Apple Releases iOS 11.0.2 Software Update

iOS 11.0.2 For Fixing Crackling Sound On iPhone 8

The iOS 11.0.2 has been made available to Apple users on their iPhones, iPod touch and iPads. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus users experienced crackling sound during calls.

It was not clear what caused the crackling sound. The earpiece seemed to work fine even on affected iPhones, but during calls , there seemed to be a faint crackling sound, which was annoying to the users. They took to social media to report this problem and seek help. Apple confirmed the problem and said it affected a few of its users. To fix this problem, Apple has come out with iOS 11.0.2. It also fixes other minor bugs as well.

Apple did not release any betas before the iOS 11.0.2. It is the second update since it launched iOS 11 on 19th September.

The iOS 11 included additional features to the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. It included Indoor mall and airport maps, Do Not Disturb while driving, Live photos editing, multitasking features in the iPad, new files app, document scanning in notes.

The iOS 11.0.1 also aims to fix certain issues which the users have complained about. It fixed the Exchange email server problem. There improvements in performance as seen in the iMessage app Drawer, App Explorer and Springboard.

The iOS 11.0.2 is focused on fixing up the iOS 11 and iOS 11.0.1 problems. It seems to be a solution for bug fixes and improvement in performance, also including the crackling sound during phone calls.

Initially, the problem of the crackling audio was believed to be a hardware issue. Apple released the beta version of iOS 11.1 last week and the problem was resolved with a software update. In order to expidite the fixing of the bug, it released the iOS 11.0.2. The iOS 11.0.2 also fixes two other issues. The one that could cause the photos to be hidden as well as the problem where attachments in S/MIME encrypted emails would not open. It does not have any additional security content , it includes the same security from iOS 11.0

The iOS 11.0.2 is a maintenance update with a fairly big download of 278MB . It should take about a minute or two to download if you have a fast Wi-Fi network.

You need to go to the Settings app on your iPhone, click ‘General’ and then ‘Software Update’. This update can be downloaded from your computer as well. You need to plug your iPhone to the computer and go to iTunes to update. It would be safe to backup your device in case anything should go wrong. Make sure that the iCloud backups in your device settings are working or backup can be done using iTunes.

For data protection on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, you need to have the iOS 11/iOS 11.0.2 . This is especially essential for those using the older versions of iOS.
 
In a gist
 
iOS 11.0.2 includes bug fixes and performance improvement in iPhones, iPads and iPod touch

1. The crackling audio during phone calls for the iPhone8 and iPhone 8 Plus has been fixed. 
2. It solves the problem where some photos become hidden. 
3. The attachments in S/MIME encrypted emails would not open and this problem too is resolved.

How the iPhone's Do Not Disturb While Driving Feature Works

Apple’s Sage Driving Mode

The `Do Not Disturb While Driving’, safe driving mode had been announced by Apple in June at the Worldwide Developer Conference, a feature that is focused in fighting the hazardous practice of using the device for safe driving which tends to switch off other alerts, enticing users in viewing their phones while on the run.

People distracted while driving has become a safety crisis since the entry of smartphones and as per statistic from U.S. Department of Transportation, around 10% of deadly crashes, 15% of injury crashes and 14% of overall police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes are the result of distracted driving. Utilising your device while on the move especially while driving could be a dangerous issue and for the first time, Apple had now introduced a safe driving mode for iPhone in iOS 11.

The feature disables the users from receiving messages and calls forsafe driving and provides their contact with the awareness that the recipients are occupied. The safety addition,`Called Do Not Disturb While Driving’, would be added to all phones running iOS 11. The new mode has received the approval of the police and road safety advocates who state that this could help in the prevention of accidents due to the distraction of people while driving. The following would provide some insight on how it functions and how to turn it off:

When is `Do Not Disturb While Driving turned on? 

