Join us around the world to learn about growing your business, elevating your app design, and preparing for the App Review process. Here’s a sample of our new activities — and you can always browse the full schedule to find more.
Join us around the world to learn about growing your business, elevating your app design, and preparing for the App Review process. Here’s a sample of our new activities — and you can always browse the full schedule to find more.
April 18, 2024
UPDATE
AirPlay is now available in select IHG Hotels & Resorts properties
Starting today, guests staying at select properties from IHG Hotels & Resorts, including Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo, Candlewood Suites, and InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, can use AirPlay to privately and securely stream their favorite shows and movies on Apple TV+ and other popular streaming services, listen to personal playlists on Apple Music or other platforms, view vacation photos, practice a presentation, play fun games on Apple Arcade, or get a workout or meditation in with Apple Fitness+ on the big screen in their guest rooms. More than 60 IHG properties in North America are introducing AirPlay today, with others to be added in the coming months.
Simple and Private Content Sharing on the Big Screen
Users can automatically connect to the compatible LG hotel TV in their guest room and the hotel’s Wi-Fi network by scanning a unique QR code on the screen. Once connected, guests can share almost anything on the big screen in their hotel room directly from their iPhone or iPad. Guests can also pair multiple devices to the TV, so friends and loved ones traveling together can also enjoy.
Each QR code is unique to the hotel room and ensures that content is available only to the user — meaning anything guests share to the hotel TV stays personal and private. When they check out, their connection to the TV is erased, so future guests and hotel staff can’t access the user’s activity.
Availability
April 18, 2024
UPDATE
Apple cuts greenhouse emissions in half
Innovations in clean energy, materials, and recycling are driving progress toward Apple’s ambitious environmental goals
Apple has reduced its overall greenhouse gas emissions by more than 55 percent since 2015, the company shared today in its 2024 Environmental Progress Report. The milestone marks important progress on the journey toward Apple 2030, the company’s ambitious goal to become carbon neutral across its entire value chain by the end of this decade. The goal centers on cutting emissions by 75 percent from 2015 levels.
“The proof of Apple’s commitment to climate action is in our progress: We’ve slashed emissions by more than half, all while serving more users than ever before,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives. “More hard work is ahead of us, and we’re focused on harnessing the power of innovation and collaboration to maximize our impact.”
Teams across Apple and its global supply chain have contributed to Apple 2030 and the company’s environmental efforts, driving innovations in clean energy and energy efficiency, materials, carbon removal, water stewardship, zero waste, and recycling. As Apple celebrates Earth Day with its customers around the world — including through curated environment-focused collections on podcasts, books, and more — here’s a look at 10 innovations, partnerships, and activities engaging customers and advancing global climate and environmental progress.
Paving the Way for Recycled Critical Materials
Apple’s work toward making products using only recycled and renewable materials has spurred innovation in sourcing and design — while driving major reductions in the company’s carbon footprint. This includes materials critical to the clean energy transition. Last year, 56 percent of the cobalt shipped in Apple batteries came from recycled sources, more than double the year before.1 That includes the MacBook Air with M3, the first-ever Apple product to be made with 50 percent recycled material. And in another first, 24 percent of the lithium shipped in Apple batteries last year came from certified recycled sources. For both lithium and cobalt, Apple is sourcing from post-industrial scrap and post-consumer scrap from end-of-life batteries. The company has also made strides with copper, using 100 percent recycled copper in key thermal applications in iPhone 15 and the 16-inch MacBook Pro, as well as the Taptic Engine and printed circuit boards across many product lines in the last year. The progress demonstrates real potential for recycling to help meet the growing demand for critical materials in the future.
Slashing Manufacturing Emissions with Suppliers
The ongoing transition to clean electricity across Apple’s supply chain has driven the majority of emissions reductions so far, with Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Program now supporting over 16.5 gigawatts of renewable energy around the world. And by prioritizing energy efficiency in collaboration with Apple, more than 100 supplier facilities achieved over 2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity savings last year. Together with additional energy savings — primarily associated with heat — these facilities avoided nearly 1.7 million metric tons of carbon emissions, up 25 percent from 2022. Apple is also working to address the direct climate impact of industrial processes, such as the manufacturing of flat-panel displays, which emits highly potent fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-GHGs). Every display supplier has committed to a high standard of F-GHG abatement, and Apple is engaging with them to track emissions and deploy state-of-the-art abatement equipment at manufacturing sites.
Designing to Remove Plastic
Apple’s journey to remove plastic from its packaging is fueled by innovation, using fiber-based plastic alternatives that still provide an unmatched unboxing experience for customers. In the last year, Apple reached a milestone with the release of its first-ever 100 percent fiber-based packaging in the new Apple Watch lineup and for Apple Vision Pro. Across every product Apple shipped last year, only 3 percent of the packaging was made from plastic. Teams continue to innovate — this week, Apple published a new white paper with the University of British Columbia’s BioProducts Institute that analyzes the challenges with current consumer packaging and explores more sustainable future solutions through the use of advanced fiber-based materials. And in partnership with RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Apple announced the development of a fiber-based alternative to the protective foams widely used in many types of packaging.
