MacRumors

It appears the App Store is no longer accessible to iPhone and iPad users in Iran, with Apple apparently implementing a countrywide IP ban.

According to Bleeping Computer, Iranians have been unable to access the App Store since approximately noon GMT, and when attempting to use the App Store, they're receiving a message that the store is unavailable in the country.

All Iranian IPs appear to be unable to use the App Store at the current time. Iranian security researcher Meysam Firouzi told Bleeping Computer that he was able to connect to the App Store when using a VPN, even though he has an account with Iranian details.

Because of U.S. sanctions, Apple does not sell its products in Iran nor is there an Iranian App Store, but there are millions of iPhones in the country that have been smuggled from places like Dubai and Hong Kong. iPhone users in Iran have previously been able to access the App Store by setting their devices to other regions.

Back in August, Apple began removing apps from its App Stores created by Iranian developers for Iranian citizens, such as Snapp, a popular app for an Uber-like ride hailing service popular in Iran. Apple has now gone one step further and appears to be preventing all users with an Iranian IP from accessing the App Store entirely.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues 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.

A video featuring a device that appears to be a cross between an iPhone SE and an iPhone X surfaced on Weibo this morning and was shared by Japanese site Macotakara.

The smartphone in the video, which has a notch at the front, an edge-to-edge display, and a vertical rear camera in a body that's similar to the current iPhone SE, is very likely an Android clone device. Fake devices like these can often be found in China, where the video originated.

There have been rumors suggesting Apple is working on a second-generation iPhone SE, but none of those rumors have indicated the device will take on iPhone X design elements. There is no indication that the device in the video is a valid Apple product at all, and in fact, it conflicts with rumors we've heard about a potential future iPhone SE 2.

For example, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who often shares reliable information on Apple's upcoming products, has said that if a new iPhone SE 2 is indeed in the works, it's not likely to offer design updates or outward-facing changes due to Apple's work on the three iPhones expected in September of 2018. Kuo is, in fact, skeptical that a new iPhone SE 2 is in development right now.

Rumors about the iPhone SE have been somewhat conflicting in general. Supply chain rumors in November indicated an iPhone SE 2 would be released in the first half of 2018, but recent information suggests Apple has no plans to introduce a new iPhone until later in 2018.

Sketchy rumors from a Chinese site also recently said Apple would introduce a new iPhone SE that looks similar to the current iPhone SE at WWDC, but the site has no reliable track record.

All in all, Apple may have a new iPhone SE 2 in the works, but it's unlikely that the device is going to adopt iPhone X elements as the iPhone SE is a low-cost device while the iPhone X is Apple's top-of-the-line flagship smartphone.

Later in 2018, Apple is expected to introduce a second-generation iPhone X with a 5.8-inch OLED display, an "iPhone X Plus" with a 6.5-inch display, and a lower-cost iPhone with a 6.1-inch LCD display. All three of these are expected to adopt edge-to-edge displays with minimal bezels and the TrueDepth Camera system for Face ID.

It could perhaps be argued that the device in the video is the 6.1-inch iPhone, but we've heard no rumors suggesting that particular device will have an iPhone SE-style body thus far.

StackSocial this week launched the 2018 Mac Essentials Bundle, made up of ten apps that can help you be more productive, keep your online identity secure and private, clean up your Mac, and more. The bundle has an estimated value of $524.90 when adding up the cost of all ten apps included, but StackSocial knocked the price down to $19.99 for a limited time.

Additionally, those interested can enter the promo code SAVEMAC during checkout to get the 2018 Mac Essentials Bundle for an even cheaper price of $14.99. Note that you'll need a StackSocial account to checkout on the company's store. Once you have an account created, add the bundle to your cart, tap checkout, then enter SAVEMAC in the promo code box under "Order Summary" on the right side of the screen to take a further $5.00 off your order.

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

The bundle offer should last for the next few weeks, so if you're interested head over to StackSocial for more information and to place your order. Below we've listed each app included in the bundle, license and access information where applicable, and a brief description.

