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An explosive spyware report shows limits of iOS, Android security Amnesty International sheds alarming light on an NSO Group surveillance tool. The shadowy world of private spyware has long caused alarm in cybersecurity circles, as authoritarian governments have repeatedly been caught targeting the smartphones of activists, journalists, and political rivals with malware purchased from unscrupulous brokers. The surveillance tools these companies provide frequently target iOS and Android, which have seemingly been unable to keep up with the threat. But a new report suggests the scale of the problem is far greater than feared—and has placed added pressure on mobile tech makers, particularly Apple, from security researchers seeking remedies. This week, an international group of researchers and journalists from Amnesty International, Forbidden Stories, and more than a dozen other organizations published forensic evidence that a number of governments worldwide—including Hungary, India, Mexico, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—may be customers of the notorious Israeli spyware vendor NSO Group. The researchers studied a leaked list of 50,000 phone numbers associated with activists, journalists, executives, and politicians who were all potential surveillance targets. They also looked specifically at 37 devices infected with, or targeted by, NSO's invasive Pegasus spyware. They even created a tool so you can check whether your iPhone has been compromised. NSO Group called the research "false allegations by a consortium of media outlets" in a strongly worded denial on Tuesday. An NSO Group spokesperson said, "The list is not a list of Pegasus targets or potential targets. The numbers in the list are not related to NSO Group in any way. Any claim that a name in the list is necessarily related to a Pegasus target or potential target is erroneous and false." On Wednesday, NSO Group said it would no longer respond to media inquiries. NSO Group isn't the only spyware vendor out there, but it has the highest profile. WhatsApp sued the company in 2019 over what it claims were attacks on over a thousand of its users. And Apple's BlastDoor feature, introduced in iOS 14 earlier this year, was an attempt to cut off "zero-click exploits," attacks that don't require any taps or downloads from victims. The protection appears not to have worked as well as intended; the company released a patch for iOS to address the latest round of alleged NSO Group hacking on Tuesday. In the face of the report, many security researchers say that both Apple and Google can and should do more to protect their users against these sophisticated surveillance tools "It definitely shows challenges in general with mobile device security and investigative capabilities these days," says independent researcher Cedric Owens. "I also think seeing both Android and iOS zero-click infections by NSO shows that motivated and resourced attackers can still be successful despite the amount of control Apple applies to its products and ecosystem." Tensions have long simmered between Apple and the security community over limits on researchers' ability to conduct forensic investigations on iOS devices and deploy monitoring tools. More access to the operating system would potentially help catch more attacks in real time, allowing researchers to gain a deeper understanding of how those attacks were constructed in the first place. For now, security researchers rely on a small set of indicators within iOS, plus the occasional jailbreak. And while Android is more open by design, it also places limits on what's known as "observability." Effectively combating high-caliber spyware like Pegasus, some researchers say, would require things like access to read a device's filesystem, the ability to examine which processes are running, access to system logs, and other telemetry. A lot of criticism has centered on Apple in this regard, because the company has historically offered stronger security protections for its users than the fragmented Android ecosystem. "The truth is that we are holding Apple to a higher standard precisely because they're doing so much better," says SentinelOne principal threat researcher Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade. "Android is a free-for-all. I don't think anyone expects the security of Android to improve to a point where all we have to worry about are targeted attacks with zero-day exploits." In fact, the Amnesty International researchers say they actually had an easier time finding and investigating indicators of compromise on Apple devices targeted with Pegasus malware than on those running stock Android. "In Amnesty International's experience there are significantly more forensic traces accessible to investigators on Apple iOS devices than on stock Android devices, therefore our methodology is focused on the former," the group wrote in a lengthy technical analysis of its findings on Pegasus. "As a result, most recent cases of confirmed Pegasus infections have involved iPhones." Some of the focus on Apple also stems from the company's own emphasis on privacy and security in its product design and marketing. "Apple is trying, but the problem is they aren't trying as hard as their reputation would imply," says Johns Hopkins University cryptographer Matthew Green. Even with its more open approach, though, Google faces similar criticisms about the