We're a couple of months out from Apple officially rolling out the next major versions of its various operating systems. However, you can try out iOS 16, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9 and macOS Ventura right now. Apple has released a public beta, a few weeks after it offered up the first developer betas. To access them, you'll need to sign up for the Apple Beta Software Program and follow the directions.

Bear in mind that there may be some bugs that Apple hasn't detected and resolved. Be sure to back up your data before installing any beta (though backing up regularly is always a good practice). You'll have the option to remove your device from the public beta program and revert it to an older version of its OS.

You can get to grips with some of the new features in iOS 16. Among those are a revamped lock screen with more layout and customization options, such as dynamic wallpapers. Notifications and Focus Mode have been revamped too, while you’ll be able to keep on top of things like sports scores and transit rides with Live Activities. Face ID will finally work in landscape orientation and you'll no longer need an Apple Watch to use the Fitness app.

Apple

Also new are the option to edit missives after you send them in Messages, a way to report spam text messages, a Pay Later function in Wallet and an email scheduling option in the Mail app. There’s much more on the way too, including updates for Apple Maps, CarPlay and Family Sharing. Looking further ahead, an "extreme" security option for high-profile users will be available this fall.

As for iPadOS 16, improved multitasking options will grant you more control over how to resize apps with, for instance, overlapping windows. Some of the features are limited to M1-powered iPads, however. Elsewhere, there's support for external displays, Google Drive-style document collaboration and (later this year) SharePlay features in Game Center.

Apple has made multitasking a key focus for macOS Ventura as well. The Stage Manager tool can group windows on the side of your screen and organize them by app. There will be an undo send option in the Mail app, along with the option to share tab groups in Safari and a new security function called passkeys, which will use Face ID and Touch ID for authentication. You'll also be able to use an iPhone as a webcam for your Mac.

In watchOS 9, Apple is giving the fitness features a significant upgrade. You'll have access to distance and time intervals for workouts. There will also be a way to view which heart rate zones you're in during workouts and sleep. In addition, Apple is promising improved sleep tracking as well as medication reminders.

When it comes to tvOS 16, the updates are light compared with some of the other devices. One key update is the addition of full support for the Matter smart home standard. As seems to be the case on iOS 16, tvOS will support Nintendo's Joy-Con and Switch Pro controllers.

Apple is ending support for some older devices with this year's OS updates. To use iOS 16, for instance, you'll need an iPhone 8 or later.

WhatsApp is developing a feature that would allow users to hide their online status, according to WABetaInfo. On Saturday, the outlet shared a screenshot of new privacy settings that allow someone to decide who can see them when they’re using the app. The feature would complement the recent tweaks WhatsApp introduced to the app’s Last Seen functionality.

Following a beta rollout in April, the company released an update that added a “My Contacts Except” setting, allowing for more granular control over who can see when you last checked the app. The problem with WhatsApp’s Last Seen status was that it gave contacts a way to find out if you had seen their message even if you turned off read receipts.

Per the screenshot WABetaInfo shared, the new online status feature will allow you to restrict the same people who you don’t want to see your Last Seen status. It’s surprising it has taken this long for WhatsApp to start work on such a basic privacy feature, but now that it’s finally on the way, it’s something many users are sure to appreciate.

Fertility apps have always been sketchy. As I’ve experienced it, it’s a Faustian bargain of sorts: Take your chances on one of many options in your app store, and pick the one with the best reviews, or maybe the simplest interface. You’ll sign up feeling unsure of what to make of the opaque data policy, and then you’ll bear with the ensuing deluge of targeted ads – all in exchange for an accurate prediction of when you’re most likely to conceive. Judging by those ads for maternity clothes and organic cotton onesies, someone somewhere knows I’m either trying to conceive or have already given birth, even if they can’t decide which. I don’t like it, but I put up with it.

I’ve been mulling the subject of period and fertility trackers ever since I decided I was ready to become a parent, though for privacy’s sake, I didn’t imagine writing about it until after I’d given birth to said imaginary baby. But in the two months since Politico published a draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson, the case that has overturned the constitutional right to an abortion guaranteed by Roe v. Wade, a lot of people have been talking about period trackers. Some activists and privacy advocates have asked if the data captured by these apps can be used to help prosecute someone seeking an abortion in a state that doesn’t allow it. Some have simply exhorted readers to delete these apps altogether.

I understand why. And I also understand why people use these apps in the first place: Because the version of that app that’s built into your smartphone OS isn’t very good.