The toughest warning that a person is in his car is if their iPhone has been linked to a car Bluetooth network and since no one tends to have Bluetooth in their car, Apple has come up with other indications where one could be driving. The safe driving mode tends to utilise various signals like the accelerometer of the iPhone, the rate wherein it tends to find and loose the Wi-Fi network in the vicinity together with the GPS in trying to detect when it assumes one would be driving.

Since it has been turned on by default and tends to get activated mechanically, it could affect the public transport users as well as passengers. Over a period of time, the feature is said to be more precise as Apple intends to obtain more date regarding who is and is not at the wheels. This feature can also be mechanically activated from the new control centre of iOS 11. Initially one would have to add the option through Settings> ControlCentre > Customise Controls and then add Do Not Disturb While Driving, thereafter you could turn it on swiping up from the bottom of the screen and opt for it.

What occurs when it is turned on? 

The safe driving mode of iOS 11 has the tendency of detecting when the iPhone user seems to be driving and silences the notifications in order to avoid disturbing the user. Moreover it is also likely to turn the phone’s screen dark, making it more difficult to unlock the device. Users could set up the automatic iMessage replies in order to send it to their contacts when they may be driving and opt to receive the notifications for the message which may be crucial.

Besides this, the app also has the possibility of stopping users from receiving phone calls though they could opt to take the calls from some of the contacts as well as receive alert if the number tends to try again within a span of three minutes. Calls still have the potential of going through in-car Bluetooth system even though Do Not Disturb While Driving has been activated. Siri tends to work in Do Not Disturb While Driving mode though the same could only answer voice command with audible replies.Apple Maps also tends to have the same lock screen presence since it does when the mode is not initiated.

How to turn it off? 

If the phone tends to inform that it is in driving mode when it is unlocked, waking up the phone would only display the Do Not Disturb driving notification while everything else seems to be blocked. On pressing or swiping on the notification would enable the user to say one is not driving if the need arises of turning it off. In order to stop the same from turning on, when it is not needed, you could change the feature by going to Settings > Do Not Disturb, where one could control if the safety mode is activated mechanically, when the same has been connected manually to the car Bluetooth.

Phone calls are enabled when an iPhone is connected to the Bluetooth of the car or a hands-free accessory enabling the user to respond with picking up the phone. The calls tend to get blocked like text messages and notifications if the same is not connected to Bluetooth or a compatible accessory. This is a totally optional feature wherein the driver has the choice of not using or could toggle off at any point of time, though it is an essential feature which one needs to consider turning on to eliminate distractions for safe driving.

Apple Music for Android Updated with User Profiles and Voice Support

Apple is now rolling out the carpets for Apple music, an app that not only can be used on apple devices such as iphones, ipads and the like but also for android users.

So now even an android user can have access to a 30-million song catalogs and radio on beats one.

Apple ID

Apple music requires an apple id to use it. This app also serves as a social media platform allowing you to connect with your friends and see what their listening to and downloading. This app is like Spotify in certain ways.

Design of the Apple music app

Apple has combined the IOS and android features in coming up with the design for the app. The app comes up with a “hamburger” menu on the left, the term so coined because of the three horizontal lines that resemble a hamburger. The different options available are For you, radio, new, connect, my music tabs and playlists.

The general app other than the menu, resembles the previous IOS apps. In that it is jam packed with albums, songs and other suggestions.

The playlists of Apple music

The playlists are just like the previous ones. They allow you to listen to your downloads, purchases and that from CDs. You can even access music that is purchased from itunes. You can also listen to music across different devices using your same id and given that you download the app across all your devices.

The connect tab allows you to follow various artists and their updates.

Beats 1 Radio

The beats one option is apple’s private radio station. This station is available night or day. The app asks you what genres and artists you like when you sign up. This allows the app to custom make their offering to you by giving you various suggestions. As of now the app does not allow for videos, but apple says they will be coming shortly.

