Posts in news

Apple Expands AppleCare+ on iPhones with Optional Theft and Loss Coverage

AppleCare is Apple’s extended warranty program. Every iPhone comes with a 1-year limited warranty and 90 days of phone support. If you pay for AppleCare+, the price of which depends on your model of iPhone you buy, the warranty is extended to two years as is phone support.

AppleCare+ also covers accidental damage. Customers are entitled to two incidents during the two years and are charged $29 for new screens and $99 for other repairs, which is significantly less than the repairs would cost otherwise.

Today, Apple announced an extension of AppleCare+. Now, Theft and loss can be covered too providing additional value to customers. In addition to being available for the new iPhones announced today, theft and loss coverage will be available for customers with the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus, and X according to Apple’s AppleCare site.

Theft and Loss coverage includes Apple’s new Express Replacement Service and 24/7 priority phone and chat access to AppleCare representatives for up to two incidents. Find My iPhone must be turned on for coverage to be effective. Replacement costs $199 for the iPhone 6, 6s, 7, and 8, $229 for the iPhone 6 Plus, 6s Plus, 7 Plus, 8 Plus, and XR, and $269 for the X, XS, and XS Max.

You can also follow all of our Apple event coverage through our September 12, 2018 hub, or subscribe to the dedicated September 12, 2018 RSS feed.

Apple Announces Release Dates for OS Updates, New iPhones, and Apple Watch

Apple announced release dates for updates to its OSes and new hardware at the keynote held in the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park today. Here are the dates for each:

iPhone XR:

  • Pre-Order Date: October 19, 2018
  • Ship Date and in stores: October 26, 2018.

iPhone XS, and XS Max:

  • Pre-Order Date: September 14, 2018
  • First Wave of Countries Ship Date and in stores:1 September 21, 2018
  • Second Wave of Countries Ship Date and in stores:2 September 28, 2018

iOS 12

  • Release Date: September 17, 2018

Apple Watch Series 4

  • Pre-Order Date: September 14, 2018
  • Ship Date and in stores: September 21, 2018

watchOS 5

  • Release Date: September 17, 2018

macOS 10.14 Mojave:

  • Release Date: September 24, 2018

You can also follow all of our Apple event coverage through our September 12, 2018 hub, or subscribe to the dedicated September 12, 2018 RSS feed.

  1. Shipping initially to Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the UAE, UK, US, and the US Virgin Islands. ↩
  2. Shipping to Andorra, Armenia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, India, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Monaco, Oman, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and South Africa ↩

Three Years of Club MacStories

When I introduced Club MacStories three years ago, I had no idea our crazy plan for a members-only newsletter would eventually grow into a key component of MacStories that now makes up for roughly half of its annual revenue. I remember reading a final version of my announcement post and telling my girlfriend we’d be lucky to hit 100 members in the first month. It took less than 30 minutes to surpass that number after the announcement went live. I couldn’t be more grateful to all the readers who signed up, keep reading Club MacStories to this day, and spread the word among their friends and family.

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Apple Music Debuts Global and Country-Specific Top 100 Lists

Today, Apple Music added 116 Top 100 charts to its iOS Music app and iTunes on the Mac. The charts, consisting of a global Top 100 chart and a Top 100 chart for each country where Apple Music is offered, are part of a new Top Charts section of Apple Music’s Browse tab. Despite some reports that the charts are limited to the iOS 12 and macOS Mojave betas, I have been able to access them in iTunes on macOS High Sierra and iOS 11 too.

According to Rolling Stone, which was given a demonstration by Apple Music executives, the charts are based on Apple Music streams only and are updated every day at Midnight Pacific time.

Apple’s Acquisition of Shazam Approved by the European Commission

Last December, Apple announced plans to acquire music-discovery service Shazam. The service, which makes iOS, watchOS, and macOS apps that can detect songs, TV shows, and advertisements from their sound signatures, has been on Apple’s platforms since the early days of iOS and is the engine behind Siri’s ability to recognize songs.

