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

PayPal on eBay this weekend is offering $100 App Store and iTunes gift cards for $85, marking the latest 15 percent discount on the cards and a good chance for those who have been waiting on a deal to get free iTunes credit. While the sale lasts, anyone with a PayPal account can take advantage of the deal, and you'll receive the code for the iTunes credit via email within a few hours after the...

As we've followed DirecTV Now's ongoing offer to get an Apple TV 4K at no extra cost when paying for three months of the live streaming TV service for $105, it's been somewhat unclear how long the deal would last. According to our affiliate, today's the last day to take advantage of the deal, as the three-month offer will expire later tonight. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with...

For this week's Friday giveaway, we've teamed up with Speck for something special. We're giving away a brand new 32GB sixth-generation iPad paired with one of Speck's iPad cases, the Balance Folio Clear. Priced at $44.95, Speck's Balance Folio Clear is made from a clear, durable polycarbonate that keeps your iPad protected but visible, leaving the design and look of the iPad unobscured. The...

Senior vice president of Apple Retail, Angela Ahrendts, today tweeted out an announcement for a new "Today at Apple" session focused on app prototyping for aspiring developers. News of the session arrives as Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference comes to an end today, after first kicking off with a keynote in San Jose, California on Monday. Ahrendts describes the new program as a way...

Snapchat is expanding the use of its Bitmoji characters -- specifically "Friendmojis" -- for iOS users in the coming days. With the update, iPhone and iPad users will be able to send personalized Friendmojis, or Bitmoji stickers that include both you and your friend, directly in Apple's Messages app. Currently, Bitmoji is available as a keyboard extension and a Messages app so users can send...

Yahoo today announced that its Yahoo Messenger service will no longer be supported after July 17, 2018, encompassing the closure of apps for iOS and Android and any web browser clients (via TechCrunch). The service will function normally until then, and after that date users will no longer be able to access their chats and the Messenger service as a whole will be shut down. The company...

Apple Maps has gained indoor maps for an additional four international airports and one shopping mall around the world. The recently enabled airports include Charlotte Douglas International in North Carolina, Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International and Québec City Jean Lesage International in Canada, and Taoyuan International in Taiwan. When searching for those airports, Apple...

A new Father's Day-themed Apple Pay Promo is providing customers who spend at least $100 in the Nike app with a $20 gift code, according to emails Apple sent out to Apple Pay customers this afternoon. The offer is valid from June 7 to June 11 and requires customers to make a $100 purchase using Apple Pay in Nike's app. The $20 code is not provided at the time of purchase, but will be delivered ...

Following the release of iOS 11.4 on May 29, Apple has stopped signing iOS 11.3.1, the previous version of iOS that was available to consumers. iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch owners who have upgraded to iOS 11.4 will no longer be able to downgrade to earlier versions of iOS. Apple routinely stops signing older versions of software updates after new releases come out in order to encourage...

We've teamed up with Pad & Quill for a special series of WWDC-themed giveaways this week to celebrate Apple's big June event, and our third and final giveaway takes place today. Pad & Quill, for those unfamiliar with it, is a company that's well-known for making high-quality hand-crafted leather accessories for iPhones, Macs, iPads, Apple Watches, and more. For our last WWDC giveaway,...

As part of its antitrust examination into the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, the US Department of Justice is looking at how the two firms combining would affect smaller wireless carriers that frequently buy network access on larger networks to resell to "pre-paid or price-conscious consumers" according to a report from Reuters. There are concerns, the report claims, that because Sprint and T-Mobile ...

Singer/songwriter Shawn Mendes has broken the latest Apple Music record, with his self-titled third album becoming the most-streamed pop album of 2018 in under one week (via Billboard). Released on May 25, the new Shawn Mendes album was accompanied by a collection of bonus material on Apple Music, including a Beats 1 interview with Zane Lowe, exclusive live concert and Q&A session, playlists, and ...

Amazon today unveiled its latest "Fire" branded product, called the "Fire TV Cube." The company describes the device as a hands-free box that streams 4K Ultra HD video using Alexa voice controls. The set-top box appears to have many features similar (or coming soon) to the Apple TV 4K, with 4K HDR content, smart assistant integration, HDMI CEC, Dolby Atmos support, and more. With far-field...

Following yesterday's announcement from Sonos that AirPlay 2 will be coming to its speakers this July, more details about the company's partnership with IKEA have now emerged, after first being revealed in December. In a press release shared by the Swedish furniture maker, the two companies detail a "long-term partnership" that's beginning with a new range of speakers called "Symfonisk" (via The...

Amazon Prime Video has secured the rights to stream live Premier League football matches for three years from 2019, at no extra cost to Prime members who live in the U.K. The exclusive deal, announced on Thursday, means that from next year Amazon Prime will show every game from the first round of midweek matches in December and all 10 games on Boxing Day, with weekly highlights of all Premier...

Instagram is gearing up to launch a hub for "longer-form video," according to multiple sources speaking with TechCrunch, in an effort to continue its competition with Snapchat and the "Discover" tab, as well as YouTube. The dedicated space will feature scripted shows, music videos, and more, which will all be vertically shot and viewable in full-screen 4K on compatible smartphones. The...

Last month, when we asked MacRumors readers what they hoped to see in iOS 12, one of the most frequent requests was improvements to Siri, specifically Spotify integration. Currently, Siri can open streaming media apps like Spotify, but it can't play songs or video from third-party sources. While Apple has yet to explicitly support the functionality, one of the components in the newly-announced ...

Apple's latest version of watchOS promises to bring rich HTML content to the wrists of Apple Watch users, thanks to new Webkit optimizations that improve apps like Mail and Messages. Apple expanded on the new WebKit features at a WWDC session, in which it explained to developers how they can optimize web content for viewing on Apple Watch screens. Currently in the watchOS Mail app, rich...