Apple has acquired Fleetsmith, a startup that helps IT manage Apple devices remotely

At a time where IT has to help employees set up and manage devices remotely, a service that simplifies those processes could certainly come in handy. Apple recognized that, and acquired Fleetsmith today, a startup that helps companies do precisely that with Apple devices.

While Apple didn’t publicize the acquisition, it has confirmed the deal with TechCrunch, while Fleetsmith announced the deal in a company blog post. Neither company was sharing the purchase price.

The startup has built technology that takes advantage of the Apple’s Device Enrollment Program allowing IT departments to bring devices online as soon as the employee takes it out of the box and powers it up.

At the time of its $30 million Series B funding last year, CEO Zack Blum explained the company’s core value proposition: “From a customer perspective, they can ship devices directly to their employees. The employee unwraps it, connects to Wi-Fi and the device is enrolled automatically in Fleetsmith,” Blum explained at that time.

Over time, the company has layered on other useful pieces beyond automating device registration like updating devices automatically with OS and security updates, while letting IT see a dashboard of the status of all devices under management, all in a pretty slick interface.

While Apple will in all likelihood continue to work with Jamf, the leader in the Apple device management space, this acquisition gives the company a remote management option at a time where it’s essential with so many employees working from home.

Fleetsmith, which has raised over $40 million from investors like Menlo Ventures, Tiger Global Management, Upfront Ventures and Harrison Metal will continue to sell the product through the company website, according to the blog post.

The founders put a happy on the face on the deal, as founders tend to do. “We’re thrilled to join Apple. Our shared values of putting the customer at the center of everything we do without sacrificing privacy and security, means we can truly meet our mission, delivering Fleetsmith to businesses and institutions of all sizes, around the world,” they wrote.

Fleetsmith lands $30M Series B to grow Apple device management platform

from Apple – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/3ewSPdA

iOS 14’s App Clips will save you from always needing ‘an app for that’

The App Store ecosystem today is home to nearly 2 million apps. That means finding new apps to download is now more challenging than ever. This, in turn, leads app developers to funnel more money into App Store Search ads, traditional SEO and digital advertising in an effort to acquire new users. A new feature called App Clips, arriving in iOS 14 later this year, will give developers another option to introduce their app to users. With App Clips, users can instead load just a small part of an app on demand, when required. And when they’re done, the App Clip disappears.

The concept behind App Clips isn’t new. Google’s Android platform has for several years offered tiny app-on-demand downloads called “Instant Apps.”

Like Instant Apps, Apple’s App Clips are about making apps as seamless to use as the web. They are fast, ephemeral and eliminate the barrier to entry that is downloading an app from the App Store.

Today, many users don’t want to bother with a full app download when they’re in a hurry. For example, if a user is trying to pay for parking, they’re more likely to swipe their credit card in the meter to save time, instead of downloading the city’s parking app.

A customer waiting in line to place a food or drink order also doesn’t want to bother downloading the restaurant’s app to browse a menu and pay — they’ll just speak their order at the counter. And a customer wanting to rent a scooter just wants to tap, pay and be on their way.

Image Credits: Apple

An App Clip would work in any of of these scenarios, and many others, by making it as easy to use apps as it is to tap to check out with Apple Pay or launch a website.

While Apple will allow users to launch clips by way of a QR code, a new “App Clip Code” arriving later this year will offer an upgraded experience to kicking off these apps you find suggested to you out in the real world. App Clip Codes will combine both NFC and a visual code, so users can either tap or scan the code to access the App Clip experience.

Image Credits: Apple

For example, an App Clip Code placed on a parking meter would allow a user to quickly load just the part of the app where they pay for their time. They can even skip manual credit card entry by using Apple Pay, if included in a given App Clip.

The App Clips themselves are less than 10 MB in size and ship bundled with the app on the App Store. They’re built using the same UI technologies developers use today to build apps, like UIKit or SwiftUI. But using an App Clip doesn’t trigger the app to download to the user’s device.

A key advantage App Clips offer is how they address concerns over data privacy. Because App Clips are essentially a way to run app code on demand, they’re restricted from tapping into iPhone’s more sensitive data — like health and fitness information, for example. Plus, the App Clip and all its data will automatically disappear if it’s not used again within some period of time.

However, if a user begins to launch a particular App Clip more regularly — perhaps one for their favorite coffee order at their local shop, for instance — the App Clip’s lifetime is extended and it can get smarter. In this example, the App Clip could cache the customer’s last order and present it as a recommendation, to speed up the ordering process. Eventually, this repeat user may decide to download the full app.

In that case, the hand-off is seamless as well — iOS will automatically migrate the authorizations for things like Camera, Microphone and Bluetooth access, which the App Clip had already requested. Select data can also be migrated.

Image Credits: Apple

There are other ways for users to encounter App Clips besides out in the real world, though that may be a primary use case.

Apple says App Clips can be sent as links in iMessage, popped up as a suggestion when you’re browsing a mobile site in Safari, shown on a business’s details page in Apple Maps or may appear in Siri’s Nearby suggestions.

The idea is that wherever a user may be on their device — or out in the world — the App Clip can be there, too.

from Apple – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/3esDXNF

Apple’s software updates give a glimpse of software in a COVID-19 era

Apple is responding to the COVID-19 crisis with a range of new features across its software platforms. Some are intended to directly combat the threat of the novel coronavirus, as with Apple Watch’s new handwashing feature. Other updates can be seen in a new light in the COVID-19 era. For example, your Apple Watch can track your TikTok dances as a “workout,” now that you’re not going to the gym. A new sleep feature pushes you to get more rest. Apple Maps has also added a dedicated cycling feature and can show you where to find hiking trails.

While many of the new features are more reactive in nature, the handwashing timer for Apple Watch aims to directly impact consumer behavior for the better.

Today, many people still don’t know how long to wash their hands or how to properly scrub them to reduce the spread of germs. Apple Watch wearers will get a push in the right direction, however. The new feature arriving in watchOS 7 later this year will be able to detect when handwashing has begun, using machine learning models that detect the motion of the Watch wearer’s hands. It will also use audio to confirm the sounds of water running or bubbles squishing.

Image Credits: Apple

This will make the Apple Watch the first to offer a handwashing detection feature.

As the wearer washes their hands, a countdown timer will appear on the watch face so you’ll know how long to wash. This will also use haptics and sounds to encourage you to continue, almost gamifying the experience. The device will also offer a little coaching along the way and will even push you to finish washing if you’ve stopped.

The feature is small but could have a notable impact on consumer behavior.

Image Credits: Apple

The Apple Watch will also push users to care about other aspects of their health and wellness. While that’s always been a key area of interest for Apple’s wearable platform, being healthy takes on a new level of importance in the COVID-19 era.

For instance, a new sleep tracking function for Apple Watch does more than count your zzz’s. It also helps users meet their sleep duration goals by allowing you to set both a bedtime and the time you want to wake up. The sleep tracking feature works in conjunction with iOS 14’s new “Wind Down” functionality, which will begin to minimize distractions ahead of your bedtime.

Image Credits: Apple

A calmer, notification-free home screen displays in the evenings so you can begin to transition from your wakeful, busy hours to a calmer, more relaxed state.

Wind Down shortcuts help you start to relax with quiet music or content from a meditation app.

At bedtime, your iPhone screen dims and your Apple Watch goes into sleep mode, turning the screen off. You can wake it with a tap if you want to check the time on a simple face.

Image Credits: Apple

As you sleep, the Watch uses machine learning to track your movements, even the rise and fall of your breath, to determine how you’re sleeping. You can later view your sleep trends, based on this tracking, in the Apple Health app.

In the morning, you can choose to wake up to a haptic vibration on your wrist, instead of a more jarring audible alarm. This could help you wake up without disturbing your partner, who may still be sleeping in.

Image Credits: Apple under a license.

Though Apple didn’t reference COVID-19 by name when introducing its new Apple Watch sleep tracking features, the company briefly noted that sleep is useful in “keeping you healthy.”

Other aspects where Apple addressed the COVID-19 crisis aren’t perhaps as obvious.

Apple Watch’s addition of “dance” as a Workout type in watchOS 7 could have been dreamed up for tracking cardio exercise classes, like Zumba. But today, it feels like a nod to all those Instagram Live DJ parties happening as people sheltered in place under government lockdowns. Or even an acknowledgement of how many users are “working out” by practicing the latest TikTok dance at home.

Image Credits: Apple

Meanwhile, Apple Maps was due to get cycling directions as part of its upgrade. But the way Apple designed its new biking feature is one that seems to understand that many people will reduce their reliance on public transit for years to come in favor of other transportation options.

And they’ll want more than just directions and route time.

Image Credits: Apple

Starting in major markets — New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Shanghai and Beijing — Apple Maps users will not only be able to calculate a biking route, but also will be able to see other aspects of that trip, like elevation changes or if there are bike lanes available.

Image Credits: Apple

The feature will even suggest if the biker should take a flight of stairs to save themselves time. And bikers can search for and add places optimized for cyclists, like bike repair shops, then place those on their route.

Then there is Apple Maps’ new “Guides” feature, largely a way to combat Google Maps’ Explore, powered by Google’s vast business data. Here, Apple has partnered with AllTrails to add information on hiking, at a time when outdoor activities have become one of the only ways we can safely entertain ourselves without fear of catching the virus.

In another response to the COVID-19 crisis, Apple has added the option for users to customize their Memoji — their personalized emoji — with face coverings, like a mask.

Though a minor tweak, the option gives users a chance to display their character as a mask wearer, which could help to destigmatize the idea of mask wearing in a market like the U.S., where it isn’t yet part of the cultural norm.

There was also a hint of how Apple understands the changes being wrought by COVID-19 in what it didn’t announce.

For example, Apple has been focused in recent years on addressing the growing criticism around the addictiveness of its iPhone device and its apps that constantly clamor for attention. It introduced a Screen Time platform in 2018 to allow iPhone owners to schedule time away from their devices, set limits on app usage, and more for either themselves or their kids. Last year, it expanded parental controls to limit who kids could call and FaceTime, and when, as part of this Screen Time system. It offered a way to more easily silence notifications. 

This go around, the concept of “too much screen time” is nowhere to be found.

This aligns with the choices consumers have made during COVID-19. According to App Annie, the global daily time spent per user on mobile increased 20% to 4 hours 20 minutes in April 2020 from 2019.

And as the pandemic rages, many parents have long since given up on reducing their kids’ screen time, as well.

Apple made no mention of upgrades in this area during its keynote. In fact, it presented device owners with a solution that’s more reflective of where we are now: With so many apps and games cluttering our iPhone, we can’t even find the ones we want anymore. The new iOS 14 user interface with its App Library and widgeting system is designed for a time when we’re using a lot of apps, not trying to distance ourselves from them. And Apple is here to accommodate that need.

from iPhone – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/3dtYRKI

Apple’s software updates give a glimpse of software in a COVID-19 era

Apple is responding to the COVID-19 crisis with a range of new features across its software platforms. Some are intended to directly combat the threat of the novel coronavirus, as with Apple Watch’s new handwashing feature. Other updates can be seen in a new light in the COVID-19 era. For example, your Apple Watch can track your TikTok dances as a “workout,” now that you’re not going to the gym. A new sleep feature pushes you to get more rest. Apple Maps has also added a dedicated cycling feature and can show you where to find hiking trails.

While many of the new features are more reactive in nature, the handwashing timer for Apple Watch aims to directly impact consumer behavior for the better.

Today, many people still don’t know how long to wash their hands or how to properly scrub them to reduce the spread of germs. Apple Watch wearers will get a push in the right direction, however. The new feature arriving in watchOS 7 later this year will be able to detect when hand washing has begun, using machine learning models that detect the motion of the Watch wearer’s hands. It will also use audio to confirm the sounds of water running or bubbles squishing.

Image Credits: Apple

 

This will make the Apple Watch the first to offer a handwashing detection feature.

As the wearer washes their hands, a countdown timer will appear on the watch face so you’ll know how long to watch. This will also use haptics and sounds to encourage you to continue, almost gamifying the experience. The device will also offer a little coaching along the way and will even push you to finish washing if you’ve stopped.

The feature is small but could have a notable impact on consumer behavior.

Image Credits: Apple

The Apple Watch will also push users to care about other aspects of their health and wellness. While that’s always been a key area of interest for Apple’s wearable platform, being healthy takes on a new level of importance in the COVID-19 era.

For instance, a new sleep tracking function for Apple Watch, does more than count your zzz’s. It also helps users meet their sleep duration goals by allowing you to set both a bedtime and the time you want to wake up. The sleep tracking feature works in conjunction with iOS 14’s new “Wind Down” functionality, which will begin to minimize distractions ahead of your bedtime.

A calmer, notification-free home screen displays in the evenings so you can begin to transition from your wakeful, busy hours to a calmer, more relaxed state.

Wind Down shortcuts help you start to relax with quiet music or content from a meditation app.

At bedtime, your iPhone screen dims and your Apple Watch goes into sleep mode, turning the screen off. You can wake it with a tap if you want to check the time on a simple face.

As you sleep, the Watch uses machine learning to track your movements, even the rise and fall of your breath, to determine how you’re sleeping. You can later view your sleep trends, based on this tracking, in the Apple Health app.

In the morning, you can choose to wake up to a haptic vibration on your wrist, instead of a more jarring audible alarm. This could help you wake up without disturbing your partner who may still be sleeping in.

Image Credits: Apple under a license.

Though Apple didn’t reference COVID-19 by name when introducing its new Apple Watch sleep tracking features, the company briefly noted that sleep is useful in “keeping you healthy.”

Other aspects where Apple addressed the COVID-19 crisis aren’t perhaps as obvious.

Apple Watch’s addition of “dance” as a Workout type in watchOS 7 could have been dreamed up for tracking cardio exercise classes, like Zumba. But today, it feels like a nod to all those Instagram Live DJ parties happening as people sheltered in place under government lockdowns. Or even an acknowledgement of how many users are “working out” by practicing the latest TikTok dance at home.

Image Credits: Apple

Meanwhile, Apple Maps was due to get cycling directions as part of its upgrade. But the way Apple designed its new biking feature is one that seems to understand that many people will reduce their reliance on public transit for years to come in favor of other transportation options.

And they’ll want more than just directions and route time.

Image Credits: Apple

Starting in major markets — New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Shanghai, and Beijing — Apple Maps users will not only be able to calculate a biking route, but will be also see other aspects of that trip, like elevation changes or if there are bikes lanes available.

Image Credits: Apple

The feature will even suggest if the biker should take a flight of stairs to save themselves time. And bikers can search for and add places optimized for cyclists, like bike repair shops, then place those on their route.

Then there is Apple Maps’ new “Guides” feature, largely a way to combat Google Maps’ Explore, powered by Google’s vast business data. Here, Apple has partnered with AllTrails to add information on hiking, at a time when outdoor activities have become one of the only ways we can safely entertain ourselves without fear of catching the virus.

In another response the COVID-19 crisis, Apple has added the option for users to customize their Memoji — their personalized emoji — with face coverings, like a mask.

Though a minor tweak, the option gives users a chance to display their character as a mask wearer, which could help to destigmatize the idea of mask wearing in a market like the U.S. where it isn’t yet part of the cultural norm.

There was also a hint of how Apple understands the changes being wrought by COVID-19 in what it didn’t announce.