visibility security researchers can get into its mobile operating system. "Android and iOS have different types of logs. It's really hard to compare them," says Zuk Avraham, CEO of the analysis group ZecOps and a longtime advocate of access to mobile system information. "Each one has an advantage, but they are both equally not sufficient and enable threat actors to hide." Apple and Google both appear hesitant to reveal more of the digital forensic sausage-making, though. And while most independent security researchers advocate for the shift, some also acknowledge that increased access to system telemetry would aid bad actors as well. "While we understand that persistent logs would be more helpful for forensic uses such as the ones described by Amnesty International's researchers, they also would be helpful to attackers," a Google spokesperson said in a statement to WIRED. "We continually balance these different needs." Ivan Krstić, head of Apple security engineering and architecture, said in a statement that "Apple unequivocally condemns cyberattacks against journalists, human rights activists, and others seeking to make the world a better place. For over a decade, Apple has led the industry in security innovation and, as a result, security researchers agree the iPhone is the safest, most secure consumer mobile device on the market. Attacks like the ones described are highly sophisticated, cost millions of dollars to develop, often have a short shelf life, and are used to target specific individuals. While that means they are not a threat to the overwhelming majority of our users, we continue to work tirelessly to defend all our customers, and we are constantly adding new protections for their devices and data." The trick is to strike the right balance between offering more system indicators without inadvertently making attackers' jobs too much easier. "There is a lot that Apple could be doing in a very safe way to allow observation and imaging of iOS devices in order to catch this type of bad behavior, yet that does not seem to be treated as a priority," says iOS security researcher Will Strafach. "I am sure they have fair policy reasons for this, but it's something I don't agree with and would love to see changes in this thinking." Thomas Reed, director of Mac and mobile platforms at the antivirus maker Malwarebytes, says he agrees that more insight into iOS would benefit user defenses. But he adds that allowing special, trusted monitoring software would come with real risks. He points out that there are already suspicious and potentially unwanted programs on macOS that antivirus can't fully remove because the operating system endows them with this special type of system trust, potentially in error. The same problem of rogue system analysis tools would almost inevitably crop up on iOS as well. "We also see nation-state malware all the time on desktop systems that gets discovered after several years of undetected deployment," Reed adds. "And that's on systems where there are already many different security solutions available. Many eyes looking for this malware is better than few. I just worry about what we'd have to trade for that visibility." The Pegasus Project, as the consortium of researchers call the new findings, underscore the reality that Apple and Google are unlikely to solve the threat posed by private spyware vendors alone. The scale and reach of the potential Pegasus targeting indicates that a global ban on private spyware may be necessary. "A moratorium on the trade in intrusion software is the bare minimum for a credible response—mere triage," NSA surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden tweeted on Tuesday in reaction to the Pegasus Project findings. "Anything less and the problem gets worse." On Monday, Amazon Web Services took its own step by shutting down cloud infrastructure linked to NSO. Regardless of what happens to NSO Group in particular, or the private surveillance market in general, user devices are still ultimately where clandestine targeted attacks from any source will play out. Even if Google and Apple can't be expected to solve the problem themselves, they need to keep working on a better way forward. This story originally appeared on wired.com. An explosive spyware report shows limits of iOS, Android security

Facebook advertisers are panicking after iOS cuts off key tracking data Facebook’s ads aren’t as effective after iOS privacy changes, advertisers say. Facebook’s ability to track users and show them certain ads appears to be tanking thanks to Apple’s “ask not to track” feature, according to some advertisers. Apple rolled out the privacy prompt in late April with iOS 14.5. Since then, nearly half of all iOS devices worldwide have at least version 14.5 installed, according to Statcounter, and a vast majority of these devices' users have chosen to deny Facebook and other apps the ability to track them. Nearly three months after the feature's launch, just 17 percent of users worldwide have opted in, according to analytics company Flurry. The changes could have a significant effect on Facebook’s bottom line. Eric Seufert, an analyst who writes Mobile Dev Memo, forecasts that if only 20 percent of users consent to tracking, Facebook’s revenue could drop 7 percent in the first full quarter that the opt-in prompt is active (the forthcoming third quarter). The company warned back in February that the iOS changes would curtail its ability to track users