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

Facebook Chief Technology Officer Mike Shroepfer today wrote a blog post outlining several changes that are being made to Facebook APIs to limit the amount of data apps can collect from Facebook users. Changes are being made to the Events, Groups, and Pages API to cut down on what apps can see. With the Events API, for example, apps will no longer be able to access attendees or posts on the...

Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced two years ago in March of 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari. Safari Technology Preview release 53 includes bug fixes and feature improvements for Service Workers, WebRTC, Loading,...

Apple Music and iCloud Music Library sometimes face slight delays when syncing your music between devices like a Mac and iPhone, but since the launch of iOS 11.3 reports about these delays have grown much more frequent. On the MacRumors forums, in Apple's support communities, and throughout numerous Reddit posts, users have mentioned that when they add new music on their Mac or iPad, it no longer ...

Apple Pay has officially launched in Brazil today through an exclusive partnership with Brazilian bank Itaú Unibanco. Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that Apple Pay would be launching in Brazil during the company's first quarter earnings call, and today the "coming soon" label was removed from Apple's website. A number of Brazilian users have been able to set up Apple Pay as of this morning,...

Several TV and music services and other apps offer free trials through the App Store that automatically renew to become paid subscriptions after the trial period ends. If you want to prevent an ‌App Store‌ subscription from running beyond the trial period or cancel a subscription you're currently paying for, then read on. This article explains how to cancel any ‌App Store‌ subscription on...

One of the TV shows Apple has in the works, a "morning show drama" starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, is getting a new showrunner, reports Variety. The original showrunner and creator, Jay Carson, had planned to work with Apple on the series, but he has departed over creative differences. Kerry Ehrin, known for "Bates Motel," is instead set to take over and is close to inking a ...

Apple today shared a new "Groceries" ad that's designed to highlight the ease of using Apple Pay with Face ID on the iPhone X. In the short 12 second spot, which will likely be shown on TV, YouTube, and social media networks, a woman shopping for produce at the grocery store uses an iPhone X and Apple Pay to make her purchases. The fruit she buys is then crafted into an elaborate sea...

Male employees who work for Apple in the United Kingdom earn five percent more on average than women, according to a UK Gender Pay Gap report released today by Apple [PDF]. The median hourly pay gap was two percent in favor of women, however. According to Apple, the average pay gap is due to more men holding senior positions at the company, and when factoring in "similar roles, markets, and...

Spotify, Apple Music's main competitor, this morning opened on the New York Stock Exchange at $165.90 per share, valuing the company at $29.5 billion. When Spotify filed to go public in February, CNBC estimated the company's valuation at ~$23 billion based on private trades that had reached as high as $132.50. Spotify used the $132 per share figure as its reference price, which would have...

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.4 update to its public beta testing group, one day after providing the beta to developers and a little under a week after releasing tvOS 11.3, a minor update that introduced a few smaller features. The tvOS 11.4 public beta can be obtained by going to the Settings app on the Apple TV and navigating to the Software Updates section under...

The Weeknd's new single "Call Out My Name" was streamed 6 million times in its first 24 hours of release on Apple Music last Friday, March 30. As a comparison, Apple Music's streams of the song nearly doubled Spotify's 3.5 million streams in the same 24-hour period. As reported by The Verge today, Apple Music's numbers on the new song are impressive given the context of Spotify's advertising...

Apple this week updated its Apple Music Android app with the revamped music videos section that launched on iOS and macOS devices late last week. Announced earlier in 2018, Apple Music's new music videos section provides access to a wider variety of both classic and brand-new videos, exclusive videos from artists like Kylie Minogue, and full video playlists that let subscribers stream music...

In February, Apple updated its website with a new section explaining the advantages of closing the Apple Watch's three Activity rings. At the same time, the company kicked off an internal challenge for its employees that tasked them with closing their Move, Exercise, and Stand rings every day for the entire month. Images via Reddit user utopicunicornn Those who managed this feat have now...

Snapchat today announced that users on iOS and Android will soon be able to begin group video chats with up to 16 friends at once. The feature's addition comes about two years after Snapchat first introduced video and voice chat in spring 2016. To start a group video chat, users will need to enter an existing group chat -- or create a new one -- and then tap the video icon. This will notify...

Apple today updated its investor relations page to announce that it will share its earnings results for the second fiscal quarter (first calendar quarter) of 2018 on Tuesday, May 1. The earnings release will provide a look at sales of the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X following its record January quarter that saw the company sell 77.3 million iPhones. Apple's guidance for the...

Over the past few months, DirecTV Now have been offering a great deal for anyone interested in the Apple TV 4K. The offer stipulates that when new subscribers prepay for three months of DirecTV Now at $105, they can get a 32GB Apple TV 4K at no additional cost. It was believed that the company would remove the deal at the end of March -- or revert back to the original offer to prepay for four...

Instagram today became the latest company to ditch the Apple Watch, eliminating its Apple Watch app in an update that was released this morning. In a statement given to French site iPhoneAddict, Instagram said the Instagram Apple Watch app was built using the watchOS 1 SDK, which was obsoleted by Apple on April 1. Rather than putting effort into rebuilding the app, Instagram has decided to end ...

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming watchOS 4.3.1 update to developers, a little under one week after releasing watchOS 4.3, a major update that introduced portrait Nightstand mode and iPhone music controls on Apple Watch. Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple...