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...

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...

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. ...