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

Cloud movie locker service UltraViolet will officially shut down on July 31, 2019. The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) announced the closure late last night, and will begin informing users of the service's end throughout today (via Variety). Image via DECE/Variety Between January 31 and July 31, 2019, users will be able to keep accessing their UltraViolet Library, purchase new...

Intel today announced that it has appointed Robert Swan as its new CEO, ending the chipmaker's long search for a new leader. Swan had served as Intel's interim CEO since Brian Krzanich resigned seven months ago after violating the company's non-fraternization policy. Early reports indicated Swan was not interested in the role on a permanent basis, but he has evidently changed his mind and...

Feral has pushed out an update to ROME: Total War that brings some welcome enhancements to the acclaimed strategy game on iOS. First up, v1.10 adds eight more playable factions to the war theater, significantly increasing the strategy options available in the game. Using the new Unlock All Factions option in the settings screen, players are now free to choose from up to 19 factions,...

Apple first launched the AirPods in December 2016, allowing users to listen to audio streamed from their iPhone or another Bluetooth device without the hassle of untangling a mess of EarPods wires. The second-generation AirPods Pro were announced in fall 2022 with an upgraded H2 chip that provides up to twice as much active noise cancellation, and in fall 2023 a new USB-C model was introduced. ...

DirecTV Now today reported that it lost 267,000 subscribers during the fourth quarter of 2018, causing the service to dip from 1.8 million subscribers in Q1 2018 to 1.6 million in Q4 (via TechCrunch). Despite the decline, DirecTV Now is still at the forefront of the streaming TV market, second to SlingTV as of last fall. In AT&T's fourth quarter earnings report, the company attributed this...

The Music Business Association today announced that Beats 1 anchor Zane Lowe will be the keynote speaker at its 2019 conference on May 5 at 5 p.m. local time. The event will take place at the JW Marriott in Nashville. In addition to his Beats 1 role, Lowe is the Global Head of Artist Relations for Apple Music. The Grammy-nominated producer and DJ has been part of ‌Apple Music‌ since its...

Popular Apple Watch heart rate monitoring app Cardiogram today launched a new premium service that includes data sharing options and a cross-platform Family Mode designed to allow remote monitoring of a loved one's wearable data. If a person with an Android phone has an aging parent with an Apple Watch and wants to keep an eye on the parent's wearable data for health reasons, for example,...

Amazon and B&H Photo this week have introduced the first straight price discount on Apple's just-released Smart Battery Case for iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR. The sales are discounting the price of the new accessory by about $11. Visit the MacRumors YouTube channel to watch our hands-on video with the new cases The cases are priced the same across Amazon and B&H Photo. Check out the full list...

Foxconn is once again changing plans for its upcoming Wisconsin-based plant in the United States, according to a new report out today by Reuters. Originally set to produce large television displays, and then small to medium displays for smartphones, the location will now pivot to become largely focused on research and development. Foxconn intends to hire "mostly engineers and researchers"...

Samsung has started developing what ">it says is the first one terabyte embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) storage chip, powered by the company's fifth-generation V-NAND. Most Android phones include a microSD slot that lets owners upgrade the internal capacity of their device, but the new 1TB chip will offer storage capacity levels comparable to notebooks without the need for additional...

Apple's services category, which includes iTunes, the App Store, the Mac App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and AppleCare is an increasingly important revenue driver for Apple amid stagnating iPhone sales, and services growth is once again hitting an all time high. During the first fiscal quarter of 2019, Apple's services segment brought in $10.9 billion in revenue, up from the $9.1 billion...

Apple CEO Tim Cook today announced that its active installed base of devices has hit 1.4 billion, a milestone the company hit at the end of December. Apple's active installed base includes the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch models in use around the world. Of the 1.4 billion active devices, 900 million of those are iPhones. The new 1.4 billion milestone comes...

Apple's "Wearables, Home, and Accessories" category, which used to be called the "Other" category, has surpassed the iPad in revenue and is closing in on the Mac lineup as well. The Wearables, Home, and Accessories category brought in $7.3 billion during the quarter, compared to $6.7 billion for ‌iPad‌ and $7.4 billion for Mac. Overall, Wearables, Home and Accessories category growth was up...

Google today announced that its mobile apps for Android and iOS are gaining a new look to bring them in line with the design changes and new features that were previously made available on the web. With the updated version of Gmail for iOS, attachments like photos can be viewed without opening or scrolling through a conversation. There are clear alerts when an incoming email looks...

Apple today updated its Apple Support app to overhaul the design of the bottom navigation bar with the aim of improving search. In place of the former Account tab that was at the bottom, there's a new "Search" tab that's designed to let you quickly and easily find articles in the Apple Support database. Before the update on left, after the update on right, with new search page on far right ...

Mattress company Casper today revealed its first non-bedding product, called the "Glow" lamp. The device is a 5-inch tall by 3 inch wide HomePod-shaped smart light that connects to your iPhone, allowing you to set sleeping and waking light patterns and encouraging a more restful sleep. The Glow lamp does not support Apple HomeKit. The Glow charges on a wireless charging pad, allowing you to...

Fortnite today has been updated to version 7.30 on the iOS App Store, introducing support for MFi controllers on iPhones and iPads. This means that controllers like the SteelSeries Nimbus and Gamevice accessories can now be used to play Fortnite while connected to your iOS device (via TouchArcade). It's been nearly one year since Fortnite's Battle Royale mode launched as a standalone app on...

There's a serious bug affecting FaceTime right now, which lets someone who calls you hear the audio on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac even if you don't answer the call. There does not appear to be any way to avoid getting these unwanted calls, short of turning off FaceTime. Luckily, it's easy to do. How to Turn Off FaceTime on Your iPhone and iPad Open the Settings app. Scroll down to ‌...