At WWDC this year, Apple announced its plans to add support for storing ID cards in the Wallet application. New documents obtained by CNBC offer more details on the behind the scenes agreements between Apple and governments in states where it is launching this feature.
The documents in question were obtained through public record requests and “other sources,” the report says. The agreement between Apple and the states “mostly portrays Apple as having a high degree of control over the government agencies responsible for issuing identification cards.”
As a refresher, Apple has said that support for storing digital IDs in Apple Wallet will launch in a handful of states at first, with the rollout taking place on a state-by-state basis going forward. The initial lineup of states includes Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Utah.
CNBC obtained documents showing the agreements between Apple and Georgia, Arizona, Kentucky and Oklahoma. The documents show that Apple has “sole discretion” over the rollout of the technology behind storing IDs in Apple Wallet.
In the agreement, Apple also says that the states must allocate necessary resources to the program:
States have to agree to “allocate reasonably sufficient personnel and resources (e.g., staff, project management and funding) to support the launch of the Program on a timeline to be determined by Apple,” according to the documents. That includes performing quality testing that the digital IDs work “in accordance with Apple’s certification requirements” across various Apple devices.
Furthermore, the agreement outlines that states must “prominently feature the Program in all public-facing communications relating to Digital Identity Credentials.” Apple must also be granted “prior review and approval” of all marketing materials.
The liability is also on the states when it comes to verifying IDs:
Importantly, in its contract, Apple shifts responsibility for confirming the authenticity of user identities onto states: “Apple shall not be liable for any Verification Results, and Agency acknowledges that all Verification Results are provided AS IS and without any warranty, express, implied or otherwise, regarding its accuracy or performance.”
The state governments and agencies are responsible for financing all of these efforts, including maintaining the systems needed to issue and service the digital IDs as well as marketing.
All these efforts are paid for by states. The contract says that “except as otherwise agreed upon between the Parties, neither Party shall owe the other Party any fees under this Agreement.”
The full report at CNBC is well worth a read and can be found here.
Google is rolling out a trio of productivity updates to its iPhone and iPad productivity apps. Notably, Gmail will get a homescreen widget, while iOS Picture-in-Picture is now available for Google Meet.
Gmail is getting another widget on iOS after the original was quietly removed sometime in the past year. The screenshot Google shared today shows your inbox with three recent emails that note the sender and subject.
What account they originate from is highlighted in the top-left corner by your profile picture, while there’s a compose FAB at the left. Functionality-wise, it’s identical to the Android version, which is due for a Material You overhaul. The iOS widget will be available in Gmail over the “next few weeks.”
Meanwhile, Google recently added Picture-in-Picture support to Meet. It’s a fairly standard implementation with the ability to resize the window. A PiP is also coming to the integrated video calling experience in mobile Gmail over the “next few weeks.”
For example, you might want to forward an email, share a document or just look something up while you’re chatting. Simply navigate out of the Google Meet app, and your meeting will be minimized in a window that you can move around your Home Screen.
The last upcoming update will see Google Sheets add support for shortcuts — hold down the command key to see a list of available ones:
Shortcuts make it easier to complete common and advanced tasks on Google Sheets using a small keyboard — like selecting a whole row or finding and replacing certain values.
Google is all-in on Rich Communication Services (RCS) as its main consumer messaging strategy. That said, Google Messages is working on the ability to have video usually sent over MMS be sent using Google Photos instead.
About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.
The Google Messages 10.4 beta reveals work, which looks to just be getting underway, on this capability. We’ve enabled a new preference in Settings called “Google Photos”:
Share sharper clarity video in text (SMS/MMS)
From that brief description, it seems that users will be able to send a video over Google Photos instead of using MMS when in a text/SMS conversation. This will presumably involve the video being uploaded directly to Google Photos with the other user receiving a link, rather than the video itself going over the SMS/MMS network.
There could be some integration where the clip plays directly in the Messages app instead of taking users to Photos, or it could be the standard Photos sharing URL. Another question is how integrated this experience will be in regards to sharing permissions and avoiding duplicate uploads. For instance, will videos sent via Messages appear in the Google Photos “Sharing” tab?