Voice control option in Apple music

As with any IOS device, the user can always access siri. But with android devices that does not exist. Apple music makes up for that by allowing you to access any song, artist or the radio by adding support for “Ok Google” voice commands. A simple test of “Ok Google, play beats radio in apple music” will work.

Family plan pack 

As of now the app does not have a family plan pack that allows users to share a subscription. The apple music app comes with monthly subscription of $9.99 with a free three month trial period after which the amount will automatically be debited from your account.

Feed back Option in Apple music

The apple music app comes with a disclaimer that it is still in beta meaning that it is not quite done yet and may contain bugs and the occasional sluggishness. The app is only available for android devices running on 4.3 and up. The apple music app does not seem to be working on android tablets as of now.

Apple music app also gives a beta feedback option allowing the user to fill in a survey that pops open on a webpage. This allows you to let Apple know of any problems concerning the app.

The app does have its advantages though. It allows you to listen to music that can’t be found elsewhere such as Dr. Dre’s latest album and add to that the fact that now even an android user can also have access to itunes music on their phones which was otherwise not possible.

iPhone X Puts Exclamation Point on Apple's Pricing Strategy

Last Wednesday, Tim Cook, again disguised as Steve Jobs and with the Beatles as a soundtrack, featured the 3 new iPhones of the Cupertino company. Among them, the expected iPhone X that Cook himself defined as the "smartphone of the next decade." A terminal that in hardware does not present anything new (infinite screen, facial recognition or dual camera are present in most terminals of the high range) and although the software was always the strong, the question that the market is asking is whether it will be sufficiently deferential to justify the huge price difference with its competitors and even with other terminals of the company: the iPhone X costs 250 euros more than iPhone8 and 140 more than the iPhone8 plus, also presented on Wednesday. The answer seems quite simple: it does not matter. Apple has created a product that will not be bought for its hardware or software

As much as Cook disguises himself, his Apple has nothing to do with Jobs. The one that once was a company of disruptive innovation is today a company of marketing and commercial strategy. The most daring, disruptive and innovative of iPhone X is its price; not only because it is the most expensive terminal ever launched by the company (by far), but by an international pricing policy with differences that can exceed 33%. True, this policy is not new to Apple that seems to have prices for ready and for fools in which Spain is in the second group. Buying an iPhone X in Barcelona, Madrid or Bilbao will cost 30% more than doing it in Chicago, New York or Tokyo.

This data could indicate that the iPhone X positions itself as a smartphone in certain markets (USA or Japan for example) that must compete in price with its rivals but that in other markets, what it wants to be is a product of luxury out of price elasticity laws. Apple seems determined to show that in countries like China, India, Spain or Italy the price increase does not suppose a decrease in demand; the iPhone as a paradigm of the inelastic good that economists say. In other words, Apple is convinced that a very significant part of its customers will continue to buy their products regardless of the price of these.

How to explain that the price of iPhone X in India is 30% higher than in Japan or the US when purchasing power is vastly lower? Simple. In Japan or the USA, the iPhone X is a phone for those who value their performance. In India the iPhone X is a luxury item for an audience more concerned about the alleged exclusivity of the product than for its hardware or software and for them, the price is irrelevant as long as it is high enough that only a few can afford it.

As much as Cook insists, the iPhone X will not be the phone for the next decade for most. Of course, unfortunately, a huge minority will buy it only for that, because most can not have it. Zygmunt Bauman said that, in the neoliberal economy, to consume was to invest in one's own belonging to society. For some that 1.159 euros that costs iPhone X will be an entry price to a certain group. Pure consumerist fetishism :)

iOS 11: The 11 Best Features of Apple New Software

Welcome iOS 11 and its great innovations that promise to improve the experience we have on our iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, officially introduced during WWDC 2017 to iOS 11, the next version of the company's mobile operating system.

iOS 11 brings new features for iMessage, Apple Pay advances, more intelligence for Siri, new features for the camera and a new Control Center design. However, there are many more novelties that we collect below.

