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

Robotics company Sphero skyrocketed to popularity in 2015 with the release of BB-8, a miniature iPhone-controlled toy droid modeled after the BB-8 character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. As the release of the The Last Jedi approaches this December, Sphero has introduced two new Star Wars-themed robotic toys, BB-9E and R2-D2. R2-D2 is a well-known classic droid that's starred in Star...

PayPal's Digital Gifts storefront on eBay today has a 15 percent discount on $100 iTunes gift cards, letting those interested purchase the card for just $85 while the deal lasts. As a bonus, the gift card is electronic, so you'll get a code sent to your email for the iTunes credit within a few minutes after checkout. Head over to PayPal Digital Gift's eBay page right here to check out the...

Popular text editor Ulysses received a substantial update on Thursday, adopting features and UI design concepts that bring the universal app into greater alignment with iOS 11. Foremost in the changes is support for Drag and Drop in iOS 11, enabling users to rearrange sheets by picking them up and moving them around. It's also now possible to drag images and text passages from other apps to...

Facebook is planning to introduce a feature that will let publishers sell subscriptions to their news sites directly on Facebook, but subscription purchases won't be available on iOS devices because Apple and Facebook are having trouble working out terms, reports Recode. The feature will add paywalls to some articles in the Facebook news feed, directing users to the publisher's site to...

Rogers, the largest wireless carrier in Canada, has admitted that it has seen lackluster demand for the iPhone 8 so far. "What we're seeing is sort of […] anemic appetite for the iPhone 8," said Rogers CEO Joe Natale, during an earnings call today, according to Reuters. iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus pre-orders began on September 15, and the devices launched on September 22, including at...

Triby IO, a new smart home product from French company Invoxia, is a speaker that also doubles as a HomeKit switch, allowing HomeKit scenes to be added to the five buttons on the device. Designed to be attached to the wall or placed in a room to serve as sort of a home hub and entertainment unit, Triby lets users listen to music and radio. Its HomeKit support is limited to the five buttons on...

Smart lock company August Home has been acquired by Swedish lock manufacturer Assa Abloy, the world's largest lock manufacturer by sales volume and owner of Yale and multiple other lock brands. As is customary, the acquisition is "conditional upon regulatory approval," but Assa Abloy mentioned in its press release that it should close sometime during the fourth quarter of 2017. Any further terms...

Ultimate Ears, a company known for its line of rugged, colorful speakers with high-quality audio, today announced two new additions to its product lineup: the BLAST and the MEGABLAST. BLAST and MEGABLAST are Ultimate Ears' first Wi-Fi connected speakers. Designed as successors to the UE Boom 2 and UE Megaboom 2, the BLAST and MEGABLAST feature the same cylindrical body shape, bold design,...

Facebook has been testing a new "Explore Feed" that's designed to help users discover relevant content outside of the standard News Feed, and now the feature is officially rolling out to users on both mobile devices and the desktop, reports TechCrunch. Facebook confirmed the rollout of the feature in a statement:"We are beginning to roll out a complementary feed of popular articles, videos, and...

In addition to Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates, Apple Pay may launch in the Netherlands and Poland later this year. Dutch blog One More Thing, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, claims that ING will be the first bank to offer Apple Pay in the Netherlands. Virtual bank Bunq also supposedly plans to support Apple Pay. Rabobank, one of the largest banks...

Verizon today announced it is lowering its deductible for cracked screen repairs for customers signed up for its Total Mobile Protection plan. Starting on Thursday, October 19, the fee will be reduced from $49 to $29. Total Mobile Protection itself costs $11 per month for smartphones and $9 per month for tablets. Enrolling in Total Mobile Protection is typically only allowed within 30 days...

Best Buy today launched an early access sale for members of the My Best Buy program, marking the first day of a new 3-Day sale that's gearing up this week. Only one Apple product has an early access discount -- the mid-2017 refresh of the MacBook Air -- but there are a few other deals on 4K television sets and Bluetooth headphones. As the week progresses and Best Buy opens up the sale to more...

Apple Maps now provides indoor maps for eight additional airports in the United States, as the new feature continues to roll out in iOS 11. The recently added airports include O'Hare International and Midway International in Chicago, McCarran International in Las Vegas, Baltimore–Washington International, Miami International, Minneapolis–Saint Paul International, Oakland International,...

Apple and GE today announced a new partnership that will provide developers with the tools to make their own powerful industrial apps. The two companies unveiled a new software development kit for iOS that will give developers the ability to make iPhone and iPad apps that use analytics from GE's industrial "Internet of Things" platform Predix. For example, a Predix app can notify workers...

Apple Pay support in Spain has been extended to CaixaBank and ImaginBank, according to reports out of the country this morning. Spanish tech blog AppleSfera first reported that cards issued by the banks were working with Apple's mobile payment system as of Tuesday, and CaixaBank has now officially confirmed the support. Apple Pay integration with Caixabank had been promised "before the...

Apple pushed an update to users of its iTunes U iOS app on Tuesday, bringing the education-focused service up to speed with recent changes introduced in iTunes 12.7 last month. Apple launched iTunes U in 2007 as a free repository of educational content through the iTunes Store, allowing educators to create course collections comprising audio, media, handouts, ebooks, and other bundled content. ...

Facebook Live, the feature that allows Facebook users to broadcast live video to followers and friends, was today updated with support for screen sharing. As noticed by The Next Web, there's now a button for sharing your computer screen when broadcasting on Facebook Live. Image via The Next Web Using the screen sharing feature requires a Facebook Screen Sharing browser extension to be...

Eftpos, a debit payments network in Australia, today announced that ANZ eftpos Access cards now feature support for Apple Pay. ANZ is the first bank in Australia to make in-store eftpos mobile payments available to 1.6 million ANZ eftpos Access cardholders through Apple Pay. Visa, American Express, and MasterCard credit and debit cards issued in Australia by participating banks already...