In my case, I have an iPhone. I’ve been using period tracking for a couple years now, though Apple began introducing these features much earlier, in 2015. From the beginning, Apple wascriticized for moving slowly: Some observers wondered why Apple didn’t have women’s health features ready when it launched the Apple Health app the year before.

In its current form, the app is decent in the sense that it can accurately predict when you’re about to menstruate, and it’s easy to log when you do, either through your iOS device or Apple Watch. This is useful not just for avoiding potential surprises, but for knowing when your last period started in case your gynecologist asks. (And they always ask.) What's more, irregular periods can sometimes underscore larger health issues. 

The fact that Apple hasn't paid more attention to this, when hundreds of millions have downloaded third-party alternatives, is honestly surprising: Apple could own this space if it wanted to.

In order for it to do that, though, Cycle Tracking has to be equally good at helping people get pregnant or avoid pregnancy. Because ultimately, those users all need the same set of data, the same predictions, regardless of their intention. If you know you’re ovulating and want a baby, you should definitely have sex. If you’d like nothing less than to get pregnant, that ovulation window is also a useful thing to be aware of.

Here’s what Apple would need to add to its app to match its competitors and build a true all-in-one period and fertility tracker. (Apple declined to comment for this story.)

Ovulation prediction

Dana Wollman/Engadget

First off, it must be said that Apple doesn’t attempt to predict when you’re ovulating. What you’ll see is a six-day fertility window, shaded in blue. But not all fertile days are the same. One has a roughly 30 percent chance of conceiving on ovulation day or the day before; five days before, your chances are closer to 10 percent. Unless you plan to have sex for six days or avoid it that whole time, a six-day fertility window with no additional context is not very helpful.

Other fertility apps learn from previous cycles to predict how long your typical cycle is and when you’ll likely be ovulating. I’ve seen more than one app present conception odds on a bell graph, with some even displaying your estimated percentage of success for a given day. Apple can decide for itself how complex of an interface it wants, but it most definitely has the machine learning know-how to predict ovulation based on previous cycles.

A proper calendar view

Apple’s is the only period tracking app I’ve seen that doesn’t offer a gridded calendar view. Which is incredible when you remember everything related to fertility (and later pregnancy) is measured in weeks. Instead, Apple Health shows the days in a single, horizontally scrollable line. On my iPhone 12’s 6.1-inch screen, that’s enough space to see seven days in full view. Also, if you input any data, whether it's sexual activity or physical symptoms, that day will be marked with a purple dot. That isn't helpful at a glance when that dot could mean anything. Another tip for Apple: color-coding might help.

If I were just logging my period, I’d appreciate not having the red-colored possible period days sneak up on me. (Okay, okay, you can set notifications too.) But for those trying to conceive, a calendar view would help for other reasons, like matching factors like sexual activity and body temperature against your predicted fertile days. Which brings me to my next point…

An easier way to log and understand basal body temperature

Dana Wollman/Engadget

One way that many people measure their fertility is by taking their temperature every day, at about the same time. The idea is that your temperature shoots up right before ovulation, and drops back down after, unless you’ve conceived. It doesn’t matter so much what each day’s reading is; what matters is the pattern that all of those inputs point to. And the only way to see a pattern is to view your temperature readings on a graph.

This is how temperature tracking was meant to be done in the old days, before smartphones: with graph paper. It’s awfully difficult to spot the surge when you’re scrolling, one day at a time, through Apple Health’s left-to-right calendar. It is very easy to spot the surge when it’s presented as an infographic. And I know Apple could do a good job of this. This is already how Apple presents changes in my daily exercise minutes or fluctuations in my heart rate throughout the day.

Oh, and while I’m ranting on this topic, Apple doesn’t just let you type in whatever number you see on your thermometer. You have to select it from a scrolling dial, similar to how you would set an alarm in the Clock app. (When you go to enter your temperature, you start at the last temperature you entered.) Basal thermometers show your reading down to the hundredth of a degree, so even mild fluctuations in temperature from one day to the next can lead to an annoying amount of scrolling.

The ability to recognize ovulation strips

Dana Wollman/Engadget

Not everyone uses temperature readings to predict ovulation. Many people use the newer invention of ovulation tests: at-home pee strips that measure Luteinizing Hormone (LH), which surges ahead of ovulation. The result always includes two lines, and how close you are to ovulating depends on how dark each of the lines are. Because that color exists on a spectrum, from light purple to very dark, it can be difficult to suss out the nuances with the naked eye, especially toward the deeper end of the color grade. Fortunately, many apps allow you to take or upload a photo of the results, and the app will use camera recognition to classify your test results into one of three categories: low, high or peak. Again, I have no doubt that Apple has the technology to do this.

