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

Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey will be the keynote speaker at TRANSACT, the world's largest payments technology event. Bailey, who leads the Apple Pay team under Apple services chief Eddy Cue, will discuss how Apple is bringing customers and merchants an "easy, convenient, and secure payments experience," according to the announcement. "I'm thrilled to talk to the payments...

Warner Bros' Westworld mobile game, which bore a notable resemblance to Bethesda Softworks' Fallout Shelter game for smartphones, has been removed from the iOS App Store and Google Play Store. The removal comes seven months after Bethesda sued Warner Bros by calling the Westworld app a "blatant rip-off" of Bethesda's 2015 game Fallout Shelter. Westworld on iOS The lawsuit centered around...

Apple CEO Tim Cook today shared a story on Twitter of an Apple Watch that alerted its user to atrial fibrillation, potentially saving their life in the process. Elissa Lombardo tweeted Cook with her husband's experience with Apple Watch that occurred just two days after he started wearing the device. The smartwatch's ECG feature detected the case of A-Fib during an elevated heart rate,...

Anker is best known for its well-received power banks and mobile charging accessories, but the Chinese company has also been busy building its subsidiary Soundcore brand, under which it offers home audio products like smart Bluetooth speakers and wireless earphones. Anker says its ethos of making quality electronic devices at an affordable price also extends to its audio accessory lineup, so I ...

Apple in 2017 introduced the AirPower as a flat charging bed capable of charging an iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch all at once, but technical problems prevented the AirPower from ever launching. Apple canceled the project in 2019 after running into development bugs, but since then, rumors have suggested work on a multi-device charger has continued. This guide highlights the rumors that we ...

Apple in iOS 12 introduced a new Live Listen feature that's designed to turn the iPhone into a remote microphone for the AirPods. Live Listen has been around for years for MFi-compatible hearing aids, but it's only with the addition of AirPods support that it became available for general iOS users. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. As an enterprising individual...

Apple must pay VirnetX $440 million after an appeals court upheld an earlier judgement in favor of the patent holding company, reports Reuters. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today denied Apple's appeal of a 2016 verdict that awarded VirnetX $302 million, which increased to $439.7 million when taking into account damages and interest calculated during retrials. VirnetX...

This week is seeing notable discounts hit Pad & Quill's leather iPhone cases, Apple Watch Series 3 at Best Buy, brand-new 4K films on iTunes, and much more. At Pad & Quill this month, you can save some money on the company's leather iPhone cases. The sale takes as much as $25 off accessories like the Heritage Bella Fino Leather iPhone XS Case, and you can also use Pad & Quill's ongoing PQ16...

Netflix today announced that it will raise the prices for all of its subscription tiers, the latest price hike since November 2017. Specifically, the cheap "Basic" tier will rise from $8 to $9/month, the popular HD "Standard" tier will rise from $11 to $13/month, and the 4K "Premium" tier will rise from $14 to $16/month. According to CNBC, the changes take effect immediately for new...

Verizon subscribers with an iPhone or Android smartphone and a Beyond Unlimited or Above Unlimited data plan will soon have unlimited access to Apple Music at no additional cost, according to documentation obtained by 9to5Mac. The report claims the free Apple Music subscription is not simply a trial but rather will be offered on an ongoing basis. Verizon's lower-priced Go Unlimited plan with ...

Kano, the company known for its range of products designed to teach coding to kids and adults alike through innovative coding projects, today announced a new two-year partnership with Disney. Under the terms of the partnership, Kano plans to develop a Star Wars themed experience and product system, which is set to launch during the second half of 2019. Additional details will be forthcoming. ...

Following in the footsteps of Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, Pandora today launched its own voice assistant available within its iOS and Android apps. When the app is opened, users can turn on "voice mode" and say "Hey Pandora," asking the assistant to play their music, podcasts, radio stations and more connected to the streaming music service. Similar to Siri, Pandora will also be able...

A German court on Tuesday threw out a new patent lawsuit filed by Qualcomm, which the U.S. company claimed was violated by the use of its chips in Apple's iPhones (via Reuters). The regional court in the city of Mannheim dismissed the Qualcomm suit as groundless in an initial verbal decision, saying the patent in question was not violated by the installation of its chips in Apple's smartphones....

Later this month, Samsung will launch its new mid-range Galaxy M series. These are the first smartphones to feature the company's Infinity-V display, so-called due to its centered teardrop-shaped notch housing the front-facing camera. Samsung has teased the Galaxy M Series launch on Amazon India In another first for Samsung, the devices will be launching exclusively in India on January 28...

Apple-owned company FoundationDB today announced the open source release of the FoundationDB Record Layer, which it says offers up relational database semantics on top of FoundationDB with schema management, indexing facilities, and a "rich set of query capabilities. Apple uses the Record Layer to support applications and services for hundreds of millions of users, and combined with...

Apple late last year began allowing third-party companies to produce Made for iPhone or "MFi" certified USB-C to Lightning cables, and as a result, multiple companies have been announcing the upcoming launch of new USB-C to Lightning cable options. Anker today said that it plans to launch its first USB-C to Lightning cables in March 2019. Anker's Powerline+ USB-C to Lightning cables will...

Comcast's NBCUniversal is planning to launch its own ad-supported streaming television service in the first quarter of 2020, the company announced today. The upcoming service will be available for free to anyone that subscribes to a traditional pay-TV service, including TV service from Comcast and its competitors, like Charter, AT&T, Cox, and Dish. Customers that do not subscribe to a...

Toyota today announced that its all-new 2020 Supra sports car, introduced at the annual Detroit Auto Show this week, will feature wireless CarPlay. 2020 Toyota Supra The upgraded 3.0 Premium trim, starting at $53,990 in the United States, will feature an 8.8-inch wide-format touchscreen display with wireless CarPlay, a premium 12-speaker JBL audio system, and Qi-based wireless smartphone...