Category: I-phone

Update: Some of our Twitter buddies have noted that you should be able to use the TinyUmbrella tool to kick out of the ‘error 1’ loop that results after restoring an iOS 5 iPhone back to 4.3.3, and proceed safely from there. Needless to say, your mileage may vary.

We knew the pre-release builds for iOS 5 would be issued to the developer community today, but AppleInsider warns that this comes with a caveat. Apple has apparently told testers of iOS 5 that any devices updated to that beta cannot be downgraded back to iOS 4. They will only be able to further upgrade their device and eventually install the final iOS 5 release.

This note was delivered to developers alongside the latest builds of iOS 5 (build 9A5220p), iTunes 10.5, Apple TV Software beta and the Xcode 4.2 Preview (build 4C104 for Snow Leopard and 4D5031b for Lion). Commenters on the AI forums note that this is not necessarily a new condition for iOS 5; as far back as iOS 3, downgrading was not officially supported.

For larger developers this should not be a major problem, but for smaller/indie devs that use their development devices as their primary or day-to-day devices… well, let’s hope that beta 1 is stable enough for regular use.

If you install iOS 5, you can’t go back… maybe (Updated) originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With Mac OS X Lion coming in July and the free iCloud service coming in the fall, owning a Mac is about to get a whole lot more exciting. Today’s WWDC keynote was full of announcements about the new services Lion and iCloud will offer, and whether you’re a Mac newbie or an old hand, it’s worth looking at a condensed list of what this means for the future of the Mac.

Mac OS X Lion

1. Lion will be available in July, and it only costs US$29.99 for all your devices. Quite a few people expected the next version of Mac OS X to be cheaper than the $129 Apple charged for the first five versions, but we were pleasantly shocked to see it being offered for the same price as the current version, Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Not only that, but your OS X Lion install is valid for any Mac you own, meaning “family versions,” the more expensive multi-user OS X versions Apple used to offer, are now a thing of the past. That’s largely because…

2. Lion will only be available through the Mac App Store. Apple has made it so you no longer need to buy a retail box with a disc containing the Mac OS X installer. This makes it so you can install Lion on any Mac associated with your iTunes account. There are some unaddressed questions about this process (more on that later), but one thing is certain: if Lion is only available via the Mac App Store, that means it’s only available to Snow Leopard users. The Mac App Store isn’t available on Mac OS X Leopard or earlier versions, so if you haven’t updated to Snow Leopard yet, it looks like a Leopard-to-Lion upgrade will actually cost you about $60.

3. If you have a desktop Mac, now’s a good time to go get a Magic Trackpad. Apple has gone full-tilt on integrating Multi-Touch gestures into Mac OS X. The company started integrating such gestures in early 2008, but Mac OS X Lion is making them an integral part of the OS. If you want to get the most out of Lion, and you have a Mac mini, iMac or a Mac Pro, you’ll need a Magic Trackpad to take full advantage of features such as Mission Control. Meanwhile, almost all Mac notebooks manufactured after early 2008 should be able to use the new gestures.

4. Mac OS X is taking some design cues from iOS. Launchpad, a simplified-app launcher, should be familiar to anyone who’s used an iPhone or iPad. Apps can run in full screen if you choose, emulating the “one thing at a time” nature of working on the iPad. Mail is getting a new dual-column layout, with conversation views identical to what we’ve had in iOS for some time now. Also similar to the way things work in iOS, apps will resume right where you left them when you reopen them. Speaking of which…

5. Saving and backing up files will be easier than ever. The way Apple’s described it, you might never need to worry about losing an in-progess file again — or manually saving it, for that matter. Taking another cue from the way things have worked on iOS, applications will now automatically save your work as you go. The new Versions feature will also keep track of different saved versions of your work, similar to the way Time Machine’s worked for file backups since Mac OS X Leopard. With this feature, one of the decades-long bugbears of the computing world has been addressed at last; now, if an app or your computer crashes out, your work will always be safe.

iCloud

1. iCloud replaces MobileMe — for free. If you were always eyeing up MobileMe’s services but didn’t want to shell out the $99/year Apple was asking for, worry no longer. Everything MobileMe used to do, iCloud will do for free, starting this fall.