across the Internet. “It’s been pretty devastating for, I would say, the majority of advertisers,” Seufert told Bloomberg. “The big question is: Are we seeing just short-term volatility where we can expect a move back to the mean, or is this a new normal?” Enlarge / The Settings menu for managing tracking on a per-app basis in iOS. Samuel Axon It may be some time before advertisers have an answer to that question. Facebook initially appeared to be taking the low opt-in rate in stride, with media buyers not noticing significant changes. But that has apparently changed in recent weeks, with some buyers reporting that ad effectiveness began dropping this month. Some advertisers, like e-commerce sites, appear to be hit particularly hard. Many retailers run software like Shopify, which shares customer data, including details about purchases that customers make on the site, with Facebook. That allows Facebook to refine its “lookalike” audiences, which advertisers buy access to so they can target other people who may be interested in buying the same thing. One way Facebook could deepen its data pipeline would be to deepen its integration in retailer's online stores, which it appears to be doing with the rollout of Facebook Pay for e-commerce platforms like Shopify. Before the new iOS feature was rolled out, media buyers reported that Facebook could capture as much as 95 percent of sales made on their clients’ sites. Now, many media buyers are reporting that Facebook is capturing only 50 percent of sales. One buyer reports that, with one client, just 3 percent of sales are showing up in Facebook’s ad manager. Other people visit e-commerce sites without purchasing anything, and to close the deal, retailers will “retarget” those users, showing them ads on Facebook for an item they viewed but didn’t buy. Those ads aren’t possible when “ask not to track” is enabled. "We believe that personalized ads and user privacy can coexist, without the collateral damage caused by App Tracking Transparency," a Facebook spokesperson told Ars. "We're also working on our own solutions to help businesses and investing in privacy-enhancing technologies designed to minimize the data we process, while still allowing us to show relevant ads and measure ad effectiveness." As users have asked Facebook not to track them, the company’s feedback loop has broken for a portion of its audience, costing it a key source of data. Though iOS doesn’t run on a majority of mobile devices, it does have a significant footprint in some of the world’s largest advertising markets, including the US. The US market is so important to advertisers that Flurry breaks out the country’s iOS tracking opt-in rate separately. Just 10 percent of US users opt in to tracking, compared with 17 percent worldwide. By opting out at such high rates, US iOS users could have a particularly significant impact on Facebook’s revenue. In the US and Canada last year, the company made five times more advertising revenue per user than its worldwide average. What happens to that number in the third quarter will reveal the extent to which tracking opt-out threatens the company’s earnings. Facebook advertisers are panicking after iOS cuts off key tracking data

Google Meet now lets you blur or replace your background on iOS Google rolled out last month the ability to blur or replace video chat backgrounds in Meet on Android. At that time, the search giant vowed to expand the feature to iOS sometime in the future. Today, the search giant made good on its promise as it announced the availability of the feature on Apple's mobile devices. You can now blur or replace your background with any image hand-picked by Google. This includes photos of office spaces, landscapes, and abstract backgrounds, among others. On top of Google's recommended image, you can also set your own photos as your meeting background. This is in contrast to how the feature is implemented in Android, where you can choose only from Google's pre-selected images. That said, the Mountain View-based giant promised to add the ability to select your personal images as your background on Android soon. The feature comes in handy if you want to customize your background or put your messy surroundings out of sight when videoconferencing. And like on Android, you will need to manually switch on the capability on iOS since it's turned off by default. You can head over to Meet's support page to learn how to enable the feature. In terms of compatibility, the feature works only with iPhone 8 and up, iPad 5th generation and up, or iOS 12 and later. It's now available to all Workspace and G Suite Basic/Business customers as well as those who are using personal Google accounts. Google Meet now lets you blur or replace your background on iOS