Partnering with Communities to Drive Change
As Apple accelerates work to address climate change, the company is also focused on supporting efforts led by communities experiencing disproportionate impacts. Through its Strengthen Local Communities program, Apple is providing a series of new grants to organizations worldwide that are taking action to protect the health and wellbeing of their communities. In the U.S., Apple is also supporting the growth of Justice Outside’s Network for Network Leaders program to promote the outdoors, environmental education, and environmental justice. Apple has also worked with the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya to support water harvesting and climate-smart agriculture by funding a rainwater catchment system at the Lewa school in Mutunyi and drip irrigation kits for farmers working to encourage more sustainable agriculture practices in their communities. This year, the company will build on this work with new support for Lewa’s community water access programs. And in Australia, Apple will extend its funding for the Karrkad Kanjdji Trust (KKT), an organization led by the traditional owners of Warddeken and Djelk Indigenous protected areas. Apple’s grant will support KKT’s Indigenous Women Rangers Program and conservation activities across the protected areas.
Spurring Industrywide Change with Reusable Filters
As part of the company’s commitment to zero waste, last year Apple completed the installation of reusable air filters at every one of its data centers worldwide. The shift avoids sending 25 tons of dirty filters to landfills each year — enough to fill an entire football field — and cuts fan energy use by 35 percent. Working together beginning in 2019 at Apple’s Reno data center, Apple and automotive filtration and technology company K&N prototyped and tested 20 versions of an all-new reusable filter design to meet high standards of performance and efficiency. Today the reusable filters are quickly becoming standard, not just for Apple but industrywide. Innovations like this have contributed to significant progress: In the last five years, Apple increased the diversion rate from its data centers from 64 percent to 90 percent.
Innovating for the Future of Recycling
Apple has engineered entirely new technologies to advance the field of electronics recycling — including disassembly robot Daisy, which can now take apart 29 models of iPhone into 15 discrete components, and recycling machines Dave and Taz, which are now deployed with a recycling partner in China. This year, Apple introduced a new product sorter to its asset recovery center in California, with the goal of automating the process to improve efficiency and productivity. Apple is committed to sharing the technology with recycling partners around the world as a low-cost, time-saving solution. As an additional efficiency improvement, the asset recovery center now employs autonomous mobile robots to help transport products and components around the facility. Through academic partnerships with institutions such as Carnegie Mellon, the company is also working to further harness the power of artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and automation in recycling.
Building for a Greener Future
Apple’s commitment to design with the environment in mind extends beyond products and includes the construction of its buildings. Today, more than 100 of Apple’s retail stores, corporate offices, and data centers worldwide are certified through Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), and Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), two internationally respected accreditation processes for sustainable buildings. The number continues to grow — currently, Apple is developing more than 18 million square feet of green building space globally. In 2023, a building in Apple’s Culver City, California, campus achieved LEED Platinum status, the highest possible rating, for significant energy and water savings, renewable power, and waste diversion. And the new Apple Battersea campus and retail store, located in London’s historic Battersea Power Station, diverted 99 percent of construction waste from landfill, while employing sustainable design elements and low-carbon materials.
Investing in Nature with High-Quality Carbon Removal Projects
In the roadmap to achieve its Apple 2030 climate goal, Apple is prioritizing direct emissions reductions across all operations and its supply chain. For residual emissions that are difficult to avoid with today’s available solutions, the company is investing in high-quality, nature-based carbon projects, including through its innovative Restore Fund. Building on a strong portfolio of sustainable forestry projects in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Conservation International, Apple has launched a new phase of the Restore Fund with Climate Asset Management, focused on creating a portfolio that pools regenerative agriculture projects with ecosystem conservation and restoration projects. This year, Apple suppliers TSMC and Murata joined the fund’s second phase with their own investment commitments. And today Apple is announcing the first set of regenerative agriculture projects the fund has invested in, which includes the development of olive and almond farms in Portugal, an almond farm in Spain, and a farm in Australia that is being converted from sugarcane to macadamias. The projects adhere to strict protocols to ensure water security and efficiency, and employ proven measures to improve soil quality and promote biodiversity.
Engaging Customers and Employees in Global Recycling
Last year, nearly 12.8 million devices and accessories were sent to new owners through AppleCare and programs like Apple Trade In — more than ever before. As of today, iPhone 7 still offers Trade In value. Apple will responsibly recycle products that no longer have value, and recover the valuable materials inside so they can live a new life in future products. From reboxing old devices to send back to Apple, to organizing a collection drive, to simply passing on an old iPhone to a family member, there are so many ways customers can contribute to Apple’s environmental goals. Customers can drop off their used Apple devices at any Apple Store location, or by visiting apple.com/recycle.
Celebrating Earth Day with Education and Action
Across Apple’s ecosystem, the company is offering opportunities for users to educate themselves on climate change and other environmental issues, take meaningful action in their communities, and celebrate Earth Day. On April 22, Apple Watch users can earn a limited-edition award by completing any workout of 30 minutes or more.
Customers can also attend Today at Apple programming featuring environmental leaders and visionary organizations in select Apple Store locations worldwide. In all stores globally, Apple Retail will also host a Pop-Up Studio titled Photograph Earth Like a Pro on iPhone, demoing features like macro photography and more on iPhone 15. This year, Apple will again collaborate with Dolores Huerta, social justice advocate and founder of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, as part of the Challenge for Change learning series. Learners of all ages can participate in the challenge Create a Better World Through Environmental Justice, which offers thought-provoking discussion guides. And a new resource — 30 Creative Activities to Help the Environment — is designed to inspire new ways for people to take action in their communities.