2. iCloud wirelessly syncs data across all your devices. If you’ve got iOS devices or are a multi-Mac household, you’ll find iCloud makes it easy to keep data synced from one device to another. This means you can keep your mail, calendar entries, and contacts synced across multiple devices, automatically and wirelessly. MobileMe has done this for years (and .Mac before it), but iCloud will do it free of charge, so there’s no reason not to use it.

3. Photo Stream makes syncing recent photos manually a thing of the past. A thousand of your latest photos can be synced between devices immediately over iCloud. So if you take a photo on your iPhone or iPad 2, it’ll show up on your Mac right away, without having to hook your devices together first. The latest 1000 photos on your Mac can also be streamed to an iOS device over iCloud.

4. iTunes Music purchases now appear everywhere. Buy a song in the iTunes Store on your iPhone, and it shows up automatically on your Mac. Buy a song in iTunes on your Mac, it shows up automatically on your iPhone. This is a feature people have been wanting for years now, and it’s finally available.

Unanswered questions

1. How can you install Mac OS X Lion on a new, empty hard drive? If the only way to install Mac OS X Lion is by downloading it via the Mac App Store, it’s going to be very difficult to put it on a brand-new hard drive unless Apple provides us with workarounds. Maybe you’ll be able to burn your copy of Lion to disc after downloading it or install it on a USB drive. At any rate, I hope Apple gives us an answer to this besides “keep your Snow Leopard disc handy” or “use Target Disk Mode with another Mac,” because both of those solutions are suboptimal, to put it lightly.

2. Will Lion be available on disk for institutional use (schools, corporations) or for users with poor Internet access? Some of us at TUAW think Apple might still offer Lion on disc for institutional use at schools or businesses, but it’s too early to tell if that’s the case. As for individuals with poor Internet access, you’re probably out of luck; the writing has been on the wall for those users ever since Apple stopped bundling iTunes installation discs with iPods.

Mac OS X Lion will be available for download next month, and iCloud will debut in the fall. Put the two together, and the Mac becomes more powerful than ever before.

What Mac owners need to know after today’s WWDC announcements originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are a lot of apps that will be replaced — or at least have some very heavy competition — from the new features in iOS 5. It’s easy to look around the App Store and see developers that have been ‘Sherlocked‘ by Apple’s inclusion of their functionality in the core OS; Twitter clients in particular are going to have a hard road ahead, and no-frills reminder apps are pretty much done for.

That’s not the same thing as the wholesale borrowing that Apple has done from the jailbreak community with this new version of the OS, especially in the new notifications tools. Obviously, since JB devs tend to focus on new interaction methods and other system-level tweaks that would be off-limits to App Store products, there are more and different ideas about how the iPhone and iPad should work being tried and implemented there. That makes it fertile ground for Apple to see what does and doesn’t work, and cherrypick the best ideas for internal use.

That may not be cool, but it’s certainly in character for Apple to leverage third-party innovation in OS development, both on the Mac and on iOS. Here are a few examples of some noteworthy ‘flattery’ from Apple’s iOS team to the jailbreak developers who broke trail.

One of the main reasons people jailbreak is to get better notifications and a useful lock screen; both issues Apple has finally addressed in a very big way in iOS 5. A few of the popular lock screen apps are David Ashman’s LockInfo and Intelliborn’s IntelliScreen and both resemble (if they didn’t inspire) iOS 5’s new lock screen. In terms of notifications, Apple’s taken aim at a couple of favorite JB apps, Notified and the recent MobileNotifier.

iCloud syncing looks like a fantastic backup system, so much so that EvilPenguin already feels that its backup tool iBye is no longer necessary. In fact, James Emrich, the developer behind EvilPenguin told TUAW: “iBye was a backup/restore manager for content. Basically what iCloud does without auto backups.”

