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

Two members of Apple's Swift Core Team, Doug Gregor and Ben Cohen, joined the Swift Unwrapped podcast this morning, where they discussed Swift 4.1 and all of the changes that are coming in the update. Cohen manages Apple's Swift Standard Library Team, while Gregor works on the Swift Compiler and Library Design. The discussion of Swift 4.1 is rather technical and may not interest all readers,...

Affirm is a financial startup that allows users to pay for expensive items from select retailers in monthly installment plans, after they are first approved for a loan on the company's website or in the app. Today the company announced that users will now be able to secure credit in seconds and then checkout in retail stores thanks to integration of the Affirm virtual card into Apple Pay. To...

Apple plans to order between 250 and 270 million display panels for its iPhone lineup this year, according to sources within Taiwan's panel industry. Around half that number will consist of OLED panels, to be shared among current-model iPhone X orders, a second-generation model, and a larger 6.5-inch iPhone, according to DigiTimes. Apple's purchases of OLED panels in 2018 will reach 110-130...

Elgato has been making HomeKit-enabled "Eve" Bluetooth accessories for several years now, and the company now boasts an impressive lineup that includes a range of sensors, switches and smart plugs, and motion detectors. Eve Button, Elgato's newest product, is a simple little three-gesture switch that's designed to control all of your other HomeKit products, activating scenes, turning lights on ...

Apple today seeded the sixth beta of an upcoming watchOS 4.3 update to developers, a few days after seeding the fifth beta and more than a month after releasing watchOS 4.2.3, a minor update focusing on bug fixes. Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone...

As we draw nearer to the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere on Tuesday, March 20, many people around the world are getting ready to travel for spring break and other holidays. To prepare you for any trip you might have planned this spring or later in the summer, MacRumors has partnered with Twelve South to bring our readers exclusive discounts on five of the accessory maker's most...

Apple next week plans to host a workshop for developers at the Station F startup incubator in Paris, France. The event will take place on Friday, March 23 according to French site Mac4Ever. A limited number of French developers have been invited to attend the workshop, which will consist of a two hour workshopping session followed by a question and answer period. This special workshop will...

For this week's giveaway we've teamed up with Function 101 to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a handy BentoStack organizer for all of your Apple accessories, which will come equipped with AirPods, an Apple Pencil, and two Apple Watch bands. The BentoStack, priced at $50, started out as a highly successful Indiegogo project, but it's now available to anyone. Modeled after traditional...

We're starting to see more 7.5-watt wireless chargers hitting the market, and RAVPower is another popular charging accessory manufacturer that's getting into the mix. RAVPower's previous Fast Wireless Charger has been one of my favorite chargers for the iPhone X, but the company has also been working on improvements leading to a recently launched series of chargers under "HyperAir" branding. The...

ColorWare this week announced it has released a limited edition original iPhone skin for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, and iPhone X. Over 10 years ago, Apple debuted their revolutionary iPhone. This product changed everything for mobile phone owners. The bar of expectations was risen to a point that changed the market forever. ColorWare would like to pay homage to this...

iOS and Android ride-hailing app Lyft has begun testing monthly subscription plans for "high-frequency users," in a style comparable to services like Netflix, Apple Music, and MoviePass. According to The Verge, the terms of each "All-Access Plan" vary and an overall detailed report from Lyft has yet to come out, but prices appear to start at $200/month for 30 standard Lyft rides. Standard...

This week, popular console and desktop game Fortnite hit the iOS App Store in beta form, allowing players to access the "same 100-player" Battle Royale mode found on PS4 and Mac computers while on-the-go. Following Fortnite, it's been announced that another large-scale console title is getting a full game on iOS and Android, called ARK: Survival Evolved and launching this spring (via TouchArcade)....

Google has announced that its previously Android-only Google Lens feature is now rolling out to iOS users who have the Google Photos app installed. First unveiled last year at the Google I/O 2017 conference, Google Lens uses the company's image recognition and machine learning algorithms to identify the subjects of photos and videos and present additional helpful actions and information to...

Unsolicited phone calls and messages can become a regular annoyance and even a cause of stress for many smartphone users these days. Thankfully, Apple provides features in iOS 11 that allow you to block nuisance calls and messages from the same number coming through to your phone, and in this article we're going to show you how to set them up. Whether it's messages from a debt collector...

Epic Games' popular multiplayer game Fortnite Battle Royale is now available for download from the iOS App Store, and the first beta invites for the game have been sent out to those who signed up for the beta. The new free-to-play iOS game is identical to the Battle Royale mode in Fortnite for PCs, Macs, and consoles, and it is similar to other games of this style like PlayerUnknown's...

It appears the App Store is no longer accessible to iPhone and iPad users in Iran, with Apple apparently implementing a countrywide IP ban. According to Bleeping Computer, Iranians have been unable to access the App Store since approximately noon GMT, and when attempting to use the App Store, they're receiving a message that the store is unavailable in the country. All Iranian IPs appear...

A video featuring a device that appears to be a cross between an iPhone SE and an iPhone X surfaced on Weibo this morning and was shared by Japanese site Macotakara. The smartphone in the video, which has a notch at the front, an edge-to-edge display, and a vertical rear camera in a body that's similar to the current iPhone SE, is very likely an Android clone device. Fake devices like these...

StackSocial this week launched the 2018 Mac Essentials Bundle, made up of ten apps that can help you be more productive, keep your online identity secure and private, clean up your Mac, and more. The bundle has an estimated value of $524.90 when adding up the cost of all ten apps included, but StackSocial knocked the price down to $19.99 for a limited time. Additionally, those interested can...