iOS zero-day let SolarWinds hackers compromise fully updated iPhones Flaw was exploited when government officials clicked on links in LinkedIn messages. The Russian state hackers who orchestrated the SolarWinds supply chain attack last year exploited an iOS zero-day as part of a separate malicious email campaign aimed at stealing Web authentication credentials from Western European governments, according to Google and Microsoft. In a post Google published on Wednesday, researchers Maddie Stone and Clement Lecigne said a “likely Russian government-backed actor” exploited the then-unknown vulnerability by sending messages to government officials over LinkedIn. Moscow, Western Europe, and USAID Attacks targeting CVE-2021-1879, as the zero-day is tracked, redirected users to domains that installed malicious payloads on fully updated iPhones. The attacks coincided with a campaign by the same hackers who delivered malware to Windows users, the researchers said. The campaign closely tracks to one Microsoft disclosed in May. In that instance, Microsoft said that Nobelium—the name the company uses to identify the hackers behind the SolarWinds supply chain attack—first managed to compromise an account belonging to USAID, a US government agency that administers civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With control of the agency’s account for online marketing company Constant Contact, the hackers could send emails that appeared to use addresses known to belong to the US agency. The federal government has attributed last year’s supply chain attack to hackers working for Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (abbreviated as SVR). For more than a decade, the SVR has conducted malware campaigns targeting governments, political think tanks, and other organizations in countries like Germany, Uzbekistan, South Korea, and the US. Targets have included the US State Department and the White House in 2014. Other names used to identify the group include APT29, the Dukes, and Cozy Bear. In an email, Shane Huntley, the head of Google's Threat Analysis Group, confirmed the connection between the attacks involving USAID and the iOS zero-day, which resided in the WebKit browser engine. “These are two different campaigns, but based on our visibility, we consider the actors behind the WebKit 0-day and the USAID campaign to be the same group of actors,” Huntley wrote. “It is important to note that everyone draws actor boundaries differently. In this particular case, we are aligned with the US and UK governments' assessment of APT 29.” Forget the sandbox Throughout the campaign, Microsoft said, Nobelium experimented with multiple attack variations. In one wave, a Nobelium-controlled web server profiled devices that visited it to determine what OS and hardware the devices ran on. If the targeted device was an iPhone or iPad, a server used an exploit for CVE-2021-1879, which allowed hackers to deliver a universal cross-site scripting attack. Apple patched the zero-day in late March. In Wednesday’s post, Stone and Lecigne wrote: After several validation checks to ensure the device being exploited was a real device, the final payload would be served to exploit CVE-2021-1879. This exploit would turn off Same-Origin-Policy protections in order to collect authentication cookies from several popular websites, including Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Yahoo and send them via WebSocket to an attacker-controlled IP. The victim would need to have a session open on these websites from Safari for cookies to be successfully exfiltrated. There was no sandbox escape or implant delivered via this exploit. The exploit targeted iOS versions 12.4 through 13.7. This type of attack, described by Amy Burnett in Forget the Sandbox Escape: Abusing Browsers from Code Execution, is mitigated in browsers with Site Isolation enabled, such as Chrome or Firefox. It’s raining zero-days The iOS attacks are part of a recent explosion in the use of zero-days. In the first half of this year, Google’s Project Zero vulnerability research group has recorded 33 zero-day exploits used in attacks—11 more than the total number from 2020. The growth has several causes, including better detection by defenders and better software defenses that require multiple exploits to break through. The other big driver is the increased supply of zero-days from private companies selling exploits. “0-day capabilities used to be only the tools of select nation-states who had the technical expertise to find 0-day vulnerabilities, develop them into exploits, and then strategically operationalize their use,” the Google researchers wrote. “In the mid-to-late 2010s, more private companies have joined the marketplace selling these 0-day capabilities. No longer do groups need to have the technical expertise; now they just need resources.” The iOS vulnerability was one of four in-the-wild zero-days Google detailed on Wednesday. The other three were: CVE-2021-21166 and CVE-2021-30551 in Chrome CVE-2021-33742 in Internet Explorer The four exploits were used in three different campaigns. Based on their analysis, the researchers assess that three of the exploits were developed by the same commercial surveillance company, which sold them to two different government-backed actors. The researchers didn’t identify the surveillance company, the governments, or the specific three zero-days they were referring to. Representatives from Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. iOS zero-day let SolarWinds hackers compromise fully updated iPhones