On Earth Day and every day, Apple is committed to taking action to protect the planet and to inspire others — including Apple customers — to do the same.
1. All cobalt and lithium in the battery claims or references are on a mass balance allocation.
Press Contacts
Sean Redding
Apple
Apple Media Helpline
April 17, 2024
UPDATE
Apple ramps up investment in clean energy and water around the world
Together, Apple and suppliers are supporting over 18 gigawatts of clean energy and delivering billions of gallons in water benefits and savings
Apple today announced new progress to expand clean energy around the world and advance momentum toward Apple 2030, the company’s bold goal to be carbon neutral across its entire value chain by the end of this decade. More than 18 gigawatts of clean electricity now power Apple’s global operations and manufacturing supply chain, more than triple the amount in 2020. Apple is making new investments in solar power in the U.S. and Europe to help address the electricity customers use to charge and power their Apple devices.
As part of its broader environmental efforts, Apple also advanced progress toward another ambitious 2030 goal: to replenish 100 percent of the fresh water used in corporate operations in high-stress locations. This includes launching new partnerships to deliver nearly 7 billion gallons in water benefits — from restoring aquifers and rivers, to funding access to drinking water — over the next 20 years. As with clean energy, Apple has extended its commitment to clean water across the entire supply chain: Together, Apple suppliers saved over 12 billion gallons of fresh water last year, for a total of 76 billion gallons in water savings since the company launched its Supplier Clean Water Program in 2013.
“Clean energy and water are foundational to healthy communities and essential building blocks for a responsible business,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives. “We’re racing toward our ambitious Apple 2030 climate goal while taking on the long-term work to transform electrical grids and restore watersheds to build a cleaner future for all.”
Adding New Renewable Capacity Around the World
Electricity — both to manufacture Apple products and to charge and power them — makes up the largest portion of Apple’s comprehensive carbon footprint. As part of Apple 2030, the company has called on its global suppliers to use clean electricity and become carbon neutral across all their Apple-related operations. Over 320 suppliers — representing 95 percent of Apple’s direct manufacturing spend — have led the way in the transition so far, resulting in 16.5 gigawatts of renewable energy online in Apple’s supply chain today. This generated over 25.5 million megawatt-hours of clean energy across the supply chain last year, avoiding over 18.5 million metric tons of carbon emissions.
To address the greenhouse gas emissions associated with customers using their devices, Apple has pledged to match every watt of charging electricity with clean electricity by 2030, including through large-scale investments in new renewable energy in markets around the world. This is part of a broader strategy to minimize emissions from the use of Apple products through efficiency improvements, engaging with customers around opportunities to decarbonize the grid, and building clean electricity projects that maximize carbon reductions and social impact. In the U.S., Apple is investing in a portfolio of solar projects across Michigan, with construction underway to bring 132 megawatts of clean energy online later this year. In Spain, Apple has partnered with international solar development platform ib vogt on an investment that will generate 105 megawatts of solar power when the project comes online by the end of 2024.
To address its growing corporate operations in India, Apple has also embarked on a joint venture with leading renewable developer CleanMax to invest in a portfolio of six rooftop solar projects with a total size of 14.4 megawatts. The added capacity provides a local solution to power Apple’s offices, its two retail stores in the country, and other operations in India. Apple first achieved 100 percent renewable energy for its global corporate operations in 2018.
Apple’s commitment to renewable energy has unlocked new capacity in markets around the world. In 2018, Apple took an innovative approach to connect 12 of its suppliers operating in China with renewable energy sources through the China Clean Energy Fund. The Fund has now exceeded its goal, with investments resulting in over 1 gigawatt of new wind and solar projects in China across 14 provinces. In aggregate, these projects are expected to deliver over 2,400 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy each year, equivalent to the residential power consumption of over 2.5 million people in China.
Advancing Water Resilience Through Nature-Based Solutions
Apple aims to advance water security everywhere its business reaches through collaboration across the manufacturing supply chain and innovative long-term partnerships to restore ecosystems, address community water needs, and improve climate resilience of watersheds. Since water impacts are felt locally, Apple has initiated fresh water replenishment work in some of the highest-stress locations where the company operates — including Northern and Southern California, Arizona’s Colorado River Basin, and the Indian states of Telangana and Maharashtra. Modeled after the company’s approach to renewable energy procurement, Apple is pursuing innovative strategies and long-term contracts aimed at delivering water benefits and savings across entire watersheds. Since 2023, Apple has so far committed over $8 million to replenishing fresh water in high-stress watersheds. The projects announced today are expected to deliver a combined 6.9 billion gallons of water benefits over the next two decades.
In Northern California, Apple is working with River Partners to restore the natural function of the flood plain on 750 acres where the Sacramento River, Feather River, and Butte Creek meet. This confluence of waterways — the largest in California — offers a critical resting point for native Chinook salmon along their path to the Pacific Ocean. Restoring the area will involve planting hundreds of thousands of native plants and reconnecting the vast historic flood plain, making the region and downstream communities more resilient to climate-driven flooding. Apple’s investment is expected to leverage nearly 5 billion gallons of freshwater benefits over 20 years by significantly reducing water demand on the property and encouraging healthy flood patterns to recharge underground aquifers. The restoration of Dos Rios Norte is also funded by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California Natural Resources Agency, the California Wildlife Conservation Board, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
In the greater Phoenix area, home to Apple’s Mesa data center, Apple is working with Salt River Project (SRP) to protect approximately 30,000 acres of forest at severe risk of wildfire. With a 10-year plan to strategically thin forests in the Colorado River Basin, the project will help protect the watershed from being devastated by wildfires and ensure the upstream reservoir can continue to support local communities. Apple’s investment — the largest investment with SRP’s Resilient Water and Forest Initiative — is expected to deliver nearly 2 billion gallons of water benefits in the area.