• BusyCal 3 / single-user license / lifetime access - A customizable calendar app that integrates with iCloud, Google, Exchange, and more, offering features like To Do lists, smart filters, iPhone syncing, and live weather forecasts.
• Cargo VPN / two year access - Provides you with the ability to encrypt an internet connection and keep your personal data private.
• HoudahSpot 4 - Find files by "hundreds of criteria" like name, file extension, pixel count, and more.
• uBar 4 / single-user license / lifetime access - Dock replacement with tab grouping options, window previews, in-dock reminders, and more.
• Cisdem DuplicateFinder 4 / lifetime access to all updates - Find and delete duplicate files in one go so that your Mac runs more efficiently.
• RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Platinum - Build your own theme park and gain access to expansion packs "Soaked!" and "Wild!" with the Platinum version.
• Systweak Anti-Malware Pro / 2 year subscription - Detects and quarantines unwanted or malicious programs automatically.
• Concealer / lifetime access - Hide and encrypt files, passwords, credit card details, and more.
• Movavi Photo Editor - Edit photos, add filters, correct photo orientation, change backgrounds, insert watermarks, scale down photos, and more.
• Flip PDF for Mac / lifetime license - Convert PDF files into mobile-friendly flipbooks, aimed at designers, publishers, and advertisers who want to create e-books, brochures, catalogs, and more.

In other deals, Anker today launched its new 7.5-watt 'PowerWave' Wireless Chargers, along with a set of promo codes that offer savings on the new chargers. For a limited time on Amazon, you can get 15 percent off one charger (with promo code POWER752) or 20 percent off two or more (with promo code POWER753).

The new devices include the PowerWave 7.5W Stand and PowerWave 7.5W Pad, each coming with built-in fans to help keep things cool and the ability to charge iPhones up to an hour faster than other accessories on the market, according to Anker. For a more detailed look at the new Qi-compatible chargers, be sure to read our full review.

Recently, DirecTV Now launched its latest offer for new subscribers, allowing them the chance to get $25 off each month for the first three months of any channel package. For example, you could get the low-tier "Live a Little" package for just $10/month for your first three months, down from $35/month. New subscribers interested can enter the promo code YESNOW3 in the checkout process, but this code is incompatible with DirecTV Now's ongoing Apple TV 4K offer.

In regards to that offer, it's worth noting that we're now entering what is expected to be the last few weeks of DirecTV Now's Apple TV 4K at no cost deal. If you've been on the fence about it, definitely check out our full post on the deal and head over to DirecTV Now to place your order. For those who haven't been following, the offer lets new users prepay for three months of DirecTV Now at $105, and then receive a 32GB Apple TV 4K at no cost.

Lastly today, we've rounded up a few of the latest sales hitting 4K HDR films on the iTunes Movies store and some notable discounts on iOS gaming apps.

4K HDR movies on sale

• The Dark Tower - $9.99, down from $19.99 (Movie of the Week, $0.99 rental)

• The Silence of the Lambs - $9.99, down from $19.99

• Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets - $9.99, down from $14.99

• mother! - $9.99, down from $14.99

• Daddy's Home 2 - $9.99, down from $19.99

• Only the Brave - $9.99, down from $14.99

• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - $9.99, down from $14.99

• Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life - $9.99, down from $14.99

• Alien: Covenant - $14.99, down from $19.99

• War for the Planet of the Apes - $14.99, down from $19.99

iOS games on sale

• Anomaly 2 - $3.99, down from $14.99

• The Witness - $4.99, down from $9.99

• Bridge Constructor Portal - $2.99, down from $4.99

• Gorogoa - $3.99, down from $4.99

• Darkest Dungeon: Tablet Edition - $0.99, down from $4.99

• FROST - $2.99, down from $4.99

Visit our full Deals Roundup for more of the latest sales, this week including 10 percent off all certified pre-owned MacBooks on Gazelle.

Google today announced that it's dropping the "Android" moniker from the name of its software designed for smart watches because it's not just Android users who are using the devices.