Apple’s latest iOS and macOS betas undo some of Safari’s controversial new design A more consistent design Apple has released its third developer betas for the upcoming iOS 15 and macOS Monterey, and they bring some much-needed fixes to Safari — namely, undoing some of the more controversial changes introduced in the earlier betas. For macOS, that means a normal tab bar that goes back to the previous design, while iOS is getting a more consistent design when it comes to the URL bar. iOS 15 is still sticking with its new tab view and the moved URL bar on the bottom of the display, but the latest beta docked it there permanently, instead of bouncing it to the top of the screen when you selected it. Apple’s also added a new refresh option to the pop-over menu when you tap and hold the URL bar. Together, the changes help make the new design a lot more cohesive to use. The change to macOS is simpler: Apple seems to have just brought back part of its Big Sur design for Safari’s URL bar and tabs, ditching the combined tab/URL bar setup that it debuted in the earlier betas. In the latest beta, there’s once again a URL bar that lives at the top of each Safari menu, with a row of tabs beneath it. Each of those tabs still takes up a decently large piece of real estate — the overall Monterey design is the same in that regard — but it’s definitely an improvement over the original betas. That said, if you preferred the new design, that’s still an option too, according to 9to5Mac. Unchanged, at least for now, is the iPadOS version of Safari. Given that Apple isn’t expected to fully release its latest OS updates until the fall, though, there’s still plenty of time for additional changes to Safari across all of Apple’s platforms. Apple’s latest iOS and macOS betas undo some of Safari’s controversial new design

All the New Privacy and Security Features Coming to iOS and macOS Improvements designed to keep your email private, crack down on data stealing apps, and help you find lost devices are on their way. As it does every year, Apple has used its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) to show off some of the changes coming to its software this year—and, unsurprisingly given Apple's track record, privacy and security are top of the agenda once more. The iOS 15 update for your iPhone and macOS 12 Monterey update for your Mac will arrive later in the year, along with improvements designed to keep your data and your devices safe from harm. A lot of these upgraded privacy and security features are due to be applied across both operating systems together. One of the apps getting a lot of attention this time around is Mail, Apple's default email client on mobile and desktop. A new feature called Mail Privacy Protection takes aim at the tracking pixels embedded in a lot of emails—when you open your messages, these pixels are loaded, and can filter back information such as your location and your choice of software platform back to the sender. Marketers, newsletter writers, and plenty of people in between use these tracking pixels to see how many people open their messages, but Mail Privacy Protection stops this data gathering. It won't be turned on by default, but it will be highlighted as an option when you upgrade to iOS 15 and macOS 12 Monterey. Also, because tracking pixels are just images, this protection applies to all remote-loading images in email. They're not “blocked” exactly, but routed through a relay that strips out that data gathering but intended to preserve your end experience. Similarly, Apple is enabling you to keep a closer eye on the apps you've installed with these software updates too. Through a feature called App Privacy Report, you'll be able to see how many times an app has accessed your location, photos, camera, microphone, and contacts during the last week. App Privacy Report tells you more about what your apps are up to. Photograph: Apple If you're wondering whether an app really needs the permissions that it's asking for, this Privacy Report should be able to tell you. The report will also list the domains the app is in contact with, and how often, giving users a better idea of just how much data grabbing and transmitting it's doing. As for Apple's digital assistant, Siri, more of the speech recognition work and command processing is going to be done on your specific device. This reduces the amount of data sent back to Apple and stored in the cloud, and meaning it's less likely that somebody else could be listening in, even if all you mostly do is check the weather, set alarms, and add items to your to-do list. Another new feature with a new name is iCloud+. If you pay for iCloud storage, then you're going to get iCloud+ along with it. The key tool here is iCloud Private Relay, Apple's take on a somewhat simpler VPN: It encrypts and routes your web traffic through a series of different locations, much like a VPN, keeping your location private and your data protected from eavesdroppers. There are two key stages in this rerouting, one of which is managed by Apple that encrypts your URL and deletes identifying data like your IP address, and a second one that is managed by what Apple calls a "trusted content provider." Those providers, yet to be identified publicly, will be a series of companies that will be responsible for assigning you a temporary IP address that's similar to your region and changes periodically, and then decrypting your URL so it can send you on to your destination site or service. The idea is that no one, not even Apple, can piece together the whole chain and figure out what you're accessing on the internet. Another part of iCloud+ is Hide My Email, which takes an idea from the Sign In With Apple service. It enables you to generate an unlimited number of unique, random email addresses for the purposes of signing up to new apps and services: Messages sent to these addresses will still come through to your main email addresses, but you can trash them any time you like to cut off communications. The feature will be built right into Mail, iCloud, and