Last year, Apple achieved its target for 100 percent water replenishment for the company’s corporate operations in India through its ongoing work with Uptime Catalyst Facility. In 2023, Apple’s support provided 23 million gallons of clean, affordable drinking water to communities from over 300 water kiosks run by local entrepreneurs in the innovative performance-based program. Progress in another critical region — Southern California — continues with a project to remove the invasive Arundo donax cane species in the Los Angeles River Watershed, saving 21 million gallons of water annually.
In addition to pursuing watershed restoration and other nature-based replenishment solutions in high-stress areas, Apple is committed to smart water stewardship across the business. In 2021, Apple’s data center in Prineville, Oregon, became the first-ever data center certified to the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) International Water Stewardship Standard, a trusted global framework for measuring responsible water stewardship. Since then, Apple has certified four additional data centers to the Standard and supported 20 supplier sites in achieving certification as well. In the past year, seven supplier sites in southern India and over 20 supplier sites near Shanghai and Suzhou in China have participated in water stewardship training with AWS and others in the industry.
Accelerating Progress Through Green Investments
In the U.S. and around the world, Apple’s Green Bonds have also helped make these new investments possible. Last year, Apple allocated proceeds from its 2019 Green Bond toward new clean energy projects like the new solar projects in Michigan and the IP Radian Solar project in Texas, support for the Supplier Clean Energy Program, and investments in high-quality carbon removal through the Restore Fund. Since 2016, Apple has issued a total of $4.7 billion in Green Bonds, with approximately $3.4 billion allocated to date.
For more information on Apple’s Green Bond efforts, visit investor.apple.com/Apple_GreenBond_Report. This year’s annual impact report covers the cumulative allocation of Apple’s 2019 Green Bond proceeds to environmental projects that incurred spend between September 29, 2019, and September 30, 2023 — Apple’s 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020 fiscal years. Sustainalytics provided a second-party opinion on the selected projects, and Ernst & Young LLP provided an attestation report on the spend.
Press Contacts
Sean Redding
Apple
Chloe Sweet
Apple
Apple Media Helpline
Web Distribution lets authorized developers distribute their iOS apps to users in the European Union (EU) directly from a website owned by the developer. Apple will provide developers access to APIs that facilitate the distribution of their apps from the web, integrate with system functionality, and back up and restore users’ apps, once they meet certain requirements designed to help protect users and platform integrity. For details, visit Getting started with Web Distribution in the EU.
April 16, 2024
UPDATE
Apple Developer Academy expands to Bali
Indonesia welcomes its fourth academy in the country as Apple deepens its investment in students and aspiring developers
Today Apple announced it will open Indonesia’s fourth Apple Developer Academy in Bali, expanding on its investment to increase opportunities for developers, students, and entrepreneurs looking to embark on careers in the region’s growing iOS app economy.
Since Indonesia’s first Apple Developer Academy launched in Jakarta in 2018, Apple has opened academies in Surabaya and Batam, and more than 2,000 aspiring developers have completed the program. As a testament to the academy’s impact, 90 percent of its graduates have gone on to find meaningful employment in various sectors spanning education, e-commerce, transportation, sustainability, and more.
“We’ve seen many times over that a line of code can change the world — and in Indonesia, we’re investing in the creativity and skills of people determined to prove it,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re excited by the growing developer community in Indonesia, and we look forward to investing in the success of even more coders with our fourth academy in the country.”
The academy’s nine-month program covers the basics of coding, as well as areas such as design, marketing, and project management, empowering students with the full suite of skills needed to become world-class entrepreneurs and developers. To encourage cross-cultural exchange, the Bali campus will accept applications not just from Indonesia, but across the globe, regardless of educational background or coding experience.
The academies in Indonesia have welcomed students from a variety of personal and professional backgrounds. To date, the cohorts have comprised students from over 90 cities across Indonesia, ranging between 18 and 50 years old, each of whom brings new ideas and life experiences to app designs and business plans.
Mary Santoso, who joined the academy in 2022 at the age of 38, founded WonderJack, a neurodiverse-friendly iPad game that trains executive function and mental processes for children. Inspired by her experience witnessing members of her family with dyslexia, the iPad app includes a soothing soundtrack, and tactile cards and objects so children can enjoy a stress-free, multisensory learning experience. The team is now collaborating with educational institutions, including an inclusive school in Surabaya, to research and assess the impact of the app.
“As a stay-at-home mom, the Apple Developer Academy helped me transform and focus on my mission to help children facing learning challenges that are similar to ones my daughter faces,” Santoso says. “There, I found a team of learners from different backgrounds who shared my passion for education and inclusivity. The guidance from mentors helped us hone our problem-solving skills and equipped us with the tools to build WonderJack, an app that aims to unlock the potential of all children.”
The academy’s curriculum reflects Apple’s approach to Challenge Based Learning, encouraging students to address personal, community, and global challenges, while designing inclusively to make a positive impact in the world.
