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

Following its educational event in Chicago, Apple quietly introduced iPhone and iPad cases in new spring colors and officially launched the Apple Watch bands that were introduced last week. The new iPhone cases, iPad Smart Covers, Apple Pencil covers, and more, are available in bright primary colors, perhaps a nod to the educational focus of today's event. The $39 iPhone X Silicone Case,...

Apple today reduced the price of AppleCare+ for 9.7-inch iPad and iPad mini models to $69 in the United States, down from $99. AppleCare+ was previously $99 for any iPad, but that price now applies to iPad Pro models only. The lower $69 price for the iPad and iPad mini has been offered by select Best Buy stores for the past several months. AppleCare+ is an optional warranty plan that...

Apple today updated its Clips and GarageBand apps for iOS with several new educational features and other improvements. GarageBand for iOS Clips has received a wide range of new fonts, colors, layouts, animated labels and stickers, title cards with education-themed designs, and more, all of which provides students and teachers with more creative flexibility to prepare video presentations and...

Apple announced Everyone Can Create, a new free curriculum for teachers, during its "Let's Take a Field Trip" event at Chicago's Lane Technical High School today. Everyone Can Create makes it fun and easy for teachers to integrate drawing, music, filmmaking or photography into their existing lesson plans for any subject. The new curriculum joins Apple’s successful Everyone Can Code...

As part of its new suite of educational apps and experiences for children, Apple today announced that it is increasing the amount of free iCloud storage available to kids and teachers. Instead of providing each student and teacher with the standard 5GB of free storage, Apple is now offering 200GB of storage at no additional cost. Every student that has an Apple ID managed by a school will...

Logitech today revealed two new accessories for the sixth-generation iPad: the Logitech Crayon and Logitech Rugged Combo 2, both designed to help students become "more creative and productive" in the classroom. The accessories were announced during Apple's "Field Trip" event in Chicago earlier today. The Logitech Crayon is a digital pencil, similar to Apple Pencil, but comes in at a cheaper...

Apple today announced it is working on a new version of its iWork productivity suite for iOS during its "Let's Take a Field Trip" event at Chicago's Lane Technical High School, where it also introduced a refreshed low-cost 9.7-inch iPad with Apple Pencil support. Integrated Apple Pencil support in the new upcoming versions of Pages and Keynote will enable users to add drawings directly to...

Apple is at an impasse with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) over the development of an anti-spam iPhone app. The app is meant to allow users to report unsolicited calls and text messages as spam, preventing further spam on their devices (via Reuters). Last October, Apple first agreed to help India "tap into new iOS features" to build the app, but in the ensuing months Apple...

Foxconn is best known as an Apple supplier that assembles Apple's devices and supplies components to the Cupertino-based company, but as of today, it's taking over a major Apple accessory maker. Foxconn Interconnect Technology (FIT), a Foxconn subsidiary, today announced that it has acquired Belkin International in a deal that's worth $866 million. The acquisition includes the Belkin brand...

Last month, popular smart home accessory manufacturer iDevices launched Instant Switch, a Bluetooth switch that pairs with other iDevices products like outlets and switches to provide an additional point of manual control. For example, it can be paired with a hard-wired Wall Switch to provide control at another convenient place in the room without the need for wiring a second switch....

Microsoft today announced that its Microsoft Edge browser is available for download on the iPad and Android tablets, four months after it was first released for the iPhone and Android smartphones. Designed to create a seamless browsing experience for Windows 10 users who also have Apple or Android devices, the Microsoft Edge browser features content and data syncing between the iOS version of...

A few retailers have kicked off the week with new discounts on App Store and iTunes gift cards, offering either straight percentage discounts on the cards or BOGO sales. Below we've rounded up each retailer that has offers going on this week, so if you're interested be sure to visit the sites and place your order before they end. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these...

HQ Trivia prize pots are about to get a lot bigger as the live trivia show brings on its first corporate sponsors and advertisers. To celebrate Nike's Air Max Day today, for example, HQ will be hosting a surprise 15-question game with a shared $100,000 prize. It appears this will be a bonus round in addition to the regular games at 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern Time, so players will need to keep ...

Lexus today announced that CarPlay will be a standard feature in the all-new 2019 UX crossover in the United States, marking its first confirmed vehicle with support for Apple's in-car software platform. CarPlay and Amazon Alexa, but not Android Auto, will be available through the vehicle's Enform 2.0 system. Lexus said the CarPlay implementation will be wired, so the iPhone must be...

A new vulnerability within iOS 11 was uncovered over the weekend, this time centering upon the QR code scanner in the iPhone camera app. With the new scanning feature in iOS 11, users can open the Camera app on iPhone or iPad, point the device at a QR code, and tap a notification to access whatever the code contains. In a new report by Infosec, the researchers discovered that QR codes related...

Tidal has added the ability for users of the music streaming service to automatically add new albums to their music library as soon as they become available. The new "pre-save" feature ensures albums are displayed in album collections the moment they're uploaded to Tidal servers on the official release day. The feature is launching in tandem with Deadmau5's new album Where's the Drop?,...

Best Buy today launched a new Apple sale that will last for the rest of the week, this time focusing on the latest 2017 MacBook Air models and the 2015 iPad mini 4. In the sale, select MacBook Air configurations have been discounted by $150-$250 (with an additional $50 off if you're a college student or parent of a K–12 or college student), while the Wi-Fi iPad mini 4 is discounted by $100...

Last Thursday Apple shared an Apple Pay ad called "Fly Market," where a man danced through an open air market making purchases using Face ID and Apple Pay on his iPhone X. Apple this weekend posted a short continuation of that longer ad, featuring the same characters but this time focusing on Apple Pay's peer-to-peer payment feature Apple Pay Cash. In the brief 15-second clip, called "Pay with ...