If you like the Intego Mac Podcast, be sure to follow it on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, or Amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\n Intego Mac Premium Bundle X9<\/b> is the ultimate protection and utility suite for your Mac. Download a free trial now at intego.com<\/a>, and use this link<\/a> for a special discount when you\u2019re ready to buy.<\/p>\n Get Apple security news delivered straight to your inbox, for free.<\/b> Intego\u2019s twice-monthly newsletter will keep you informed about Apple-related privacy and security, along with tips and tricks for getting the most out of your Mac or iPhone. Subscribe for free<\/a>\u2014no strings attached.<\/p>\n Voice Over 0:00 Kirk McElhearn 0:51 Josh Long 0:53 Kirk McElhearn 0:55 Josh Long 1:25 Kirk McElhearn 1:45 Josh Long 1:49 Kirk McElhearn 2:09 Josh Long 4:48 Kirk McElhearn 5:17 Josh Long 5:21 Kirk McElhearn 5:57 Josh Long 6:00 Kirk McElhearn 6:16 Josh Long 7:04 Kirk McElhearn 7:26 Josh Long 8:17 Kirk McElhearn 8:26 Josh Long 9:54 Kirk McElhearn 10:26 Josh Long 10:53 Kirk McElhearn 11:43 Josh Long 12:33 Kirk McElhearn 12:36 Josh Long 13:04 Kirk McElhearn 13:47 Voice Over 13:54 Kirk McElhearn 15:05 Josh Long 15:46 Kirk McElhearn 16:26 Josh Long 17:36 Kirk McElhearn 17:45 Josh Long 18:17 Kirk McElhearn 18:49 Josh Long 19:02 Kirk McElhearn 19:16 Josh Long 19:21 Kirk McElhearn 19:50 Josh Long 19:53 Kirk McElhearn 19:58 Josh Long 20:02 Kirk McElhearn 20:26 Josh Long 20:40 Kirk McElhearn 20:46 Josh Long 21:13 Kirk McElhearn 22:25 Josh Long 23:28 Kirk McElhearn 24:04 Josh Long 25:08 Kirk McElhearn 25:51 Josh Long 26:35 Kirk McElhearn 27:06 Josh Long 27:19 Kirk McElhearn 28:33 Josh Long 29:08 Voice Over 29:11 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tKirk McElhearn<\/b> writes about Apple products and more on his blog Kirkville<\/a>.
Transcript of Intego Mac Podcast 384 <\/h3>\n
This is the Intego Mac podcast\u2014the voice of Mac security\u2014for Thursday, February 20, 2025. This week\u2019s Intego Mac Podcast. Security headlines include: Apple replaces the entry level iPhone SE with the new iPhone 16e. Does the \u201ce\u201d stand for extravagant pricing? We now have more details about the security patches in Apple\u2019s most recent operating system updates. iPhones sold in China will now have government mandated filters managing search results. And is it time to start worrying about the delays in Apple Intelligence features. Now here are the hosts of the Intego Mac podcast. Veteran Mac journalist Kirk McElhearn and Intego\u2019s chief security analyst, Josh Long. <\/p>\n
Good morning, Josh. How are you today? <\/p>\n
I\u2019m doing well. How are you, Kirk?<\/p>\nApple introduces the iPhone 16e<\/strong><\/h4>\n
I\u2019m excited. We very often talk about new Apple products, but they\u2019re announced a day or two before we start recording, and this just after we got together to prepare this episode. Apple released the new iPhone, the iPhone 16e we want to take a deep look at this, because I think we should do good cop, bad cop. You\u2019re the bad cop and I\u2019m the good cop because you don\u2019t think this phone is very good, and I think it\u2019s the iPhone for most people. So where do you want to start, Josh, what do you think of the new iPhone 16e.<\/p>\n
If I\u2019m playing bad cop, the first thing that bothers me about this is the price point. So we had the iPhone SE, which is now being replaced by the 16 lower case e, and the old iPhone SE third generation, which was the the previous one that we had for a few years almost.<\/p>\n
Almost three years. It came out in 2022 <\/p>\n
Yeah, and that model was offered at $429 US. The 16e starts at 599 so it\u2019s not even $100 more. It\u2019s $170 more than the entry level iPhone SE third generation was, that\u2019s a pretty big jump in price.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s, let\u2019s see, doing the math in my head, about 40% more. Roughly. When Apple used to be able to sell a cheap phone, it was always okay. It\u2019s It\u2019s underpowered, it\u2019s missing a lot of the specs and the features. And the iPhone SE was the last one that had a touch ID on it, so not only was the screen smaller because of the bezel for the touch ID, but you know, I know there are people who like touch ID, but face ID is a lot more efficient, and it always felt like it felt like the phone for people who really don\u2019t need a phone, right? You don\u2019t use a phone a lot, but you\u2019re going to have a phone and you\u2019re going to get an iPhone. And, okay, $429 and too much. Now you\u2019re up to $600 599 let\u2019s go at 600 and this is a real big expense. Now Apple, if you look at Apple\u2019s compare iPhone models page, you can see how the marketing people have calculated this very carefully. You have three price points. Let\u2019s just ignore the Pro models for now, Apple