For example, Apple has been focused in recent years on addressing the growing criticism around the addictiveness of its iPhone device and its apps that constantly clamor for attention. It introduced a Screen Time platform in 2018 to allow iPhone owners to schedule time away from their devices, set limits on app usage, and more for either themselves or their kids. Last year, it expanded parental controls to limit who kids could call and FaceTime, and when, as part of this Screen Time system. It offered a way to more easily silence notifications. 

This go around, the concept of “too much screen time” is nowhere to be found.

This aligns with the choices consumers have made during COVID-19. According to App Annie, the global daily time spent per user on mobile increased 20% to 4 hours 20 minutes in April 2020 from 2019.

And as the pandemic rages, many parents have long since given up on reducing their kids’ screen time, as well.

Apple made no mention of upgrades in this area during its keynote. In fact, it presented device owners with a solution that’s more reflective of where we are now: with so many apps and games cluttering our iPhone, we can’t even find the ones we want anymore. The new iOS 14 user interface with its App Library and widgeting system is designed for a time when we’re using a lot of apps, not trying to distance ourselves from them. And Apple is here to accommodate that need.

from Apple – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/3dtYRKI

Daily Crunch: Apple’s big day

We round up Apple’s news from its big WWDC keynote, Wirecard’s CEO is arrested and Facebook acquires another VR studio.

Here’s your Daily Crunch for June 23, 2020.

1. Here’s everything Apple announced in the WWDC 2020 keynote

Apple announced a number of changes for iOS 14, including widgets and an automatically sorted app library. It’s also rolling out a new feature called App Clips — tiny, fast, lightweight mini-apps that don’t require a download.

Also discussed: New updates to iPad OS, AirPods, Apple Watch, privacy, HomeKit and MacOS.

2. Apple is building its own processors for future Macs

One more big piece of news from the virtual keynote: Tim Cook officially announced that the company will be producing its own processors for its desktops and laptops — one of the biggest changes in the company’s long computing history. As has been rumored for years now, Apple is moving away from its reliance on Intel, onto its own ARM-based chips.

3. After its billion-euro implosion, Wirecard’s former CEO is arrested for fraud

Braun turned himself in to German authorities on the same day Wirecard admitted that $2.1 billion the company had reported on its balance sheet did not exist. He has since been released on €5 million bail.

4. Facebook acquires VR studio behind ‘Lone Echo’

Facebook has been on a game studio acquisition spree over the past year, buying up developers behind some of the most popular VR titles. That trend continued with the company’s acquisition of Ready at Dawn Studios, the developer behind the Lone Echo games, one of Oculus’ most successful series.

5. Dear Sophie: What does the Supreme Court’s DACA decision mean for employers?

Sophie Alcorn discusses what the recent Supreme Court decision means for recruitment and retention, and how tech companies can support colleagues who need immigration security. (Extra Crunch membership required.)

6. French contact-tracing app StopCovid has been activated 1.8 million times but only sent 14 notifications

Downloads are one thing, but StopCovid hasn’t led to a lot of notifications. Only 68 StopCovid users have declared they’ve been diagnosed COVID-19-positive in the app, and in the end, StopCovid has only sent 14 notifications over the past three weeks.

7. Hulu announces a new offer-focused ad format called GatewayGo

This makes good on Hulu’s statement at the beginning of the year that it would be rolling out ads that are more transactional — so viewers can act on an ad right away, and advertisers get a concrete measurement of an ad’s impact.

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here.

from Apple – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2A0Evv6

Apple will soon let developers challenge App Store rules

Apple has announced an upcoming change to App Store rules that could mark a major shift in how the marketplace operates. Developers will soon be able to challenge not just the rejection of an app, but the rule that prompted that rejection. Bug fixes will also no longer be held up by rule violations.

