New York City's MTA Urges Apple to Further Protect Riders During Pandemic
In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, New York City's transit agency MTA has encouraged Apple to accelerate the deployment of technology-based solutions to further protect users amid the global health crisis.
MTA Chairman Patrick Foye said riders have been seen removing their masks to unlock their iPhones using Face ID, despite a recent software update by Apple that makes it easier for masked users to enter their passcode instead.
"We understand Apple is working to address the issue and know that Apple has a range of technologies at its disposal as a global leader among tech companies," Foye wrote in the letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook. "We urge Apple to accelerate the deployment of new technologies and solutions that further protect customers in the era of COVID-19."
Foye said that the MTA would be willing to collaborate with Apple to promote a recent change in iOS 13.5 that allows a masked user to swipe up on the screen to immediately bring up the passcode interface when unlocking their iPhone. This could discourage people from taking off their mask briefly to unlock with Face ID, which does not work with masks.
The report notes that the MTA lost more than 90 percent of its subway ridership during the height of the COVID-19 lockdown in the New York area. Ridership is said to have slowly increased again, but still lags far behind pre-pandemic levels.
Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Popular Stories
Game emulator apps have come and gone since Apple announced App Store support for them on April 5, but now popular game emulator Delta from developer Riley Testut is available for download. Testut is known as the developer behind GBA4iOS, an open-source emulator that was available for a brief time more than a decade ago. GBA4iOS led to Delta, an emulator that has been available outside of...
The first approved Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator for the iPhone and iPad was made available on the App Store today following Apple's rule change. The emulator is called Bimmy, and it was developed by Tom Salvo. On the App Store, Bimmy is described as a tool for testing and playing public domain/"homebrew" games created for the NES, but the app allows you to load ROMs for any...
Last September, Apple's iPhone 15 Pro models debuted with a new customizable Action button, offering faster access to a handful of functions, as well as the ability to assign Shortcuts. Apple is poised to include the feature on all upcoming iPhone 16 models, so we asked iPhone 15 Pro users what their experience has been with the additional button so far. The Action button replaces the switch ...
A decade ago, developer Riley Testut released the GBA4iOS emulator for iOS, and since it was against the rules at the time, Apple put a stop to downloads. Emulators have been a violation of the App Store rules for years, but that changed on April 5 when Apple suddenly reversed course and said that it was allowing retro game emulators on the App Store. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel ...
iOS 18 is expected to be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. iOS 18 is rumored to include new generative AI features for Siri and many apps, and Apple plans to add RCS support to the Messages app for an improved texting experience between iPhones and Android devices. The update is also expected to introduce a more...
Top Rated Comments
Further:
No one has anything to lose wearing one. There is no credible scientific evidence anyone with a medical condition "cant breath" or the other nonsense claim
Unless you are part of the Freedom To Breathe Agency cult. And yes a few seconds does matter. One cough can spread millions of droplets around.
There is more than enough credible evidence that if universal mask-wearing was implemented earlier the death toll would be lower (and yes there was a lot of not sharing info early out of China, so that is not blaming anyone in the US or government directly, this was all best guess early); studies in other countries and in Asia have proved it true where their death tolls were a mere percent of the US.
Anyone questioning it belongs in the hashtag #COVIDIOT. Im not usually a PC "feelings" type of person but that attitude is a direct slap in the face to the families of the dead.
It would be wonderful out of this if Apple included both TouchID and FaceID on future phones, at least then we get the best of both worlds.
protection...