is selling the iPhone 16, the normal one. And we\u2019ll ignore the plus size as well, because there\u2019s no comparison. There\u2019s no 16e plus. They\u2019re selling the 16, the 15 and the 16e at 799, 699, and 599, and then, if you look at the iPhone 16 models. So if you go from the iPhone 16 Pro to the 16 to the 16e, it\u2019s 999, 799, and 599, there\u2019s that really comforting, three options. You know, when you go to a website and they have a subscription, you have three options, and the one in the middle is the one that they always recommend, right? The cheap one they show because they know you don\u2019t want to buy the cheap one and the expensive one a lot of people won\u2019t buy. So it\u2019s the middle one they\u2019re trying to push you toward. And here, it just feels strange the way the lineup is geared for cheap, middle, expensive. But which one do they want you to buy? I mean, do you want to pay $200 more for the 16 instead of the 16e? And once you\u2019ve spent that $200 well, why not pay 200 more for the 16? Pro? Another thing is you can\u2019t look at the total price. You have to look at the monthly price, because Apple is selling these, at least in the US and the UK, over 24 minutes with 0% interest. It\u2019s 25 bucks a month to get the 16e. That\u2019s the price of what three four coffees at Starbucks. It\u2019s 33 a month for the 16 it\u2019s 41 a month for the iPhone 16 Pro, if you look at it monthly, you can very quickly get prodded from $25 a month in an Apple Store, if you\u2019re going to buy a phone, to up to 33 and up to 41 it\u2019s not that big a difference, is it? <\/p>\n
The 15 almost feels like it\u2019s there just to give you a reason to upgrade to the 16, right? So if you\u2019re comparing the 16e at the lowest price point, and you\u2019re saying, I. I kind of would prefer to have the dynamic Island rather than a notch, right? Or maybe I really want to have two cameras, not just the one that\u2019s on the 16e. So maybe I\u2019ll choose the 15 base model instead of the 16e, so I can get those couple of extra features.<\/p>\n
But think of what you\u2019d be missing with the 15.<\/p>\n
Yeah, exactly. So is it really worth that extra $100 because then, with the base 15, I also don\u2019t get Apple Intelligence, and also maybe I might get a little bit less lifespan of that product, because who knows, with it being earlier than an Apple Intelligence compatible chip, maybe Apple\u2019s gonna cut off iOS updates sooner for that 15 base model. Most people don\u2019t think about that, but that\u2019s something I think about. So if I\u2019m gonna upgrade to the 15 anyway instead of the 16e, maybe I\u2019ll just go another $100 beyond that and just get the 16.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s still only $33 a month for the 16. <\/p>\n
Yeah, which doesn\u2019t sound that bad, however it\u2019s it\u2019s really different than when you compare the 16e next to the 16. There\u2019s so little difference between the two that I think for most people, it probably makes sense to get the 16e instead of the 16. <\/p>\n
Now, I thought you were going to be bad cop, and recommended people had to get the 16, and I\u2019m the good cop who says My feeling is iPhone 16. E is the iPhone for everyone. It\u2019s for people who don\u2019t really care about extra cameras. It\u2019s for people who just want an iPhone to do iPhone stuff and don\u2019t care too much about the features. Come on. Let\u2019s walk through some of the features this has, and the iPhone SE was always under featured and underpowered. This has, it\u2019s a 6.1 inch display, so gone small phones. It has an OLED display. It has face ID. It starts with 128, gigabytes of storage and eight gigabytes of RAM. These are really good numbers, and in a way, this justifies the jump in price from 429, to 599, but it still doesn\u2019t leave a bargain price iPhone, unless you look for refurbished models. We\u2019ll talk about that later, maybe.<\/p>\n
Now, all of those features that you just mentioned are standard across all three of these phones. So you\u2019ve got the older 15 model that\u2019s still being sold, and that\u2019s at that middle price point, and the 16e, which is that now the cheapest price point, and the 16, which is at the highest of the three, right? Those all share those same features across all three of them.<\/p>\n
Not all of them. The 15 doesn\u2019t have eight gigabytes of RAM, which is one of the reasons why I can\u2019t run Apple Intelligence. Now we\u2019re assuming people care about Apple Intelligence. Some people do, and some people don\u2019t. It\u2019s also an a 16 chip, which is two generations older than the 18 in this iPhone, 16e, and as you mentioned earlier, this means it might not be supported as long, but it\u2019s going to be a little bit slower. Most people don\u2019t care how fast the iPhone is, because they don\u2019t really do anything that needs it to be fast. But I mean, when you look at the three models, the 16 to 15 and the 16e, you can really drop the 15 and you\u2019ve got two options, the 16 at 799, or the 16 eight, 599, or the 16 at $33 a month, and the 16 820, $5 a month. This is really important. Don\u2019t think about how much it costs if you pay the whole thing. Think about how much it costs monthly. You don\u2019t even notice.<\/p>\n
