MacRumors iPhone and iPad Blog: Apps, News, and Rumors

Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming tvOS 12.3 update to developers, one week seeding the fourth beta and more than a month after releasing tvOS 12.2. Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the new tvOS 12.3 developer beta can be downloaded onto the ‌Apple TV‌ through a profile installed using Xcode. tvOS 12.3 includes a revamped TV app that was first...

Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming watchOS 5.2.1 update to developers, one week after seeding the fourth beta and over a month after the release of the watchOS 5.2 update, which introduced AirPods 2 support and expanded the ECG feature to Europe. Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS beta can be downloaded...

Pandora Premium today announced new discounted subscriptions offered to students and members of the military. Just like offerings from Apple Music and Spotify, students will now be able to pay just $4.99/month for the Pandora Student Plan, compared to $9.99/month for everyone else. Premium offers subscribers the chance to listen to music on-demand and ad-free, and includes features like...

Starting today, Twitter users can put images, videos, and GIFs in retweets on mobile apps and mobile browsers, with the feature set to expand to the desktop in the future. To add a photo, video, or GIF to a retweet or quoted tweet, users can choose the retweet with comment option and then choose a media type from the toolbar. On the Twitter design account, Twitter said that implementing...

If you're shopping for a low-cost iPad, Amazon has quite a few options to choose from with a new sale that began this week. The event is focused on the 9.7-inch iPad from early 2018, and includes a new lowest-ever price for the 128GB Wi-Fi model at $329.00, down from $429.99. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small...

In iOS, Apple includes a feature that allows you to establish relationships for different contacts, which makes getting in touch with the people close to you much more personable. Once you've set it up, the Contacts app's relationships feature goes hand in hand with Siri, so rather than asking it to "Text Hannah," you can say "Text my sister" and the voice-activated assistant will know that...

British Government services have begun accepting Apple Pay to approve online transactions. The gov.uk website is accepting Apple's mobile payment system for four services initially, but it will roll out more widely as well as to local government, police, and the NHS later this year, ITV reports. Payments for the Global Entry Service, enabling UK citizens to get expedited entry to the US, can ...

As regular users of Siri will know, Apple's virtual assistant doesn't always interpret spoken queries and commands with one hundred percent accuracy, even after you've trained it to recognize your voice. Certain words and phrases that you say may even be repeatedly misheard by ‌Siri‌, usually ending up with the same useless responses. Fortunately, you can edit what ‌Siri‌ heard on both iOS...

Siri is by no means universally loved by iPhone and iPad users, so it's a good thing that Apple provides a simple way to turn off the virtual assistant completely. Here's how it's done. How to Disable Siri in iOS Launch the Settings app on your ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌. Scroll down and tap Siri & Search. Under the Ask Siri section, tap the switches next to Listen for "Hey Siri" and Press Side ...

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Solo New York to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a backpack, sleeve, or briefcase for the MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air. Solo New York offers a range of different bags, backpacks, and cases, to keep your Apple products safe and secure, and all accessories feature attractive, streamlined designs without super high price tags. We've...

Best Buy is currently offering Apple Watch Series 4 models for $50 off in a new sale, which also includes special cellular offers for Verizon customers and an ongoing Apple Watch trade-in program offer. The main sale discounts the brand-new aluminum Apple Watch Series 4 in 40mm to $349.00, down from $399.00. The event includes dozens of Series 4 models with various bands, case finishes, and...

YouTube on Thursday announced a new original TV content strategy that will see the Google-owned video hub make new programs available to users on a free, ad-supported basis (via Deadline). Nine new programs will be made available on YouTube this year, with a mix of original content, including a documentary about sports tricks outfit Dude Perfect, and an interactive series featuring YouTube...

Toyota today announced that CarPlay and Amazon Alexa support will be standard features in its all-new 2020 Prius Prime range in the United States. Toyota states that ‌CarPlay‌ will come as standard across the full line of 2020 hybrid plug-in Prius models, so customers won't have to pay extra for Apple's in-car infotainment system. As in other Toyota vehicles, ‌CarPlay‌ remains a wired...

Starting in iOS 13, Apple made a systemwide Dark Mode option available, and the company has continued to build dark mode features into iOS since then. Most first-party apps and the majority of third-party apps support both Dark Mode and Light Mode, and there are options for automatically using Light Mode during the day and Dark Mode at night if preferred. Enabling Dark Mode can be done...

Back in March, GameClub launched in a beta capacity with a plan to bring back classic iOS games that have disappeared from the App Store over time. So far, GameClub is seeing early successes, and in addition to raising $2.5 million in seed funding, GameClub already has a handful of Early Access games that you can play right now. GameClub games like Run Roo Run, Cubed Rally World, and...

The iPhone has been around for more than 10 years, which has given accessory manufacturers time to come up with all manner of useful add-ons that enhance, protect, and charge your ‌iPhone‌. There are so many ‌iPhone‌ accessories on the market that we can't go through them all, but in this guide, we're highlighting some products that we think are among the best accessories you can get for the ‌i...

Apple today sent out emails for a new Apple Pay promotion, offering a $15 discount on 1-800-Flowers just ahead of Mother's Day, which takes place on Sunday, May 12. To get the discount, you'll need to use ‌Apple Pay‌ and shop the Mother's Day Collection in the 1-800-Flowers app. You can also visit the 1-800-Flowers website to receive the special pricing. The discount will be applied...

Spotify is beginning to test new podcast features for a select group of users, beginning with a playlist that suggests podcast episodes for you to listen to, interspersed with songs. The playlist is aimed at users who commute frequently in their vehicles and is called "Your Daily Drive" (via The Verge). The podcasts seen in the playlist mainly center around news shows. Spotify has been...