2023 proved to be very busy for Apple, with updated hardware and software shipping, as well as a look at an entirely new platform coming early next year in the form of visionOS. This week, David and Stephen take a survey of the company’s year.
Basic Apple Guy’s Ugly Christmas Sweater Wallpapers ⇢
Well, the dogcow images are perfect.
Connected #480: Bichael Gurley ⇢
OTJ joins Federico and Stephen to talk about Threads joining the fediverse, recent and future software updates, how to use nets correctly and the winners of this year’s MacStories Selects awards.
On Connected Pro: being the main character on Twitter, and that time the Rock was in a Siri commercial. Get 20% off your first year of the ad-free, longer version of the show between now and Friday, December 15.
All About Apple Notes ⇢
I recently gave a presentation about Apple Notes to a Mac User Group in Texas, and recorded my talk. I hope you enjoy!
AirPods Pro USB-C Case Now For Sale ⇢
If getting Lightning out of your life is worth $99, I have good news for you.
Apple Expands Self Service Repair Program ⇢
Self Service Repair is now available for the iPhone 15 lineup and Mac models powered by the M2 lineup, including the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro, the 15-inch MacBook Air, Mac mini, Mac Pro, and Mac Studio. Self Service Repair is also now available for Apple users in 24 additional European countries, including Croatia, Denmark, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, and Switzerland. With this latest expansion, Self Service Repair now supports 35 Apple products in 33 countries and 24 languages.
Additionally, Apple Diagnostics for Self Service Repair is available today in the U.S., with availability in Europe to come next year. Intended for users with the knowledge and expertise to repair Apple devices, Apple Diagnostics troubleshooting sessions will give customers the same ability as Apple Authorized Service Providers and Independent Repair Providers to test devices for optimal part functionality and performance, as well as identify which parts may need repair.
Stolen Device Protection Coming with iOS 17.3 ⇢
Earlier this year, Joanna Stern and Nicole Nguyen did some excellent reporting about how easy it is for someone to own your Apple ID if they steal your iPhone.
Apple has responded with a new feature that has popped up in today’s beta of iOS 17.3. Michael Potuck has details at 9to5Mac:
Apple has thoughtfully created a two-tier system of how Stolen Device Protection works that offers a balance of user-friendliness while enhancing security.
For example, with the feature turned on, actions like using passwords or passkeys, applying for an Apple Card, turning off Lost Mode, erasing an iPhone, and using payment methods saved with an iPhone will require biometric authentication – no passcode fallback when away from familiar locations.
Stern and Nguyen have a list that provides more detail in their article about the new feature.
Biometrics are required to:
- Access iCloud Keychain passwords
- Apply for a new Apple Card
- Erase all content and settings
- Turn off Lost Mode
- Send Apple Cash to a bank account
- Use your iPhone to set up a new device
- Use payment methods saved in Safari
Biometrics + an hour wait are required to:
- Change your Apple ID password
- Enable recovery key
- Change trusted phone number or contact
- Add Face ID or Touch ID
- Remove Face ID or Touch ID
- Disable Find My
- Turn off Stolen Device Protection
This holiday season, make sure your loved ones have Touch ID or Face ID enabled on their devices.
Kbase Article of the Week: Mac OS X: About File System Journaling ⇢
Journaling is a feature that helps protect the file system against power outages or hardware component failures, reducing the need for directory repairs. This document explains some of the benefits of using this feature and how it works.
Journaling for the Mac OS Extended (HFS Plus) file system enhances computer availability and fault resilience, which is especially noteworthy for servers. Journaling protects the integrity of the file system on Xserve and other computers using Mac OS X Server in the event of an unplanned shutdown or power failure. It also helps to maximize the uptime of servers and connected storage devices by expediting repairs to the affected volumes when the system restarts.
When you enable journaling on a disk, a continuous record of changes to files on the disk is maintained in the journal. If your computer stops because of a power failure or some other issue, the journal is used to restore the disk to a known-good state when the server restarts.
Although you may experience loss of user data that was buffered at the time of the failure, the file system is returned to a consistent state. In addition, restarting the computer is much faster. Always remember to back up your data as frequently as necessary.
Revisiting Mac OS 9 ⇢
Dan Bashur at LowEndMac has a look at where Mac OS 9 is today.
Apple’s Journal App Ships ⇢
Journal, a new iPhone app available today, helps users reflect and practice gratitude through journaling, which has been shown to improve wellbeing. With Journal, users can capture and write about everyday moments and special events in their lives, and include photos, videos, audio recordings, locations, and more to create rich memories. On-device machine learning provides private, personalized suggestions to inspire journal entries, and customizable notifications help users develop their writing habits. With the new Journaling Suggestions API, third-party journaling apps can also suggest moments for users to write about. Journal and the Journaling Suggestions API are available with the release of iOS 17.2.
There’s no iPad or Mac version yet, which some may find frustrating. However, given all the suggested content stuff that the app is doing, Apple may not be ready to ship it on more than one device.
The version that is out now for the iPhone is very basic, without any import or export functionality, so I’m not considering leaving Day One any time soon anyway. Speaking of Day One, here’s more from the press release:
“The Journal app is an exciting development for us because it introduces the benefits of digital journaling to a wider audience and ushers in a new chapter for the practice,” said Paul Mayne, founder of the journaling app Day One. “We have integrated the Journaling Suggestions API into the Day One app to give our users an even richer experience that puts privacy at the forefront, and we can’t wait for them to try it.”
That is pretty exciting news.
Beeper Mini is (Kinda) Back ⇢
This whole saga reminds me of when Palm tried to get the Pre to sync with iTunes back in the day.
macOS Sonoma 14.2 Released ⇢
macOS Sonoma 14.2 introduces an Enhanced AutoFill feature for PDFs, which Apple announced earlier this year. It automatically identifies common fields like name and address, allowing them to be autofilled similar to a website.
In the Messages app, stickers can be added directly to chat bubbles with a tapback reply feature, and the catch-up arrow now jumps to the first unread message in a conversation. There are new Weather and Clock widgets, and a favorite songs playlist in Apple Music.