In this week’s top stories: Another pesky text bug on iOS and macOS, more thoughts on the HomePod, Apple Watch helps save yet another life, and more. Read on for all of this week’s top stories..

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This week, we highlighted another life-saving Apple Watch story. Apple’s wearable was credited with saving the life of a 24-year-old and her daughter who were hit by a drunk driver. Read the full story here.

Facebook is rolling out a new “Protect” feature on iOS that some say essentially installs spyware on iPhone and iPad. Essentially, Facebook prompts users to install the Onavo Protect on their iOS device on the basis of “peace of mind” and “an added layer of security.” What it does is route web browsing through Facebook servers, giving the company the ability to collect and analyze the user data.

As happens from time to time, a pesky new text bug has emerged on iOS, watchOS, and macOS. Essentially, when a certain Indian text character is sent, the Messages app crashes and prevents users from re-opening it. Apple says a fix is coming soon.

Apple this week also announced that it will require all new apps to natively support the iPhone X display starting in April. This means that apps that aren’t optimized for the new 5.8-inch display will not be accepted in the App Store.

As for the HomePod, an oddity emerged this week that sees the smart speaker leave a white ring on some pieces of wood furniture. Apple, however, says it’s normal for speakers to do this and a separate review found that the Sonos One does the same thing.

Finally, Snapchat’s redesign continued to stir controversy this week. A petition asking for the company to rollback to the previous design hit 1 million signatures, but Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said the design is here to stay, with the complaints only “validating” the changes.

These and the rest of this week’s top stories below…

iOS | macOS | tvOS | watchOS

Apple TV |

iPhone | 

HomePod | 

Apps |

Apple Watch |

AAPL Company |

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This week’s top video |

Happy Hour Podcast #160 |

This week Benjamin and Zac have a short chat about the new Apple HomePod. (Stay tuned for 9to5Mac’s official review later next week. This episode was also recorded before stain-gate, so thoughts on that next episode.)

9to5Mac Daily |

Welcome to 9to5Mac Daily, a new podcast bringing you the latest in Apple news and top 9to5Mac stories every Monday through Friday. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

• 026: iOS 12 (and 13) rumors, Alto’s Odyssey, and HomePod exploded | 9to5Mac Daily
• 027: Shareholders meeting recap, Kevin Durant on Apple TV, HomePod tips | 9to5Mac Daily
• 028: HomePod stains, Berkshire Hathaway’s AAPL investment, KGI on 6.1-inch iPhone sales | 9to5Mac Daily
• 029: iOS 11 Telugu bug, Sonos has HomePod’s problem, and Carpool Karaoke 2 | 9to5Mac Daily
• 030: Apple Park pains, Subaru’s CarPlay, and Apple Watch impact | 9to5Mac Daily

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