Okay, so let\u2019s just talk about the 16 and the 16e, what do you actually get for your extra $200?<\/p>\n
Okay, so you get the camera control button, which I find really useless, and I\u2019m someone who\u2019s pretty into photography, you get a much better camera. It\u2019s a dual camera system with a 48 megapixel fusion camera and a 12 megapixel ultra wide but the 16e has what they call a two in one camera system, which gives you a 1x and A 2x zoom and photos of either 24 or 48 megapixel. So it\u2019s a pretty good single camera. There are a number of features you don\u2019t get on the 16e. You don\u2019t get macro photography. You don\u2019t get spatial photos and videos, which most people don\u2019t care about. You don\u2019t get the dynamic Island. And I remember when the dynamic Island first came out, was it with the iPhone 14 Pro? And I thought it was such a cool idea, and I never use it. Very few apps actually display anything like the music app when I\u2019m playing music or timers, but very few actually do anything. So you get a big, ugly notch on the 16e, and you get a smaller notch and dynamic island on the 16. There\u2019s not a whole lot of difference beyond that. Now, the 16e has better battery life. Apple says up to 26 hours of video playback compared to 22 for the iPhone 16, which isn\u2019t bad. They both have USB C and face ID. But here\u2019s one thing that\u2019s really missing on the 16e. It doesn\u2019t do mag safe charging, and that seems to me really cheap of Apple. What could it cost to have mag safe charging? Two bucks per unit. It does chi wireless charging up to 7.5 watts, and that\u2019s pretty slow.<\/p>\n
I know I\u2019m supposed to be bad cop here, so I\u2019ll talk about the bad on this in a second. But just for. Second I\u2019m going to pause bad cop, because I do want to point out, I personally don\u2019t think that there are very many people who are wirelessly charging their iPhones out there, other than tech geeks. I feel like tech geeks, yes, a lot of tech geeks wirelessly charge their their iPhones, but I don\u2019t know about really, like average users, they\u2019re using the cable that comes in the box. They don\u2019t even know you can charge these wirelessly. I would speculate, but, you know.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure I agree, and I have no way of knowing. But I see people talking about mag safe and wireless charging all over the place. There are probably 700,000 different wireless charges available from Amazon by at least 5000 different companies. I think it is widely used, and maybe not everyone. But since it\u2019s not mag safe, you can\u2019t put a battery pack on the back or other mag safe things like stands and all that. Right? <\/p>\n
That\u2019s a good point. It so mag safe is not just for charging, because there are a lot of other accessories that use that magnetic coil, getting back to the Chi wireless charging that\u2019s on the 16e, you can still put it on a mag safe charger. It\u2019s just not going to magnetically lock in place and it\u2019s not going to charge as fast. So the Chi wireless charging that it uses, it says for charging up to 7.5 watts, which I\u2019ve always thought is kind of funny. I\u2019m pretty sure Apple did this when it first introduced the Chi wireless charging 7.5 is not really part of any standard. There it goes from five watts to 15 watts. And for some reason, Apple has just decided to go down the middle and just say, yeah, we\u2019ll let you charge at 7.5 watts.<\/p>\n
Well, it could be, you know, since all the other wireless charging iPhones are mag safe, it could be a limit that they\u2019ve imposed since the point of mag safe is it aligns the charger and the whatever the opposite is called on the phone. And when you\u2019re just doing normal Qi charging, when you put a thing on a charger, it doesn\u2019t get aligned, so it\u2019s a waste of electricity. A lot of it converts to heat. So maybe Apple\u2019s limiting it to 7.5 to be safe. I know that Android phones have been able to do like 25 watt charging for years. Apple is a little bit slow with that, but that\u2019s not a big deal. I think if you think most people aren\u2019t using it, then that\u2019s not a big deal. They do say it\u2019s fast charge, capable up to 50% charge in 30 minutes with a 20 watt adapter or higher. I don\u2019t think the SE was fast chargeable before, but I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s\u2014<\/p>\n
