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

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming tvOS 12.1.1 update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after releasing the third tvOS 12.1.1 beta and a month after releasing tvOS 12.1. The new tvOS 12.1.1 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that's installed using Xcode. Subsequent betas can be downloaded over-the-air. We're not yet sure what fixes ...

Apple today announced that it will be attending the 2018 Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, aka NeurIPS, in Montréal, Canada from December 2 through December 8. Apple will have a booth staffed with machine learning experts and invites any conference attendees to drop by and chat. NeurIPS is in its 32nd year and is said to be the world's largest and most influential machine ...

Despite the lack of a big design refresh in iOS 12 this year, Apple recently updated Apple Music with new features like revamped artist pages, coming soon albums, and UI fixes to the way albums and singles are displayed. One of the features that remains unavailable to Apple Music subscribers, however, is a way to view a history of your listening statistics on the streaming music service....

Portrait Mode photo editor Focos received an update today that should pique the interest of iPad owners. We've highlighted the iPhone app in the past for its impressive granular aperture and bokeh adjustment tools, but the latest version builds on the existing feature set by adding more extensive support for iPads. With this latest 1.6 update, Focos brings a new, specially designed interface ...

Following yesterday's Apple Pay launch in Belgium, Apple today updated its Maps app to include transit information across the country. Apple has yet to update its official list of locations for which Maps offers Transit data, but several tipsters contacted MacRumors to confirm the information is already live. The coverage includes train, tram, and bus routes in the main cities as well...

If you use the VIP feature in the iOS Mail app then you'll already know how they can help you keep track of important messages from your key contacts amid the daily torrent of incoming emails. Keeping on top of VIP emails can be made even easier by ensuring you receive a specific sound or vibration alert whenever one comes through on your iPhone or iPad. That way you'll know if a new message...

RAVPower recently introduced a new 45W USB-C Power Adapter that uses eGaNFET circuitry allowing for an ultrathin design more portable than traditional USB-C power adapters. Made from white plastic, the power adapter measures in at 2.8 inches long, 2.1 inches wide, and 0.56 inches thick. Compared to the 29/30W USB-C chargers for the MacBook and the MacBook Air, it's longer, but thinner....

CarPlay will be a standard feature in the all-new 2019 Mazda3, excluding the base model, according to a company spokesperson. The vehicle is making its worldwide debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show this week and will be rolled out to global markets over the coming months, starting with North America in early 2019. CarPlay in a Mazda vehicle The 2019 model will be the first Mazda3 with CarPlay, ...

Insurance company John Hancock and behavior change platform Vitality today released information on a study by RAND Europe of over 400,000 people in the United States, United Kingdom, and South Africa. The study concluded that those who wore an Apple Watch and participated in the Vitality Active Rewards program averaged a 34 percent sustained increase in physical activity, compared to those...

Apple this afternoon released an update for iCloud for Windows, which is the iCloud software designed to run on the Windows operating system for those who have both Windows machines and own Apple devices. iCloud for Windows version 7.8.1 is designed to fix compatibility issues with the latest version of Windows 10. Earlier this month, Microsoft blocked the iCloud for Windows software from ...

Following the release of iOS 12.1 on October 30, Apple has stopped signing iOS 12.0.1, the previous version of iOS that was available to consumers. iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch owners who have upgraded to iOS 12.1 will no longer be able to downgrade to iOS 12.0.1. The iOS 12.1 update was significant, introducing Group FaceTime, eSIM support for Apple's newest iPhones, new emoji, and more....

Each year, Apple shuts down iTunes Connect for a week around the holidays to give its App Store staff time off from work. This year, iTunes Connect will be shut down from December 23 to December 27. While iTunes Connect is unavailable, Apple will not accept new apps or app updates, which means all pricing changes and new app submissions will need to be locked in before that date for developers ...

Apple Pay will launch in Belgium on Wednesday, according to Belgian newspaper De Tijd. The report, citing sources, claims Belgium's largest bank BNP Paribas Fortis will be the exclusive Apple Pay partner in the country at launch. The bank offers a variety of Visa and Mastercard credit cards and debit cards. Belgium would become the 30th region where Apple Pay is officially available. Apple...

YouTube today launched cheaper monthly plans for students who are interested in both its video streaming service and music streaming service, YouTube Music. For the music service, YouTube is knocking down the price of YouTube Music Premium to $4.99/month from $9.99/month, only for verified students (via TechCrunch). This pricing strategy aligns with similar student offers from rivals like...

There are several ways to search the web in Apple's Safari browser. In this article, we're going to highlight a way of searching specific websites using a lesser-known Safari feature called Quick Website Search. The option is designed to work with sites that have a built-in search field, like the one you can find at the top of the main page at MacRumors.com. Here's how it works. Let's say...

As it does every holiday season, Apple this week refreshed its iTunes Movies storefront with a selection of notable discounts, and the new sales are expected to stick around through Black Friday and Cyber Monday before the iTunes Movies store is updated again next Tuesday. There are a number of great movies to watch with your family over the holiday weekend, so check out some of the films in the...

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Satechi to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a USB-C Dual Charging Station that's designed to charge the iPhone and the Apple Watch at the same time. Available in Silver or Space Gray to match Apple's devices, Satechi's Dual Charging Station provides a total of 15W of power to charge an iPhone and an Apple Watch. The Charging Station,...

Beyond Apple products, there are tons of smart home devices, both HomeKit-enabled and non-HomeKit, that are available at a discount during Black Friday. Almost every major retailer has discounts on products from companies like Amazon, Google, Nest, Hue, and more, and we've rounded up some of the best deals below. This is by no means an exhaustive list, so make sure to check out our Black...