512 Pixels

Julie Jargon has a piece for The Wall Street Journal ( Apple News link) about the state of Apple’s Screen Time software:

The company’s cloud-based Family Sharing system is designed in part for parents to remotely schedule off-limits time and restrict apps and adult content on their children’s iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch models. Trouble is, parents are finding that when they use their iPhones to set restrictions on their kids’ devices, the changes don’t stick.

“We are aware that some users may be experiencing an issue where Screen Time settings are unexpectedly reset,” an Apple spokeswoman said. “We take these reports very seriously and we have been, and will continue, making updates to improve the situation.”

I’ve run into this a couple of times on my kids’ devices and thought I was losing my mind, and it’s nothing new:

Apple previously acknowledged the bug, calling it “an issue where Screen Time settings may reset or not sync across all devices.” However, the company had reported the issue fixed with iOS 16.5, which came out in May. In our testing the bug persists, even with the new public beta of iOS 17.

I don’t understand how this has made it past Apple’s QA process on more than one occasion.

Denise Hill, writing for NASA:

A series of planned commands sent to NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft on July 21 inadvertently caused the antenna to point 2 degrees away from Earth. As a result, Voyager 2 is currently unable to receive commands or transmit data back to Earth.

Voyager 2 is located almost 12.4 billion miles (19.9 billion kilometers) from Earth and this change has interrupted communication between Voyager 2 and the ground antennas of the Deep Space Network (DSN). Data being sent by the spacecraft is no longer reaching the DSN, and the spacecraft is not receiving commands from ground controllers.

Thankfully, this shouldn’t be the end of the nearly 50-year mission, as the spacecraft is is programmed to reset its orientation several times a year, and should do so on October 15, restoring the trickle of data from one of the most amazing feats of engineering ever created.

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This week on the show:

David and Stephen check out some additional Safari extensions, answer some listener questions, discuss the Studio Display and address a recent controversy about the sailing workout type on the Apple Watch.

This week on Connected:

After handling some feedback about leather and batteries, Stephen, Myke and Federico consider applying for a Vision Pro Developer Kit, talk about the Beats Studio Pro and try to understand what’s happening at Twitter. Errrr, X.

Sarah Perez, writing at TechCrunch:

The owner of the @x Twitter handle confirmed that the company, now known as X, took over his account without warning or financial compensation, telling him the handle is a property of X. The handle had previously belonged to Gene X Hwang of the corporate photography and videography studio Orange Photography. In a letter, the company formerly known as Twitter thanked Hwang for his loyalty and offered him a selection of X merchandise and a tour of X’s HQ, as a “reflection of our appreciation.”

I just hope Hwang can get past the police tape during the office tour.

Jay Peters, writing about today’s update to Threads:

The much-needed Following feed is unfortunately a bit hidden: you can make it appear by tapping the home icon at the bottom of the screen or the Threads logo at the top. Once you see it, you can switch between “Following,” which shows posts in reverse-chronological order, and “For You,” which is the algorithmically sorted feed the app has offered since launch.

But a few of us at The Verge noticed that Threads will occasionally rehide the Following feed and bring you back to the For You feed after you open the app. (You can test it for yourself by force closing and reopening the app.) Unfortunately, it sounds like that’s by design, based on a statement from Meta.

“For You is the default experience when you open the Threads app,” Meta spokesperson Seine Kim tells The Verge. We’ve asked Kim if Meta plans to add a way to set Following as a default in the future.

I am so glad to see this feature, but I’m not holding my breath that Meta will give the option so many of us want.

Apple:

Get direct support from Apple as you develop your apps and games for visionOS. Learn about upcoming events, testing opportunities, and other programs to support you as you create incredible experiences for this platform.

I can’t wait to see what my favorite indie developers are going to come up with.

Apple Support:

If you don’t have access to the Google Play Store, you can download the Move to iOS app directly.

Ah yes, sideloading.

Thanks to reader Ari for sending this one in.

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Chuck Joiner has been covering Apple since 2000 and has been a user longer than that. This week on MPU, he joins David and me to talk about what makes the Apple community special, how the company’s tools enable its users and some of his favorite apps and services.

I find something about this story charming, then I think about how much antique hardware and software is helping keep the U.S. government up and running.