That\u2019s if you\u2019re charging with USB C, of course.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s with the cable. Yeah. Other than that, I mean, I\u2019m gonna say it again. This is the iPhone for everyone, regardless of the price. It\u2019s 25 bucks a month. Don\u2019t look at it as $600 Look at this. 25 bucks a month. People aren\u2019t really into this. They don\u2019t want to choose too much, right? You get two colors. You get black and white. You don\u2019t have to worry about the colors. You don\u2019t have to worry too much about any there\u2019s not two sizes, like the 16 and the 16 plus. It\u2019s all one size. It\u2019s really like a Henry Ford iPhone, in a way. <\/p>\n
The last thing I\u2019m going to say about this, on the bad cop side, is I have to go back to the price. I I really think that this, this is a, it feels like a miss for Apple, or a potential miss, because, yes, maybe they\u2019ll make more revenue, because now the base model is going to be higher, but I\u2019m concerned that this could lead some people to say, Oh, well, I\u2019m just not going to get an iPhone then, because why get an iPhone when I can get an Android phone for so much cheaper. There\u2019s so many different options on on Android, and I don\u2019t have to spend $600 just to get in the door. <\/p>\n
Okay, we\u2019re gonna take a break. When we come back, we\u2019re gonna talk a little bit more about the iPhone 16e and then we\u2019ll talk about some other news.<\/p>\n
Protecting your online security and privacy has never been more important than it is today. Intego has been proudly protecting Mac users for over 25 years. And our latest Mac protection suite includes the tools you need to stay protected. Intego\u2019s Mac Premium Bundle X9 includes Virus Barrier, the world\u2019s best Mac anti-malware protection, Net Barrier, powerful inbound and outbound firewall security, Personal Backup to keep your important files safe from ransomware. And much more to help protect, secure and organize your Mac. Download the free trial of Mac Premium Bundle X9 from intego.com today. When you\u2019re ready to buy, Intego Mac Podcast listeners can get a special discount by using the link in this episode\u2019s show notes at podcast.intego.com. That\u2019s podcast.intego.com and click on this episode to find the special discount link exclusively for Intego Mac Podcast listeners. Intego. World class protection and utility software for Mac users made by the Mac security experts. <\/p>\niPhone 16e\u2019s nomenclature<\/strong><\/h4>\n
So just before the break, you were talking about Android phones, and it\u2019s worth noting that Apple has somewhat copied Google\u2019s nomenclature for this phone. So for several years, Google has been selling their normal phone and an a phone. So they had the Pixel six A alongside the Pixel six and the seven A and the eight A, they don\u2019t have a nine a yet to go along with the Pixel nine, which is the latest phone and apple. Of course, they didn\u2019t want to choose a but they have the same lower case letter they chose an E, which I think stands for egregious price. Is that what it\u2019s for? Is it for economical? Is it for excessive? I mean, it could be. Apple hasn\u2019t said as of we\u2019re recording this just a couple hours after it was announced, and I haven\u2019t seen any explanation as to what the E stands for. <\/p>\n
I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if some Apple executive says what it stands for in an interview or gives some kind of hint at it, but I would guess that it might be economical, because it\u2019s the cheapest of the iPhone 16 lineup, at least, even though it doesn\u2019t really compare to the SE pricing entry level, maybe essential features, maybe I don\u2019t know something like that. Interestingly, though, they do, when you look at the page for this on Apple\u2019s website, they stylize that E with a gradient color that matches the Apple Intelligence gradient that they\u2019re using. So that\u2019s kind of weird, because Apple Intelligence, I don\u2019t there\u2019s not really a prominent either.<\/p>\n
Well, there\u2019s two E\u2019s three E\u2019s in intelligence. Actually, if I asked ChatGPT How many user intelligence it would probably say there\u2019s just one. I don\u2019t know if you ever read about strawberry, it gets the number of hours wrong, but I think the whole point of the E is to match intelligence. So why isn\u2019t it the apple 16? I or Apple 16? Ai? I mean, they\u2019ve boxed themselves into a corner with this idea. I do want to point out, though that they also discontinued the iPhone 14 models that they were selling. So the current iPhone line as of today was of Friday the 21st when this is pre ordered, you start with the iPhone 16e at 599 the iPhone 15 is 699, the iPhone 15 plus is 799, the iPhone 16 is 799, the iPhone 16 plus is 899, the iPhone 16 Pro is 999, and the iPhone 16 pro Max is 1199, aren\u2019t they slicked away, except for The last gap of 200 each one\u2019s $100 more. So you look at this one, well, I could spend $100 more, which is maybe six bucks a month, and I could go up to the next one and the next one and the next one. And that\u2019s the whole point, isn\u2019t it? They never want you to buy the cheap one. They want the cheap one to get you in the door, right? <\/p>\n