Going forward, Android Wear, which is built into a wide range of smart watches from companies like LG, Misfit, Asus, Huawei, Fossil, and more, will be known as "Wear OS by Google."

Google says that it's making this change because in 2017, one out of every three new Android Wear watch owners used an iPhone.

Android Wear was also designed with the belief that wearable technology "should be for everyone" regardless of what style you wear on your wrist or what phone you use, so Google chose the new name to reflect this philosophy.

So as the watch industry gears up for another Baselworld next week, we're announcing a new name that better reflects our technology, vision, and most important of all--the people who wear our watches. We're now Wear OS by Google, a wearables operating system for everyone.

All existing devices using the software formerly known as Android Wear will begin displaying the new Wear OS by Google name "over the next few weeks."

iOS and Android keyboard app SwiftKey today announced its "biggest update" since the company was acquired by Microsoft in April of 2016. SwiftKey 7.0 includes a "Toolbar" designed to give users fast access to features that are both old and new.

Found under a new "+" sign to the left of the prediction bar, Toolbar will give iOS users the ability to quickly add emoji, GIFs, and items copied from the Clipboard into their messages, as well as customize the keyboard's theme.

For Android users, Toolbar will house a few additional features like stickers, collections, calendar, and quick settings. SwiftKey 7.0 also adds in eight new 'Lish' hybrid languages, in this case letting people shift between English and Indic languages. SwiftKey said that down the line it will launch location sharing for U.S. and India-based users, as well as Calendar sharing, so that you can insert addresses and appointments into messages.

Third-party keyboards grew in popularity following the launch of iOS 8 in 2014, which introduced the ability for iPhones and iPads to support such keyboards on a systemwide basis. Companies like Fleksy have faced major changes in the ensuing years, and others -- like Swype -- have shut down completely. Along with SwiftKey, Google's Gboard is one of the other major third-party keyboards for iPhone.

SwiftKey is available to download for free from the iOS App Store [Direct Link], and users should begin seeing the version 7.0 update rolling out today.

With the launch of the iPhone X, 8, and 8 Plus last September, Apple finally embraced wireless smartphone charging, and as of the release of iOS 11.2 in December, the devices became able to support faster 7.5-watt charging.

Belkin and Mophie were Apple's launch partners for wireless charging, with their optimized charging bases launching alongside the new phones and supporting the 7.5-watt power targeted by Apple. While Belkin and Mophie's chargers had Apple's early seal of approval, plenty of other manufacturers already had wireless chargers rated at 5 watts and higher on the market. Pretty much all of them work just fine with iPhones, and in fact in our testing we found not much difference in iPhone charging speed between 5-watt and 7.5-watt chargers.

Now that Apple's 7.5-watt charging spec has been available for a while, we're starting to see more accessory manufacturers launching new chargers optimized to work with the new iPhones. One of the first major brands out of the gate in this wave is Anker, which has long been very popular with consumers for offering solid charging accessories at good prices with excellent customer service.

I profiled some of Anker's previous wireless chargers back in December as part of my early wireless charger roundup, and several of those models have been strong sellers. With Apple's specs for 7.5-watt charging now available, Anker today is releasing two new wireless chargers optimized to work with the iPhone. The new chargers, arriving under the "PowerWave" marketing name, feature built-in fans to help keep things cool and maintain high charging speeds at both 7.5 watts for iPhones and 10 watts for compatible Android phones. According to Anker, the fans help charge iPhones up to an hour faster than other chargers on the market.

“After testing most of the chargers on the market, we discovered that they shared a major flaw: the wireless coils gradually heat up and this prevents the chargers from dispensing 7.5W for long periods of time,” explained Steven Yang, CEO of Anker Innovations. “By adding a fan underneath the coil, we manage to regulate temperature and therefore allow the device to output consistent 7.5W power, resulting in the fastest wireless charge for the new iPhones.”

Anker certainly isn't the first company to incorporate fans into its chargers, as the feature has been important for some of the 10-watt and even 15-watt chargers compatible with some Android phones. But pairing a fan-based cooling system with optimizations for Apple's 7.5-watt spec has enabled Anker to charge iPhones even faster.