In a blog post about changes for apps and developers, Apple noted these major additions with remarkably little fanfare:

First, developers will not only be able to appeal decisions about whether an app violates a given guideline of the App Store Review Guidelines, but will also have a mechanism to challenge the guideline itself. Second, for apps that are already on the App Store, bug fixes will no longer be delayed over guideline violations except for those related to legal issues.

App Store rules have been in the headlines this week due to a fracas over monetization that saw the new email service Hey rejected from the platform over a reluctance to share its subscription revenue with Apple.

While the issue is hardly new and it seems unlikely that a high-profile play like Hey (from Basecamp co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson) was unaware that this would happen, this isn’t the first criticism of Apple’s one-size-fits-all business model for apps.

In an interview with TechCrunch, Apple’s Phil Schiller said the company was not considering any changes to the rules that would allow Hey — and other apps with similar models — to operate on the App Store without surrendering a significant cut of its income.

Interview: Apple’s Schiller says position on Hey app is unchanged and no rules changes are imminent

But while Apple may not be considering changing the rules immediately, it seems from today’s announcement that the rules may change eventually. Exactly how feedback from developers would be solicited, processed, and weighed is not addressed, but we can probably expect to hear more during this week’s many developer sessions (and during which suggestions will no doubt begin to be submitted).

The second change takes a bit of the pressure off app developers that may find themselves, as Hey did, blocked from providing security updates because of business concerns. Separating the two seems only right, since Apple doesn’t want its users at risk because negotiations haven’t concluded. It shrinks the size of the stick that Apple wields against recalcitrant developers, but ultimately results in less risk for everyone involved.

The changes to App Store rules will be arriving this summer, and more details will surely be forthcoming before then.

from Apple – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2V8lQoh

Apple unveils iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur features for India, China and other international markets

Apple is rolling out a range of new features and improvements that are aimed at users in India, China and other international markets with its yearly updates to iOS, iPadOS, and macOS operating systems.

iOS 14, which will roll out to users later this year, introduces new bilingual dictionaries to support French and German; Indonesia and English; Japanese and Simplified Chinese; and Polish and English. For its users in China, one of Apple’s biggest overseas markets, the company said the new operating system will introduce support for Wubi keyboard.

For users in India, Apple is adding 20 new document fonts and upgrading 18 existing fonts with “more weights and italics” to give people greater choices. For those living in the world’s second largest internet market, Mail app now supports email addresses in Indian script.

Apple said it will also deliver a range of additional features for India, building on the big momentum it kickstarted last year.

Messages now feature corresponding full-screen effects when users send greetings such as “Happy Holi” in one of the 23 Indian local languages.

More interestingly, iOS 14 will include smart downloads, which will allow users in India to download Indian Siri voices and software updates as well as download and stream Apple TV+ shows over cellular networks — a feature that is not available elsewhere in the world.

The feature further addresses the patchy networks that are prevalent in India — despite major improvements in recent years. Last year, Apple enabled improved video downloading option for users in India, allowing them to set an optimized time of the day in video streaming apps such as Hotstar and Netflix for downloading videos.

New improvements further shows Apple’s growing focus on India, the world’s second largest smartphone market. Apple chief executive Tim Cook said earlier this year that the company would launch its online store in the country later this year, and open its first physical store next year.

iOS 14 will also allow users in Ireland and Norway to utillize the autocorrection feature as the new update supports Irish Gaelic and Norwegian Nynorsk. And there’s also a redesigned Kana keyboard for Japan, which will enable users to type numbers with repeated digits more easily on the redesigned Numbers and Symbols plane.

All the aforementioned features — except Mail getting support for email addresses in Indian script and smart downloads for India — will also ship with iPadOS 14. And the aforementioned new bilingual dictionaries, new fonts for India, and localized messages are coming to macOS Big Sur. Additionally, Apple says on the desktop operating system it has also enhanced predictive input for Chinese and Japanese results in more accurate and contextual predictions.

Here’s everything Apple announced in the WWDC 2020 keynote today

from Apple – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2B28dQJ