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

Apple has launched a new iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max "experience" micro-site that puts its ".apple" top-level domain to use, as discovered on Reddit. As noted by 9to5Mac's Benjamin Mayo, the address of the micro-site is simply experience.apple/iPhone, with Apple using its .apple top-level domain instead of .com. Apple acquired ownership of .apple in 2015, according to the Internet Assigned...

Microsoft has revealed that Skype is coming to Alexa devices. The partnership between Microsoft and Amazon means that owners of devices in Amazon's Echo range will soon be able to make outgoing Skype voice and video calls, accept incoming Skype calls, and also make SkypeOut calls to most phone numbers around the world. Announcing the upcoming feature in a blog post, Microsoft said device...

In iOS 12, Apple added a new Effects camera in Messages that's similar to the live camera features in Snapchat and Instagram, allowing you to take a photo in the Messages app and then edit it with stickers, filters, text, and more. On devices with a TrueDepth camera system, the Effects camera even works with Memoji and Animoji, allowing you to overlay cartoon emoji heads over your own head. ...

Apple has given a straight-to-series order for drama series "Defending Jacob," which will star Chris Evans, known for his roles in "Captain America" and "The Avengers," reports Deadline. "Defending Jacob" is a thriller based on William Landay's bestselling novel of the same title. The book covers the murder of a 14-year-old boy and his friend Jacob, who may have committed the crime....

In iOS 12, Apple has introduced new password-related features that are designed to make it easier for iPhone and iPad users to create strong, secure, and unique passwords for app and website logins. In this guide, we'll show you how to use two of those features: automatic strong passwords and password auditing. Automatic strong passwords ensures that if you're prompted by a website or app...

As part of its digital health initiative in iOS 12, Apple has introduced some improvements to the way app notifications can be managed, enabling users to more easily reduce the number of daily distractions their iPhone or iPad throws their way. One of these new features is called Instant Tuning, which allows you to quickly adjust the future behavior of app notifications whenever they appear...

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming tvOS 12.1 update to its public beta testing group, two days after providing the beta to developers and three days after releasing the tvOS 12 update. The tvOS 12.1 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 be...

Hulu today is rolling out a new update for Hulu.com, bringing it in line with the design and user interface that users should be familiar with if they use Hulu on smartphones and TVs, like iOS and tvOS. The company is launching the new update to coincide with fall television premieres, which typically kick off around this time, in mid to late September. The company says that subscribers can...

There's nothing worse than waking up in the middle of the night, glancing over at your iPhone to check the time, and seeing a bunch of notifications that demand your attention and distract you from getting back to sleep. Apple is aiming to prevent this in iOS 12 with a new Do Not Disturb at bedtime feature that prevents notifications from being displayed on the iPhone's Lock Screen during your ...

Apple Maps now supports transit in New Zealand, enabling users to navigate with public transportation in most populated areas of the country. In the largest city of Auckland, directions are available for NZ Bus routes, AT Metro trains, or the SkyBus shuttle to the Auckland Airport. In the capital area of Wellington, directions are available for Metlink buses and trains. Between select...

The Apple Watch Series 4 has multiple new watch faces for users to choose from, including Fire, Water, Liquid Metal, and Vapor faces that were custom-designed for Series 4 to interact with the edges of its larger display. Apple briefly showed off these faces during its September 12 keynote in Cupertino, but more information about the making of the watch faces has been shared today in a new...

In iOS 12, Apple's digital health push includes a couple of special new features for iPhone and iPad users who want to cut down on their app usage: App Limits and Downtime. In this article, we'll show you how to use them. App Limits allows you to set specific time limits on a particular app category (games, for example). When you've spent the designated time using the app category, iOS sends...

Jon M. Chu, best known for directing hit movie "Crazy Rich Asians," was provided with one of Apple's new iPhone XS Max models by WIRED, which he used to shoot a short film in 4K to test out the device's capabilities. Chu's video was shot handheld using available light using only the native camera app and stabilizer, without any additional equipment or lighting. The video was edited on a...

In iOS 12, Apple has given users the tools to cut down on disturbances to get more time away from their devices if desired, and one of these new tools is an expanded set of Do Not Disturb options. Thanks to these changes, there are more convenient options for using Do Not Disturb in iOS 12, and it's also a lot smarter. How to Get to the New Do Not Disturb Options Your Do Not Disturb...

Following the release of iOS 12, which brought a few new Apple Music features, Apple has updated its Apple Music app for Android to introduce feature parity. Today's update brings support for searching by lyrics, an iOS 12 feature that's designed to let you locate songs and artists using song lyrics rather than a song name. To use the feature, all you need to do is type in a sentence from...

Apple's watchOS 5 update includes a new Siri feature that eliminates the need to say "Hey ‌Siri‌" or push the Digital Crown to activate the personal assistant. Instead, you can raise your wrist and speak right to ‌Siri‌, with the Apple Watch able to detect your movements and your desire to relay a ‌Siri‌ command. It's simple to enable, and it works well once you know a few tricks. Subscribe ...

One of the new features in iOS 12 is an augmented reality app called Measure, which Apple has designed to make it easier for you to measure various real-world objects using 3D spatial detection techniques. Open up the Measure app. Follow the on-screen instructions and move your iPhone around the room so that it can get the dimensions of various objects. Once it's calibrated,...

In iOS 12, Apple has introduced some new features to the Photos app that aim to make it easier for you to search, share, and enjoy your photo collection. Here's how to make the most of them. The most prominent addition in the Photos app is a new For You tab, which replaces the old Memories and Shared tabs and brings together their features – along with any iCloud Shared Albums you may have ...