Continue reading What iOS 5 owes to jailbreak developers

What iOS 5 owes to jailbreak developers originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WWDC has just kicked off for 2011, but you can get a little bit of the Apple iCloud newness right now in the form of automatic Application, Music and Book downloads.

Launch Settings on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, scroll down to Store and wait for the new options to load (you’ll need to be connected to the Internet to see them). Once you’ve checked them, the next time you purchase or download an app, a music track or a book, it’ll automatically be pushed out to any device you’ve activated Automatic Downloads on. Brilliant.

Be warned though, if you activate Automatic Downloads for one Apple ID on a device and then attempt to activate another Apple ID on the same device (US and UK iTunes accounts for instance), you’ll get a pop-up notification saying:

This Device Is Already Associated With an Apple ID.

If you turn on Automatic Downloads with your Apple ID, you cannot auto-download or download past purchases with a different Apple ID for 90 days.

A screenshot of said warning is past the break. You have been warned.

Continue reading Automatic Downloads now live for iOS devices

Automatic Downloads now live for iOS devices originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Developers, get your [REDACTED] on.

iOS 5 beta 1 is now available for download from Apple’s developer site. You must be a paid $99/year developer to gain access to this beta. Sign in with your dev credentials to gain access.

The beta is, as always, released under the terms of Apple’s NDA. For that reason, exploration of new APIs and features are left as an exercise for the reader.

To access the new beta, you must sign an updated developer agreement. The site is a bit glitchy right now so be patient.

Happy developing everyone!

iOS 5 Beta 1 ready for download. Kind of. originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While everybody was gawking at the news coming in from the WWDC 2011 Stevenote today, Apple silently slipped in an update to the iOS iTunes and App Store apps. The update, which was made on Apple’s servers, adds a feature that was described in the keynote — the Purchased button.

As you can see in the screenshot at right, looking at Updates in the App Store app now displays a Purchased button. Tap on it, and you see a list (below) of every app you’ve purchased. There’s a tab displaying all purchased apps, and another showing just those that have been purchased but are not currently installed on the iOS device.

The apps that you’ve purchased and haven’t installed (or that you’ve removed) display a little cloud button with a downward-pointing arrow, indicating that you can tap that button to install the app on your device.

For iTunes, the Purchased button is located in the bottom toolbar (see below). A tap displays all songs that you have purchased, recent purchases, and then an alphabetical list of every song purchased by artist. When you find a song or album that you own, but that isn’t currently on your iOS device, a tap on the cloud icon downloads it immediately.

The change isn’t immediately noticeable to the user who only occasionally visits these apps, but it is going to be very useful for owners of iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches who might need to remove apps or music to gain storage space, and then want to reload their content.

Update: One more little detail. When you’re in iTunes and music that you’ve purchased is being downloaded, there’s a small red indicator that appears down in the bottom right of the toolbar (below) and counts down as the songs appear. Cool!

iOS iTunes, App Store apps silently updated to add Purchased button (Updated) originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Short of time? Intimidated by a huge sprawl of WWDC news? Here’s the most important things for iPhone users to know about what changes we’ll be seeing in the fall when iOS 5 is available for our phones.

1. iCloud

Probably the biggest change to how we’ll use our iOS devices going forward, iCloud is the glue that binds it all together. It has a number of big features of its own: buy music on your iPhone and copies of the same songs will appear on your Mac and iPad, for example. Work on a Pages document on your Mac, and the same file will be available on the iPhone. iCloud also shows a simple list of all the apps and music you’ve purchased, so you can easily re-download things you’ve already bought but deleted.

iCloud also plays an important supporting role in many of the other features iOS 5 brings to the table — I’ll highlight them as we go through the following sections.

2. PC free

No more cables! With iOS 5, your iPhone will be able to sync your iTunes content over your Wi-fi network and download new iOS updates on its own without having to connect it to iTunes first. Plus, iCloud will automatically back up important content on your iPhone — such as game saves and photos — once per day. When you get a new phone, a quick sign-in with your iTunes account will have it automatically downloading the last backup. Now, more than ever, the iPhone can claim to be a post-PC device.

