for the fingerprint scanner

r00fus2• 5 years ago

I used to think that way, then I was forced (through damaged previous device) to consider a FaceID phone and I'm sold now.

Cooking with TouchID is an exercise in frustration.

Ideally I'd like them to be able to combine auth mechanisms but we can't have everything.

norbertdragan• 5 years ago

Apple should bring the same Touch ID-enabled power button to the iPhone that they have on the new iPad Air. That would make both the Touch ID and Face ID folks happy.

ascari• 5 years ago

I have sweaty palms most of the time so Touch ID has been a massive problem for me.

hipjiveguy• 5 years ago

touch id never works - i've tried it a ton of times, and it eventually forgets my fingerprints or something, and just stops working... max it works is like 2 weeks, then... it's like i'm a new person. I have even tried training the same finger lots of different times, still no luck. And I've tried it on iphone and mac, no go.

teekert3• 5 years ago

Hmm, I’m pretty sure I turned off “Personalized ads” under Privacy -> Apple ads, and now it’s back on. Or did I simply never turn this off before?

Anyway, where is that famous new setting? Nothing seems changed to me under “Privacy”?

Edit: I see iOS is still good at autocorrecting after I press “send”. Absolutely maddening.

gpsz• 5 years ago

It's still off for me, so perhaps you never turned it off?

famous new setting

Privacy -> Tracking

teekert3• 5 years ago

But that was there before, right? I’m pretty sure.

Edit: yeah I’m quite positive it was.

benhurmarcel• 5 years ago

Hmm, I’m pretty sure I turned off “Personalized ads” under Privacy -> Apple ads, and now it’s back on.

It stayed off after the update for me.

tinyprojects• 5 years ago

Everyone is missing the point. This is the start of a major battle between two tech juggernauts. One look at the Facebook ads manager will show you Facebook is very scared about this privacy update and trying to do everything in their power to mitigate it.

Apple is the gatekeeper and Facebook can't do anything about it. Their dominant revenue stream is about to be strangled.

I think Zuckerberg realizes he is screwed in the long run, and only his bet on VR with Oculus will save him.

xbar• 5 years ago

Perhaps a new version of the Facebook phone?

matdehaast• 5 years ago

Good chance FB will own the VR space from platform on a hardware and software level. My bet is they will be bigger in 10 years than they are now if VR materialises

zdbrandon• 5 years ago

A mountain sized “if”.

tinus_hn3• 5 years ago

If VR materializes and requires Facebook it’ll be ignored. We lived without VR for a long time, it really isn’t a necessity.

2OEH8eoCRo02• 5 years ago

Apple is the gatekeeper and Facebook can't do anything about it.

Antitrust. As much as I applaud Apple here- isn't this just more proof they they abuse their position?

lifty• 5 years ago

Antitrust for allowing the user to choose? I don’t think that would stand in court.

katbyte2• 5 years ago

is it? of all the possible antitrust things they do i think this is isn't one of them: protect the users and give them choice back? that would be a hard case to make

Izikiel43• 5 years ago

This is the start of a major battle between two tech juggernauts.

So are you saying it's time to make popcorn and watch the ensuing mayhem?

jonny_eh2• 5 years ago

only his bet on VR with Oculus will save him

Sorry, it won't.

ape4• 5 years ago

Siri can have different voices but she(?) is still called "Siri".

da_big_ghey2• 5 years ago

Yes, it is saying in announcement. She was given differing voice before in past, but it was needing configuration option for to enable some other. It is bad change though, now each person must make choice rather than having normal default.

elil172• 5 years ago

There have been male and female Siri voices for a long time. According to the Apple style guide: "When referring to Siri, simply use the name “Siri”. Do not refer to Siri with pronouns such as “she,” “him,” or “her.” Depending on language support, Siri may offer a male or female voice, or both."

rrebelo4• 5 years ago

Sorry for the shameless plug, but for those without an Apple Watch I've made a program [0] that implements the Unlock Mac with Bluetooth for any other device, including Android phones, Android Wear or Tizen watches or even some ear plugs.

[0] https://www.gadgetish.com/osx.html

Edit:

However, the Windows version works only with Android phones: https://www.gadgetish.com

artificialLimbs• 5 years ago

Enabled Umwelt in Accessibility (Big Sur).

Clicked allow updates.

Crashes every time I open. Displays check for updates screen, then immediately crashes.

rrebelo4• 5 years ago

Oh, thank you. I hadn't test it under Big Sur.

It seems there is an incompatibility with Big Sur in the Sparkle Framework (I use it for updates).

Will look into it.

alfiedotwtf2• 5 years ago

Anyone else sometimes put in their Apple Watch from the charger, and notice it’s already unlocked? I.e they never needed to unlock it?

snailmailman• 5 years ago

I think by default the apple watch unlocks when you unlock your phone. There is a setting to disable this if you'd like.

