MacRumors

Although Drake's newest album "Views" was only available on iTunes and Apple Music for one week, under the terms of the company's exclusivity deal with the artist, the album managed to sell more than one million copies in just five days, which The Wall Street Journal calls "a rare achievement in an age of rapid streaming growth and declining sales of downloads and CDs."

Most of those sales numbers -- 632,000 copies to be exact -- came within the first 24 hours of release, with the rest trickling over the one million mark in the subsequent days. The figures specifically target sales for the $13.99 iTunes copy of Views, but Apple Music showed some impressive streaming statistics for Drake's new album, as well.

In total, Views was streamed more than 250 million times worldwide, 200 million of which were inside the United States, suggesting Apple Music managed to get some of the artist's fans to sign up for the service beyond its current 13 million paid subscribers.

The results fly in the face of industry fears that paid streaming services might hasten the continuing decline of music sales, which have fallen by more than 60% in the past 15 years, according to data from Nielsen. While that could still eventually happen, plenty of fans purchased the $13.99 Drake album last week even though they could also access it immediately, along with some 30 million other tracks, by subscribing to Apple Music for $9.99 a month—or even just by signing up for a free trial.

As Drake's album launched on April 29, his record label’s parent company, Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group, went to work keeping any traces of pirated songs and videos off of sites like YouTube. According to sources within the industry, the new trend of exclusivity deals between artists and streaming services like Apple Music and Tidal, has led to a renewed crackdown on pirated music. Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group alone has spent "millions of dollars a year" going through a similar process with other big releases.

Drake has been one of the headline artists representing Apple Music since it was first announced last year at WWDC. Since then, the singer has hosted 20 episodes of his own Beats 1 Radio show, OVO Sound, partnered with Apple Music to sponsor his Summer Sixteen tour, and had some of his songs featured in ads for the streaming music service.

Apple Maps has recently been updated with the introduction of all new Transit information for the city of Sacramento, California, which will let iPhone users in the city navigate using public transportation options like buses, subways, commuter rails, and more.

Transit routing became available within iOS 9 with a limited number of supported cities at launch. Since then, Apple has worked at expanding support for the public transportation feature of its first-party Maps app, now encompassing 20 cities around the world and 30 cities within China.

Including Sacramento, Transit directions can be found in Austin, Sydney, Baltimore, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Toronto, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. Over the past month alone Apple has released a rapid collection of cities with Transit support, including Montreal, Portland, Seattle, New South Wales, and Rio de Janeiro, ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

(Thanks, Ram!)

Microsoft has updated its OneDrive app for iOS with new 'Peek' and 'Pop' support for owners with 3D Touch-enabled devices.

The 7.1 update to the cloud storage app means iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users can now get instant previews of file and folder contents using a lighter press, while a deeper press 'pops' open the uploaded content.

Other changes to OneDrive include a new-look interface and a new feature that lets users shake their device to let Microsoft know if they are having issues with the service.

Last week, Microsoft began sending out email alerts to OneDrive users, warning holders of free 15GB accounts that their storage would be reduced to 5GB on August 10.

The 5GB limit has been in effect for new accounts for a while now, but Microsoft reneged on plans to force the reduction upon long-time subscribers, who were later given the option to keep their extra free space after widespread complaints.

OneDrive is available as a free download for iPhone and iPad on the App Store. [Direct Link]

A unified, Apple-designed HomeKit app has been desired by HomeKit users since HomeKit first debuted, and it appears Apple is planning to introduce such an app in the near future, perhaps in iOS 10.

The hint on Apple's HomeKit plans comes from an Amazon reviewer who works in the marketing department at Apple. The name of the reviewer coincides with the LinkedIn profile of an alleged marketing employee at Apple, and we have confirmed that the Amazon review was indeed created by the Apple employee.

As I work in marketing for Apple, we test many Smart Home devices, especially for iOS HomeKit integration. [...]

Some advice, there are many third party applications, most free, that offer more control and customization(s) with many Smart Home devices. "Yonomi" is a free app that I often use, "Home" is another which cost $14.99. Both offer support for many devices with more added daily (including Amazon "Echo"). The next version of iOS due this fall will have a standalone "HomeKit" app as well.

While we verified the source of the information, there's always a chance that Apple's plans could change ahead of the release of iOS 10. There have been several past rumors suggesting Apple would debut a public HomeKit app, but such an app has not materialized even though Apple has long used a HomeKit app internally.

Apple has previously trademarked a HomeKit app icon (pictured above) that could potentially be used for a standalone HomeKit app and rumors have suggested it could be called "Home."

A cohesive, Apple-branded HomeKit app would go a long way towards improving the HomeKit experience. At the current time, HomeKit users with multiple products must use several different product apps, many of which offer different features, or rely on third-party apps.

Update: Further research on the alleged Apple employee who wrote the review suggests the information leaked about an upcoming HomeKit app in iOS 10 was a hoax. It is not clear if and when Apple will release a standalone HomeKit app.

Popular third-party Twitter client Tweetbot was updated to version 4.3 today, adding a new "Topics" feature that's designed to link multiple related Tweets together in a cohesive way. Tweetbot's Topics function is built around the Twitter feature that links Twitter conversations, something that clever Twitter users have utilized for "Tweetstorms."

Twitter has no built-in tool for handling grouped Tweets, leading Tweetbot to fill the void with its new "Topics" function. Tweets composed as a topic in Tweetbot will be linked all together via Twitter's built-in conversation threading and they'll also use the same hashtag so each Tweetstorm is viewable in a cohesive way to Twitter users regardless of the Twitter client being used to view the Tweets.