Continue reading Seven things iPhone users should know about today’s announcment

Seven things iPhone users should know about today’s announcment originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As expected, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion will require an Intel Core 2 Duo processor (or better, such as the i3/5/7 series or Xeon chips) and 2 GB of RAM for a compliant install when it ships this summer. This is consistent with the requirements from earlier builds of the OS.

Judging by our Twitter inquiries, however, there is a good bit of confusion over the difference between “Core 2 Duo” (which is supported) and “Core Duo” (which is not). Here’s the simple rule: Did you purchase your Mac (new) after December 2007 2006? It’s probably OK for Lion, although it might need more RAM.

Core 2 Duo processors have been used in the Mac line since late 2006, and powered most consumer Macs prior to the introduction of the Core ‘i’ MacBook Pro models last year (except for the Xeon & successor CPUs in the Mac Pro and XServe). Core Duo and Core Solo chips, on the other hand, were only used in the first-generation Intel Macs (MacBook/MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac mini), and were not used at all after 2006. Even the low-power first generation MacBook Air from 2008 used a Core 2 Duo, and all MacBook Air models shipped with at least 2GB of RAM.

Hope that helps! We’ll have more details on “what Mac owners need to know about Lion” later today.

Lion requirements: 64-bit CPU, 2 GB of RAM originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the past, if you wanted to set up a Mac OS X-based server, you bought a separate DVD with an expensive license. In the case of Snow Leopard Server, that license was $499 for an unlimited number of users. Now, it appears that Lion Server is going to be a $49.99 set of apps that you’ll purchase through the Mac App Store. This is a bit different from what we heard back in February, when Apple’s PR department was touting that Lion Server would be bundled for free with every copy of Lion.

For those who are currently running the latest version of Mac OS X Server 10.6, updating will be as simple as visiting the Mac App Store once Lion ships in July, then clicking a few times to buy, download, and install the new server OS on your Mac. Your Mac must run an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, or Core i7 processor to run Lion or the server apps, so that old original Core Duo Mac mini won’t be able to be upgraded.

What does the server app set add to Lion?

o. A Server App for setting up user accounts, creating groups, checking usage, and managing AirPort devices. There’s no word on whether that $50 buys you an unlimited license, but that seems likely as Apple hasn’t stated otherwise.

o. A Profile Manager to set up and remotely manage Lion workstations and iOS devices.

o. Wireless File Sharing for iPad

o. Push notifications

o. Wiki Server 3, iCal Server 3, Mail Server 3

o. Xsan

Directory services don’t seem to be headlined on the Apple page, but I’m sure we’ll see more details as Lion gets even closer to release next month. With Lion Server, Apple is making server software easily accessible for anyone, without the huge licensing fees seen in the Windows world.

Lion Server to be a $50 download from Mac App Store originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In a rapid turnaround, Apple’s posted the link for QuickTime streaming of the entire WWDC keynote. Watch and enjoy!

If you’ve got “Greg Joswiak” and “Scott Forstall” written on the inside of your locker, you’ll also be thrilled to know that Apple’s software mavens are hosting the video overview of iOS 5, covering most of the features announced today.

What looks good to you? Personally I’m looking forward to the new notifications UI, location-based reminders (never forget the milk ever again) and system-level Twitter integration. Oh, and AirPlay Mirroring for the iPad. Mmm.

Full keynote & iOS 5 preview videos for your enjoyment originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s new iCloud service is a full, free replacement for MobileMe. But iCloud won’t officially launch until iOS 5 debuts this fall. What does that mean for existing MobileMe subscribers?

Not long ago we advised our readers not to pay for a MobileMe upgrade if their accounts were about to expire. Not to brag or anything, but it looks like that was some pretty sweet advice. Current MobileMe subscribers have had their accounts extended until June 30, 2012, over a full year of additional service. Apple isn’t accepting new MobileMe subscriptions right now, and you’re also unable to upgrade your current subscription to a Family Pack or purchase additional storage. If you already have a Family Pack, however, you are still able to create new family member accounts.

If you took our advice and didn’t pay to upgrade your account, you should have had full access restored by now. My MobileMe Family Account technically expired in the last week of May, but none of my services were ever restricted, and I’ve also been granted the same additional year of service as subscribers in good standing.

If you didn’t listen to our advice (or didn’t hear about it) and recently upgraded your MobileMe account, you can contact Apple for a refund. The refund terms sound a bit ornery, though; Apple only specifically mentions refunds being offered if you have a MobileMe box with an unused activation code. On the other hand, if you paid for an upgrade or started a new account within the past couple of weeks, if you plead your case to Apple (nicely), there’s a pretty good chance the company will give you at least a partial refund.

MobileMe was down for about an hour this morning for some people (myself included), but the service is back up and running now. MobileMe’s replacement, iCloud, will go live later this year, and unlike the US$99/year MobileMe service, iCloud will be free.

MobileMe stays live through June 30, 2012 originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Beginning today and running until June 30th, select U.S. Walmart stores are offering the 16 GB iPhone 4 for only US$147 — a $52 discount over the regular price. The sale applies to both white and black 16 GB iPhone 4s with 2-year contract through Verzion or AT&T. While Apple didn’t introduce new iPhone hardware at WWDC today, they are expected to introduce the new iPhone by the fall. Still, for those of you who want an iPhone, it’s hard to pass up a 25% discount on the latest model.

For now, both the white and black 16 GB iPhone 4s are still listed at their usual price of $197 in Walmart’s online store. However, they are also listed as “Out of Stock Online.” If you want one of the discounted iPhone 4s it looks like you’ll have to go to your local Walmart and see if they are offing the sale. Walmart didn’t announce how many stores would be selling the $147 iPhone 4, nor did they say how much stock each store would have.

Walmart selling 16 GB iPhone 4 for $147 until June 30 originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Apple website has been updated to show all of the wonderful new features that we’ll be seeing in the next few months. iOS 5 “in the fall,” Mac OS X 10.7 Lion “in July,” and iCloud “concurrently with iOS 5.”

Each of the major images on the home page points to a new landing page. For iCloud, you see a full explanation of the service and how it’s going to rock your world. The Mac OS X 10.7 Lion page touts the $29.99 price tag for all of the computers in your house, while the iOS 5 page describes all of the new features.

It’s worth browsing these pages to pick up details. What’s your favorite feature so far? Tell us in the comments.

Apple site updated with exciting news from the WWDC keynote originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple introduced its iTunes in the Cloud solution, which lets users access their iTunes music purchases in the cloud and share them among devices. That’s all well and great, but what happens when you have a song that you ripped and did not buy from iTunes?

Thanks to the new iTunes Match service, you can scan and match the songs on your computer. If a match in iTunes is found, the cloud service will automatically add it to your library. It does not upload the song, it just pulls it from the online library of iTunes music. If iTunes cannot find a match, you can upload the song manually. All songs are upgraded to 256kbps AAC DRM-free as part of this process.

The service will cost $24.99 per year and will require iOS 5 on the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Touch (3rd and 4th generation), iPad, iPad 2, a Mac with OS X Lion or a PC with Windows Vista or 7. Uploads are limited to 25,000 songs, but iTunes purchases do not count against this limit.

Apple unveils iTunes Match for $25 per year originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple announced iCloud today at WWDC and with it the ability to re-download your previously purchased music. Re-downloading of 256 Kbps AAC tracks is now possible for the first time from iTunes, meaning that you can purchase your music once and download it to every device you own (up to 10 devices total), without any additional charge. Like apps and books, music also doesn’t count against your 5 GB iCloud storage space.

You simply search through your purchased music in iTunes and hit that cute little cloud icon to initiate the download.

What’s more, Apple has included Automatic Downloads for iOS in the mix, meaning that free and purchased music will be automatically pushed to any device you have connected to the Internet. Buy it on your iPhone and have it pushed to your iPad. Simple.

We’ll be going in-depth into the new iTunes Match subscription service in a few minutes.

iTunes moves to the iCloud, re-download of purchases now possible originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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