And they get you comparing models. And then that\u2019s where you get into the cycle of well, maybe I could go $100 more and just get the next model up, and then you start comparing those.<\/p>\n
Especially if you\u2019re paying monthly with no interest, right? That that\u2019s a that\u2019s really important to think about. So anyway, I\u2019m going to recommend it to anyone who doesn\u2019t care too much about their phone but wants an iPhone. I think in spite of the price, it\u2019s egregious and excessive and ebullient and economical or whatever. I think it\u2019s a really good iPhone, come on, OLED display, face ID, lots of storage, lots of RAM. You can\u2019t compare this to the iPhone SE. The iPhone SE is like, like an iPhone four, almost.<\/p>\n
Yeah, I agree with you. In spite of the I feel like too high of an entry level price. I do. I do agree that if you\u2019re gonna start out with an iPhone, if you just need a basic iPhone, then this is definitely the model that I think 99% of people will probably just want to get, like unless you really need the cameras of the Pro model or something like that. You know, there\u2019s not really a whole lot of reason to get anything beyond the 16e, the base, cheapest model. <\/p>\nTikTok app is now back on the App Store<\/strong><\/h4>\n
There you go. All right. Some other news, TikTok returns to Apple\u2019s App Store. Apparently, the US Attorney General sent a letter to Apple and Google saying that they wouldn\u2019t be prosecuted if they returnedTikTok to the App Store. Is that correct?<\/p>\n
Apparently. So I guess Apple has decided that it\u2019s going to trust that. So now TikTok, as of last week, is now available in the app store again. There are some updates to TikTok and other bytedance apps. <\/p>\nApple TV App for Android<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Okay, Apple launched a new app for Android. I guess no one saw this coming, did they? <\/p>\n
Yeah, this kind of came out of the blue. Last week, Apple launched the Apple TV app for Android phones and tablets. So previously, Apple TV now this is a little confusing, because Apple has a service called Apple TV plus, and the Apple TV app gives you access to that service. You don\u2019t actually have to own any Apple products to have the Apple TV plus streaming service. It\u2019s just a streaming service that happens to have Apple\u2019s name in it.<\/p>\n
But you know what you have to do? You have to create an Apple account. <\/p>\n
You do have to create an Apple account. Yes, you don\u2019t need to own an Apple TV either. That\u2019s the other thing that\u2019s kind of confusing about all this.<\/p>\n
I know you\u2019ve. Got the device and the app and the streaming service, and what\u2019s next?<\/p>\n
Yeah, so Okay, so the Apple released the app for Android phones and tablets, and so now you can get access to that streaming service, and you don\u2019t have to go through I think you might have been able to access it through a browser, technically, but now you don\u2019t have to do that anymore. There\u2019s a native app for Android. There already was kind of an Android app, but it was only available for Android TVs. <\/p>\n
Well, it\u2019s not just for the streaming service, it\u2019s for Apple\u2019s store, where you can download and rent movies and TV shows. So yes, they want people to sign up for streaming, but they also want people to pay to rent and buy stuff from Apple.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s kind of funny that it actually took that long, because Apple Music has been available on Android for quite some time. <\/p>\n
I think this is part of their promotion for Severance, which is an extremely popular series, at least as far as Apple TV plus is concerned. And they promoting it in every way possible, with a podcast and books you can download and ads and behind the scenes videos, they\u2019re really going all out on this seems like that zero day patch that Apple released with iOS, 18 point 3.1, which we talked about last week, has been reversed engineered, and we know more about it, right?<\/p>\nZero-Day Patch Reversed Engineered<\/strong><\/h4>\n
