MacRumors

Since the launch of iOS 13 last fall, third-party access to users' background location data has reportedly declined by 68 percent, according to Location Sciences, a firm that analyzes location data for marketers (via Fast Company).

The firm also found that foreground data sharing, which occurs only while an app is open, has fallen by 24 percent.

According to a separate report by Digiday, third-party apps are now seeing opt-in rates under 50 percent for collecting location data when they're not in use.

The shortage of GPS data has been put down to Apple's recently introduction of pop-up options that let users selectively control background location tracking on the fly.

In iOS 13, iPhone and iPad users are periodically reminded about apps that are continuously tracking their location, complete with a map of those locations and options to "Change to Only While Using," "Always Allow," and "Just Once."

"As those particular options were made available to users, we do attribute that to the decrease in sharing," Jason Smith, Location Sciences' chief business officer, told Fast Company.

While the report indicates that Apple's new background location tracking options are having their intended effect, a recent report by The Wall Street Journal suggests that some developers are concerned that frequent location tracking reminders will hurt adoption of their apps.

Apple responded to the report by insisting that the changes were made to further safeguard user privacy.

"Apple has not built a business model around knowing a customer's location or the location of their device," an Apple spokesperson told WSJ, adding that Apple builds its hardware and software with privacy in mind.

Apple this afternoon sent out emails advertising its latest Apple Pay promotion, which offers 10 percent off of a purchase from the StubHub app.

StubHub is an online ticketing company that lets users purchase tickets for concerts, sporting events, and more.

To get the 10 percent discount, customers can enter the code APPLEPAY2020 when checking out in the StubHub app and using ‌Apple Pay‌ as the payment method.

Apple's promotion allows customers in the United States to get a maximum discount of $100, and the promotion will be available until January 29, 2020

Longtime Apple supplier Broadcom today announced that it has signed two multi-year deals with Apple that cover a "range of specified high-performance wireless components and modules" that Apple will use in its products.

According to Broadcom, these new agreements are in addition to a prior agreement it established with Apple in June 2019 for RF components and modules. The new agreements will last for three and a half years beginning in January 2020.

Broadcom says that the two new deals combined with its existing 2019 deal could generate aggregate total future revenue of approximately $15 billion.

As pointed out by Bloomberg, Broadcom's announcement allows potential purchasers to know that they're getting an established business relationship with Apple. Broadcom has been exploring a sale of its radio frequency chip unit since last year.

In addition to the latest price drop on the AirPods Pro from earlier this morning, Amazon has solid discounts across the full AirPods line, along with new sales on Apple's Smart Battery Case accessories. For the latter accessories, Best Buy is also discounting a few of the cases, and you'll find all of these sales organized below.

Smart Battery Cases

For the Smart Battery Case, Amazon has the Black colorway for the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max priced at $103.99, down from $129.99 ($26 off). This is a discount you'll only see once you reach the checkout screen, but it is applied automatically, and only for the Black option. While other colors like White and Pink Sand are seeing some $10-$13 discounts, none are as solid as the $26 off at checkout for Black.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

If you prefer shopping at Best Buy, you can also get the Smart Battery Case in Black for the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max at $103.99, down from $129.99. You'll need to be a My Best Buy member, which is free to join and awards you with free shipping, early access to sales, and reward points every time you shop.

AirPods

Starting with the AirPods with Wireless Charging Case, you can get this model for $159.99, down from $199.00 ($39 off). While not quite the lowest-ever price, it is currently the best sale among the major Apple resellers online.

However, the AirPods with Charging Case is seeing a lowest-ever price of $128.99, down from $159.00 ($30 off). Both versions of the 2019 AirPods are currently in stock on Amazon and available to ship today, with shipping estimates placing arrival dates between January 27 and January 29.

Lastly, the standalone Wireless Charging Case for AirPods is $62.99 at Amazon today as well. With this accessory, you can place the AirPods 1 or AirPods 2 earbuds into the case and gain the ability to wirelessly charge them on a compatible Qi charging mat.

Be sure to visit our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more Apple-related products and accessories.

Pad & Quill has opened up a new Valentine's Day sale a few weeks early, discounting essentially all of its products sitewide, including iPhone cases, MacBook cases, iPad cases, Apple Watch bands, and travel organizers. The sale provides discounts of up to 25 percent off, which you can stack with the coupon code Valentine to get an additional 15 percent off, totaling up to 40 percent off during the event.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Pad & Quill. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

In the sale you can save on Pad & Quill's Oxford, Cambridge, Contega, and Bella Fino leather cases for devices like the iPhone and iPad. There's also a chance for saving on Pad & Quill's high-quality MacBook Pro cases, with a few options for the new 16-inch model. Even the company's new Woodline iPhone cases are being marked down during the Valentine's Day event.