Alumni Graciela Gabrielle, Jessi Febria, and Yafonia Hutabarat came together at the Jakarta academy to build Indonesia’s first indoor navigation app to assist blind and low-vision users with independent travel. The app, PetaNetra, uses augmented reality paths to provide the safest and fastest routes, considering features such as walls, floor patterns, and other objects. The team has secured partnerships with major institutions, including the Jakarta Library, to map their spaces and improve its features.
“I’m truly blessed to have found supportive and committed teammates at the academy,” explains Gabrielle, PetaNetra’s co-founder and CEO, whose parents are visually impaired. “As three female founders, we are passionate about creating social impact with the work we do. This inspired us to create PetaNetra, a gift for my parents and the 4 million visually impaired in Indonesia.”
Southeast Asia is home to hundreds of thousands of developers behind more than 90,000 apps on the App Store. Beyond creating their own startups in Indonesia, many academy graduates have also gone on to join established companies throughout the region, contributing to the development of apps and digital products with skills gained at the academies.
Alumni Denis Wibisono and Rais Mohamad Najib now lead the iOS development team for Bank Mandiri, the largest bank in Indonesia. Through their work, they push the boundaries to ensure a seamless, market-leading mobile banking experience for millions of Indonesians, and almost 40 percent of the bank’s iOS development team are academy graduates.
“Being at the academy really fueled my passion for iOS app development,” says Wibisono. “I believe the experience not only equipped me with advanced coding skills, but also critical thinking training, both of which are essential qualities of professional tech engineers.”
Alumni can also participate in other Apple educational programs and resources, such as the Apple Developer Center in Singapore and Apple Entrepreneur Camp which offer additional mentorship, inspiration, and insights from Apple experts and engineers.
Since the first Apple Developer Academy opened in Brazil, the program has grown to more locations around the world, including Korea, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Italy, and the U.S.
Press Contacts
D’Nara Cush
Apple
Chloe Sweet
Apple
Apple Media Helpline
Today Apple announced an upcoming enhancement to existing repair processes that will enable customers and independent repair providers to utilize used Apple parts in repairs. Beginning with select iPhone models this fall, the new process is designed to maintain an iPhone user’s privacy, security, and safety, while offering consumers more options, increasing product longevity, and minimizing the environmental impact of a repair. Used genuine Apple parts will now benefit from the full functionality and security afforded by the original factory calibration, just like new genuine Apple parts.
“At Apple, we’re always looking for new ways to deliver the best possible experience for our customers while reducing the impact we have on the planet, and a key part of that means designing products that last,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. “For the last two years, teams across Apple have been innovating on product design and manufacturing to support repairs with used Apple parts that won’t compromise users’ safety, security, or privacy. With this latest expansion to our repair program, we’re excited to be adding even more choice and convenience for our customers, while helping to extend the life of our products and their parts.”
The process of confirming whether or not a repair part is genuine and gathering information about the part — often referred to as “pairing” — is critical to preserving the privacy, security, and safety of iPhone. Apple teams have been hard at work over the last two years to enable the reuse of parts such as biometric sensors used for Face ID or Touch ID, and beginning this fall, calibration for genuine Apple parts, new or used, will happen on device after the part is installed. In addition, future iPhone releases will have support for used biometric sensors. And in order to simplify the repair process, customers and service providers will no longer need to provide a device’s serial number when ordering parts from the Self Service Repair Store for repairs not involving replacement of the logic board.
Apple will also extend its popular Activation Lock feature to iPhone parts in order to deter stolen iPhones from being disassembled for parts. Requested by customers and law enforcement officials, the feature was designed to limit iPhone theft by blocking a lost or stolen iPhone from being reactivated. If a device under repair detects that a supported part was obtained from another device with Activation Lock or Lost Mode enabled, calibration capabilities for that part will be restricted.
As device longevity increases, Apple believes it’s important that a device’s second or third owners have access to its full part and repair histories. With Parts and Service history, located within Settings on iOS, Apple is the only smartphone company that transparently shows owners whether their device has been repaired and provides information about the parts used. This fall, Apple will expand Parts and Service History to additionally show whether a part is a new or used genuine Apple part.
This upcoming enhancement to Apple’s repair processes is another step forward in the company’s commitment to improving access to safe and affordable repairs. In the last five years, Apple has nearly doubled the number of service locations with access to genuine Apple parts, tools, and training to more than 10,000 Independent Repair Providers and Apple Authorized Service Providers. For those who have the relevant experience repairing electronic devices, Self Service Repair gives access to the manuals, genuine Apple parts, and tools used at Apple Store and Apple Authorized Service Provider locations. Launched in 2022, Self Service Repair now supports 40 Apple products in 33 countries and regions, and 24 languages.
April 9, 2024
UPDATE
Apple Vision Pro brings a new era of spatial computing to business
Incredible new enterprise experiences leverage spatial computing to customize workspaces, collaborate on 3D designs, deliver specialized employee training, and guide remote fieldwork in entirely new ways
For decades, Apple has worked to provide innovative products and services for businesses. Today, Apple products are used by all of the Fortune 500 companies in every industry around the world — iPhone and iPad are indispensable for businesses of all sizes, and Mac is preferred by employees when given the choice at work. Apple’s unique combination of hardware, software, services, and built-in support for IT makes it incredibly easy to manage and secure devices at scale. With the introduction of Apple Vision Pro, spatial computing enables enterprises to build experiences that previously were not possible.
