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Voice AI Siri on an iPhone: Now works without “Hey”
Photo: Matthias Kremp / DER SPIEGEL
Shortly before the EU's new digital law called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) comes into force, Apple released iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4 on Tuesday.
This time the company is doing much more with its latest updates than just fixing a few errors and security gaps and introducing a few new emojis.
Although: The current versions of the operating systems for iPhones and iPads definitely bring new emojis with them.
For example, a phoenix, a mushroom symbol, a broken chain symbol, a shaking head and a lime slice (important when chatting about cocktails).
Not quite so exciting: According to Apple, you can now choose which direction they are facing for 18 emojis that show people or bodies.
Alternative app stores are apps
More relevant in the long term are Apple's changes specifically for the DMA.
The new option that third-party providers will be able to offer their own “alternative app marketplaces” as a competitor to Apple’s App Store is likely to get the most attention.
However, this will only be available in the EU and only for users who have registered in an EU country and are located in the EU.
If, as Apple puts it in a support document, you “stay outside the EU for too long,” the apps downloaded from such app stores will continue to work, but cannot be updated.
In addition, you cannot install new app marketplaces outside the EU.
The company does not define what period Apple considers “too long”.
In any case, Apple approaches the approach of being able to install apps from third-party offerings on iPhones very differently than Google, for example, with its Android operating system.
While virtually anyone can set up an app store there and apps in the form of APK files can be installed without going through such a store, Apple wants to ensure at least a minimum level of control.
This means that alternative marketplaces must be installed as apps from Apple's App Store.
If you want to get in there, you have to meet a series of requirements that Apple outlines on its developer pages.
The third-party marketplaces are ultimately apps that other apps are allowed to install.
And only if these apps have previously been certified by Apple, by which the company means a basic check for stability, security and possibly hidden malware.
These restrictions have apparently not caused much enthusiasm among potential providers so far.
As of Wednesday, only two companies are known to have announced specific offers.
From March 7th, the software company Mobivention wants to offer an alternative marketplace that will serve as a platform for “corporate customers and other app developers” to distribute business apps.
And the Ukraine-based company MacPaw wants to offer an app store alternative called Setapp from April.
This is a platform through which you can use a curated range of apps in return for paying subscription fees.
It will be interesting to see what Epic Games plans to do.
The game manufacturer has been resisting Apple's having to share in its sales through the App Store for years.
The successful game “Fortnite” was therefore banned by Apple and can no longer be easily installed on iPhones.
Now Epic Games wants to set up its own marketplace to avoid Apple's fees.
However, details about this are still unknown.
Real choice in browsers
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First start of Safari after the update: Please select your browser
Photo: Matthias Kremp / DER SPIEGEL
But something is not only happening in terms of app stores.
In theory, there have long been a variety of alternative web browsers for iPhones.
In practice, however, they are limited by the fact that they all had to use the WebKit web technology underlying the Safari browser.
With iOS 17.4 this barrier drops, so Chrome could use Google's Blink technology, Firefox could use Mozilla's Gecko.
To date, no manufacturer has made use of this option.
One reason for this could be that this new openness only applies to iPhones and not also to iPads.
However, what all iPhone users will experience after installing iOS 17.4.
What you will notice is that the first time you open Safari in the EU, you will be asked to select a default browser.
Apple is thus complying with EU rules that stipulate that users are actively given this choice.
Podcasts to read
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If you prefer it that way, you can now read podcasts
Photo: Matthias Kremp / DER SPIEGEL
You are now also faced with a choice when it comes to podcasts: Listen or read?
Or both?
On both iPhones and iPads, Apple's Podcasts app can now automatically convert audio files into written text.
Similar to song lyrics in the music app, you can display the text in the playback screen of the podcast app by tapping the text symbol at the bottom left.
And just like in the music app, it scrolls synchronously while playing.
Alternatively, you can tap on the three dots next to an episode in the podcast overview and select “Show transcript” in the drop-down menu that then opens.
But be careful: when you read such transcripts, you notice more than when you listen to them when podcasters just start babbling away without thinking first.
But that can also be amusing.
Siri without “Hey”
The secret highlight of the updates comes inconspicuously without any menus or dialog boxes: you no longer have to bark “Hey Siri” at Apple’s voice assistant function Siri, but can – like any other person – address her by her name.
In the future, a friendly “Siri” will be enough to ask Apple’s AI about the weather, the next bus or the sports results.
If you prefer to stick with the usual command form, you can do that too. In the settings you will find the menu item “Pay attention to” at the top under “Siri & Search”.
Here you can switch back to the old method or switch Siri off completely.