All of the company's accessories are made from high-quality leather, specifically designed to fit Apple's products. Because the sale includes all of Pad & Quill's website, we've narrowed down some ideas for you to shop below (note that prices listed will appear after using the code Valentine):

Pad & Quill's Valentine's Day Sale

iPad Cases

• Oxford Leather for iPad mini - $57.34, down from $89.95
• Oxford Leather 11-inch iPad Pro Case - $66.68, down from $119.95
• Oxford Leather 12.9-inch iPad Pro Case - $82.83, down from $139.95
• Valet Leather iPad Pro Bag - $100.68, down from $159.95

iPhone Cases

• Woodline Slim iPhone 11 Pro Case - $31.84, down from $49.95
• Woodline Slim iPhone 11 Pro Max Case - $31.84, down from $49.95
• Aria iPhone 11 Wallet - $50.97, down from $79.95
• Bella Fino iPhone 11 Pro Wallet - $57.34, down from $89.95
• Bella Fino iPhone 11 Pro Max Wallet - $57.34, down from $89.95

MacBook Pro Cases

• Cartella Slim Case for 12-inch MacBook - $42.46, down from $89.95
• Cartella Slim Case for 16-inch MacBook Pro - $81.57, down from $119.95
• Aria Case for 13-inch MacBook Pro - $95.17, down from $139.95
• Valet Leather Bag for 16-inch MacBook Pro - $129.20, down from $179.00

Miscellaneous

• Pilot Band for Apple Watch - $54.37, down from $79.95
• Field Strap for Apple Watch - $61.17, down from $89.95
• Techfolio Travel Cord Organizer - $63.71, down from $89.95

Head to our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more discounts on Apple products and related accessories.

Earlier this week, game publisher EA announced that it will be removing its Tetris apps from the App Store on April 21, 2020. EA did not provide a reason for this move, but it appears to be related to a licensing change.

As part of a multi-year agreement with The Tetris Company, game developer N3TWORK today announced that it has released an all-new Tetris app on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. The app features a traditional solo gameplay experience, both online and offline, and will be updated with new gameplay modes in the future.

The new Tetris app is free to download worldwide, excluding China and New Zealand, with an optional $4.99 in-app purchase to remove ads.

Amazon has restocked its supply of Apple's AirPods Pro at the price point of $234.99, down from $249.00. This $14 discount matches the all-time-low price we've previously seen on the AirPods Pro at Amazon.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

As of writing, the AirPods Pro will be in stock on February 1, and arrive between February 6 and February 11. Head to Amazon soon if you're interested, and be sure to check out our dedicated Best Deal on AirPods guide for all of the best discounts on Apple's entire line of wireless earphones.

Head to our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more discounts on Apple products and related accessories.

Update 8:10 a.m. PST: The AirPods Pro are now temporarily out of stock on Amazon.

Amazon Music now has more than 55 million customers worldwide, according to a company press release. The announcement represents the first time Amazon has shared growth metrics for its streaming service, which is catching up to Apple Music's last subscriber count of over 60 million last June.

The figure is actually a tally of customers across several tiers that Amazon offers. Amazon Music Unlimited is the $9.99 a month plan that serves as a direct rival to Spotify and ‌Apple Music‌. According to Amazon, subscriptions numbers on this tier grew by more than 50 percent last year alone.

The other tiers include: Amazon Music Unlimited ($3.99 single-device plan) for customers who just want to listen on an Echo speaker; Amazon Music for Prime subscribers, which includes ad-free access to over 2 million songs; ad-sponsored Amazon Music, a free plan offering access to top playlists and thousands of music stations; and Amazon HD, a high-definition tier costing $14.99 a month.

• Apple Music vs. Amazon Music

Amazon says its streaming service has grown nearly 50 percent year-on-year across the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Japan, and has more than doubled in its newer markets like France, Italy, Spain, and Mexico

Despite the respectable growth across its range of tiers, Amazon Music has some way to go before it catches up to Spotify, which in September announced it had 113 million paying customers.

Twitter has announced support for emoji reactions in its direct messages. The new feature lets you respond to DMs without having to type anything, similar to the reactions available to iMessage users when they want to acknowledge messages without sending a proper reply.

To use the new emoji reactions in Twitter, either tap the small heart icon with the plus sign merging into it that appears to the right of each message bubble, or double-tap a message to reveal an emoji reactions menu.

There are seven emoji at present, including staple reactions like laughing face, sad face, thumbs up, and heart. All participants in a conversation get notified when you lay down an emoji, but you can also undo them at any time.

One of the issues that Apple Card users sometimes raise is that while the Wallet app offers plenty of well-organized information about spending, there's no option to directly share transaction data from the card with many third-party money management apps like Mint or Lunch Money.

Fortunately, Apple has provided a solution – you can now download a CSV/OFX spreadsheet from the Wallet app that contains all your ‌Apple Card‌ data, which you can then import into most budgeting apps and get a more complete picture of your finances.

Alternatively, if you're a Quicken or QuickBooks users, you can directly export into the appropriate QFX/QBO formats. The following steps show you how it's done.

1. Launch the Wallet app on your iPhone.
2. Tap the Card Balance panel under your ‌Apple Card‌.
3. Scroll down to the Statements section and tap on the month you wish to export transactions from.
   
4. Tap Export Transactions at the bottom.
5. Select CSV, OFX, QFX, or QBO from the pop-up menu.
   
6. To save the data as a CSV/OFX/QFX/QBO file, tap the Share icon in the upper-right corner of the screen, where you can opt to AirDrop it to another device such as your Mac, print it, or Save to Files to save it your iCloud folders or on your ‌iPhone‌.

Note that some budgeting apps accept imported transaction data, but may need file format conversions prior to import.