I've spent some time with both of Anker's new PowerWave offerings, which include a stand model and a pad model. Anker's previous 5-watt stand model has been my charger of choice on my office desk for the past several months, so I was eager to try out that style of PowerWave charger in particular.

The PowerWave 7.5W Stand is normally priced at $49.99 and has a similar molded plastic design to the earlier 5-watt model, but comes in white instead of black. The white certainly attracts some attention, which can be a positive or a negative depending on the environment it's placed in. I happen to like the look. The other design difference compared to the 5-watt model is that the base is much thicker in order to incorporate the fan. With the micro-USB port for the stand over to one side of the base, there's room for a relatively large fan grille to help keep air moving.

In my testing, the PowerWave 7.5W Stand certainly lived up to Anker's claims of charging speed, as it was able to charge my iPhone X battery from 10 percent to 56 percent in just one hour. Nearly all of the over two dozen other chargers I've tested have only been able to reach between 38 and 43 percent over that time period. Whether charging speed is important depends on your individual use patterns, and some users have concerns over fast charging having a negative impact on long-term battery health, which is also part of the reason for having a fan to keep things cooler. But for many people, the risk to long-term battery health is worth it if they can top off their phones more quickly when they're dropped onto a charger.

While the fan helps keep things cool and lets the charger maintain optimal charging speed for longer, it does make some noise. The stand generates an audible whirring sound that can be heard even from across a quiet room. For that reason, you might want to think twice about using this charger on a nightstand or in other quiet environments. But in a busy office setting with noise around or if you typically have music or other sounds playing while your phone is charging, it may not be noticeable.

I also tested out the $45.99 PowerWave 7.5W Pad, and interestingly, it didn't charge my iPhone X quite as quickly as the stand did, but it was still able to outperform nearly every other charger I've tested, boosting my battery from 10 percent to 49 percent in an hour. Otherwise, this is a pretty typical pad-style charger, although it does have a similar eye-catching white color to the stand and is a little bulkier than some other pads due to the fan underneath the pad.

Both the stand and the charger have distinctive small, circular, blue LEDs that light up while charging and flash to let you know if there'a problem. The LEDs are subtle enough that they're not distracting even in dark rooms. The pad's fan is audible, although it sounds significantly quieter than the stand.

Beyond Apple's strict requirements, there's another reason these PowerWave chargers are priced a bit higher than some of Anker's other offerings, and that's the fact that not only do you get a micro-USB cable but also a compact 18-watt Quick Charge 3.0 power adapter with folding prongs and a single USB-A port. The inclusion of the power adapter is important, as these chargers require a Quick Charge 3.0 adapter in order to work at all. If you plug the charger into another power adapter like one of Apple's iPhone or iPad adapters, or even a standard USB port on a hub, the charger will not charge your phone. That's something to keep in mind depending on how you're planning to use the chargers.

Anker's new PowerWave chargers are launching today on Amazon, and the company is submitting them to the Wireless Power Consortium for official Qi certification. The PowerWave stand is normally priced at $49.99 and the PowerWave pad at $45.99, but for a limited time Anker is offering a special deal through Amazon that gives you 15 percent off one charger (promo code POWER752) or 20 percent off two or more (promo code POWER753).

Note: Anker provided the wireless chargers to MacRumors free of charge for the purposes of this review. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon and may earn commissions on purchases made through links in this article.

A small group of users have begun noticing a new voice control feature appearing within the Spotify app for iOS devices, and The Verge this week got a chance to see how the music streaming service's new voice commands work.

As expected, the voice control allows users to call up their favorite artists, songs, albums, and playlists without having to navigate around the app with taps. Voice control is initiated by first navigating to the magnifying glass icon at the center of the app's bottom tab row.

In this area users can tap a microphone icon inside a white bubble, and then Spotify will begin listening for their voice (once access to the iPhone's microphone is allowed). Right now the commands are only available in English, but once a command is asked Spotify will begin playing the content within the app.