Resources for pregnant people

One of the reasons people download and continue to use fertility apps after they get pregnant is that they can learn, week by week, whether their baby is the size of a raspberry, prune or avocado. These apps can also be a resource for first-timers who are feeling overwhelmed and unsure of what symptoms and bodily changes they can expect at each stage. The information in these apps vary in depth, and likely accuracy. There’s no governing body so far as I can tell that regulates what information apps include as resources. Not even the App Store. I’m not suggesting Apple write its own content. But it can use the same system of curation that it uses for the App Store, Apple News, etc. to provide users information from trusted outside sources, whether that be medical sites like WebMD or reputable medical centers like the Mayo Clinic.

If you’re a Comcast Xfinity TV customer looking to move all of our TV watching into a single platform, then grab your finest off-brand champagne. The company has announced that the Xfinity Stream app is now available on Apple TV, both in its vanilla and 4K flavors. And users won’t just be able to watch live and on-demand programming, they’ll also be able to access material they’ve stored on their DVR, so long as they’re within the home.

This is also the first opportunity to see the freshly-redesigned Xfinity Stream app, with what Comcast is calling a “new, more intuitive user interface.” You’ll also get improved personalization recommendations and editorial picks to help you find your next great show. Which will go nicely enough with the remainder of the off-brand champagne you’ll be toasting with, surely.

Google has offered to put $90 million on the table to settle a brewing conflict between it and a number of Android developers. As Reuters reports, the issue centers around the mandatory use of Google’s in-house payments platform, with its fixed 30 percent cut. Developers feel that Google had worked behind the scenes to close off the options for alternative payment systems. It’s prompted the search giant to offer a settlement to avoid “years of uncertain and distracting litigation.”

In a statement, Google said that, if the court approves the offer, it will put $90 million into a fund to “support US developers who earned two million dollars of less in annual revenue through Google Play during each year from 2016-2021.” If it goes ahead, Google will automatically notify the people who qualify for a payout, as well as affirm several changes it’s already started to make. This includes lowering the commissionto 15 percent for the first $1 million in annual revenue, enabling developers to communicate with users outside of the app, and make it easier to use rival app stores and billing platforms.

With Pokémon Go, Niantic became the poster child for the power of mobile augmented reality (AR) apps. Since then, the company has struggled to recapture that glory. Yesterday's round of layoffs and canceled projects cemented how difficult things are for Niantic, driven by the pandemic that has made it tough for people to get outside and gather in groups. But it turns out there's another way for Niantic to double down on its AR lead: By making it easier for its existing players to communicate with each other.

Today, the company has begun rolling out Campfire, a social app that will let Niantic's users chat with their friends, join groups of like-minded mobile wanders, and arrange major events like Pokémon Go's raids. Up until now, Poké-addicts have used Discord and other messagings apps to arrange their gatherings. But, likely seeing a missed opportunity, Niantic has developed its own social platform, one that'll be accessible across all of its titles (including Ingress, its first major release).

Campfire is about more than just messaging, though. It also gives players a broader glimpse at everything the company's games have to offer. In Pokémon Go, for example, it can show you that there's a Venusaur hanging out on the other side of town, a far wider view than you'd typically get in the game's main app. You can also light a flare on specific events, which alerts other local players that you'd like some help tackling it. And, as you'd expect, Campfire also makes it easier to coordinate your friends, like quickly being able to DM your friends if there's a Snorlax you want to take on.

Even if you don't have Campfire, though, you'll still see some benefits within the company's apps. That expanded map view will be integrated within Pokémon Go, for one. That's useful for all players, while also being enticing glimpse at what they can access if they sign up for Campfire.

According to Ivan Zhou, Niantic's head of product, the company is still focused on bringing people together in the real world, rather than using Campfire to power remote events. The app's Communities feature is also a big step forward, since it'll let users create groups around any sort of topic. Zhou was already surprised to see groups pop up for niche local topics. There's also room for Campfire to grow as a location-first social network, rather than using location as an afterthought (like Facebook's Groups).

Users in the U.S. will get access to Campfire over the coming days, the company says, while international access for Pokémon Go will light up throughout the summer. There aren't any specific launch dates yet, but the company says it will announce future updates on its social channels.

Google is updating its password manager to make it easier to use and more consistent across platforms. The tool could also help users make their accounts more secure following the upgrades. For one thing, Google is making the password management experience the same in Chrome and Android settings. It will automatically group together passwords for the same sites and apps.

