New webpage published by Apple today detailing the new two-factor authentication that will be directly built into iOS 9 and El Capitan. Most notably, Apple is using six-digit verification codes and passcodes by default, and the feature will be rolled out alongside the public betas of iOS 9 and El Capitan. “During the iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan public betas, enrollment in two-factor authentication will be limited”, according to Apple.
Apple Details Two-Factor Authentication in iOS 9 and El Capitan→
iOS 9 Beta 3 Adds Albums for Selfies, Screenshots→
In the third beta of iOS 9 released to developers earlier today, Apple has included two new default albums in the Photos app – Screenshots and Selfies. The albums automatically collect screenshots and pictures taken with the front-facing camera (anything taken with the front-facing camera, as there’s no facial recognition in place yet – maybe it’ll be added later?).
As someone who takes dozens of screenshots on a daily basis – and I’m not alone – this sounds like a welcome change. Since iOS 8, I’ve been using apps like Screeny and Sharkie to delete all my screenshots, but native integration with the Photos app to view all screenshots and organize them should speed up my workflow even more.
Streaming Music and Offline Modes→
Writing for Wired, David Pierce argues that most music streaming services aren’t optimized for offline listening:
Streaming music has an offline problem. As they’ve fallen all over themselves reminding us how wonderful it is to have 30 million songs only a few taps away, all for the low, low price of $10 a month, these companies have forgotten that the key to a great music experience is pressing play and hearing music. That shouldn’t be as hard as they’re making it.
Sure, offline listening is an option in Rdio, Spotify, Google Play Music, and Apple Music, but it always feels like it’s hidden just enough to make you forget it exists.
As I noted last week on Connected, I don’t usually need to keep music saved offline because I’m either on WiFi or I have plenty of 4G data on my plan for streaming not to be an issue. But I occasionally prefer to save some music offline because of poor cellular coverage (such as at the beach where I go every summer), and browsing offline content feels like a bet against the streaming service.
Even in Apple Music – the successor to the iPod and Music app – browsing offline content in Airplane Mode mostly breaks everything else (static, last-seen previews aren’t cached in the For You and New tabs), and playlists saved for offline listening are still displayed alongside those that are not (even after toggling the offline switch).
Ben Bajarin’s Week Without Apple Watch→
An interesting experiment by Ben Bajarin:
When I told people about my experiment, many were curious if I used my phone less as a result. For a few weeks prior to this experiment, I had been using an app called Moment, which tracks your iPhone usage each day and how many times you pick the phone up, turn the screen on and look at it. While I didn’t see my iPhone usage in terms of hours per day decline during the week without the Apple Watch, I did see a significant drop in the number of times I looked at it. The average number of times I picked up and looked at my phone my last week with the Apple Watch was 74. This last week without the Apple Watch my average number of daily pickups was 102. I charted it to see the difference.
I went through a similar realization last week. I was supposed to pick up an Italian Apple Watch review unit (the one I’ll be testing for the next few weeks), so I gave my Apple Watch to my girlfriend, reinstalled iOS 8, and didn’t configure my Apple Watch Sport on the new system. For three days, I went without an Apple Watch, and I didn’t think I’d miss the simple ability to quickly look up messages, songs, and the time as much as I did. I haven’t worn a watch in a decade, and I’m surprised by how much I’ve come to expect daily updates to follow me around and tap me only when necessary.
Apple Music as the New MTV→
An interesting thought by Zac Cichy on Apple Music:
Apple is positioning Apple Music to be the place to go for all things happening in the world of music. Think less MTV circa 1999 and more MTV circa 1992. Apple Music is meant to be the place both signed and unsigned artists alike strive to be. Beats 1 is the station they want to be played on. Which begs the question, is Apple Music as it stands enough?
A less discussed aspect of Apple Music is the ability to watch music videos with no ads. Maybe because they are not actually very prominent in the app. The important thing is that there is indeed a video component to the service.
Over the past week, I’ve noticed that I go to Apple Music whenever I want some music – whether it’s from search, a public playlist, a video, or a radio show.
I wasn’t sarcastic when I tweeted the variety of experiences revolving around music that Apple could consider. Vevo and YouTube are two obvious candidates: for many, listening to music has turned into listening to a free music video, and having video support from the first version signals that Apple is thinking about this space. There are some evident limitations, though: as it stands today, I can’t find many of the official videos I want on Apple Music, and, obviously, live shows and fan-recorded videos can only be found on YouTube.
There are many technical issues in Apple Music today, but I’ve also found a superior way of discovering music (which I’ll elaborate upon soon) and a key theme that permeates the entire service – everything about music.
While initial bugs can be fixed, core ideas are much harder to build at a later stage. The idea of a central destination for all things music resonates with me, and that’s why I’m paying close attention to Apple Music.
Instagram Starts Rolling Out Higher-Res Uploads→
From yesterday (still catching up after a short vacation), Instagram is preparing to roll out higher resolution uploads on mobile devices. Vlad Savov writes at The Verge:
An Instagram spokesperson tells us that the company started “gradually rolling out 1080 across iOS and Android” last week, meaning that most people should already be seeing the higher-resolution images in the mobile app. Alas, Instagram on the desktop remains a second-class citizen, as Instagram says that “right now we are focused on mobile, with no plans to share on web.”
We’re rolling out 1080x1080 uploads (and higher-quality viewing) for IG on iOS and Android. Let me know if feed looks a bit sharper today :)
— Mike Krieger (@mikeyk) July 6, 2015
The often-derided (but also iconic) low-res nature of Instagram was instrumental five years ago to make uploads feel fast, but, given the progressive availability of 4G networks these days, the time is right for Instagram to bump up the resolution a little bit.
Human Curation for Apps→
In his look at human curation in the age of algorithms following the launch of Apple Music, Jean-Louis Gassée makes an interesting point about the App Store:
For a while now, music downloads have paled when compared to apps – hence Apple’s move to a streaming service. But there’s another idea lurking in there: If it’s a good idea to use human curators to navigate 30 million “songs”, how about applying human curation to help the customer find his or her way through the 1.5M apps in the Apple App Store? Apple bought Beats for $3B and spent a good chunk more to build its Music product. Why not take another look at the App Store jungle and make customers and developers even happier?
Apple has been featuring curated collections of apps on the App Store for a few years now, notably revamping the front page with best new apps, games, updates, and handpicked sections over the past year.
But I do wonder what a “For You” curated and personalized front page would be like for apps. I’m not sure 1.5 million apps have the cultural and social heritage that sustains the curation efforts of Apple Music, but it’s fun to imagine how app experts and design tastemakers could make the App Store even more personal, showcasing great software that usually doesn’t make it to the top charts.
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Dave Wiskus on Apple Music’s Connect for Artists→
Dave Wiskus has written about the process of posting a song to Apple Music’s Connect area as an independent musician. Wiskus is in the unique position of being an iOS designer who plays in a band, and I find his perspective fascinating and helpful:
But the worst offense of all is this: I can see no way to invite people to follow us on Connect. I can share the link. I can even tweet about it. Yet there’s no way to know how many followers we have, encourage people to follow us, or directly engage with anyone who hasn’t already purchased a song from us on iTunes. That feels broken. Somehow people were able to comment, which is great, but it makes me sad that I feel no sense of… well, connection. And I really, really want that connection.
It seems like there’s room for plenty of improvements in Connect. As Wiskus notes, this feels fundamentally better than Ping, but the social features are lacking right now. Also: go check out Wiskus’ band, Airplane Mode. Their demo is really good.