With RCS adoption increasing in the future, this capability, if it launches, makes for an interesting stopgap measure. When you send images and videos as “chats,” they are uploaded to the cloud, and the recipient, behind the scenes, receives a link that automatically loads/plays in Messages. Quality is already a solved problem in RCS.
Then again, MMS video quality is quite bad, and any improvement would be a meaningful upgrade for users.
The wonderful kids’ app Pok Pok Playroom has got its latest update today with “Blocks.” This timeless toy is great for open-ended play that builds spatial awareness, creative thinking, fine motor skills, physics fundamentals, and much more.
Shortly after launching, Pok Pok won an Apple Design Award and the app has been launching regular updates adding new engaging toys and features.
Today’s update with Blocks offers endless possibilities to play and be creative:
We are so excited to bring our version of Blocks to Pok Pok Playroom today! It’s as simple and tactile as we could make it. We recorded real wooden blocks and toys in our Toronto studio to create the sound effects, and spend weeks fine-tuning the way each block moves, collapses and falls on others.
Blocks gives kids the opportunity to build patience, creativity, self-regulation, fine motor abilities, memory, problem-solving skills, and more. It also introduces them to important STEM fundamentals like physics, gravity and balance while leaving them the freedom to play however they choose.
Pok Pok Playroom is available from the App Store with a free 14-day trial. After that, it runs $3.99/month or $29.99/year.
During the very early days at Pok Pok we started talking about toy blocks. Not as a toy in the Playroom, but the wooden toy on our living room floors at home. Our wooden block sets were the pinnacle of our own childhoods, and now they’re those of our own children’s, too.
We’ve always been heavily inspired by the possibilities that even the simplest set of wooden blocks affords children—endless opportunities for creativity, exploration, imagination and learning—and wanted to find a way to bring it to life in a digital space.
Blocks spark wonder. They foster ideas. They fuel creativity.
There’s something timeless about blocks. They can be played with in an infinite number of ways (building up, knocking over, making patterns, role playing, mixing them with other toys…) and are the kind of toy that kids continuously go back to for years throughout their childhood. Our own kids might occasionally step (or crawl) away from them to play with the newest toy in our playroom at home, but they always return to their blocks. Blocks spark wonder. They foster ideas. They fuel creativity.
We always wanted to bring the openness and limitlessness of wooden blocks into Pok Pok, and though it seemed like a simple enough task, it’s taken some finessing to make it just right for our digital Playroom.
We are so excited to bring our version of Blocks to Pok Pok Playroom today! It’s as simple and tactile as we could make it. We recorded real wooden blocks and toys in our Toronto studio to create the sound effects, and spend weeks fine-tuning the way each block moves, collapses and falls on others.
Discover a vast collection of minimalist building blocks, ripe for imagination and construction.
How kids learn with Blocks
Blocks gives kids the opportunity to build patience, creativity, self-regulation, fine motor abilities, memory, problem-solving skills, and more. It also introduces them to important STEM fundamentals like physics, gravity and balance while leaving them the freedom to play however they choose.
As always in our Playroom, there is no right or wrong way to play with Blocks. Kids will get creative and use their imaginations to collect, construct and create anything they put their minds to. Perhaps they’ll tell stories, make patterns or try to build recongizable objects. Or, maybe they’ll come up with something completely original! Blocks is here to foster limitless creativity, so the sky is truly the limit!
Kids can play with Blocks in countless different ways, like to explore gravity.
Apple this year made some significant changes to Safari with iOS 15, which has been repaginated with a new unified address bar at the bottom of the screen. While this change upset a number of iOS users, Samsung is now following Apple with a new option to move the address bar of its mobile web browser to the bottom — just like Safari.
The new layout was added with an update to the Samsung Internet beta app, which is now available for the company’s Android smartphones.
By going to the Layout and Menu settings in the browser preferences, there’s now an “Address bar position” option. There, users can choose between the classic web browser layout and the new one with the unified address bar at the bottom of the screen.
With the “Bottom” option enabled, the Samsung Internet app looks quite similar to Safari in iOS 15. The address bar is displayed on top of the navigation controls and buttons for managing tabs, sharing, and other app settings.
well gee samsung, I wonder why you suddenly decided to add this option now to your browser, I just can't fathom a guess pic.twitter.com/WTTI98OwQv
It’s worth noting that Apple wasn’t the first company to try out a similar layout for a mobile web browser, as other companies such as Google have tried this years ago. However, Samsung seems to have decided to change the layout of its web browser soon after Apple did so.