“There’s tremendous opportunity for businesses to reimagine what’s possible using Apple Vision Pro at work,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations and Enterprise Marketing. “We’re thrilled to see the innovative ways organizations are already using Apple Vision Pro, from planning fire response operations to iterating on the most intricate details of an engine design — and this is just the beginning. Combined with enterprise-grade capabilities like mobile device management built into visionOS, we believe spatial computing has the potential to revolutionize industries around the world.”
With visionOS built on the foundation of decades of engineering innovation in macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, enterprise developers can create powerful spatial experiences controlled by the most natural and intuitive inputs possible — a user’s eyes, hands, and voice. The breakthrough design of Apple Vision Pro features an ultra-high-resolution display system and custom Apple silicon in a unique dual-chip design to deliver experiences in real time. Vision Pro uses a wide range of advanced machine learning and AI models to enable foundational capabilities such as hand tracking, room mapping, Personas, and more. All of this is accelerated by the Neural Engine in the M2 chip, which ensures spatial computing is the most powerful way for a business to leverage AI.
Developers have been building apps for Apple Vision Pro across numerous enterprise categories, from business productivity and product design, to immersive training and guided work.
Customized Workspaces for Productivity
Spatial computing blends digital content with the physical world, providing an infinite canvas that enables businesses to reinvent workspaces and enhance everyday productivity. With visionOS, apps are freed from the boundaries of a display, so they can appear side by side at any scale. With support for Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad, users can set up the perfect workspace and bring the powerful capabilities of their Mac into Apple Vision Pro wirelessly, creating an enormous, private, and portable 4K display with incredibly crisp text. The most-loved productivity apps for business are now available on Vision Pro.
SAP Analytics Cloud helps streamline the process of gathering, integrating, analyzing, and presenting data-driven insights to enhance business decision-making. On Apple Vision Pro, the app enables employees and executives to immediately access their data dashboard and arrange their most critical business workflows, apps, and cards beautifully in their space. They can also drill down into the data with contextual 3D maps and graphics to gain new insights. With the latest SDK release for developers, the SAP Business Technology Platform fully supports Apple Vision Pro. Customers and partners can now deploy their SAP apps to Vision Pro, alongside iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.
“Apple Vision Pro is a revolutionary device, and we are thrilled to leverage the capabilities of spatial computing with SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Mobile Start,” said Philipp Herzig, chief AI officer, SAP SE. “Going forward, we see the power of visionOS combined with generative AI being a force multiplier for enterprises. SAP Analytics Cloud running on Apple Vision Pro will help our customers discover all-new insights from complex data with powerful and intuitive processes that supercharge their business planning. And with SAP Mobile Start, we provide access to all of SAP’s business applications and workflows in unimaginable ways.”
Microsoft 365 productivity apps and AI companion Copilot built for Apple Vision Pro can help users get more done in powerful new ways. Focus mode in Word allows users to write without distraction; graph, manipulate, and visualize data in sharp, crisp detail in Excel; and immerse themselves in a slideshow with PowerPoint. Switching between meetings, chats, and shared content is easy in Teams — along with accessing the assistance of Copilot — with life-size windows that can be arranged in the user’s space.
“Spatial computing has enabled us to rethink how professionals can be productive and work intelligently with the power of AI,” said Nicole Herskowitz, vice president, Microsoft 365 and Teams. “With Microsoft 365 and Teams on Apple Vision Pro, your office moves with you, allowing users to view apps side by side on an infinite canvas with spatial computing for incredible multitasking and collaboration.”
Additional apps in business productivity include:
Design and Collaboration
The display system on Apple Vision Pro packs 23 million pixels across two displays — or more than 4K resolution for each eye — which makes videos, images, and documents crystal clear from any angle. With crisp visualization of 3D content, spatial computing opens up opportunities for product design, retail planning, and construction modeling, and enables new experiences for customers to engage with products and services.
The Porsche Race Engineer app provides an entirely new way for the Porsche team to collaborate. Race engineers are constantly making real-time decisions about everything from the performance of the car to the driver’s vitals. Apple Vision Pro helps engineers visualize car data in real time, bringing critical metrics like speed and braking alongside track conditions and car positioning, combined with live video from the car’s dashboard. In February, Porsche broke the U.S. record for electric vehicles at Laguna Seca with the new Porsche Taycan Turbo GT, while the engineers tracked along using Vision Pro. This can also expand track experiences for fans around the world.
“At Porsche, we’ve always been driven by dreams, and Apple Vision Pro has enabled us to reimagine track experiences,” said Oliver Blume, Porsche’s CEO. “The new Porsche Taycan Turbo GT is the ultimate all-electric performance car, and, fittingly, we were thrilled to bring the best of German engineering and Apple’s inspiring product innovation together with the Race Engineer app. This is the perfect example of our team delivering on our goal to bring the best user experience to our employees and customers.”
Design and manufacturing processes are complex and involve large amounts of data from various sources. NVIDIA Omniverse Cloud APIs let developers stream massive 3D engineering and simulation data sets from the cloud to Apple Vision Pro. The high-resolution displays and powerful sensors built into Vision Pro enable developers and designers to create detailed, immersive renderings and visuals that can be viewed and manipulated in real time.