What's new in iOS 11 

New Control Center 

iOS 11 brings a new design for the Control Center to integrate all the tools in a single screen. In addition, this Control Center can be customized and compatible with 3D Touch, which allows enabling more control commands.

News in notifications 

Now you can slide your finger from bottom to top to see all notifications in one place on the lock screen. In addition, the Notifications panel now shows you the notifications of today and if you slide up it shows you a screen with notifications of other days. You need to swipe from the bottom edge to close the notifications panel and return to Start.

On the other hand, in the configurations you can select if you want to show notifications previews always, when unlocked or never, giving you more control.

Keyboard for one-handed use 

Hold down the emoji virtual key and select the handwriting to let the keyboard tilt to one side, similar to what different Android keyboards have offered.

iMessage in the cloud 

iMessage will now sync with iCloud to allow conversations to be synced across all your devices; so, if you delete one of the messages on your iPhone, it will be erased from your iPad.

Also, when you activate your new iPhone, your entire conversation will be rebuilt quickly.

Apple Pay to make payments between friends 

Apple Pay comes to iMessage to receive or send money to friends. The money will be stored in Apple

Pay Cash and you can use it to pay someone else or to make purchases with Apple Pay. Also, when someone asks you for money, the keyboard on your iOS device will suggest you use Apple Pay to pay.

Camera and photo optimizations 

The camera app now brings new filters that allow you to better highlight what you captured.

You can also create Live Photos loops, crop, play, and rewind a captured moment, mute, and get an extended exposure to create a drag effect.

In addition, the videos and photos will take less space, thanks to the new format HEVC and HEIF video that manages to occupy only half the space.

On the other hand, Apple will allow the depth information captured with the two cameras of the iPhone 7 Plus can be used by developers to create different effects and photos in low light can take advantage of the optical image stabilization of the cameras.

Also, now you can see Memories in portrait mode, not just horizontal.

Apple Maps are more efficient 

The Apple Maps app will be updated with iOS 11 to provide shopping and airport information.

In addition, Apple Maps will include the speed limits and will indicate which lane you must take to follow the navigation directions, similar to what Google Maps has offered for some years.

These new features of Apple Maps will only be applied in some cities and airports in the beginning but are expected to be extended to more places in the future.

New way not to distract while driving 

When you install iOS 11, you will receive the option to activate the new Do Not Disturb While Driving mode.

If activated, this new mode will detect that you are in motion and will turn off the screen and will not show you notifications. In addition, it will include an autoresponder message to indicate that you are driving, but it will show you some notifications of your favorite contacts, in which case they are emergency communications.

However, if you are not the one driving, you can activate the screen and select to deactivate that mode.

HomeKit, AirPlay 2 and Apple Music: Smart home with music AirPlay 2 lets you play music through different speakers in different rooms in your home, and you can control everything from the HomeKit app on your iOS device.

Also, Apple Music allows you to create public playlists so your friends can see it and even add their own songs.

On the other hand, Apple is opening up Apple Music so that other developers can access its catalog, including Nike and Shazam. For example, when you detect a song in Shazam you can add the song to your list of Apple Music with a single click.

New App Store

The Apple App Store, App Store, brings a completely new design.

The App Store now has different tabs including: Today, games, apps, updates and searches.

Today's tab lets you discover new apps and games, while the Featured app helps highlight popular apps and an organization in different categories.

What is more interesting is that the App Store now will show you tips and tricks of all kinds of apps and games, through video and photos.

On the other hand, Apple promises that with the new app store the company will be able to evaluate and approve apps in just 24 hours, although in many cases it could take an hour or two.

ARKit: Apple Augmented Reality

Apple is creating a new augmented reality platform directly on iOS 11. With this new tool Apple will allow developers to create all kinds of augmented reality experiences.

