'Apple Store' iOS App Updated With Location Aware Appointment Check-Ins, Reserve and Pick-Up, and More
Apple today updated its
Apple Store application for iOS devices, adding several new features including location awareness to allow users to check in for appointments at their local Apple retail store.
What's new
- Add engraving and gift wrapping to select purchases from the Apple Online Store
- Reserve products for pickup at an Apple Retail Store
- Check in for Apple Retail Store appointments and call up quick help within stores (iOS 4 required)
- Add Apple Retail Store appointments directly to iCal
- View your upcoming Apple Retail Store activity on a map
- Ability to recognize you when you arrive to an Apple Retail Store and offer you a personalized set of services (iOS 4 required)
The in-store location integration was detailed at the last minute by MacStories, which revealed that Apple has rolled out a pair of applications for its retail store employees called Concierge and Scout. The new applications allow employees to check in on the queue of customers holding appointments and assist managers with deploying staff throughout each store.
The report, which includes a number of screenshots, also describes the process by which a customer arriving at an Apple retail store receives a notification of an upcoming appointment, offers to check in the customer, and displays a photo of the employee assigned to assist the customer to aid in recognition.
In addition to location-awareness, the revised Apple Store application offers support for the newly-launched iPad engraving (as well as iPod engraving) and holiday gift wrapping.
As Boy Genius Report notes, the updated application also now allows users the option of reserving a white iPhone 4 at select retail store locations. It is unclear whether their appearance is imminent, but Apple has stated that it expects them to be available by the end of the year and appears to gearing up to support their availability.
Update: The option to reserve a white iPhone 4 is no longer accessible through the Apple Store application.
Popular Stories
iOS 18.3 should be released to the public next week, following beta testing since mid-December. While the software update is a relatively minor one, it still includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes for iPhones.
Below, we recap everything new in iOS 18.3.
Notification Summary Changes
Examples of inaccurate Apple Intelligence notification summaries
Apple Intelligence...
Apple is set to release iOS 18.3 next week, bringing further refinements to Apple Intelligence features, a couple of neat new capabilities to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 devices, and bug fixes.
While not quite as packed with new features as Apple's preceding iOS 18 point releases, iOS 18.3 still introduces capabilities that aim to make your iPhone smarter and more intuitive. Below, we've...
iOS 18.3 is expected to be widely released next week, and that means the first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner.
Apple has previously implied that iOS 18.4 will be released in April, as that is when it promised to make Apple Intelligence available in even more languages.
Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far.
Apple Intelligence for Siri
Siri ...
Walmart still does not accept Apple Pay or other NFC payments at its more than 4,600 stores across the U.S., and it stood firm on its reasoning for that today.
A spokesperson for Walmart today informed MacRumors that its position on contactless payments has not changed since we last reached out about the matter in 2022. The big-box retailer said it remains focused on its own convenient...
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year. In this article, we recap rumored features and changes for the device.
The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports Wi-Fi 6E, which would be an upgrade over the current Apple TV's standard Wi-Fi 6 support. Wi-Fi 6E extends the...
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes.
The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all...
The upcoming iPhone 17 models that Apple plans to release this year will not feature a smaller Dynamic Island, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today.
On social media, he said that he is expecting the size of the Dynamic Island to remain "largely unchanged" across the iPhone 17 lineup. His statement is contrary to prior rumors that we've heard about planned changes for the iPhone 17 models.
...
Apple's retail stores will be rolling out "merchandise/floor marketing updates" next week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Gurman did not explicitly say if the store updates are related to any upcoming product announcements, but he did mention that next week is around the time that Apple rolls out its annual Black Unity watch band for the Apple Watch.
In each of the past four years, ...
It's also time for Apple's first product announcement of the year.
Last year, Apple said it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and the wireless earbuds are expected to launch very soon.
Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code
In his Power On newsletter last weekend, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the...
