ios Archives - insertSubview

Apple rolls out iOS 16.4 beta 1

February 17, 2023 by Brenton

NASA Visualization Explorer Now Available For All iOS Devices

Apple is back with a new round of betas today, this time for iOS 16.4, iPadOS 16.4, macOS 13.3, tvOS 16.4, and watchOS 9.4. Apple hasn’t released any betas since iOS 16.3 reached general availability in January.

iOS 16.4 beta 1 includes a number of changes, including support for new Unicode 15 emojis, manual and automatic updates for Matter accessories.

There’s also new support for OAuth and other types of authorisation requests from SwiftUI, but perhaps the most notable feature included in 16.4 are the changes made to Safari and WebKit. Push notification support is being added for web apps. However, push notifications will only be supported for web apps added to a user’s home screen. In total, Apple says 135 new features are included in WebKit as part of Safari 16.4.

And notably for developers, from iOS 16.4 onwards you’ll be able to opt-in to developer betas directly from the Settings app as long as you’re signed in with the Apple ID used to enrol into the Apple Developer program. Otherwise you’ll only be able to opt-in to the public beta program. Apple will cease issuing configuration profiles in future releases of iOS.

Microsoft shuts down SwiftKey for iOS

September 29, 2022 by Brenton

ZDNet:

As of October 5, support for SwiftKey iOS will end and it will be delisted from the Apple App Store. Microsoft will continue support for SwiftKey Android as well as the underlying technology that powers the Windows touch keyboard. For those customers who have SwiftKey installed on iOS, it will continue to work until it is manually uninstalled or a user gets a new device. Please visit Support.SwiftKey.com for more information.

The writing has been on the wall for SwiftKey for iOS for sometime now. The app itself hasn’t been updated in more than a year, with the the addition of Emoji search back on August 11, 2021.

Meanwhile the Android app has continued to receive numerous updates, with the most recent just a fortnight ago on September 15.

With Microsoft refusing to comment further on the reasons behind the shutdown, we can only speculate for now. But it’s easy to see how iOS’ more closed system may have prevented the team from adding additional functionality that is permitted on Android, such as clipboard sync.

Apple to enforce account deletion rule from June 30

May 30, 2022 by Brenton

Apple will soon be enforcing that apps that allow users to create accounts must also allow users to request the accounts to be deleted.

The rule was first meant to come into effect on January 31, 2022 but Apple delayed it until to June 30th amidst the ongoing COVID pandemic and ‘complexity of implementing this requirement’.

As a reminder, Apple says customers don’t necessarily need to be able to delete their account immediately from within your app. Instead they must be able to have a mechanism for starting the account deletion process, particularly in highly regulated industries.

Apple also highlights the following points:

The account deletion option should be easy to find in your app.
It’s insufficient to only provide the ability to temporarily disable or deactivate an account. People should be able to delete the account along with their personal data.
Apps in highly-regulated industries may need to provide additional support flows to confirm and facilitate the account deletion process.
Follow applicable legal requirements for storing and retaining user account information. This includes complying with local laws in different countries or regions. As always, check with your legal counsel.
Apple Developer News