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

Apple is teaming up with Chinese payments company Ant Financial Services Group, along with several local banks, to offer local customers interest-free financing on iPhones in China (via Reuters). Apple is continuously looking to boost smartphone sales in China, and this appears to be the latest move in the company's long-term plan to do so. On its China website, Apple explains that customers ...

Well-known cable and accessory maker Monoprice today introduced a new sale on Thunderbolt cables, with discounts reaching as much as 35 percent off of original prices during the limited-time event. The retailer offers Thunderbolt cables of various speeds, wattage, and length, affecting the price of each. The cheapest cable in the sale starts at $13.99, down from $19.99 for the 20 Gbps, 60W,...

Parallels this week debuted a new promo bundle for both new and current users, offering a chance to buy or upgrade to Parallels Desktop 14, and then get ten other Mac apps for free. New owners can purchase Parallels Desktop 14 for $79.99, and existing users can upgrade to the new software for $49.99 (both prices represent Home & Student use). With these purchases you'll gain access to the...

The latest Apple Pay promotion offers you the chance to get $5 off movie tickets with Fandango. To see the discount, you'll have to purchase two or more tickets within a single transaction using the Fandango app or on the Fandango website. During the checkout process, enter the code APPLEGOLD and use ‌Apple Pay‌ to complete your order. This will take $5 off your movie tickets, and you have...

Google Maps this week updated its iOS app with a new "Follow" feature, letting you keep track of events and news from your favorite local restaurants, bakeries, or bars. You can follow a location by searching for it in Google Maps on iOS, and then tapping "Follow" under the hours of operation. After you follow a business, all of their updates then appear in the new "For You" tab of Google...

Have you recently found yourself singing some song lyrics only to discover that you're unable to remember the actual name of the song they belong to? As an Apple Music subscriber, you can quickly search the entire ‌Apple Music‌ catalog using just a short lyric phrase, allowing you to find the song in question and add it to your library or your favorite playlist for safekeeping. Here's how it...

As an Apple Music subscriber, you can use Siri as a personal DJ to control song playback, queue up songs, find song facts, add songs to your library, play your favorite playlists, or even play something new. Below is a list of ‌Siri‌ commands that will work on any iPhone or iPad with an internet or cellular connection. Simply say "Hey ‌Siri‌" or press and hold the Side button/Home button on...

If you subscribe to Apple Music, you can view the lyrics for your favorite songs right from within the Music app on your iPhone or iPad. First, you'll need to start playing a song in the ‌Apple Music‌ catalog or in your library. Once a song is playing, tap on the song's banner just above the ‌Apple Music‌ menu bar at the bottom to bring up the full song interface. From here, there are...

In Apple Music, you can easily create playlists and combine music from your own collection with music from the ‌Apple Music‌ catalog. Here's how to do it. Create a Playlist on iPhone and iPad Launch the Music app on your iOS device and find a song that you want to start a playlist with. Long press or 3D Touch on the song. Choose Add to Playlist -> New Playlist. Tap to give your playlist...

Once you've created a playlist in Apple Music, adding a cover image of your own is easy. Here's how to do it. Add a Photo to a Playlist on iPhone and iPad Launch the Music app on your iOS device and navigate to the playlist you want to add a picture to. Tap Edit in the upper right corner of the screen. Tap the cover image. Choose Take Photo or Choose Photo from the pop-up menu. Take...

If you want to get rid of a HomeKit device or remove it from your ‌HomeKit‌ setup, Apple has made doing so very easy. In the Home app on your iPhone or iPad: Press and hold the icon of the accessory you want to remove. Tap on Settings. Scroll to the bottom and tap on Remove Accessory. Removing a HomeKit device on Mac: Open the Home app and double click (or right-click) on the...

Like the home screen on your iPhone and iPad and the desktop on your Mac, you can customize the background of the Home app. The default image of a fence draped in red leafy vines is nice, but you may want an image with some personal meaning or a different aesthetic. Making a change is easy. In the Home app on an iPhone or iPad: Click on the home icon in the top left corner. Scroll down to...

Twitter today launched its Twitter Prototype Program and is accepting applications from people who want to beta test new Twitter features on iOS devices. Twitter's tests will be done through a new app called Twttr rather than in the existing Twitter app. The first feature Twitter plans to test is a new design for conversations, which will make it easier to follow replies to an initial tweet. ...

Shazam, the song discovery app that's now owned by Apple, received a minor bug fix update last week, which, according to AppFigures, removes all third-party SDKs. Shazam for iOS is no longer using ad networks, analytics trackers, or open-source utilities that had the potential to provide app usage data to third-party companies. Admob, Bolts, Doubleclick, FB Ads, FB Analytics, FB login,...

As of February 27, 2019, Apple is requiring that all Developer accounts with an Account Holder role be secured with two-factor authentication in order to ensure that only the account owner is able to sign into the account. Two-factor authentication involves a pop-up code being generated on trusted devices linked to an Apple ID any time a login attempt is made unless you've logged with that...

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming tvOS 12.2 update to its public beta testing group, one day after providing the beta to developers and a week after releasing the second tvOS 12.2 public beta. The tvOS 12.2 public beta can be obtained by going to the Settings app on the Apple TV and navigating to the Software Updates section under "System." "Get Public Beta Updates" will need to ...

British audio equipment maker Bowers & Wilkins is expected to release its first AirPlay 2-enabled receivers in the near future. A pair of new Bowers & Wilkins receivers named Formation Audio and Formation Duo are listed as "coming soon" in Apple's recently updated list of HomeKit and ‌AirPlay‌ accessories. Bowers & Wilkins releasing receivers is interesting in itself, as the company is...

If you're an Apple Music subscriber, you can add songs, albums, playlists, and video content from the ‌Apple Music‌ catalog to your personal music library. And if you turn on iCloud Music Library on all your devices, you'll see any ‌Apple Music‌ content you add on one device across all of your devices, as long as they're signed in to your Apple ID. To add an individual song from ‌Apple Music‌...