The Verge was mostly impressed with the time spent asking Spotify to play various songs, comparing it favorably to Siri on HomePod: "It all happened as quickly as Siri does the same thing on a HomePod." It should still be noted that Spotify's solution as of now isn't a fully talkative AI assistant, but simply voice controls.

I spent the past hour spitting queries at the microphone, with mostly accurate results. I queued up the Gold School and Top Hits Today playlists, artist radio stations for Radiohead and Wilco, and the magnificent strains of “Despacito.” It all happened as quickly as Siri does the same thing on a HomePod.

And I did encounter some errors. I created a playlist for songs I found on Spotify that I call “Spotifinds,” and when I searched for it the very confused app asked me if maybe I was searching for “Spotify memes.” (I am now!)

The voice commands are said to be limited to music only inside Spotify's catalog, and queries like "Who are the Beatles?" were met with the app playing a Beatles playlist, "without telling you anything about the band."

Spotify's voice control test follows rumors that the company is planning to launch its first hardware product, expected to be a smart speaker of some kind and compete with Sonos, Echo, and Apple's HomePod. Particularly for the HomePod, Spotify users face a lesser experience due to Apple's decision to only allow native streaming for Apple Music.

If these new tests roll out to a wider audience, it could be an indication of the technology users can expect to see in a smart speaker built by Spotify. For now, The Verge noted that "the early version works well enough to make it a core part of my music listening."

The latest Apple Pay promotion has launched today, and this time Apple is preparing users for Spring Break. When using Apple Pay in the TouchTunes jukebox iOS app [Direct Link], users can get three free song credits. The offer is valid through 11:59 p.m. PT on March 27, 2018 in the United States and Canada only.

TouchTunes uses a network of digital jukeboxes across 65,000 bars, restaurants, and other social venues across North America, which users of the app can control from their iPhone. Users amass TouchTunes' "credits" and spend the credits when choosing which song they want to play next, creating a community-built playlist of songs with anyone else using TouchTunes at the same location.

Now, with the new promotion users can purchase in-app credits using Apple Pay and with the three free credits they should be able to play one song at a bar for free (TouchTunes notes that the number of credits required for song plays may vary). Other springtime apps promoted by Apple include clothing brands lululemon, J.Crew, and Zara. Apple also encourages users to "get back to the beach quicker" when using Apple Pay in apps for Reef, Ray-Ban, and Abercrombie & Fitch.

The TouchTunes promo follows two weeks after Apple celebrated the Oscars with a discount on two or more movie tickets through Fandango.

The developers behind read-it-later service Pocket this week announced a new update for iOS and Android that will give users a simple but useful glimpse into how long each article will take them to read. After updating to version 6.6.16 on the iOS App Store, the Pocket app for iPhone and iPad will display time estimates "for every article and video" that has been saved.

The time estimates will be located below the titles of each saved piece of content, to the right of the URL. At launch, time estimates are available on devices set to English, but the Pocket team said that it plans to add support for more languages "in the near future." The developer is also working on introducing time estimates to Pocket for Web down the line.

You’ve told us that it would be helpful to know how long it takes to start and finish each item in your list, and now you can! When you open Pocket on your phone or tablet, you’ll see time estimates for every article and video you’ve saved, right below the title.

So the next time you have 3 minutes waiting for an appointment, 10 minutes on your commute, or are unwinding on the couch after a long day, open up Pocket and find a story that suits your moment.

Pocket is a service available across multiple platforms that lets users save any web page to revisit later, be it an article, video, recipe, shopping item, or other similar pieces of content. This way, users can save an article on Safari for iOS using the Share Sheet extension, and then look at it a few days later on the Mac app, even when they're offline.

Just over one year ago Pocket was acquired by Mozilla, and at the time Mozilla stated that the Pocket would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Mozilla Corporation and part of the Mozilla open source project. Mozilla said that Pocket's core employees and technology would help accelerate its Context Graph initiative, while promoting the discovery and accessibility of high quality web content.

