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

Following an op-ed shared on Axios earlier this morning by CEO Evan Spiegel, Snapchat has now unveiled its radical redesign with the goal of creating a personalized user experience that's easier to navigate, particularly for new users (via TechCrunch). The app's update will start to roll out to iOS and Android users on Friday, and will be introduced to everyone "within a few weeks." The update ...

Waze today announced it is rolling out three new features in its popular crowdsourced navigation app for iOS and Android, the most notable of which is support for high occupancy vehicle lanes, also known as carpool lanes. Image via TechCrunch If you are driving with at least one passenger, or have a hybrid or electric vehicle with a special permit, Waze will now take carpool lanes on highways ...

Facebook users are beginning to notice a new account verification test on mobile devices that asks for them to upload a clear photo of their face, which will then be used to confirm that they are a real person, similar to other basic captcha tests that prove human users are not a bot. The selfie verification test has been around since at least earlier this spring, but the story is just now...

Microsoft looks set to release a new iOS app for Windows 10 users in the coming months that lets them transfer photos from their Apple devices to their PCs more easily. First discovered by Italian blog Aggiornamenti Lumia, the companion app is said to support the fast transfer of photos and videos from Apple smartphones to PCs provided they're connected to the same Wi-Fi network. The app...

Apple has taken down games from its App Store that glorify the Philippine government's deadly drugs war, according to a regional organization supporting victims of illegal drugs (via The Philippine Star). Last month, the Asian Network of People who Use Drugs (ANPUD) sent Apple CEO Tim Cook a letter demanding that the company remove several iOS games which it said valorized "the emerging...

Radio streaming service iHeartRadio has updated its official iOS app to include support for podcast playback through Apple's CarPlay feature, meaning listeners can now tune into their favorite iHeartRadio podcasts when they're on the road. The latest update introduces podcasts in CarPlay through a number of new features, according to a iHeartRadio blog post announcing the changes. "Continue...

Instagram today announced the launch of a new "Remix" feature for Direct Messages, which is designed to allow users to remix their friends' photos and then send them back for "fun conversations." When viewing a photo message from a friend, you can tap on the camera icon at the bottom and to create a reply. The reply includes a photo sticker of the image you're replying to, which can be moved,...

Apple may be leasing a former Fiat-Chrysler vehicle testing site in Arizona for autonomous vehicle research purposes, according to an unnamed source that spoke to Jalopnik. Apple has reportedly been recruiting automative test engineers and technicians from vehicle proving grounds around Arizona to work at the site, located in Surprise, Arizona, but neither Apple nor Fiat-Chrysler would confirm ...

Each year, Apple shuts down iTunes Connect for a week around the holidays to give its App Store staff time off from work. This year, iTunes Connect will be shut down from December 23 to December 27. While iTunes Connect is shuttered, Apple will not accept new apps or app updates, so all price changes and app submissions will need to be locked in before that date. Developers often offer...

Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.2 update to developers for testing purposes, a week and a half after seeding the fourth tvOS 11.2 update and a month after the launch of tvOS 11.1. Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the tvOS 11.2 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that's installed using Xcode. According to...

Starting today, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank in Australia is offering support for Apple Pay. The announcement means account holders in Australia can now use Apple Pay with their Bendigo Blue Bank cards. People who use Apple Pay with their Bendigo Bank MasterCard will continue to get the rewards and benefits that their Mastercard credit and debit cards provide. Eligible cards also include:Act...

WhatsApp received an update on Tuesday introducing a couple of notable feature additions, namely, a more convenient way to record long voice messages, and a picture-in-picture mode for viewing YouTube videos. WhatsApp's voice message recording ability has been a popular feature on the chat platform for a good while now, but the fact that you had to hold down the microphone button to keep...

Nintendo's latest iOS game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp has been downloaded at least 15 million times since it first became available for download last week, according to new download estimates shared by Sensor Tower (via TechCrunch). At an estimated 15 million downloads within six days, Sensor Tower says Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is Nintendo's second most successful launch in terms of raw ...

Amazon has extended a sale from Black Friday into Cyber Monday, offering you the chance to buy a $100 App Store and iTunes Gift Card for $85 with the promo code ITUNES15. This limited promotion can be applied to any iTunes gift card priced at $100 or more, so you also can get $15 off $150 and $200 cards sold by Amazon's ACI Gift Cards Inc. storefront. There is a limit of one card per customer as...

Apple is offering a series of "sketch walks" hosted by well-known artists to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Urban Sketchers, a global community of artists that are dedicated to on-location drawing. Many artists who are members of Urban Sketchers have adopted the iPad Pro as a drawing tool of choice, including Uma Kelkar from San Francisco, Rob Sketcherman from Hong Kong, Don Low from...

Snapchat over the weekend quietly began launching a new intelligent image recognition feature in its app, first spotted by Mashable. The feature automatically recognizes certain objects and events when you snap a picture of them, and provides you with appropriate filters and borders for your images when you scroll through editing options. At launch, recognizable objects include concerts, beaches, ...

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with IFROGZ to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win the IFROGZ Impulse Wireless Headphones. The Impulse Wireless Headphones, priced at $60, are on-ear headphones that are designed to provide immersive, balanced sound with 40mm drivers. The IFROGZ headphones are Bluetooth-equipped and work with all of Apple's latest devices, and there are...

Google today updated its collection of productivity apps for iOS with support for the iPhone X, so now anyone who uses Google Docs [Direct Link], Google Sheets [Direct Link], and Google Slides [Direct Link] on Apple's newest smartphone will see full compatibility for the iPhone X's 5.8-inch screen. Additionally, the same update has introduced drag-and-drop support for all three apps on...