So a research group put out some details about exactly what that patch contains. It turns out it was pretty easy to reverse engineer the patch, because they just had to compare 18.3 to 18 point 3.1 which really just included the one change, which was for this zero day physical access vulnerability where somebody could bypass USB Restricted Mode. The details are out there, and I\u2019ve seen some people say this is terrible, like, how dare they publish this information? But also, at the same time, you got to realize the bad guys, or the people who want to break into your phone already did this, like on Monday, the same day that this came out. So this is something that all the bad guys are doing. They are reverse engineering Apple\u2019s patches as soon as Apple releases patches so that they can start exploiting those vulnerabilities against all the people who still haven\u2019t updated yet. So this is an important thing to realize, and it\u2019s an important reason why you should update as quickly as you reasonably can after new updates come out. And this goes for not just operating system updates, but other software as well, your browsers, your Wi Fi, router firmware, etc.<\/p>\nDelays in Apple Intelligence Features<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Okay, I want to take a stroll down memory. Elaine, do you remember Josh last June, when we were watching apple at the worldwide developer conference, telling us about all the miraculous features in Apple Intelligence that we would have very soon, coming in the fall, with the iPhone 16 and, well, we got some of them, and we got some in what, October, November and January. They\u2019ve been updated, and we\u2019re still waiting for this magical series that\u2019s going to change our lives, because they\u2019re going to know everything about us. It\u2019s on our phone. And originally we heard it was going to be out in April, and now Mark German Apple is designated week. He says it\u2019s more likely to come out in May with iOS 18.5 and you know what may is really close to? It\u2019s close to next year\u2019s worldwide developer conference, and if Apple hasn\u2019t released a new Siri by June, this is a huge bait and switch, where they\u2019re telling everyone buy the iPhone 16, because you\u2019re going to get Apple Intelligence. But you know what? You\u2019re actually not getting the most important feature until the iPhone 17 comes out. <\/p>\n
Yeah, so this release schedule is really has not been ideal. I think for Apple, to say the least, it\u2019s led to a lot of people being disappointed about Apple Intelligence, too many delays, especially on a big marquee feature, right? That was advertised. But I do kind of expect that we\u2019ll probably see something similar happen again this coming year with iOS 19. This is speculation, of course. We don\u2019t really know yet what Apple is going to announce, but I do anticipate that we\u2019ll get more Apple Intelligence features, and I would not be surprised if they kind of our drip fed to us over the course of the following year. <\/p>\n
You know, these features are still officially in beta, even though it doesn\u2019t say so in the settings anymore. When the first features came out in October, November, it did say in the in the settings that it was in beta, and it doesn\u2019t say so quite obviously anymore, but they\u2019re still in beta, and they\u2019re going to be in beta forever. This is like, remember how when Gmail came out and it was in beta for like 12 years, I think this is going to be the same for Apple Intelligence. Apple has finally gotten a deal to sell their iPhones with AI in China. Now, China is very what\u2019s the word restrictive about the kind of things you can talk about, like, you can\u2019t talk about Tiananmen Square. You can\u2019t talk about Winnie the Pooh. If you don\u2019t know about Winnie the Pooh in China, look it up. So what\u2019s going to happen is Apple is actually forced, or allowing the Chinese to install software on iPhones. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s ever been any additional software on iPhones before, in order to filter the result. That come from Apple\u2019s AI model when someone asks a question about specific things, Tiananmen, Taiwan, the Dalai Lama, etc.<\/p>\n
So the way this is supposed to work, evidently, Alibaba and Baidu are going to be partnering with Apple. So Alibaba is going to have technology that runs on iPhones in China, and it\u2019s going to modify the outputs of Apple Intelligence to make sure they\u2019re compliant with Chinese law. And then Baidu is going to have their technology that will be doing the visual intelligence part of it. So they\u2019re using two Chinese companies essentially, to make sure that Apple is in compliance, that they\u2019re not using ChatGPT technology, which China doesn\u2019t prefer, and that they\u2019re compliant with all the Chinese laws.<\/p>\n