After several complaints, Apple let users revert Safari to the old design in iOS 15, although the new layout still comes enabled by default. The company has also released updates to the iPadOS and macOS versions of Safari that reverts the controversial design changes.
One of the best features of Google Pixel phones is Call Screen, an easy way to handle spam calls without actually picking up the phone. This week, the feature is officially expanding past the US, Canada, and Japan to seven new regions.
Flying under the radar on Pixel 6 launch day last week, Google quietly revealed that Call Screen would expand to seven more countries. These countries specifically include:
UK
France
Germany
Australia
Ireland
Italy
Spain
We’ve since found that the feature was rolling out in the UK early this week and reports have since come in from France, Australia, and Germany.
It’s worth noting that the feature is limited in these additional countries compared to how it works in the US, Canada, and Japan. Call Screen on Pixel phones in these countries will be limited to its manual form, rather than supporting the automatic screening feature that allows the phone to detect spam calls on its own and screen those on your behalf. That option was first rolled out to Pixel owners in the US at the end of 2019.
Call Screen helps users in the U.S., Canada and Japan screen 37 million calls each month, and today we’re expanding manual Call Screen to Pixel users in the U.K., France, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Italy and Spain. Our latest on-device speech models make the transcriptions more accurate than ever on Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro thanks to Pixel’s new Google Tensor.
After waiting what felt like ages, Android 12 has arrived with a literal mountain of changes, tweaks, and tuning to sink your teeth into. We’ve whittled or distilled our deep dive down to a selection of 20 of the best features added in Android 12 — features we think you’ll really love right away.
We’re going beyond Material You here though. The wallpaper-based theming approach sure is different to what we’ve seen on Pixel hardware in years prior, but there are some things to love and even a few things to hate — a lack of independent customization being one sore point for just about everyone.
Even so, selecting 20 of the top features in Android 12 is no easy task. With over 100 new user-facing additions, functions, and tweaks, there is so much here to try out for yourself. We have done the hard work, so you don’t have to.
One-handed mode
The fact that it has taken until Android 12 to even get a dedicated one-handed mode in AOSP is quite shocking. Then when you consider the way it has been implemented owes a lot to iOS and the “Reachability” mode, and you’ll scratch your head wondering why we have waited to get the option.
However long the wait, it’s just nice to have the option to use larger smartphones without requiring hand gymnastics or huge hands. Unfortunately, you cannot access the one-handed mode unless you are happy to use gesture navigation.
Quick tap
Yet another feature that has been so long in the making that we were beginning to wonder if it would ever arrive. You might not even remember Quick tap as it was originally codenamed “Columbus.” Basically, this new gesture lets you double-tap the back of your Pixel to do things like activating the flashlight, activating the Google Assistant, taking screenshots, or launching an app.
It took Google so long to implement that iOS has had the option for over a year at this point. You need to enable the feature, and it’s a great way to access common parts of Android without needing to unlock your device.
Microphone/camera access dots
People are rightly taking privacy on their smartphones and connected devices more seriously. The number of permissions that many apps request upon first launch and accepted without much thought can be remedied. If an app is concurrently or has very recently accessed any of your on-device cameras or the microphones, you’ll see a small green dot or icon at the upper-right of your smartphone display.
This is just a quick indicator that an app or service has accessed either hardware. Expanding the notification shade and tapping the icon informs you just which app has done so. An extended feature as part of the wider Privacy controls lest you quickly disable or enable Microphone and Camera access from the Quick Toggles section on a whim.
Game dashboard
If you’re a big mobile gamer then the dedicated Game dashboard will be a very important new addition. Built directly into Do Not Disturb mode, Game dashboard brings a floating pop-up menu with a few extra tweaks and controls to enhance your mobile gaming.
This allows you to screen record, get frame rate indicators and ensures that any incoming calls and texts are silencing when you’re deep into your favorite mobile games.