“The world’s industries are racing to build digital twins of products, facilities, and processes to better test and optimize designs well before constructing them in the physical world,” said Rev Lebaredian, NVIDIA’s vice president of Omniverse and Simulation Technology. “Enterprises can now combine the power and capabilities of Apple Vision Pro and the physically accurate renderings of OpenUSD content with NVIDIA accelerated computing to power the next generation of immersive digital experiences.”
Additional apps in design and collaboration include:
Training and Simulation
From preparing technicians to install equipment, to teaching complex tasks requiring hundreds of hours of hands-on work, making training procedures more interactive and impactful is critical to employee success. When it comes to aircraft maintenance, taking a plane offline for training can be costly and cause delays throughout the system. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will dramatically improve technical maintenance and airline operations with spatial computing on Apple Vision Pro. The Engine Shop app enables technicians to train on the latest engine models in full fidelity in their own space. With this app, a technician can instantly see the entire task they need to perform step by step, with detailed repair instructions overlayed on a 3D model of the exact engine. This reduces errors and increases employee job satisfaction while saving valuable time and ultimately speeding up plane turnaround times.
“We see Apple Vision Pro as a tremendous value-add that will improve our fleet availability and operations,” said Bob Tulleken, KLM’s vice president of Operations Decision Support. “Training our employees with spatial computing will lead to fewer costly errors because the most current information they need to do their job is there in front of them as they perform the task. This means we not only get vastly more efficient in our work, but also provide a better work environment for our employees to succeed.”
Additional apps in training and simulation include:
Guided Work
Guided work requires the context of a person’s surroundings, such as a utility service technician who needs access to work orders or schematics. Resolve has reimagined how building engineers can plan for and access information they need to make decisions about systems behind walls, including HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and fire sprinkler lines. Rather than use static paper plans, users can review high-detail plans and 3D models on Apple Vision Pro, enabling architects, builders, and maintenance workers to see, fix, and comment, enhancing the entire life cycle of a construction project.
In emergency response scenarios, incident management software combines real-time and historical information with geospatial data to help first responders manage their people and fleet resources. The FireOps app, developed by About Objects and DigitalCM, marks a turning point in emergency response management. FireOps leverages the infinite canvas with visionOS to provide a unified operational view of incident action plans, dramatically streamlining over a dozen procedures. This enhances coordination and decision-making among all participants, and ensures that first responders are more connected, informed, and prepared than ever before.
Additional apps in guided work include:
Apple offers developers a variety of resources, including powerful APIs, rich documentation, global developer labs, Develop in Swift tutorials, and the visionOS simulator to help companies bring game-changing Apple Vision Pro experiences to life. To further support developers, today Apple is announcing the Enterprise Spatial Design Lab, providing hands-on support from Apple to help enterprises bring apps from concept to reality. The immersive sessions will be available beginning this summer at developer.apple.com. In addition, Deloitte announced today it is expanding its Apple practice to include a new Academy for Apple Vision Pro. The practice includes more than 100 practitioners trained to deliver visionOS solutions to clients, with a series of one-week, instructor-led courses to help engineers, product managers, and business leaders prepare for the new era of spatial computing.
Press Contacts
Jessica Reeves
Apple
Andrea Schubert
Apple
Apple Media Helpline
April 8, 2024
FEATURE
Pushing the limit with Apple Watch Ultra and The Speed Project
Members of L.A.’s Koreatown Run Club and New York’s Old Man Run Club join forces to take on the 300-plus-mile relay from Santa Monica to Las Vegas
Driving along Ocean Avenue around 3:30 a.m. on a cool Friday morning in March, most of Santa Monica is perfectly quiet and still. But as the car approaches Colorado Avenue, a low din of voices begins to build. Every block, it grows louder and louder, until suddenly its source becomes clear, illuminated beneath the blazing neon at the entrance to the city’s iconic pier.
Hundreds of people have gathered here for the start of The Speed Project, an annual relay event that attracts brave souls from all over the world. The energy is electric: Team RVs covered with DIY signage line the street, massive flags ripple in the wind, and a drone flies overhead, casting an otherworldly glow on the undulating crowd. As the clock strikes 4 a.m., the teams scatter off in every direction.
Members of Los Angeles’s Koreatown Run Club (KRC) and New York City’s Old Man Run Club (OMRC) have been training for this day for months, joining forces from their respective coasts to take on the grueling 300-plus-mile route through the Mojave Desert to Las Vegas. There are no rules, no support stations, no spectators, no rain delays — just the runners, their navigators, their crew, and the open road. And that’s a big part of the appeal.
Through it all — the rugged landscape, the sleep deprivation, the dehydration, the extreme temperatures, and the pouring rain — Apple Watch Ultra 2 was an essential companion, offering the 12-member team the ability to instantly keep tabs on each others’ locations, take hands-free calls, keep an eye on their pace, provide visibility in the darkness, and view their elevation.
“Apple Watch Ultra 2 was our instant lifeline to each other,” says Cindy Le, the team’s veteran navigator and crew captain — a sentiment echoed by cocaptain Ja Tecson.
“The watch is truly made for the conditions we were going through, especially when we did our trail runs at night,” Tecson adds.
Made from aerospace-grade titanium, Apple Watch Ultra 2 is Apple’s most capable and rugged watch, with the best battery life of any Apple Watch, advanced running metrics, easy-to-read Workout Views, a range of training experiences, and Apple’s brightest display.