So Visual Intelligence isn\u2019t something installed on the device. It\u2019s just saying to check. So when you use visual intelligence on an iPhone, you press a button, you point your iPhones camera at something, and then you press the shutter button, and then it uploads it to Google to search to find information about it. Here, there\u2019s nothing installed on the phone. It\u2019s just sending it to Baidu instead of Google. And I think Google isn\u2019t even allowed in China, so Baidu is the big search engine, but the fact that Alibaba, which is basically a big retail company, is installing software on an iPhone. Is something that seems to me that Apple is bowing down to pressure from the Chinese because, well, iPhones haven\u2019t been selling well in China, and they have the new iPhone, 16e that they want everyone to buy in China. <\/p>\n
It does seem maybe a little bit concerning, but then again, I mean, obviously Apple has to comply with the law in whatever country they decide to sell their devices in, right? So I understand the perspective there. And if you\u2019re an iPhone user in China and well, you probably want to get Apple Intelligence features, because Apple\u2019s been marketing them for quite a while now, and they haven\u2019t been available to you. So at least this gives Apple users in China the ability to use Apple Intelligence functionality.<\/p>\n
Okay, two quick stories before we wrap up. It seems that there was a Steam game that contained malware and valve, the owner of steam has removed it. This is a Windows only game, but it does remind you you should be careful about downloading things from any app store, right?<\/p>\nMalware in Steam Game and Aptoid App Marketplace<\/strong><\/h4>\n
The app was called pirate fi, and this was yet another example of Steeler malware, and it got into an app store. So good reminder, don\u2019t necessarily trust anything that you get from an app store. So that actually brings us to the last story that we\u2019ll talk about today, which is I read about an alternative app marketplace that\u2019s available in the EU. It\u2019s called aptoid. And after I saw a headline about this, I decided, oh, okay, cool, I\u2019ll go check out the website. I\u2019m not in the EU. I can\u2019t download it or install it anyway, but I was kind of curious about it, and the very first app that they\u2019re advertising being available for iOS is an app that has some clear copyright violations. And it\u2019s kind of interesting, because the same company says that they are compliant with laws, and they\u2019re the safest App Store, according to some independent researcher. And the thing is, if they\u2019re willing to behave unethically in one way, like, again, allowing clear copyright violations and promoting them, you have to wonder if they might behave unethically in other ways. So my recommendation would be to avoid aptoid and honestly be careful with any alternative app marketplaces in the EU just in general.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll put links in the show notes to everything about the iPhone 60 Apple\u2019s product page, the video that Apple made, which is about 12 minutes presenting it. I was struck by how sad Tim Cook looks at the beginning of the video. He kind of doing a Bill Murray impression, or it looks like a hostage video. He doesn\u2019t look very motivated by this, but you will see how it presents the iPhone 16e and all the wonderful features it can do. We\u2019ll have an article about an Intego Mac security blog. And if you want an iPhone 16e, you better hurry, because it\u2019s going on sale Friday, and my guess is it\u2019s not going to sell out very quickly, so there\u2019s no rush until next week. Josh, stay secure. <\/p>\n
All right, stay secure.<\/p>\n
Thanks for listening to the Intego Mac podcast. The voice of Mac security with your hosts, Kirk McElhearn and Josh Long. To get every weekly episode be sure to follow us in Apple podcasts or subscribe in your favorite podcast app, and if you can leave a rating, a like or a review. Links to topics and information mentioned in the podcast can be found in the show notes for the episode at podcast.intego.com. The Intego website is also where to find details on the full line of Intego security and utility software. intego.com.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ffd73df6063179d7cdcb79109ff0a2d?s=60&d=mm&r=g\")
About Kirk McElhearn<\/h3>\n
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\nHe is co-host of the Intego Mac Podcast<\/a>, as well as several other podcasts<\/a>, and is a regular contributor to The Mac Security Blog, TidBITS, and several other websites and publications.
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\nKirk has written more than two dozen books, including Take Control books<\/a> about Apple’s media apps, Scrivener, and LaunchBar.
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\nFollow him on Twitter at @mcelhearn<\/a>.\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tView all posts by Kirk McElhearn \u2192\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n