Picture-in-picture mode tweaks/tuning
Android 12 brings some enhancements to the picture-in-picture mode, which makes a big difference to the experience. To better fit with the rest of the “rounded” aesthetic, the playback windows do away with sharp corners with what could be considered a more “pill-shaped” player.
There is a new ability to “stash” a playing video so that UI portions are not obstructed. This means that background playback doesn’t affect anything you’re currently doing. When you dismiss or close a playing window, the animation envelops the player and it snaps or “pops” out of view.
Verified links
The process of opening an app from a URL should be much easier with “Verified link” in Android 12. Effectively, these are URLs that specifically state that it should open an app and are able to bypass the old “open with” dialog that would show on previous versions of Android.
You likely won’t even notice the feature in action as it just acts automatically and streamlines your day-to-day UI experience. Heading into the Settings app, you can change the behavior of verified links on an app-by-app basis.
Link/image sharing from Recents menu
To save some time, you can quickly grab web page links and images on web pages or in apps courtesy of a quick-select option within the Recent apps screen. When viewing the Recents section, web pages will include a “link” icon or an “image” icon.
Tapping the “link” icon brings up a color-coordinated site link that can be copied or shared directly. Alternatively, you can drag the link icon to a recent contact or into a “more” option, which will launch the wider Share Sheet.
When tapping the “image” icon a similar menu will launch but this will include “Lens” and “Save” options. Similarly, dragging downwards opens up three recent contacts or apps with the ability to drag into a “more” option which also launches a wider Share Sheet.
Scrolling screenshots
Yet another long-overdue addition but an important one nonetheless. Scrolling screenshots are finally here in Android 12 and represents one of the top or most requested features over the past few years. The implementation is not dissimilar to how it has been added in various third-party Android skins from the likes of OnePlus and Xiaomi.
Just take a screenshot and if the app or screen can be expanded, you will get a “Capture more” toggle appearing in the bottom-left preview pop-up. At the moment, this doesn’t work everywhere. A case in point is that of Chrome, which isn’t yet working with the Scrolling screenshot feature.
Ongoing call chip
Although this feature is not completely reliant on Android 12, when using Google Phone as your default dialer a status bar “chip” will give you at-a-glance information on call progress/timings. This does appear to adapt or change based upon Dynamic Color theming on devices where color-tuning and accenting is currently supported.
This works as a semi-replacement for the pop-up “bubbles” that offers call controls and gives quick access to return to a call in-progress. Unlike bubbles, a status bar call chip fully minimizes phone calls without affecting any other apps you have open or are using at a particular point in time. Tapping reopens your call and minimizing or opening another app will return the call to the status bar chip.
Universal device search
Provided you use the Pixel Launcher as your default home screen, when accessing the app drawer there is an expanded Universal device search option within Android 12. This expanded search lets you find contacts, messages, email, and apps so long as you use the default launcher on Pixel phones.
It’s worth noting that you can access the feature automatically by enabling the keyboard each time you swipe up into the Pixel Launcher app drawer. Alternately, you can just access via the search bar at the top of the app drawer as and when you see fit.
Face control auto-rotate
To help ensure that your phone is in the right orientation all the time auto-rotate has been given a big boost with the ability to activate face controlled rotation. The feature uses the selfie camera to orientate in conjunction with the accelerometer for even more accurate auto-rotate than using the accelerometer alone.
If you often watch YouTube or other video content in landscape mode then this is a great added feature. You can still use the standard auto-rotate mode or the quick toggles to snap to landscape orientation if you prefer that method.
Gboard redesign
While the Gboard redesign is not technically part of the Android 12 update, the changes are only available on devices with the most recent OS. Top of the new features in this Android 12-specific Gboard overall is full compatibility with Material You theming and Dynamic Color tweaks.
If you like rounded or soft corners, the new Gboard will really appeal. All of the tweaks are most prominent when using your on-device light theme.
Extra dim
If you are using your phone in a dark or low-light environment and want to quickly adjust the screen brightness, “Extra dim” allows you to do so with just a single tap. You can customize the luminance level or brightness of your display to a preset level of your choosing with a single button press.
Emergency SOS
Security and personal safety features have been elevated in priority within Android 12. While this might not seem like a big deal, the Emergency SOS feature is one of the top new additions for personal safety and peace of mind.