The team’s photographers — A.J. Lising, Jeremy Jude Lee, and Ja Tecson — documented their journey in a series of images shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max, and edited in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop with an analog aesthetic, capturing the emotion of each moment.
Friday, 04:00:08 a.m.
Palisades Park, Santa Monica, California
Early Friday morning, the team’s 12 runners and eight support crew members are already running on adrenaline and very little sleep. Everyone is excited to watch teammate Annie Cun — who is here at the starting line despite a recent cancer diagnosis — kick off the very first segment. “This is a journey that we’re doing together,” says Le, reminding the runners in the huddle to stay in the moment and not just focus on their final destination. “Like in life, there’s not really a finish line. There’s only this present moment over and over and over again.”
Friday, 10:08:06 a.m.
Santa Clarita, California
As Angelo Antonio heads along Soledad Canyon Road, the clouds have finally opened up.
Friday, 12:38:30 p.m.
Palmdale, Mojave Desert
Anthony Trần takes a breather after making the handoff to teammate Paulsta Stanczuk.
Friday, 06:36:41 p.m.
Oro Grande, Mojave Desert
At sunset, Antonio runs along a single-lane dirt road in Oro Grande. For the runner, who grew up in the Mojave Desert, the moment is particularly special, representing a homecoming of sorts.
Saturday, 12:15:11 a.m.
Newberry Springs, Mojave Desert
At night, Tecson says Apple Watch Ultra 2 provided the team with an extra sense of safety: “I would always turn my flashlight setting on, because there were a lot of really aggressive drivers on the road.”
Saturday, 12:36:15 a.m.
Newberry Springs, Mojave Desert
Sleep deprivation is an inescapable part of The Speed Project experience. “A lot of people, when you get into ‘I’m hungry, I’m tired, I’m cranky,’ you can really lose who you are a little bit,” says team cocaptain Will Eckman. “You have that shared experience with everyone else, and how do you all push each other up to get through? I think everybody was certainly feeling it in the overnight moments between midnight and 7 a.m.”
Saturday, 09:10:12 a.m.
Death Valley Road, Baker
Though many of the runners from the two clubs hadn’t met in person until the night before the race, it doesn’t take long for a sense of camaraderie to build on the road. “It just felt so natural, everybody coming together and really building a friendship,” says Will Eckman. “It almost felt like we had been friends for a very long time. That was amazing to see very quickly.”
Saturday, 09:25:48 a.m.
Baker, Mojave Desert
Out on the road, the runners use Apple Watch Ultra 2 to stay in touch with the crew back in the RV. “If something comes in that I have to answer, I use voice to text to continue my run and not break stride,” says cocaptain Kim Yee, shown here during a one-mile repeat on Death Valley Road.
Saturday, 01:47:48 p.m.
Boron, Mojave Desert
By the time the team reaches the grueling 26-mile stretch known as Power Line in the late afternoon, the weather has changed, and the team is concerned about their SUV getting stuck in the mud. “We started to feel some drizzle, and then we heard the rain hitting the power lines,” says Tecson. “You could just feel this crackling sound with the wind — it sounded beautiful and scary at the same time.”
Saturday, 06:08:43 p.m.
Goodsprings, Southwest Extreme Triangle
While they’re on their feet completing their segments, Apple Watch Ultra 2 offers the team’s athletes the ability to multitask. “As a runner, there’s so much going on,” says Tecson, pictured here waiting for teammate Cun. “You’re also concerned about everyone else, but you can also see through the watch that it got executed and checked off the list.”
Saturday, 06:23:10 p.m.
Jean, Southwest Extreme Triangle
Silhouetted against the backdrop of the desert mountains along State Route 161 — still capped in snow after a brief storm hours earlier — Jenny Peng finishes another segment. As the team delves deeper into the Mojave Desert, they rely on the precision dual-frequency GPS of Apple Watch Ultra 2, which provides precise distance, pace, and route data. “Having GPS dial in quickly so you can just tag and go was really critical,” says Will Eckman.
Saturday, 07:05:16 p.m.
Jean, Southwest Extreme Triangle
As night falls along the California-Nevada border, fatigue starts to set in for all of the runners, including Peng.
Saturday, 07:26:07 p.m.
Sloan, Southwest Extreme Triangle
With Las Vegas and its bright lights slowly coming into sight, Will Eckman stretches and prepares to embark on his final one-mile segment.
Saturday, 09:53:40 p.m.
Las Vegas, Southwest Extreme Triangle
On Saturday evening, the KRC x OMRC team crosses the Speed Project finish line in Las Vegas, with a final time of 41 hours and 51 minutes — cue the celebratory champagne shower, a well-deserved real shower, a hot meal, and a comfy hotel bed. “I love doing this race because you get to see what the human spirit is capable of,” says Le. “You see people go through their lows and really struggle to get out of their rock bottom in that moment to show up for each other and show up for themselves, and do something a previous version of themselves would have never thought was possible.”
Press Contacts
Nikki Rothberg
Apple
Apple Media Helpline
The beta versions of iOS 17.5, iPadOS 17.5, macOS 14.5, tvOS 17.5, visionOS 1.2, and watchOS 10.5 are now available. Get your apps ready by confirming they work as expected on these releases. And to take advantage of the advancements in the latest SDKs, make sure to build and test with Xcode 15.3.