Since February, the deal has been on hold while the European Commission considered whether it would adversely impact competition. In a press release today, Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who is in charge of competition policy, explained:

“Data is key in the digital economy. We must therefore carefully review transactions which lead to the acquisition of important sets of data, including potentially commercially sensitive ones, to ensure they do not restrict competition. After thoroughly analysing Shazam’s user and music data, we found that their acquisition by Apple would not reduce competition in the digital music streaming market.”

Elaborating on the Commission’s findings, Vestager said the Commission concluded that “Apple and Shazam mainly offer complementary services and do not compete with each other.”

There has been no official word from Apple on the Commission’s decision, but it should clear the way to allow that deal to be consummated soon.

Past MacStories coverage of Shazam is available here.

Logitech Crayon Availability Is Expanding on September 12th

The Logitech Crayon stylus that was announced at Apple’s spring education event was available originally to education customers only. Logitech has announced however, that beginning on September 12th the Crayon will be available to anyone who wants one.

The Crayon has many of the same features as Apple’s Pencil but lacks pressure sensitivity. The device is also designed with kids in mind. The rubberized cap that hides a Lightning charging port is tethered to the device, and the replaceable tips can only be removed with a special tool. The barrel of the Crayon is also squared off so it won’t roll off a table.

Logitech says the Crayon will be available initially at Apple retail stores, Apple.com, and Logitech.com. However, beginning in October, availability will expand to other retailers.

The Crayon will continue to be available to education customers for $49.99. Everyone else can purchase the Crayon for $69.99, which is $30 less than the Apple Pencil.

It’s interesting that the Crayon goes on sale to the general public the same day as Apple’s fall event. Perhaps this indicates that new iPads will debut during the event, despite the lack of iPad rumors and leaks compared to the iPhone and Apple Watch.

MacPaw Releases a Redesigned and Updated CleanMyMac X

There’s a lot of junk that builds up on a Mac over time. The Trash fills up as do caches. There are also large language files, localizations, and other system files that most people don’t need. To eliminate the junk and keep as much space free as possible on my Mac, I’ve used CleanMyMac by MacPaw for several years. Today, MacPaw released an update to the app called CleanMyMac X in honor of the app’s ten-year anniversary.

The vast majority of the time I use CleanMyMac to free up space on my Mac. However, CleanMyMac does more than scan your Mac for junk and remove it. The app has grown over the years into a suite of utilities that also includes an uninstaller, system maintenance checks, privacy tools, large and old file removal, and a file shredder. That list has grown with CleanMyMac X, which has also been significantly redesigned.

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Google Debuts Nice New Look, Password Management Improvements, and Other Enhancements With Chrome 69

Chrome just turned 10 and Google is celebrating with a big update to its Chrome browser on iOS and the Mac. The update, which was announced on Google’s The Keyword blog, includes a redesign of the app’s UI, improvements to password management, answers to common queries directly from Google’s Omnibox, new personalization options, and under-the-hood enhancements.

Front and center is a redesign of Chrome’s UI. Iconography, text fields, and tabs all have more rounded corners than previously. Google has also adjusted the color palette used. The overall effect has a more lightweight feel, especially on the Mac where there is abundant white space.

Chrome’s password manager is improved too. Google says the app is better at filling in names, addresses, and credit card information in web forms. Chrome also generates, saves, and syncs your passwords across platforms.

If all you need is a simple answer to a question, Google’s combination search bar/address bar, which it calls the Omnibox, will now display relevant information as you type on the Mac. Google says the Omnibox will return definitions in the drop-down results as you type as well as information about people and other subjects. In my limited testing, I was able to display definitions from the Omnibox, but I couldn’t recreate the other results demonstrated by Google in its announcement.

Definitions and other information is available from the Omnibox.

Definitions and other information is available from the Omnibox.

Google has also added shortcut management to newly opened tabs, which can also feature a photo of your choice in the background. Google also mentions that it is experimenting with under-the-hood changes to improve Chrome’s overall performance that are covered in detail on its developer blog.

The iOS update is available on the App Store and the Mac version directly from Google.