You can press the power button quickly five times or more to have your device emit a loud sound and countdown alarm before calling emergency services or a predetermined number of your choice. This will call for help, but your device will need to be unlocked if you choose a number that is not directly to emergency services.
Approximate or precise location controls
Privacy is one of the core tenets of the Android 12 update, and this means a number of new features are coming to your smartphone including the ability to give apps and services access to “approximate” or “precise” location data.
This includes a new pop-up with a new animation to indicate the inherent differences when apps request your location. For apps that only require a locale or region data, this is a great way to conceal or protect your location without losing access to in-app features or functions.
New pop-up Power menu
Every year the Power menu on Android seems to receive a facelift and the latest looks the best so far despite a few substantial changes. Cards & Passes and smart home controls are now accessible in separate lockscreen toggles leaving the Power menu to be just that – a place to access device power controls.
This simplification and separation mean that it is abundantly clear just what the pop-up offers. While the previous version in Android 11 felt like a “hub” for some incompatible UI and system controls. Now there is no confusion and it’s all the better for it.
Editor available from Share Sheet
When sharing an image, be that a direct screenshot or even just an image from your gallery, an editor has been added to allow you to do things like add emoji, text, and draw without needing to first edit your image or screenshot.
For those wondering why this is one of the top features in Android 12, it means you can just add or tweak things right before you send them on. Not only does this save time, it makes things a lot easier across the board.
Adaptive charging tweaks
While you likely won’t see the benefits initially, Adaptive Charging has now been tuned to ensure that your smartphone battery lifespan is considered when the feature is activated in Android 12.
Adaptive charging slows the charging speed between the 80 and 100% thresholds and, in turn, helps reduce the wear and tear on your Pixel internal battery. This charging process should more closely match when your on-device alarm when your phone is placed on charge overnight.
Face controls in Android Accessibility Suite
Expanding on the growing suite of accessibility features Android 12, a new “Camera Switch” allows you to control your phone with facial expressions via the selfie camera. The facial expressions that can be performed include opening your mouth, smiling, raising your eyebrows, and looking left, right, or up.
The feature will, by default, ask for the user to set expressions for next, select, and “pause,” which stops the phone from recognizing other gestures temporarily. Other actions include previous, touch & hold, scroll forward/backward, home, back, notifications, quick settings, and overview/multitasking.
On/off labels in Quick Settings
Simple. Effective. The new pill-shaped Quick Settings toggles now have an “on” or “off” indicator underneath to make it even more obvious if something is activated or not. You might not understand why this is a nice addition, but for accessibility and those with vision-related issues it makes it explicit rather than a highlighted button accent.
With Android 12 hitting AOSP at the start of the month, Google also released the latest Compatibility Definition Document (CDD). There are a handful of hardware and software changes that device makers have to abide by, but nothing too major.
With Android 12, Google introduced a “Performance class” standard that “defines a set of device capabilities that goes beyond Android’s baseline requirements.” This includes media, camera, and “generic” (memory, screen resolution/density).
It lets app developers determine which software features a phone or tablet is capable of running. For example, Performance class 12 (for the “highest performing devices”) could get the “most premium experience,” while class 11 would go down to “high quality experience” and everything else gets the base experience. Meanwhile, Performance classes are forward-compatible:
A device can upgrade to a newer platform version without updating its performance class. For example, a device that initially supports performance class 12 can upgrade to Android 13 and continue to report it supports class 12 if it does not meet the class 13 requirements.
The Android 12 CDD says that Performance class 11 (R) and 12 (S) “must” at least have a 12MP rear camera that supports 4K at 30FPS video capture. The latter also requires a 5MP or higher front-facer (1080p at 30FPS), while the former needs at least 4MP. Both classes require a screen resolution of 1080p (with 400DPI) or greater and a minimum RAM requirement of 6GB. Sequential and random read/write are also specified:
Meanwhile, OEMs must display the microphone and camera indicators when those two components are being used by apps, including system ones. Under “Unicode and Font,” Google added that device makers:
MUST NOT remove or modify NotoColorEmoji.tff in the system image. (It is acceptable to add a new emoji font to override emoji in NotoColorEmoji.tff)
A “strong” recommendation has been added about making sure the touchable area of an under-display fingerprint sensor (UDFPS) does not interfere with 3-button navigation, which Google reminds that “some users might require for accessibility.”