Safari. Gmail users can do this by adding qualifiers to their addresses (for example, setting up "[email protected]" for all your newsletter subscriptions, and filtering them to a folder for future reading, or to the trash when you have too many.) Hide My Email keeps your main email address well protected. Photograph: Apple The final part of iCloud+ is HomeKit Secure Video, which offers encrypted, secure storage for footage from your home security cameras. It also ensures any smart recognition processing is done locally, rather than being sent to the cloud. HomeKit Secure Video is actually already available, but more users will get access to it with iCloud+. Meanwhile, Apple Wallet is expanding its reach, and in "participating states" will be able to store your driver's license or state ID, in an encrypted and secure form. Apple says that it's working with the US Transportation Security Administration to get these digital IDs supported at airports by the time that iOS 15 rolls out. The future Apple Wallet will also have the capacity to support a broader range of digital keys too, from home keys to office keys to car keys. Of course, these are going to need to be supported by your door lock manufacturer, employer, or car maker before you can use them. There will also be a new set of functions in the Find My app when iOS 15 lands later this year. The app will be able to detect iPhones even if they're turned off or have been factory reset—they will continue to transmit a very low-power Bluetooth signal, a bit like an AirTag does, so you have more of a chance of recovering your Apple device if it goes lost or gets stolen. A host of smaller privacy and security updates are going to roll out with these updates as well, including a more secure form of copy and paste (to limit what apps can see on your clipboard), and an indicator in macOS 12 Monterey to tell you which apps are using your microphone or camera (as already happens in iOS.) All the New Privacy and Security Features Coming to iOS and macOS (may require free registration)

Microsoft’s latest iOS Office Insider Preview build brings new features Microsoft has released a new update for Office for iOS Insiders. This version 2.50(21060200) adds a couple of new features for Word, Excel, PowerPoint. With the latest version installed, you’ll be able to use animated to 3D models in Office to create highly immersive documents. The new Office update will also let iOS users play GIFs in documents, worksheets, or presentations. You can read the full official changelog below. Changelog Word, Excel, PowerPoint Bring documents to life with 3D animations Animated 3D models can help you get creative, elevate your storytelling, and create highly immersive documents. Previously, 3D animations were static on iOS; now they’ve been brought to life with buttery-smooth animation playback. To try them out, open a file with an animated 3D model on your iPhone or iPad. Use the onscreen controls to play and pause the model and rotate it in 3D with animation. Play GIFs You asked for it! Up until now, even when your documents, worksheets, or presentations contained animated GIFs, they would only appear as static images. Now you can use the onscreen controls to play and pause your animated GIFs, enlivening any document or presentation. If you are an Insider, you can download the latest Office app updates on your iOS device and try out these new improvements. Microsoft’s latest iOS Office Insider Preview build brings new features

Microsoft is improving the Large Gallery view in Microsoft Teams for iOS and Android Microsoft has announced that it will be improving the “Large Gallery” layout for meetings on Teams mobile. The view will become mobile-optimised, letting you easily swipe through all the participants in a meeting. The view now supports up to 10 participants per page on both phones and tablets. The improvement is coming to both iOS and Android, but only iOS devices with iOS 13 and above and Android devices with Android 9 or with 4GB of RAM and above will benefit, with handsets with the older version of the OS seeing the earlier experience. The update will be rolling out on the Teams iOS and Android app starting in mid-June and the rollout is expected to be completed in late July. Microsoft is improving the Large Gallery view in Microsoft Teams for iOS and Android

Apple expanding ‘Air Quality’ Weather app feature to more countries with iOS 14.7 One of the new features introduced with iOS 14 last year was the ability to see Air Quality in the Weather app, but this is restricted to only a few regions. However, with the first beta of iOS 14.7, the company is finally expanding this feature to more countries. As reported by multiple users on Reddit and Twitter, iOS 14.7 beta 1 brings the Air Quality feature in the iPhone Weather app to more regions. This includes cities in the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Spain. Other comments also mention that the feature is working in Canada as well. In the United States, the measurement of air quality is based on an Air Quality Index (AQI) that ranges from 0 to 500, where lower numbers represent better air quality and higher numbers are considered unhealthy. This information is displayed in a colored bar within the Weather app on the iPhone, and is also shown on Apple Maps. iOS 14.7 isn’t exactly a major update, but it does bring a great new feature for HomePod users, who can now set and stop timers using the Home app on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It’s unclear, however, when this update will become available to the public. Something that’s new in iOS 14.7 for Canada Air quality index in weather apps pic.twitter.com/D4FG8oM7oz — John Ee (@heyJohnEe) May 19, 2021 Source: Apple expanding ‘Air Quality’ Weather app feature to more countries with iOS 14.7