One of Pocket's biggest rivals in the read-it-later app space is Instapaper, which itself was acquired by Pinterest in 2016.

Pocket is available for free on the iOS App Store. [Direct Link]

The European Commission today announced it has set a provisional deadline of April 23 to decide on Apple's proposed acquisition of Shazam.

Last month, the regulatory body said it would consider whether Apple's purchase of the popular music identification service may lead to a significant adverse effect on competition in Europe, after Austria, France, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Sweden requested the deal be assessed under European Union merger law.

The European Commission didn't specify how the deal could hurt competition, but Shazam does have partnerships with European companies like Spotify that could be affected by the acquisition. However, it's standard for major acquisitions to be subject to review, so the deal will likely be approved without any scrutiny.

Apple announced its plans to acquire Shazam in December in a statement provided to MacRumors and other publications:

We are thrilled that Shazam and its talented team will be joining Apple. Since the launch of the App Store, Shazam has consistently ranked as one of the most popular apps for iOS. Today, it's used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, across multiple platforms. Apple Music and Shazam are a natural fit, sharing a passion for music discovery and delivering great music experiences to our users. We have exciting plans in store, and we look forward to combining with Shazam upon approval of today's agreement.

Shazam is a popular service that can identify the name and lyrics of songs, music videos, TV shows, and more. It has apps across iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, and iMessage, while the service has been built into Siri since iOS 8. The app is also integrated with streaming music services like Apple Music and Spotify.

In addition to Shazam, Apple this week announced it plans to acquire digital magazine subscription service Texture to be integrated into Apple News.

Via: Reuters

Medical ID is a built-in feature of your iPhone's Health app that gives ambulance crews and other emergency first responders fast access to potentially life-saving information about any allergies or medical conditions you have, even if your iPhone is locked.

Even if you don't suffer from any health conditions, it's still worth enabling Medical ID, because it can also provide other vital information about you to emergency services, such as your blood type and who to contact in an emergency. This article shows you how to set up Medical ID in iOS 11.

➜ Click here to read more...

Amazon's U.S. audience for all movie and TV show programming on Amazon Prime Video was about 26 million customers in early 2017, according to company documents seen by Reuters.

Amazon Prime Video is provided as a benefit to Amazon Prime members who subscribe to Amazon's $99 per year Prime service, and features thousands of TV shows and movies, along with original content produced by Amazon.

Amazon has never revealed figures for its total Prime Video audience, but the documents provide an insight into the success of Amazon's successful original programming strategy, which involves producing content to entice consumers into Prime membership and boost merchandise sales.

For example, the documents cover late 2014 to early 2017 and compare metrics for 19 shows exclusive to Amazon, including cost, viewership and the number of people they helped lure to Prime. Known as Prime Originals, the shows account for around a quarter of what analysts believe to be total Prime sign-ups over the same period.

Video has grown to be one of Amazon’s biggest expenditures at $5 billion per year for original and licensed content, two people familiar with the matter said. The company has never disclosed how many subscribers it won as a result, making it hard for investors to evaluate its programming decisions.

The internal documents show what Amazon considers to be the financial logic of its strategy, and why the company is now making more commercial projects in addition to high-brow shows aimed at winning awards, the people said.

According to the documents, season one of alternate history drama "The Man in the High Castle", which is based on Philip K Dick novel, had 8 million U.S. viewers as of early 2017. The program cost $72 million in production and marketing, and attracted 1.15 million new subscribers worldwide.

Amazon's accounting reveals that the show drew new Prime members at an average cost of $63 per subscriber. A Prime subscription costs $99, while Prime members often go on to buy more goods from Amazon than other consumers. The documents also reveal that Amazon drew over 5 million people globally into its Prime subscription membership by the beginning of the 2017.

Apple announced Amazon Prime for Apple TV last summer, but owners of the set-top box had to wait six months for the service to eventually drop. Amazon Prime Video supports Apple's centralized TV app, meaning users can use Siri Universal Search to find Amazon Prime Video content, and add it to their "Up Next" queue of shows and movies.