OnePlus looks to be working on yet another limited-edition device – this time a Pac-Man-themed version of the affordable Nord 2.
We’ve seen the Chinese firm produce a number of tie-in devices over the years including with cultural juggernaut Star Wars, high-end boutique designers and my personal favorite, the Cyberpunk 2077 OnePlus 8T. Sticking with gaming, OnePlus appears to have a limited Pac-Man Nord 2 in the works.
Evidence is mounting as code digging into the recent OxygenOS A.11 update for OnePlus Nord CE devices by the team behind the fantastic Oxygen Updater has unearthed some interesting tidbits (via XDA). After delving into the Settings APK file, the team behind Oxygen Updater uncovered a new fingerprint animation that features titular character Pac-Man chased by ghosts “Blinky” and “Inky” above a maze-styled lock icon.”
Several other code strings also include various references to stickers that can be unlocked after completing various tasks including charging this proposed Pac-Man OnePlus Nord 2 device for 256 minutes. This is a reference to the last level in the original arcade game — which is also the “kill screen” for the game.
Other hardware notables include wireless charging, which is missing on the Vanilla Nord 2. The MediaTek 1200-powered device could also receive a chipset change to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778 according to other code-strings found in this initial report.
At first, none of this information really indicated a great deal in terms of new hardware. However, OnePlus tipster Max Jambor has since teased an image to indicate that this indeed could be a special edition or limited Nord 2 device with Pac-Man theming. Just why a Pac-Man edition of the device would be needed is anyone’s guess but if done well it could be a nice option.
Apple Maps features a three-dimensional city experience with more realistic and colorful details, and an interactive globe that offers a new way of looking at the world.
With the release of iOS 15, Apple Maps gets its biggest update ever with a city experience that offers rich details, driving routes with better navigation, immersive walking directions shown in augmented reality, and much more. The update, which expands on the new map that Apple spent years building from the ground up, is now available in London, Los Angeles, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area, with more cities to come.
“We are thrilled to offer the new Apple Maps experience. Maps is the best way to navigate the world: It is easy to use, beautifully designed, and built with privacy at its core. With this update, we are pushing Maps even further, providing more ways for users to discover the natural beauty of the world and explore cities through a new 3D view,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services. “Our goal has always been to build the best and most accurate map in the world. The upgrades in Apple Maps are a continuation of that effort, with features and an attention to detail that only Apple can deliver.”
Explore Cities with Highly Detailed Maps
Apple Maps introduces a new way to navigate cities with a visually stunning 3D map that offers unprecedented detail for neighborhoods, commercial districts, marinas, buildings, and more. Now users can see elevation details across a city, new road labels, and hundreds of custom-designed landmarks like Coit Tower in San Francisco, Dodger Stadium in LA, the Statue of Liberty in NYC, and the Royal Albert Hall in London, with more to come. A beautiful nighttime mode with a moonlit glow activates at dusk. The city map experience is now available in London, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, and later this year, it will be available in Philadelphia, San Diego, and Washington, D.C. Support for additional cities, including Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver, will be available next year.
A visually stunning 3D map shows unprecedented levels of detail and custom-designed landmarks in major cities.
Enhanced Navigation Provides a Better Driving Experience
Maps now features even more road details to help drivers navigate through cities more easily and safely. Turn lanes, medians, bus and taxi lanes, and crosswalks are clearly displayed for navigating busy intersections, and highways with overlapping complex interchanges are rendered in a road-level 3D view, making it easier to see upcoming traffic conditions or the best lane for an approaching exit. Route planning provides the estimated time of arrival for future departures based on expected traffic. The new navigation will be available through CarPlay later this year.
A road-level 3D view makes it easier to see upcoming traffic conditions or the best lane for an upcoming exit.
