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

For the past couple of weeks, speakers equipped with Amazon's Alexa voice-based personal assistant have been randomly laughing, scaring and creeping out speaker owners who have affected devices. Complaints have been surfacing on Twitter, Reddit, and other social media platforms over the course of the last few weeks, but the issue started receiving widespread attention this week after it was...

About one month after PayPal's previous 15 percent discount on iTunes cards, the company has launched its latest sale for those who have been waiting on a deal to get some free iTunes credit. Like previous discounts, PayPal on its Digital Gifts eBay storefront is offering $100 App Store and iTunes gift cards for $85. While the sale lasts, anyone with a PayPal account can take advantage of the...

Microsoft is giving users of its Cortana virtual assistant another way to activate it with their voice. As reported by The Verge, owners of the first Cortana-integrated Invoke speaker can now summon the assistant using just "Cortana" rather than the typical "Hey, Cortana" phrase, although that continues to work as well. The alteration is expected to trickle down to Cortana for iOS in the near...

Apple today released a new update for its Apple Music app designed to be used on Android devices, which Apple says significantly improves stability to make music playback more reliable. Apple says today's Apple Music Android update also introduces "new experiences" for music videos. Users can now watch music videos in fullscreen or inside Now Playing and music videos will continue to play...

Top-rated eBay shop ElectronicsValley today has the 27-inch 5K iMac from October 2015 for $1,299.99, down from $2,299.99. This model has a 3.3 GHz Intel Core i5 6th Generation processor, 8GB of RAM, 2TB of hard drive storage, and was the first of Apple's iMacs to come with the updated Magic Mouse 2 back in 2015. ElectronicsValley describes the iMac as "New," and its customers have left a largely ...

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming watchOS 4.3 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the third beta and a little over two weeks 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...

Apple has debuted a new Activity Challenge for Apple Watch wearers today, this one focused on celebrating International Women's Day. To complete the challenge and earn the achievement, you'll have to double your Move ring on March 8, the day that commemorates the movement for women's rights around the world. The award for completing the challenge will be a set of still and animated stickers...

Washington this week became the first state to pass a new law -- House Bill 2282 -- that restores and protects certain net neutrality rules, after the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 in favor of repealing net neutrality nationwide late last year. Washington state's new rules were signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee yesterday, and prevent internet service providers from blocking and ...

Popular camera app Halide, which provides iPhone users with more control when taking pictures with their iPhones, today received a major update that introduces several new features. Photos with Portrait effects are now available in the Halide app, with Halide incorporating a mix of smart facial detection and point of interest detection to create Portrait mode photos with background blur...

Google Maps' Street View technology has been updated today to include virtual tours of 11 Disney parks for parents and children to explore in advance of a coming trip, or to rekindle memories of previous visits. We're all about new fantastic points of view. Today Street View is going the distance, from California to Florida, to make Disney part of your world. Be our guest at 11 Disney Parks, ...

Netflix today announced a platform-wide update to introduce expanded parental controls that will give parents more granular access to the television shows and movies their children are watching. A new PIN parental control for individual movies and TV shows is being added, so parents will be able to block access to specific content if so desired. . We understand that every family is...

Google today announced the launch of a new Google Search app extension for Messages, which can be accessed through the dedicated Messages App Store available within the Messages app on the iPhone and iPad. When having a conversation with someone in the Messages app, you can tap on the new Google Search icon to bring up an interface that allows you to conduct Google searches without the need to ...

Smart locks are one of the more popular types of HomeKit accessories, and Yale's Assure Lock SL deadbolt announced last October is one of the more interesting options on the market today. It's available in Polished Brass, Oil Rubbed Bronze, and Satin Nickel, and I've been using the Oil Rubbed Bronze for the past few months. With the Assure Lock SL, Yale has pursued an interesting strategy of ...

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.3 update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after seeding the third beta and two weeks after releasing the tvOS 11.2.6 update. Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the tvOS 11.3 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that's installed using Xcode and Apple Configurator....

Microsoft is planning to integrate its AI assistant Cortana directly into the Outlook mobile apps on iOS and Android, according to people familiar with the company's plans speaking with The Verge. Cortana currently offers various email-related actions and commands on supported devices, but the assistant can not be called up within Outlook on smartphones. Image by Tom Warren via The Verge With ...

Late last year, Dialog Semiconductor admitted that Apple could build its own power management chips for future iPhones, and no longer rely on the British-based chipmaker for such technology. This weekend, Dialog CEO Jalal Bagherli provided further details on this topic, now expecting Apple to use Dialog chips for "a significant proportion of its devices" in 2019 and 2020 (via Reuters)....

Apple News is the built-in news app for iOS 11 that aggregates and curates stories and topics from a variety of third-party news sources. The service is only available in the U.S., Australia, and the U.K. at the time of writing, so not all new iPhones and iPads will come with the stock app installed. Apple News aims to offer a cleanly presented and personalized news service that caters to your ...

In late 2016, Snapchat launched its first consumer product with the Spectacles, a pair of glasses that came equipped with a small camera that could record video clips from a first-person perspective and upload them to a Story on the iOS and Android Snapchat app. Although the company ultimately took a $40 million loss on the Spectacles, a new report from live news show Cheddar today claims that...