Last week, Apple introduced a new discovery feature for the App Store called Personalized Collections, or app recommendations based on individual interests and behavior. Apple pitched the announcement as another way for developers to have their app discovered, but there has already been some pushback from a privacy perspective.


The new tailored recommendations can appear on the Apps, Games, and Search tabs, and evolve over time based on a user's app usage and downloads. How Apple does this is through analytics data, but the extent of the information being captured by the company has set off warning sirens amongst some cybersecurity researchers.

Security researchers Mysk say that Apple logs "every tap" in the App Store that a user inputs in order to put together the recommendations. Quoting from a post shared on X (Twitter):

"Now Apple is putting the extensive identifiable analytics they collect in the App Store in action. They record every tap and there's no way to turn it off. They can even calculate your typing speed."

The post was accompanied by the above screenshot. "This is what the App Store sends to Apple when I searched for 'Tim cook,'" said one of the researchers. Responding to a reply, Mysk noted that the screenshot wasn't showing search results, but extensive analytics. "If you don't like Apple Music privacy options, you can stream music from Spotify, but where else can you download apps on the iPhone?" they added.

Mysk said the analytics in the screenshot were included in the personal data dump that individual users can request from Apple via privacy.apple.com.

• Get a Copy of Your Apple Account Data – Here's How

Is capturing everything you do in the App Store app an intrusion of privacy? Opinions will differ. But there's an argument to be made for Personalized Collections to be opt-in, rather than the all-in feature Apple has rolled out. Let us know your opinions in the comments.
This article, "Apple 'Records Every Tap' in App Store to Filter New Personalized Recommendations Feature" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple has partnered up with Amazon to make Apple TV available at $5.99 per month for Prime members for a limited time.


Apple TV is available as an add-on subscription through Prime Video in the U.S. This promotional deal lets Prime members sign up to the streaming platform for over 50% off the usual $12.99/month price for up to two months, after which the standard price applies.

The promotion ends on June 26 though, so there are only a few days left to go before it's gone.

Subscribers will have access to Apple TV's full catalog of original content, including hit shows like "Severance," "Ted Lasso," and "The Morning Show," as well as films and live sports events.

Prime members can take advantage of the offer by following this link. Note that subscribers will need to be signed into their Amazon account for the link to work. Prime members can also find the promo deal via the Prime Video app.
This article, "Apple TV Time-Limited Deal: $5.99/Month for Amazon Prime Members" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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WhatsApp is working on a way to let users send text messages that can only be viewed once, similar to the feature already available for photos, videos, and voice notes.


According to WABetaInfo, after typing a message in the chat bar, users will be able to select a new "Send as view once" option by long-pressing the Send button. When the message is sent, the recipient will be able to open the message once and read it before it disappears.

This means that the recipient will not be able to copy, forward, or share the message after receiving it. WhatsApp will also block screenshots and screen recordings to prevent the content from being preserved in any form.

The feature, which is still in development, is said to be coming to individual chats and groups, but it won't be available in channels, where ephemeral messages aren't suitable. WhatsApp is also developing the feature for Android phones.

WABetaInfo notes that the new feature will be welcomed by users who currently use a workaround by adding text to an image and sending it as view-once media.

The option follows another feature that appeared in beta a few weeks ago that causes disappearing messages to vanish based on a countdown that starts only after they've been read. The feature has yet to roll out more broadly.
This article, "WhatsApp Working on View-Once Text Messages for iPhone" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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