United Kingdom

In iOS 17.1 and later, iPhone users in the UK can now view banking information like account balance when using Apple Pay and viewing bank cards and credit cards in the Wallet app. Keep reading to learn how it works. Apple's Wallet app on iPhone has been able to display Apple Pay transactions made using your bank and credit cards for a while now, but if you are a Wallet app user in the United ...

If you live in the United Kingdom, there's a good chance you enjoyed yesterday's first official bank holiday of the year with your feet up. But if all you'd done was rely on the Calendar app on your iPhone, you may never have even known you were due a day off. That's because a persistent bug that has plagued the app for months still prevents Apple's UK bank holidays subscription option from...

Apple Intelligence is now available with iOS 18.1, exclusively in U.S. English – so what do users in the UK need to know? Apple Intelligence is Apple's upcoming artificial intelligence system that offers personalized, context-aware features, such as notification summaries, writing tools, image and emoji generation, Visual Lookup, and a revamped version of Siri that integrates ChatGPT and...

The British Government is reportedly preparing a publicity attack on end-to-end encryption in an effort to mobilize public opinion against the technology by framing it as a child safety issue, with its main aim being to derail Facebook's plan to end-to-end encrypt its Messenger platform. According to Rolling Stone, the Home Office has hired the M&C Saatchi advertising agency to plan the...

Users of Virgin Mobile and O2 networks based in the UK will not face EU roaming charges when traveling abroad, the company that owns both networks has announced (via BBC News). Based on an analysis of rates from other provides, Virgin Media O2 said a family of four going abroad for two weeks could see an extra £100 on their bill. As such, the company said it would not be re-introducing EU...

The United Kingdom will phase out and turn off its 2G and 3G networks by 2033, the British government today announced (via TechRadar). BT already committed to ending its 3G service by 2023, but now all major carriers in the UK are in agreement to retire 2G and 3G over the next decade. The networks are due to be switched off as part of plans to accelerate the roll out of 5G across the...

The United Kingdom's Supreme Court today sided with Google in restoring its appeal against a lawsuit that accused it of wrongly tracking users within the iPhone's Safari browser without their consent. According to the ruling, the judge believed that the lawsuit, which sought to ask for compensation from Google for millions of users allegedly affected by its tracking practices, is "officious" ...

Three has become the latest UK mobile network to reintroduce EU roaming fees, in another post-Brexit setback for customers traveling abroad. A flat £2 daily charge when roaming within an EU country will apply to customers who are new or upgrading from October 1. The changes will not come into effect until May 23 2022. The operator joins EE and Vodafone who have recently announced the...

Vodafone is bringing back roaming charges for U.K. users traveling in Europe, the second mobile operator do so post-Brexit after originally saying they had no plans to re-introduce them. New and upgrading customers on "selected plans" will be charged at least £1 per day to use their mobile phone in EU destinations. The rules will change for new and upgrading customers from Wednesday,...

Royalties from music streaming services, including Apple Music and Spotify, are weighted unfairly against artists, according to a committee of Members of Parliament in the UK (via BBC News). An investigation by the UK parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee into music streaming found that artists see "pitiful returns." The committee called for a "complete reset" of ...

Lawyers representing Apple have suggested that the company could exit the UK market if the terms of an ongoing patent dispute are "commercially unacceptable" (via This is Money). UK patent holder Optis Cellular Technology is suing Apple for patent infringement after it refused to pay license fees worth around $7 billion for using "standardized" smartphone technology in its devices. Last...

U.K. mobile operator EE plans to charge customers almost $3 (£2) a day to use data roaming within the EU, a result of the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, BBC reports. The new charge will go into effect in January 2022, and at first, will only apply to new EE customers or customers upgrading their plan and contract from July 7, 2021. Initially, EE, O2, Three, and Vodafone,...

U.S. video streaming services including Apple TV+, Netflix, and Disney+ are likely to face tighter regulation in the U.K. as part of proposals being considered by the British government. Ministers at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport today announced that they will consult on plans to bring streaming video platforms under British broadcasting laws in order to level the...

The U.K. government on Tuesday will perform its first national test of a new Emergency Alerts system, but only Android users will receive the alert, with iPhones to be included in a smaller, regional test later this month, the Cabinet Office has confirmed to MacRumors. The government-issued emergency alerts, set to go live this summer, are part of a public safety system similar to one used...

London Underground passengers will be able to get mobile coverage across the rail network by the end of 2024, it has been announced. In a press release, Transport for London (TfL) said the capital's Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road and Bank stations would be among the first fully connected stations by the end of the year, followed by Tottenham Court Road, Euston, and Camden Town by the...

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has today announced an investigation into the "duopoly" of Apple and Google on mobile ecosystems, just one day after a similar investigation was initiated in Japan. The CMA will be taking a closer look at Apple and Google's "effective duopoly" on the supply of operating systems, including iOS and Android, the App Store and Google Play Store, ...

Apple's updated Apple TV 4K isn't officially supposed to launch until Friday, May 21, but it appears that UK retailer Argos has jumped the gun by offering customers in-store pickup today. Twitter user @ApplWatcher was first to note that Argos has been allowing pre-orders to go out a day early, with many store locations offering collection "right away" or after 4:00 p.m. UK local time. At ...

A new legal case filed with the U.K.'s Competition Appeal Tribunal has accused Apple of breaching competition law by overcharging nearly 20 million customers for App Store purchases. The collective action case alleges Apple's 30% commission on app sales and consumers' forced use of its own payment processing system generates "unlawfully excessive levels of profit," and calls for the company...

Last week Apple announced new iPad Pro models with the faster M1 processor and a new mini-LED 12.9-inch display, as well as redesigned 24-inch iMac models. Both iPad models and iMacs will be available to pre-order from the April 30, and while Apple said they'll be shipping in the second half of May, it hasn't provided a specific date. Today, however, U.K. retailer and long-time Apple...

Apple and Google have blocked an update to England and Wales' contact tracing app that included a feature that would have collected user location data, breaking the companies' terms and conditions for contact tracing apps, the BBC reports. Last year, Apple and Google partnered up to announce a COVID-19 contact tracing API that allows apps to track whether someone has been in contact with an...

Epic Games today said it had filed a complaint to the UK's antitrust watchdog in support of the government department's ongoing investigation into Apple's alleged anti-competitive behavior. In September 2020, the United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an initial inquiry into developers' complaints about Apple's App Store and so-called "anti-competitive" practices....

Apple has lost a legal bid to block Swatch from registering Steve Jobs' famous "One more thing" saying as a trademark in the UK, reports The Telegraph. Apple argued that the Swiss watchmaker had trademarked the slogan in "bad faith," as it has been associated with Apple for more than 20 years. The late Steve Jobs often used the phrase to announce new products at the end of Apple...

Apple says its App Store now supports more than 330,000 jobs in the U.K., a 10% increase over the past year, despite the pressures of the global health crisis on the nation's economy. According to Apple, 2020 was a "breakthrough year" for the iOS app economy, with developers in the U.K. generating more than £3.6 billion in total earnings, which represents 22% in growth compared to the...