Category: iOS

The Kindle for iOS app has a new update rolling into the App Store today that brings several enhancements for readers.  The new build is version 6.6 for those keeping score at home and should be available for everyone at this point.  The big news in this update is the support for Kindle Unlimited subscriptions and Prime Reading right within the app itself.

Kindle Unlimited is a $9.99 per month subscription that allows you to read an unlimited number of books at no additional cost.  Think of it as a pay-for library where you can borrow a book and read it.  Until now, you had to go to the Kindle Unlimited site to borrow the book and then it would be added to your Kindle for iOS app on your devices.  Now, if you have the subscription, you can add books to your Kindle app from within it, saving you time and steps.

Today Apple has released a small update to iOS for iPhone and iPad devices.  The update is iOS 11.3.1 and addresses a handful of security flaws found in the mobile platform.  The update is a relatively small at 105MB that should take less than 10 minutes to download and install based on your connectivity.

As for fixes, there are four outlined in the release notes having to do with elevated privileges or malicious code.  First, the Crash Reporter was patched against a memory corruption issue that could allow for elevated privileges to happen.  This error was found by Google Project Zero.

Google has released an update to Chrome for iOS, bringing it up to Chrome 66 and bringing the ability to export your passwords from the mobile browser.  The update is already in the App Store and if you have Chrome for iOS installed on your iPhone or iPad, you likely already have received the update.

The new build brings the mobile browser up to speed with the Android version as well as the desktop versions by basing it on Chrome 66.  The ability to export passwords was actually in the iOS version in Chrome 65 but it had to be enabled through the changing of a flag in the browser.  In this update, it is fully supported and no flag changes are required.

Apple Pay, the tap-to-pay service for retail and app purchases, has expanded the number of partner financial institutions here in the United States as well as  five other countries.  The expansion comes just a few weeks after Brazil iOS users were added to the countries that support the service.

The expansion adds banks here in the United States as well as Canada, China, Italy, Russia, and Spain.  While the list of countries and banks supported by Apple Pay is substantially smaller than its main rival Google Pay, the expansion shows that Apple plans to continue to work with financial institutions and, in some cases, governments, for the service to work in other countries and with more banks.

Apple Music, the subscription music streaming service from the Cupertino company, is doing exceptionally well.  In an exclusive report at Variety, the company shared that the service now has 40 million subscribers world wide.  Perhaps even more of an indicator of the health of the service, it is outpacing Spotify when it comes to month-over-month growth.

Right now Spotify is gaining about 2% each month in new subscribers, which outstanding growth.  But Apple Music is growing at a staggering 5% each month.  The service, like Spotify, is helped by the fact that it works on both Android and iOS phones.

Google has announced that by the end of 2018, the basic mobile management feature on G Suite domains will be enabled by default.  The announcement comes as part of a series of announcement the company has made regarding data and device security.

When the change is enabled, it will require that all users of Android and iOS phones associated with a G Suite domain to have, at a minimum, a password or PIN to unlock their phones.  Without it, users will not be able to access G Suite associated apps and thus, the data associated with those apps.