Sans Tweetbot, one would link several tweets together in a "Tweetstorm" by writing an initial tweet and then replying to that tweet, deleting the username at the start of the tweet. Though the username is removed, the tweets are still linked together in a conversation. Tweetbot's Topic feature simplifies this process.

Linking multiple tweets together is often desirable in situations where a single tweet won't suffice, such as a lengthy rant or live event coverage.

This release introduces Topics. A Topic is a way to let you quickly Tweet a group of related Tweets without having to manually reply to yourself and/or manually add the same hashtags over and over again. They are really great for rapid fire live Tweeting events.

Topics can be created by tapping on the Settings gear when composing a Tweet. Making a topic will prompt users to give the topic a title and an optional Hashtag, with another option to save the Tweets as a collection, visible in the Tweetbot app or embeddable in websites.

Today's update also includes several other tweaks to Tweetbot, including an option to hide the extra side column on the iPad, improved support for hardware keyboards, options for pasting images when composing a tweet, and more.

Other cool stuff
- You can now hide the extra side column on the iPad
- Much better support for hardware keyboards, including using arrow keys to navigate the timeline
- iPad images are no longer super huge
- You can paste images when composing a Tweet, really useful when using GIF (with a hard G) keyboards
- Support for Arabic language, including Right to Left UI
- Muting a user you don't follow will now also prevent Tweets from that user from showing up in your Mentions, Lists and Searches
- Support for Twitter Collections
- Quoting a Tweet looks much nicer when composing a Tweet
- Support for Firefox browser
- Improved support for uploading video to Twitter
- Fixed an issue where timeline would get stuck

Tweetbot can be downloaded from the App Store for $9.99. [Direct Link]

For today's giveaway, we've teamed up with Ultimate Ears to give MacRumors readers a chance to win a limited edition UE Boom 2 Bluetooth speaker. Called "Lost Time," the speaker has a colorful, abstract design that was created by Australian artist Reka.

Available for $199.99, the same price as all of the UE Boom 2 speakers, the Lost Time version is available in limited quantities. Ultimate Ears is also selling "Rabbit Eye Movement" and "Fresh Cut" limited edition speakers with unique designs.

Aside from its look, the Lost Time UE Boom 2 is the same as other UE Boom 2 speakers, offering high-quality sound in a portable package. The UE Boom 2 line is waterproof with an IPX7 rating, meaning it can be taken to the beach, the pool, or used in the shower, and it's also shockproof so it'll survive drops up to five feet. The built-in battery will last for up to 15 hours.

We reviewed the UE Boom 2 back in November and found that it puts out a lot of sound for its compact, size, which is equivalent to a water bottle. The UE Boom 2 also benefits from the UE Boom app, allowing multiple speakers to be linked together.

We're giving away one Lost Time UE Boom 2 to a lucky MacRumors reader. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winner and send the prize.

You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page. Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years of age or older are eligible to enter.

The contest will run from today (May 6) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on May 13. The winner will be chosen randomly on May 13 and will be contacted by email. The winner has 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before a new winner is chosen.

Although a number of social networks have introduced scaled-down apps for the Apple Watch, the biggest holdout thus far has been Facebook. Thanks to a third party app called "Littlebook," Facebook users will now be able to browse their news feeds right from Apple's wearable device (via The Next Web).

In addition to basic browsing, Littlebook lets users interact with posts by tapping to like things, and even includes full in-line photos and videos in the news feed. An offline mode lets users save articles to read later, and the app allows for transferring over to the iPhone with Handoff support, if the small size of the Apple Watch isn't enough for lengthy reads. There's also a voice dictation feature that can be used to post full status updates to your friends and family.

Reto Stuber, Littlebook's developer, does remind potential users that the app has its limitations due to the platform, including the fact that posts on the feed are limited to preview samples with no "read more" option, sharing and reactions are not yet supported, and YouTube videos won't work since playback is only supported by embedded Facebook videos at launch. Still, the developer promised that he tried his "best to recreate the Facebook-App experience," and Littlebook will continue to be supported with updates in the future.

Littlebook can be downloaded from the App Store for $2.99. [Direct Link]

Pocket, a popular iOS app that allows users to save, discover, and recommend stories to read later, has been updated this week with the ability to like and repost recommendations from other people they follow.

The new Like and Repost actions can be found next to the Save action within the Recommendations feed on Pocket version 6.3.0 or later.

Pocket users can find out when someone Likes or Reposts their own recommendations by way of push notifications, which can be customized through the Settings app.

The update also contains additional bug fixes and improvements, including a fix for an issue with the "Alex" voice speaking too slowly when listening to articles.

Pocket is free on the App Store [Direct Link] for iPhone and iPad.

Once-banned iOS widget app Launcher received its first major update yesterday, more than a year after its return to the App Store.

Launcher was one of the first apps to take advantage of Notification Center widgets introduced in iOS 8 by letting users add shortcuts to apps and tasks, thereby avoiding the need to swipe through screens or perform a Spotlight Search.

Apple originally approved Launcher in 2014 and allowed it to exist in the App Store for over a week, but then subsequently removed it, calling it a "misuse" of widgets. However, a few months later, Apple reversed course and the fully featured app gained approval.

In addition to app shortcuts, Launcher lets users configure workflows and add one-touch actions to the Notification Center, such as the ability to launch a favorite playlist or call a spouse.

The new version introduces support for multiple widgets that can be grouped together by theme. Widgets can also now be customized to display or become hidden based on day, time and location. This allows users to set a group of specific widgets that only appear when they're at work or at the gym, for example.

A new auto-setup feature means the app can set up contact launchers for the people most important to users as well as their most frequently used apps. The update also includes widget support for 3D Touch Quick Actions, along with the option to backup and restore custom widgets to iCloud.

Launcher is available as a free download on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, with paid upgrades for additional widgets available in-app. [Direct Link]