Maps now offers major improvements for public transit riders. Nearby stations are prominently displayed at the top of the screen, and users can pin their favorite lines in Maps so the best route is just one tap away. Once a transit route is selected, Maps will automatically notify a user when it is time to disembark as they approach their final destination, and riders can even keep track on Apple Watch. These updates build on transit features already available in Maps, including real-time transit, which provides detailed transit schedules, live departure times, arrival times, the current location of a bus or train en route, and system connections to help plan a journey. Maps also includes important real-time information like outages.
Maps automatically follows along a selected transit ride and now notifies users when they are nearing their desired stop, and riders can even keep track on their Apple Watch.
Immersive Walking Directions
With iOS 15, Apple Maps introduces step-by-step walking guidance in augmented reality. Users can simply raise their iPhone to scan buildings in the area, and Maps generates a highly accurate position to deliver detailed directions that can be viewed in the context of the real world.
iPhone users can now receive step-by-step walking guidance in augmented reality.
Discover Great Places with Curated Guides
Maps makes it easy to discover the amazing things to see and do in cities around the world through curated Guides created by a selection of trusted resources. In iOS 15, users can tap the Explore Guides button in Maps to access over a thousand expertly curated guides that include recommendations from respected brands such as Time Out, The Washington Post, the National Park Foundation, Complex, and The Infatuation. Curated Guides can be saved, and they are automatically updated when new places are added, so users always have the latest recommendations. Users can even create their own personal Guides of favorite places to share with friends and family.
Guides make it easy to find great new restaurants, places to visit on vacation, or things to do in a city.
A New Interactive Globe
In iOS 15, Apple Maps offers a rich and interactive three-dimensional globe that introduces a whole new way of looking at the world. The globe shows Earth’s natural beauty with amazing textures and contours. Users can see vibrant details of mountain ranges, deserts, rainforests, oceans, and more. Now even the most remote and precious locations on the planet can be explored right from iPhone.
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In addition to the new updates available in iOS 15, Apple Maps offers many useful features:
Look Around gives users a way to explore parts of the world through an interactive 3D street-level experience and a smooth, seamless 360-degree view. Customers anywhere in the world can explore places like Dublin, Edinburgh, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Tokyo, Toronto, and the Italian countryside.
Cycling directions show the elevation for a ride, how busy a street is, and whether there are stairs along a route. With voice guidance and Haptic Touch on Apple Watch, users can stay even more focused on the path ahead while enjoying their ride.
Speed cameras let users know when approaching speed and red light cameras along a route, with the added ability to see where cameras are located on the map.
Share ETA enables users to share an estimated time of arrival with family, friends, and coworkers with a simple tap or by asking Siri.
Incident reports make it possible to safely and easily report an accident, hazard, or speed check along a route by simply letting Siri know “There’s an accident up ahead” or “There is something on the road.” Users can even report when incidents displayed on the map have been cleared, all while keeping their focus on the road.
Flyover offers a way to see select major metro areas with photo-realistic, immersive 3D views. Users can move their device through space to view a city from above, or explore in high resolution as they zoom, pan, tilt, and rotate around the city and its landmarks.
Favorites provides one-tap navigation to frequently visited places. Whether they’re headed home, to work, to the gym, or to school, users can simply tap and go once a location is added to Favorites on the launch screen.
Indoor Maps for airports and malls allow users to simply open the Maps app and see what level they’re on, look for restrooms, and even find out which stores and restaurants are open.
Look Around is an interactive way to visually explore a city with 3D imagery.
Maps offers cycling directions along bike lanes, bike paths, and bike-friendly roads.
Maps users can share their estimated time of arrival with friends and family.
Now users can safely report an accident, hazard, or speed check along a route by using Siri.
Explore major metro areas with photo-realistic immersive 3D views with Flyover.
Maps users can see where stores and restaurants are located within malls and airports using Indoor Maps.
Maps and Privacy
Apple is committed to keeping personal information safe and has built privacy into the core of Maps. With Maps, no sign-in is required. Personalized features, such as suggesting departure time to make the next appointment, are created using on-device intelligence. Any data collected by Maps while using the app, including search terms, navigation routing, and traffic information, is associated with random identifiers that regularly reset to prevent connecting search and location data stored on the server to a unique user. Maps goes even further to obscure a user’s location on Apple servers when searching for a location through a process called “fuzzing.” Maps converts the precise location where the search originated to a less-exact one within 24 hours.