As a result, although my watch has a passcode i almost never type it in. It's easier to put on my watch and then unlock my phone.

alfiedotwtf2• 5 years ago

ah! I didn't know that... maybe that's what's happening each time I notice it. Thanks, I'll keep an eye out next time it happens. Thanks.

xyst3• 5 years ago

They integrated the "Waze-esque" feature into Apple Maps. Even Apple is getting their users to snitch on the PD. Siri is about to be the #1 public enemy of the traffic cops lol

daemoens• 5 years ago

That feature is so helpful on google maps. I have to drive through a bunch of small counties every week and they all have so many cops on side of the road.

heavyset_go3• 5 years ago

Good. If municipalities want to raise revenue from my driving, then they should either raise taxes or implement tolls, not implement speed traps designed to trick people from out of town.

elil172• 5 years ago

Unpopular opinion: people should just not speed. Even speeding just a little bit at high speeds drastically increases your car's emissions and is also dangerous (~40% increase in chance of death in a head on collision at 60 mph vs 55 mph). I don't think giving people a tool that helps them break what is in my mind a good/just/important law is the right move on Apple's part

nojito2• 5 years ago

Or you can just stop speeding

oseph• 5 years ago

I really hope Apple fixed the issue of wifi dropping out in iOS 14.5. It's been randomly dropping ever since iOS 13 (only device in the house that does), and I've been dinged by my provider in overage fees a few times because of it...

stackedinserter• 5 years ago

I had the same problem, it turned out that "Wi-Fi Assist" was enabled for some reason. After I disabled it it started working okay, at least I don't see "LTE" every time I pick the phone at home.

mhb• 5 years ago

Wow new emojis! Maybe some future update will make it possible to turn location services off in fewer than 5 taps.

teekert3• 5 years ago

But why does iOS still turn my alarm to max volume every now and then

xyst3• 5 years ago

So if I can unlock my phone with FaceID + Apple Watch + Mask. Then in theory, wouldn't ANY person with a mask be able to unlock my phone? If you steal the phone at the right time, and unlock the phone while wearing a mask and still be in proximity to the victim wearing the watch. You will have an unlocked iPhone at your disposal. Quickly disable all of the security features, remove the SIM, and now you have a $1000+ item you can fence.

djstein• 5 years ago

unlock is one thing. turning off security features requires another input of the actual pin passcode.

dagmx• 5 years ago

The watch vibrates on unlock with a prompt to lock the phone. It's also an opt in setting not an opt out.

It also only enables unlock and not other features that require face id

xyst3• 5 years ago

I see that, however is there a way to remotely lock the iPhone from the watch? There is a small window to tap the “Lock iPhone” button before it disappears and the phone is unlocked. Or a clever person throws the phone in a faraday cage and thus blocks the lock signal from the watch.

mttjj• 5 years ago

Sure, I guess that’s not out of the realm of possibility. But when you’re holding your keys in front of you when walking to your car to unlock it in the parking lot someone could snatch them out of your hand, sprint to your (unlocked car), turn on the car (because they have your keys), and speed off into the sunset. Now they have a $20k item. Possible? Yes. Practical enough to lose sleep over? Probably not.

maxgashkov• 5 years ago

For fucks sake it still requires the phone to recognize the fact that you're wearing the mask to allow AW unlock—and good luck if the mask isn't the one Apple trained this shit on or lighting conditions are not optimal.

I do want to look the manager who decided that in the eye. What serious attack vector is this supposed to close? Somebody sawing your hand off and unlocking your phone? You have much bigger problems then.

holografix• 5 years ago

Couldn’t care less about the screen lock issue. Don’t know why everyone is spitting the dummy about it.

As others have mentioned Facebook must be worries as their main (only?) revenue stream via ads could now lose significant appeal to marketers.

Could Facebook pivot to a product company and release a fantastic VR/AR device to lure gen z away from iPhones? A Facebook glass? It’ll be interesting to follow their hiring for VR related jobs

diebeforei4852• 5 years ago

This works basically as advertised, almost as fast as Face ID, and good haptics (plus a lock button) on your Watch. If you're on a bus and someone steals your phone, it can be locked immediately using the watch.

It does not do a "partial scan" of your eyes and forehead. It just detects a mask and triggers the Apple Watch unlock.

dot1x2• 5 years ago

This doesn't work for me at all. Have Watch Series 5, Iphone 12 MAX. Option is enabled, tried rebooting both devices, tried enabling/disabling it.

It's not like it fails, it literally never even tries to use the watch, goes directly to normal faceid.

Gone are the times when apple software would just work...

dot1x2• 5 years ago

Update:

Managed to make it work. I usually don't put the mask over my nose as, having glasses, makes them all foggy and I can't see anything (protip: I don't care about how effective that is, the mask for me is just the minimum to confirm to current regulations).

Seems that faceID is really anal about the mask being OVER the nose before it's recognized as a mask! This is why it wouldn't work before.

So if you're having problems, be sure to wear a mask as apple expect you to.

wadhwanisumeet• 5 years ago

Here's my take: https://www.toolbox.com/tech/it-strategy/news/apples-soon-to...

iOS 14.5 delivers Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch, new privacy controls, and more

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