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

Snap Inc. today announced an all-new Live feature that will allow users of the iOS and Android apps to stream key snippets of major televised events, the first partner being NBCUniversal in time for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang. Beginning this Saturday, February 10, Snapchat users will see these live streams of the Olympics in the app's Discover page. NBCUniversal will also be...

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.3 update to its public beta testing group, one day after providing the second beta to developers and two weeks after releasing the first tvOS 11.3 public beta. The new tvOS 11.3 public beta can be downloaded by going to the Settings app on the Apple TV and navigating to the Software Updates section under "System." "Get Public Beta...

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming watchOS 4.3 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the first beta and two weeks after releasing watchOS 4.2.2, a minor update focusing on bug fixes and performance improvements. Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple...

Apple today apologized after sending incorrect information to some iOS developers using its Search Ads Basic service yesterday. The reports actually belonged to other developers, according to Steve Troughton-Smith and others affected. The follow-up email blames the mishap on a "processing error" and adds that all future reports of these kind will require developers to sign into their...

Uber yesterday updated its iPhone app, and while the release notes do not mention any specific changes, the latest version appears to re-enable the ability to request a vehicle for pickup using Siri or Apple Maps. After updating the Uber app, we were successfully able to ask Siri to hail us a ride, while tapping on the Ride tab in Apple Maps once again listed Uber as one of the ride-hailing...

Microsoft today updated its Cortana app for iOS with native iPad support. The design looks essentially the same as the iPhone version, but with an interface optimized for the larger 7.9-inch to 12.9-inch screen sizes of Apple's tablets. The release notes also mention that Cortana now opens 20 percent faster:What's new: Introducing a brand-new Cortana for iPad design. Enjoy an exclusive...

Apple is in talks with its investment bank Goldman Sachs about the possibility of offering customers financial loans when buying Apple products, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. The Wall Street firm is in talks to offer financing to shoppers buying phones, watches and other gadgets from Apple, people familiar with the matter said. Customers purchasing a $1,000 ...

Alipay, the mobile payment system offered by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, will soon be accepted in Apple retail stores across China, making it the first third-party mobile payment system to be accepted at brick-and-mortar Apple stores anywhere in the world (via Reuters). The partnership with Apple was announced in a statement on Wednesday by Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial, which runs...

Starting with the second beta of iOS 11.3, Apple has introduced a new "Battery Health" feature that's designed to provide you with more information about the state of your battery and whether or not it's impacting device performance. If your iPhone has a degraded battery that is leading to throttling issues, the "Battery Health" section will let you know about it, and it will provide an...

iOS 10.2.1, introduced on January 23, 2017, has become one of Apple's most infamous iOS updates as it marked the introduction of power management features that slow down older iPhones with degraded batteries. Apple introduced the update, and designed the power management features, to fix unexpected shutdowns that were impacting iPhone 6 and 6s devices. When iOS 10.2.1 was first released...

Target this week has launched one of the first notable App Store and iTunes gift card discounts since the holidays, offering shoppers the chance to buy one iTunes card at regular price and get a second one for 20 percent off. While not as good as the straight 15 percent discounts for a single card we've seen over the past few months, this is one of the only iTunes card sales going on right now,...

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.3 update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after seeding the first beta and two weeks after releasing the tvOS 11.2.5 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....

Apple is planning to build a second data center in China, with an operation date set for 2020 and location in Ulanqab City, according to a report today by Xinhua Net (via Reuters). Located in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the second center is said to provide various iCloud services for users on the Chinese mainland. Plans are for the center to run on 100 percent renewable...

The New York Police Department is making good on a promise made last year to dole out iPhone handsets to its officers, replacing around 36,000 Windows Phones as part of a new hardware upgrade strategy, reports the New York Daily News. The NYPD has been rolling out hundreds of the phones since Christmas to Manhattan cops, who can choose between iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models. The platform...

Music journalist Alex Gale has been named the new head of editorial for Apple Music, reports Variety. Gale has previously written for sites like Billboard, Complex, XXL, and Vibe. Gale, who will work under Jen Robbins, the director of project management and editorial for Apple, will lead the team that's responsible for all written content on Apple's music platforms, including Apple Music,...

Apple's Live Photos, introduced in 2015, are photos that capture 1.5 seconds of video before and after you take a picture, with the aim of adding a little bit of life and movement to still images. When you take a photo with an iPhone, not every shot comes out crisp and clear, but with Live Photos, if you get a blurry image, you can open it up and see if other frames you captured are clearer. ...

Apple introduced two-factor authentication (2FA) in 2015 to provide an enhanced level of security when accessing Apple ID accounts. With 2FA enabled, you'll be the only person who can access your account, regardless of whether someone learns your password – as the result of a hack or a phishing scam, for example – so it's well worth taking the time to enable the feature. In this article,...

Apple on iTunes recently discounted a few bundles for movies in the Cloverfield, Mission: Impossible, and Jack Ryan franchises. The sale prices have gone live on iTunes alongside the reveal of new trailers for the latest entries in each franchise (as well as an all-new Cloverfield movie on Netflix), which happened during last night's Super Bowl LII. We've listed all of the bundles and prices ...