Apple

Yesterday, Apple showed off an extensive suite of new software features for iOS, macOS, watchOS, iPadOS, and more. Here’s a rundown of everything Apple showed at WWDC 2021 that was already possible with Google’s apps on Android and Chrome OS.

After years of ignoring the fact that it was originally supposed to be a cross-platform standard, Apple finally announced an expansion of FaceTime to Android and Windows devices through a web app allowing users on other platforms to join iOS 15 users in their calls. To go with it, though, Apple picked a pretty ugly-looking and cheap Android phone to depict the functionality. It’s a tactic that’s sure to annoy a lot of Android fans, but the honest truth is this: it’s perfectly accurate.

Google’s biggest consumer-facing augmented reality offerings today are Lens and Live View in Maps. At WWDC 2021, Apple announced it was planning to go after those two features with iOS 15 this fall.

The big battle between Epic Games and Apple comes to a head today as the court case starts. One of Apple’s key arguments in the case is that developers have choice and can distribute “apps” for iOS through the web, but a Google engineer has recently spoken out against Apple’s practices on the web, calling iOS browsers “uniquely underpowered.”

Epic’s lawsuit against Apple has revealed quite a bit about iMessage for Android, including how platform lock-in is one reason it doesn’t exist. New filings today revealed that Apple executive Eddy Cue made the case for iMessage on Android to stop Google from owning messaging.

Besides iTunes, Apple’s biggest offering on Microsoft’s operating system is the iCloud sync client for files, photos, and mail. Apple is now extending its presence on Windows with an iCloud Passwords Chrome extension.

Samsung may still be the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer, but according to a new report, Apple dominated the Korean firm in Q4 2020 smartphone sales.

With iOS 14, Apple is requiring app developers to tell users about and have them opt-in to tracking. Google announced today that its first-party iOS apps will stop using certain tracking methods to avoid having to show the upcoming permission prompt. Meanwhile, the company also provided guidance to developers and advertisers ahead of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency initiative.

Back in May, Apple and Google rolled out a system to help trace who has COVID-19. The two companies today announced “Exposure Notifications Express” to hopefully boost adoption by doing most of the hard technical work. As such, local health agencies no longer have to create individual apps, but rather can rely on Apple and Google.

Apple made a surprise acquisition of Dark Sky in March and there are signs that it’s already live in iOS 14. As part of this, the weather forecasting service is gradually being deprecated for non-Apple devices and clients. The Dark Sky shutdown is now complete for Android and Wear OS, but the website sees a reprieve.

Apple today launched a Security Research Device Program to help third parties find iPhone and iPad vulnerabilities. Google’s Project Zero team says its won’t be able to use the modified iOS devices because the program imposes restrictions that prevent 90-day disclosures.

Back in 2017, Apple acquired music recognition app Shazam and removed advertising, as well as third-party SDKs, from the service. The company now looks to be taking that a step further by removing the ability to sign in with Facebook on Shazam for Android.

About a month after our colleagues at 9to5Mac reported that Apple had acquired NextVR, Apple confirmed the news just yesterday. Within hours of that public confirmation, NextVR’s Android app was quickly pulled from the Google Play Store.

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Straight up, the 2020 iPhone SE is a good phone. It probably won’t replace the phone in your pocket unless you happen to own a really old device, but it really is impressive — even if it does run iOS.

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One way to track the spread of COVID-19 across a population is through contact tracing. Apple and Google today announced a “joint effort” that leverages Bluetooth on Android and iOS phones to “help governments and health agencies reduce the spread of the virus.”

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Apple this morning revealed the surprising acquisition of the excellent Dark Sky weather app. In the process, Dark Sky for Android and Wear OS will be killed by Apple later this year.

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The challenges facing Google in the wearables arena won’t instantly be solved by the recent acquiring of Fitbit, but after claiming 6% of the market share in 2019, at least it now some sort of “foothold” in the wearable space.

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Samsung is the biggest smartphone maker on the planet, but Apple’s tight reigns on the US market give the company a run for its money. Now, a report on last year’s numbers reveals that Apple absolutely dominated the US market while Samsung had the most successful Android phones of 2019.

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