Apple Inc. and Google released the first versions of their Covid-19 contact-tracing tools to public health organizations on Wednesday so the agencies can start building applications ahead of the system's launch in mid-May. The toolset is a combination of software updates for iOS and Android, and software development kits to help developers build and test their apps. Apple released an early beta version of its software update that incorporates the technology, iOS 13.5, while Google is rolling out an update via its Google Play app store. The first phase of the system will let health agencies build apps that allow a person who tests positive for Covid-19 to input their diagnosis. The system will then use Bluetooth technology to learn who the person has come into contact with and then notify those people of possible exposure.

Backing up the model The model stays on the device, which is great. They will lose the new version of the model unless we take care of that by sending it somewhere and later downloading it. Adding a new version of the model If the model stays and retrains on a device, what if we want to change it for a new model, let's say an improved one (not personalized)? If we do that, the user will also lose all the personalized parts of the model and will need to start from scratch. Usually we support those earlier versions too.

Apple's Face ID method for authenticating on recent iPhones offers a number of security benefits, and it's a neat trick to boot. But in a pandemic-stricken world where many people either opt to or are even required to wear protective masks, users have discovered that Face ID doesn't usually work when they need it to. Those masks interfere with the iPhone's ability to read your face, and at the moment, there's no easy solution. This story originally appeared on Ars Technica, a trusted source for technology news, tech policy analysis, reviews, and more. Ars is owned by WIRED's parent company, Condé Nast.

Apple's Face ID method for authenticating on recent iPhones offers a number of security benefits, and it's a neat trick to boot. But in a pandemic-stricken world where many people either opt to or are even required to wear protective masks, users have discovered that Face ID doesn't usually work when they need it to. Those masks interfere with the iPhone's ability to read your face, and at the moment, there's no easy solution. Right now, raising the iPhone to use it results in a quick scan with the front-facing TrueDepth sensor array to allow you to access your files, messages, and apps. If your face is obscured, the lock indicator shakes and the phone vibrates, indicating there's a problem.

A new update to Apple's iPhone will make it easier to unlock while wearing a mask. Early versions of the software – which have been released to testers as part of the iOS 13.5 beta – include new changes that make it easier to get around Apple's Face ID facial recognition technology. Many users have found themselves frustrated in recent weeks as they have followed some countries' guidance to wear masks when outside, but found that doing so gets in the way so that the phone cannot recognise its owner and will not unlock. With the new software, the phones are still unlikely to recognise their users. The phones gather a 3D scan of their owners' face and check by looking at the placement of key features such as the nose and mouth, meaning that any mask is likely to get in the way of the technology.

Being able to unlock your iPhone with Face ID is great, until you're wearing a mask. Apple recognizes this, and in beta software released today, it makes it a little easier to skip the Face ID display and enter your passcode, CNBC reports. At the moment, there is a slight delay between your phone realizing that it can't see your face and offering the screen to enter a passcode. To avoid that, you either have to remove your mask or turn off Face ID. But in the most recent iOS 13.5 beta, Apple lets users swipe up to enter a passcode and skip the delay.

Bugs in Apple's iOS have cast serious doubt on the company's new parental controls. CNBC reports that restrictions that were designed to prevent kids from talking to strangers have been falling well short of their intended goal. Communications Limits, a parental control rolled out this week via iOS 13.1.3, Theoretically, this would prevent a child from communicating with anyone that wasn't already uploaded into the phones' contact list. However, a test from CNBC revealed that if an unknown number texted the device first, users were able to directly add that number to the address book and effectively subvert the parental lock.

Most of us want digital privacy, and most of us also want autocorrection that works, speech to text that is accurate, and smart systems that find all our selfies with Serena, or surface the most important emails we need right now. But are those two imperatives in direct opposition? According to some tech analysts and AI experts, they are. Especially those who are experiencing huge issues with iPhone's autocorrection capability in Apple's latest mobile operating system upgrade, iOS 13. "It's way worse on my iPhone," says veteran industry observer Robert Scoble, chief strategy officer at Infinite Retina. "And I've tried several things to fix it, including deleting all the settings and deleting all the history and trying to reboot everything ... I'm seeing a lot of bugs in the spellchecker where it's putting capitalization where it doesn't need to go, where it's switching words a lot more often than it used to. Apple's iOS 13's spellcheck was so bad Scoble ran a Twitter poll, asking his 400,000 followers whether they had similar issues. Twitter polls are hardly scientific, of course. But there's a broad range of people who are claiming that Apple's recent software release has been a big backward step in terms of autocorrection. "iOS 13 got significantly worse for me," says mobile entrepreneur Albert Renshaw, CEO at Apps4Life. "I've been learning French with Duolingo and have been typing in French every day for a little over a year in that app, but have never had an issue with it affecting my autocorrect.

A top Apple leaker has created a mock up of what he thinks the iPhone 12 will look and it bears a striking resemblance to the nearly decade old iPhone 4. Ben Geskin says the iPhone 12 will likely have a much smaller notch - the black bar at the top of the screen holding the selfie camera and FaceID sensors - and feature a similar design to the iPad Pro. He said: 'I love this look and really want Apple to make this design change. The iPhone 4 was released nearly a decade ago in 2010. The mock up takes inspiration from the more industrial design of the iPad which features metal sides, sharper lines and more obvious physical buttons. It is only a suggestion for what the next iPhone could look like, says Mr Gerskin.

Apple has long been known for privacy on its computing and services platforms, but one area where the company has fallen short is Siri. Unfortunately, due to the way Siri works, recorded conversations with the virtual assistant can be used anonymously to verify that voice recognition is working properly. A human quality assurance engineer will listen to the recording to ensure the transcription to the Siri service is accurate. Apple came under fire for this practice earlier this year by not giving users the ability to opt out of this feature. While the feature is used for improving the quality of Siri, and the recordings are anonymized and reviewers won't know who originated the recording, users utilize Siri for calling, messaging, and looking up personal or private information, which can be a privacy concern for many people.