Mac OS 10.13.4 also dropped according to apple. Matthew
> On Mar 29, 2018, at 9:19 PM, M. Taylor <[email protected]> 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%2Farstechnica.com%2Fgadgets%2F2018%2F03%2Fapple-releases-ios-11-3-the-biggest-&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cf6afb4fc2c0146ab4f1108d595dc52a4%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636579695863378711&sdata=Jmyas9CgdLu3Cne3FzFx0b2b61%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: > [email protected]. 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