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

Controlling individual devices with the Home app is easy enough manually or with Siri, but sometimes you need to change the state of several devices at once. Instead of making these changes one by one, the easiest way is to create a Scene. For example, creating a bedtime Scene could turn off all the lights in your home at once and set your thermostat to a more economical temperature.Here's...

More and more smart home products include compatibility with Apple's HomeKit framework, allowing easy and automated control through an iOS device or Mac. Yet there are some actions that require the presence of a home hub, a device that remains powered on and connected at your home that can relay the commands you give via Siri while you're away. Apple's HomePod can act as such a hub, offering...

Last week, we reported on Apple's plans to close its retail stores in the Eastern District of Texas in April in an effort to avoid patent infringement lawsuits in the jurisdiction, perceived by many as being "patent troll friendly." Ahead of the closures, Apple faces yet more patent litigation in the district. A group of limited liability companies under the Optis Wireless Technology, LLC...

Apple still doesn't offer an official online web player for Apple Music, but if you want to enjoy the streaming service on a computer that doesn't have iTunes installed (your office PC, for example) there is another solution. It's called "Musish," a free third-party web player for ‌Apple Music‌ subscribers, created by software engineer Brychan Bennett-Odlum and his team, Raphaël Vigée,...

Mitsubishi isn't one of the biggest-selling car manufacturers in the U.S. these days, but the Japanese automaker has been rebounding substantially in recent years thanks in large part to its focus on the popular crossover segment, led by the Outlander. The Mitsubishi Outlander has been offered in a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) variant for the last few years, and I've been testing out a brand-new 2019 ...

Logitech today added a new 5.1 surround sound speaker system to its audio range featuring wireless multi-source connectivity. Called the Logitech Z606, the six-speaker system offers 160 watts of peak power and includes 3.5mm audio jack and RCA cable connections along with a built-in Bluetooth 4.2 module for quickly connecting to TVs, smartphones, tablets, consoles and computers. The...

Apple Music's flagship Beats 1 radio station has been running since 2015 and has since broadcast several top DJ shows and multiple live performances by famous artists. If you're a new listener to Beats 1, you'll be happy to know that ‌Apple Music‌ includes an archive of its most popular radio shows and playlists from years past. Here's how you can find them and start listening right away. ...

If you share your home with family or roommates, it often makes sense to share access to HomeKit devices with them so they can control your connected lights, blinds, thermostats, etc. As long as they use an iPhone or iPad running iOS 10 or later or a Mac running macOS Mojave or later, Apple makes it easy for you to grant them access via their iCloud account. On an ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌, open the...

If you use your iPhone as your alarm clock, chances are it's one of Apple's default alarm sounds that gets you out of bed in the morning. But did you know that you can set any song in your ‌iPhone‌'s music library as an alarm to wake you from your slumber? What's more, if you're an Apple Music subscriber, you can choose almost any song you can think of to be your alarm, so long as it's...

Mophie's Juice Pack Access battery cases for the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR are now available for purchase from the Mophie website, Mophie announced today. Similar in design to Apple's own battery cases, Mophie's Juice Pack Access offers additional battery life for Apple's 2018 ‌iPhone‌ lineup. Priced at $99.95, the Juice Pack Access charges the ‌iPhone‌ using 5W wireless charging...

A few years ago, it was difficult to find a USB-C battery pack capable of charging a MacBook at a speed of 30 or 45W, but with Apple and other companies increasingly embracing USB-C technology for everything from smartphones to laptops, high-powered USB-C battery packs have become more readily available. Higher-watt USB-C battery packs are ideal for fast charging iPhones and iPad Pros,...

During his time as Apple CEO, Steve Jobs was well known for personally responding to some of the customer emails he received, which has even led to some of his best replies being collected in a book. Customers who email current Apple CEO Tim Cook also occasionally receive responses, and a CNBC report over the weekend reveals how these emails are processed and often shared with other...

If you're an Apple Music subscriber, you can download the playlists that your friends on the service have elected to share. Before you can see what your friends are listening to in ‌Apple Music‌ you need to set up your profile and start sharing. Follow the first set of steps below to do so, and then continue onto the second series of steps to view your friends' shared playlists in ‌Apple Music‌...

If you're an Apple Music subscriber, you can share what you're listening to with friends and see what they're listening to on the streaming music service. Before you can see what your friends are listening to in ‌Apple Music‌ you need to set up your profile and start sharing. Follow the first set of steps below to do so, and then continue onto the second series of steps to follow your...

If you switch from Spotify to Apple Music, you can transfer your playlists from one streaming service to the other using one of several third-party apps available on the App Store. In this article, we're going to use one such app called SongShift to do exactly that, as it's easy to set up and you can test it for free before paying the $3.99 in-app purchase that lets you batch process more...

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Tap to give MacRumors readers a chance to win one of the company's wearable keyboard setups, which Tap believes will be the keyboard of the future. Priced at $199, the Tap is a futuristic keyboard that turns your fingers into the keys, allowing you to type letters, numbers, and symbols with different finger tap combinations. Tap features a...

Eve (formerly known as Elgato) was one of the first companies to come out with HomeKit accessories when ‌HomeKit‌ was announced in 2014, and since then, Eve has been expanding its portfolio of HomeKit-connected products. The newest addition to the Eve ‌HomeKit‌ lineup is the Eve Light Strip, first introduced at CES and launched in February. The Eve Light Strip is one of several...

There are a few notable flash sales going on today, including a discount on a refurbished model of Apple's HomePod smart speaker. The speaker is on sale for $234.99, $115 off from its original retail price of $349.99. That's also $65 below the price of Apple's own refurbished HomePod model, which run for $299.00. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link ...