Core ML: The Apple Machine Learning Intelligence for Everyone

Apple is enabling machine learning so developers can take advantage of it and give their apps a little more intelligence.

Auto Setup

Did you buy a new iPhone? Just bring it closer to another device with iOS or macOS so that many of your iCloud Keychain settings, preferences and passwords are imported automatically.

File or File App: File Manager

The new Files app lets you browse, search and organize all your files.

Files not only allows you to manage files on your iPad, but also access files you have on other devices with iOS (on iCloud Drive), as well as files in services such as Box, Dropbox or Google Drive.

Siri is smarter:

Siri understands more of your life

Apple adds new intelligence to its virtual assistant, Siri, to offer suggestions for different apps. For example, if you visited a page of an event in Africa, News may suggest something related to that.

More natural language

Apple claims that in iOS 11 Siri will have a more natural language so that it sounds much more like a person of flesh and blood.

Offers translations (beta)

Siri will help you translate from English to French, Italian, German and Spanish, but hopefully in the future, it will work with more languages.

Communicate with Siri via text

iOS 11 will allow you to write to communicate with Siri with the function called "Type to Siri". Other new features in iOS 11:

• Password autocompletion in apps
• Changes to the Podcast app design
• New NFC reading mode
• New extension of fraud detection through text messages
• QR Code Compatibility for Scanning with the Camera
• Support for swapping Safari tabs using 3D Touch
• Spotlight tab in Apple News lets you search for news
• Business chat preview
• Zoom on maps with one hand
• Communicate through text with Siri
• Function to record the screen
• Status of flights in Spotlight and Safari
• New feature for sharing files via iCloud
• Emergency function (SOS) on the iPhone
• HomeKit triggers based on user presence and duration
• Wi-Fi password sharing feature from your device
• Advanced Wi-Fi Network Analysis
• New design to invert colors (Classic or Smart) by pressing the Start button three times
• Family sharing plans iCloud storage
• Settings titles, Mail, and other Apple apps are larger.
• Additional functions for the iPad
• New 'dock'

The new iOS 11 dock on the iPad will always be present so you can quickly access the apps that matter most to you. Although when you are using an app in full screen the dock will not be present, you can slide up to see it.

Best multi window

With the help of this new dock, you can drag an app to your screen to activate the multi-window functions in a simple way.

Support for dragging files

Although the dock is the one that allows you to drag apps to activate the multi-window functions, iOS 11 lets you drag and drop all kinds of files.

For example, now you can drag photos to an email so you can share what you want in a more intuitive way.
New App switcher or App Exchanger

The new apps exchanger now has a laptop design.

Annotations

With the Apple Pencil and iOS 11 in the iPad Pro, you can write and draw in the Notes app, screenshots or PDFs (including PDF books), just like the Mail app.

Scan function

iOS 11 will allow you to scan documents to be automatically adjusted. In addition, you can fill and sign fields with the Apple Pencil.

Devices Compatible with iOS 11 

iPhone 7
iPhone 7 Plus
iPhone 6S
iPhone 6S Plus
Iphone 6
iPhone 6 Plus
iPhone SE
Iphone 5s
Second-generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro
12.9-inch first generation iPad Pro
10.5-Inch iPad Pro
9.7 inch iPad Pro
iPad Air 2
iPad Air
iPad 5th generation
iPad Mini 4
iPad Mini 3
iPad Mini 2
iPod Touch Sixth Generation


When can I upgrade my iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch to iOS 11?

The final version of iOS 11 will be available on September 19th as a free upgrade. The iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X arrive with iOS 11 the first time you turn them on.

First impression 

iOS 11 is focused on many refinements of what Apple was offering in its operating system for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, but the most interesting news will be received by the iPad. These changes make the iPad work more like a laptop, increasing the possibilities of what this device can offer. In addition, the new designs of some iOS 11 components refresh a little the experience we have in these devices.

In general, the changes are welcome and make iOS 11 feel like a more modern operating system.