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...

Today the United Kingdom's Competition and Market Authority (CMA) launched an official investigation into the distribution of apps on iOS and iPadOS devices in the U.K. and the terms and conditions governing the platform. In September of last year, the authority launched an initial inquiry into developers' complaints about Apple's App Store and so-called "anti-competitive" practices. CMA...

Around 29 million Britons who own an Apple or Samsung phone could be entitled to a collective £480m payout if a landmark legal claim against U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm is successful. Consumer watchdog Which? is suing the chipmaker for allegedly breaching U.K. competition law by taking advantage of its dominance in the patent licensing and chip markets. As reported by the BBC, Which? alleges ...

Google today announced that "Google News Showcase," a new style of displaying the news within the Google and Google News mobile apps and website, has launched in the UK and Argentina, following an Australian rollout last week. Google says News Showcase offers participating publishers the chance to provide more context for stories such as through bullet points and timelines, and it has plans...

Members of Parliament (MPs) are calling for the British government to make a bid for Apple to build its long-rumored electric vehicle in the United Kingdom, according to The Telegraph. James Sunderland, Conservative MP for Bracknell, said that it was a "no brainer" for Britain to build the Apple car, and that the UK government should begin to bid for production contracts with Apple. Nick...

NHS COVID-19, the contact tracing app created by the U.K. government, has alerted 1.7 million users to isolate following close contact with someone who goes on to test positive. That's according to an official GOV.UK press release from the Department of Heath and Social Care, which has been collating data about the app since it was launched in September 2020. Over 1.7 million app users...

Facebook News today launched in the United Kingdom, the first country outside of the U.S. to receive the curated news portal. Accessed via a dedicated tab in the mobile Facebook app, the portal features licensed content from hundreds of local and national media organizations including The Guardian, The Economist, The Independent, Channel 4 News, Sky News, Daily Mail Group, and Financial Times...

Epic Games has submitted a complaint to the United Kingdom's Competition Appeal Tribunal, expanding its Fortnite legal battle with both Apple and Google to another country. According to Bloomberg, ‌Epic Games‌ is claiming that Apple's decision to remove Fortnite from the App Store was unlawful, and the company is aiming to get Apple to allow Fortnite back into the British ‌App Store‌. In...

Apple has temporarily closed all of its stores in the United Kingdom, as England and most of Scotland enter new lockdowns to curb a steep rise in coronavirus cases thought to be caused by a new strain. Announced on Monday by U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the new lockdowns close all schools and non-essential shops, and mean people must stay...

As England's second national lockdown comes to an end today, after four weeks of waiting, many customers enrolled in Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program are finally able to go in-store to complete their upgrade. England entered a second national lockdown on Thursday, November 5, meaning that Apple stores in England were forced to close, with some converting to a click-and-collect service only. ...

Almost seven million dollars worth of Apple products have been dramatically stolen from a truck in the UK, Northamptonshire Police reports. A truck driver and security guard were transporting a large number of Apple devices in cargo before being accosted by thieves. The incident took place at around 8pm on Tuesday, November 10, on a slip road off the M1 highway, where the driver and...

Reservations for Apple's iPhone 12 Upgrade Program are once again available in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The program has been unavailable in the United Kingdom since November 5 due to lockdown restrictions in England. Unfortunately, because of the way Apple's retail system operates, this meant the program was also temporarily unavailable in the UK's other three constituent...

England will enter a new lockdown from Thursday, November 5 to curb a steep rise in coronavirus cases, the U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced. The lockdown will last for at least four weeks, closing all non-essential shops, including all Apple stores in the country, just over one week before Apple launches the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max on Friday, November 13. In his...

British telecoms regulator Ofcom has confirmed it is to ban mobile phone operators from selling locked handsets in order to make switching networks easier for customers (via Sky News). The watchdog says the current rules hurt some consumers because locked handsets can't be used on other mobile networks until the owner pays for them to be unlocked – usually around £10. Ofcom, which...

Some iPhone 12 and ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro users in the UK have reported that their new devices are recieving an error message in the "NHS COVID-19" contact-tracing app, rendering it unusable (via BBC News). 'Unfortunately, You Can't Run This App' Similar errors and issues have been reported in other regions contact tracing apps that also use Apple's Exposure Notification API. The error appears...

The British government is closing a loophole in U.K. driving laws that allowed some smartphone users to escape punishment for picking up and using their mobile device to take a photo or play a game while driving (via BBC News). As it stands, making phone calls and sending text messages are banned while driving on roads in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Drivers can get six...

The UK Department of Culture, Media, and Sport is launching an inquiry into music streaming services, including Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube, to ascertain whether musicians are paid fairly (via BBC News). The inquiry comes after complaints from artists that the payments they receive for their work are "negligible." The growth of the streaming market "cannot come at the expense of...

Following the debut of the iPhone 12 series, Apple is offering U.K. customers pre-approval for its monthly payment plan ahead of when first pre-orders begin this Friday. Customers planning to make 24 monthly payments of £54.12 at 0% APR can use the Apple Store app on the ‌‌iPhone‌‌ to go through all of the pre-approval steps to get ready to purchase an 6.1-inch ‌iPhone‌ 12 or 6.1-inch ‌iPhone‌...

The upcoming iPhone 12 may have serious issues connecting to 5G in the United Kingdom, reports The Telegraph. The report cites "industry insiders" who say that ‌iPhone‌ 12 models may not support the 700MHz 5G band. Lower-spectrum bands such as 700MHz are crucial to 5G coverage since they are far-reaching and penetrate well through walls and buildings, and 700MHz is expected to be the most...

Apple has today announced that access to Health Records on the iPhone is now available in the UK and Canada, providing a fuller, more secure picture of patient health. The existing Health app on the ‌iPhone‌ can now display full health records, enabling users to securely view and store their medical records from healthcare institutions in the UK and Canada. Oxford University Hospitals in...

After failing to appear before British lawmakers, Apple has been accused of not taking its environmental obligations seriously enough, particularly on e-waste, reports Bloomberg. Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked to appear before the Environmental Audit Select Committee of the House of Commons, but failed to respond before a September 4 deadline. Apple was previously asked to put forward a...