You'll now be able to add passwords directly to Google Password Manager on top of saving them when you log in to an account. Google suggests Android users will be able to log in to sites faster on Chrome with a touch-to-login feature, which will be available on an overlay on the bottom of the screen. This builds on biometric verification features Google added to Chrome last year.

In addition, Google says it will notify you through the Password Checkup screen if you're using compromised credentials. Android users will see alerts about weak and reused passwords too. If you receive such a warning, it should be easy to correct the issue with the automatic password change feature. Compromised password warnings will be available for Chrome users on iOS, Windows, MacOS, Linux and Chrome OS too.

Last week, Google added the ability for iOS users to set Chrome as their autofill provider. The idea was to make it easier for people who use Google Password Manager to sign in to any app on their iPhone. Google recently introduced the option for Android users to set a home screen shortcut for Password Manager as well.

Apple has started allowing developers to use alternative payment systems for apps in South Korea, it announced. It made the move to comply with a new law in the nation requiring major app stores to allow alternative payment methods. Apple is still taking a cut from app transactions, though, albeit with a slight reduction in the fee. 

To use alternatives to Apple's own payment system, developers must create a special version of their apps for the Korean App Store. Apple has approved four South Korean payment providers, KCP, Inicis, Toss and NICE and any others must be approved by Apple via a request on its developer website. Certain features like Ask to Buy and Family Sharing won't be available, and Apple takes no responsibility for subscription management or refunds. 

Apple originally appealed the law, but eventually agreed to reduce its usual 30 percent commission to 26 percent. That effectively matches Google, which unveiled its Play Store compliance plans shortly after the law was announced with a four percent discounts on its usual commission. 

Apple has faced attacks on its policies over the past few years, kicked off after Epic Games sued it for removing Fortnite from the App Store. In the US, proposed Senate bills would force Apple to allow app sideloading on iOS and other measures. Last year, Apple published a 16-page report explaining why it should be able to keep its ecosystem closed. 

Google is making it easier for new Android users to transfer their data from an old iPhone. As of today, the company’s Switch to Android app on iOS will work with all Android 12 devices. Previously only compatible with Pixel phones, the software is useful if you're about to move from iOS to Android.

Once you have your new phone, connect it to your old Apple one. Your best bet is a Lightning to USB-C cable, but you can also link the two devices together over WiFi. Once they’re connected, select what data you want to be moved over. Your options include apps, contacts, photos, videos, music and messages. At that point, the software will take care of the rest.

The timing of the wider availability of Switch to Android is interesting in part because WhatsApp recently made it easier for new iOS users to move their chat histories over from an old Android phone. Obviously, Google's app won't help if you switched to Android before today's announcement, but if the headache of transferring your data is what held you back previously, now you have one less reason to wait.    

"TikTok is not just another video app. That's the sheep’s clothing." That's what Brendan Carr wrote in his tweet along with a copy of the letter he sent Apple and Google, asking the companies to remove TikTok from their app stores. The agency's senior Republican commissioner references a recent BuzzFeed News report that examined leaked audio from 80 internal TikTok meetings. Based on those leaked audio recordings, China-based employees of TikTok parent company ByteDance had repeatedly accessed private information on users in the US. 

One member of TikTok's Trust and Safety department reportedly said during a meeting in September 2021 that "everything is seen in China." A director said in another meeting that a Beijing-based engineer referred to as "Master Admin" has "access to everything." Just hours before BuzzFeed News published its report, TikTok announced that it migrated 100 percent of US user traffic to a new Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. It's part of the company's efforts to address concerns by US authorities about how it handles information from users in the country. 

In his letter, though, Carr listed other reports showing "concerning evidence and determinations regarding TikTok's data practices" that include previous instances wherein researchers discovered that the app can circumvent Android and iOS safeguards to access users' sensitive data. He also cited TikTok's 2021 decision to pay $92 million to settle dozens of lawsuit, mostly from minors, accusing it of collecting their personal data without consent and selling it to advertisers.

Carr wrote:

"It is clear that TikTok poses an unacceptable national security risk due its extensive data harvesting being combined with Beijing's apparently unchecked access to that sensitive data."

He's giving Apple and Google until July 8th to explain why they aren't removing the app from their stores if they refuse to do so. That said, Carr was the letter's lone signee — it doesn't look like the other FCC Commissioners are involved. We've reached out to all parties to ask for their official statement on the issue.