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

AT&T today announced a series of deals launching this Thursday, March 1 that will be available only for customers in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. The offers vary from city to city, and the carrier noted that each one will last for a "limited time" only. The city-specific deals are debuting alongside the launch of AT&T's new Unlimited Plus Enhanced and Unlimited Choice Enhanced plans,...

Apple has reportedly hired engineer Michael Abbott for an unspecified role within the company, according to information obtained by MacGeneration [Google Translate]. Abbott's job history includes vice president of engineering for Twitter, team lead for the Azure cloud platform at Microsoft, and senior vice president of apps and services at Palm, where he helped create webOS. More recently,...

The United States Patent and Trademark Office today granted Apple a patent related to a "Case for wearable electronic device," and it's described as an accessory that would let users charge their Apple Watch while on the go while also storing a few extra bands (via Patently Apple). Similar to portable battery packs, or Apple's own AirPods case, users would charge the Apple Watch case itself, and...

Samsung has announced at the Mobile World Congress that version 2.0 of its Bixby voice assistant will launch with the Galaxy Note 9 and come with support for recognizing individual voices (via ZDNet). Samsung mobile chief D J Koh said that Bixby 2.0 is being tested by approximately 800 partners and is helping the company to develop a "wider scope of voice assistant features", one of which is...

When Apple released the fourth-generation Apple TV in 2015, it also included a new Siri Remote with the set-top box (although in some regions Apple kept the original name "Apple TV Remote" due to Siri not working in those territories). Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The redesigned remote features dual microphones for Siri support as well as a glass touch surface...

Apple this afternoon uploaded a new iPhone tutorial video that's aimed at encouraging users to experiment with color when editing an iPhone shot to get a more distinctive photo. The 32 second video walks users through selecting a photo, selecting the "Edit" function in the Photos app, and then tweaking the color levels to get a new look. For the last several months, Apple has been sharing ...

Late in 2017, a crop of iPhone X clones began popping up in China, with each device deciding to copy the tenth anniversary iPhone's main identifier: the front-facing "notch." One such model was the "Leagoo S9," and at Mobile World Congress this week the company has announced new details about the phone, including a price tag of $149.99. Images via Leagoo Leagoo confirmed that the device has a ...

Over the past few days there have been multiple reports of a new update to the Netflix app on iOS and Android devices, which includes a design overhaul for the streaming service's navigation bar on smartphones. Instead of placing every piece of navigation within the top lefthand corner "hamburger" menu, Netflix has introduced a simpler tab bar at the bottom of the app with four tabs for Home,...

Sony today at Mobile World Congress revealed an upgraded version of its Xperia Ear earphones, called the Xperia Ear Duo. Sony previously showed the earphones in prototype form during last year's MWC, but the company has now officially announced a price point of $280 and release date of May 2018 for its latest smart assistant earphones (via The Verge). The main new addition to Sony's earphones...

Samsung today at Mobile World Congress revealed a new set of end-to-end 5G commercial solutions, which will launch later this year alongside Verizon's first commercial 5G network in the United States. The 5G fixed wireless access solutions include "commercial form-factor" 5G home routers for both indoor and outdoor use, and Samsung said it used its own in-house technology to create the first...

Apple Australia has published a series of new iPhone X ads to its YouTube channel showcasing the smartphone's camera being used at various weddings. Titled "First Dance", the short ads continue the company's "Shot on iPhone" series by demonstrating the general quality of the iPhone X camera rather than highlighting any specific feature. Of the four videos, three are 15-second spots...

T-Mobile's iPhone and Apple Watch offers, announced on Wednesday, have now launched on the carrier's website today. The iPhone deal nets you a $200 rebate when purchasing the iPhone X, 8, 8 Plus, 7, or 7 Plus on an Equipment Installment Plan, received through a prepaid MasterCard card that you'll get in the mail about eight weeks after the order date. Check out our original blog post for more...

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with ROLI to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a Seaboard Block, a portable keyboard for creating music using touch and shape. ROLI, for those unfamiliar with the brand, makes a fun series of "Blocks" that are used for creating music and are suitable for both beginners and professionals. Designed to replace a traditional keyboard, the...

It's been just over two weeks since YouTube updated its Apple TV app with a major redesign, essentially bringing the app in line with YouTube on other products like Android TV, smart TVs, PS4, and Xbox One. While the original YouTube Apple TV app was never widely favored, the new update was met with even more blowback from some users, who referenced laggy controls, poorer playback UI, illogical...

For the last few months, Apple has been offering regular promotions to entice customers to use Apple Pay within various apps. This week, Apple has teamed up with Instacart to offer free delivery on groceries purchased in the Instacart app using Apple Pay through February 28. To get the deal, customers will need to spend at least $35 per order, and taxes and service fees still apply. Free...

Apple this morning informed developers that they're now able to offer up to 10 screenshots in their App Store product pages for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV apps, allowing them to show customers more of an app's experience. In the App Store, each app has its own product page that offers up a description and images to explain its function or gameplay. Previously, app developers...

Affinity Photo, which Apple named the iPad App of the Year for 2017, was today updated with a suite of "more powerful professional features," according to developer Serif. To celebrate the new update, users can also download three add-on brush and filter packs for free starting today. Specifically, version 1.6.7 of Affinity Photo lets users shoot direct in RAW or HDR video from within the iPad ...

This morning, Loup Ventures shared new information on Apple Pay adoption, estimating that there were 127 million global Apple Pay users by the end of 2017, a jump from 62 million the previous year. Given that there are about 795 million active iPhones around the world, this means that about 16 percent of iPhone owners have activated Apple Pay. Of that 16 percent base, five percent are located...