Opera GX Mobile Beta for Android and iOS released When Opera Software launched its new Opera GX web browser last year, it did so only for desktop operating systems and not mobile operating systems. Opera GX turned out to be quite the success for Opera Software, and the company released several updates since the initial release that extended the browser's functionality. Updates introduced a network limiter, Discord support, background music playback, and more. The main idea behind Opera GX was to create a browser for gamers. Distinguishing factors are the colorful interface of the browser and the integration of game news and information. Today, Opera Software announced the beta launch of Opera GX Mobile for Android and iOS. Interested users can download the browser for their devices directly from the announcement blog post on the Opera website. The announcement highlights the following features: Looking beyond the bold, gaming-inspired design and different color themes, Opera GX Mobile comes with some truely unique features. First off, you get custom navigation with the Fast Action Button (FAB) and haptic feedback (vibrations). On top of this, you can easily sync your mobile and desktop browsers with the Flow feature – it lets you share files, notes, videos and gaming content like walkthroughs, tutorials and character builds between your devices. Plus there’s instant access to GX Corner – a one-tap space for gaming news, deals and a game release calendar. Opera GX Mobile displays a handful of important options on first start. You may enable ad-blocking and the blocking of cookie dialogs next to the blocking of cryptomining scripts, switch to another theme, and choose between standard navigation and what Opera Software calls Fast Action Button. All of these options can be changed in the settings later on. Tip: consider disabling the "extended usage statistics" option while you are in the settings, as it is enabled by default. Fast Action Button adds a button to the browser that enables users to control various features using it with a single activation of the button. Just long-tap on it to display its menu and search, open or close tabs, or switch to tabs quickly using it. Everything is in reach of the user's thumb. Vibrations are used when you activate the button. Opera GX Mobile displays game release information, news and other game related information on its new tab page just like the desktop version of the browser. The browser supports Opera Flow, a synchronization feature to sync data between different mobile and desktop versions. Here is a release video in case you are interested Closing Words Opera GX users who use the desktop version already may be inclined to switch to the mobile version of the browser as well. Maybe not right away, since it is a beta version, but eventually when the first final version is released. Source: Opera GX Mobile Beta for Android and iOS released

Google Maps gets a bunch of new features and improvements Google today announced new updates for Google Maps at its ongoing I/O developer conference. The first of the improvements is mainly aimed at reducing hard-braking incidents while driving. Google Maps will use AI to find routes that are less likely to include areas where hard-braking can occur thereby reducing chances of an accident. Google says this update has the potential to eliminate 100 million hard-braking events in routes driven with Google Maps each year. Next up are enhancements to Live View. The feature is now available directly inside the Maps app and provides important information about establishments around a user, such as how busy they are, recent reviews, and relevant photos. It also includes "helpful street signs" for complex intersections that point users to their places of interest. The detailed street maps feature introduced last year uses AI to display where sidewalks, crosswalks, and pedestrian islands are, along with the shape and width of a road to scale. This is especially useful when navigating on foot or for those with accessibility needs. The company today announced that the feature will be rolling out to 50 new cities by the end of this year, including Berlin, São Paulo, Seattle, and Singapore. Live busyness information - a feature that helps users ascertain if a select place of interest is busy or crowded - now shows the relative "busyness" of an entire area by selectively highlighting a neighborhood or part of town. The firm adds that this information will help users gauge how busy an area is, allowing them to save time or stay socially distanced during the pandemic. Lastly, Google Maps will now tailor its information based on your usage patterns and history, and show only the most relevant places based on time of the day and whether or not you’re traveling. For example, if you regularly open the app early in the morning, it will show you restaurants serving breakfast at that hour, rather than all available places around you. All of these features will roll out gradually to Android and iOS devices globally. Source: Google Maps gets a bunch of new features and improvements