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

Google today announced its "parking difficulty" indicator in Google Maps for iOS and Android will now appear in 25 additional cities around the world. The feature was previously available in the United States only. The simple feature shows a "P" icon with a difficulty level such as "moderate" or "limited," based on how easy it will be to find parking at the destination entered. The feature...

Google today announced a new developer platform for augmented reality apps that won't require dedicated hardware, which it's calling "ARCore." The company originally began making inroads in the AR space a few years ago with Project Tango, which required manufacturers to implement specialized equipment so that smartphones would be compatible with Tango's AR features. Now, Google is "effectively ...

YouTube today announced a few changes coming to the company's mobile apps and desktop site, including a visual update for the well-known YouTube logo. Instead of emphasizing the "Tube" part of the branding, the new icon places the TV-like icon to the left of the company's name. Designed for our multi-screen world, the updated Logo combines a cleaned up version of the YouTube wordmark and...

In a statement sent to multiple Chinese media outlets today, Apple said iPhone and iPad users in China can now use WeChat Pay as a payment method for App Store and Apple Music purchases."We are glad to offer users in mainland China the option of WeChat Pay for their favorite mobile app or Apple Music products. We continue to be dedicated to provide multiple simple and convenient payment methods...

Elgato has announced five new HomeKit-enabled devices coming to its Eve product line, including the Eve Thermo, Eve Lock, Eve Window Guard, Eve Smoke, and Eve Aqua. The announcement was made ahead of IFA Berlin 2017, a consumer electronics and home appliances trade show taking place from September 1-6 where Elgato will showcase the devices in more detail. The new Eve Thermo marks the second...

Apple today announced a new partnership with Accenture, a global management consulting and professional services company, which aims to combine iOS with Accenture's business expertise to guide companies in unlocking new revenue streams, increasing productivity, improving customer experience, and reducing costs. The partnership will result in a dedicated iOS practice inside of Accenture Digital ...

The New York Police Department has confirmed it will begin transitioning to iPhones for its 36,000 police officers in the fall, less than one year after completing a rollout of Windows Phones to its police force. Image: ABC7 Eyewitness News - WABC-TV New York Jessica Tisch, the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Information Technology, said "improvements in Apple controls" will enable the...

Amazon cut the price of its Music Unlimited subscription service for U.S. students on Tuesday, matching a similar deal available for Apple Music (via TechCrunch). For students who are non-Prime customers, Amazon Music Unlimited will now cost $4.99 per month, which is the same amount of money Apple charges students for its streaming service. For existing Prime Student members, however, Amazon...

In an effort to better protect user privacy and improve its image, Uber has decided to remove a background GPS tracking feature that allows riders to be tracked for up to five minutes after a ride ends, reports Reuters. Uber is expected to announce the privacy change starting on Tuesday, with the update expected to roll out to iPhone users this week. The same update will be made to Android...

Following its May acquisition of sleep tracking product Beddit, Apple has taken over all support for the device. The Beddit support site, which previously provided customers with a Beddit customer support email address to use, now includes a link that directs customers to instead contact Apple support for any issues. It's not entirely clear when the change was made, but it was noticed today by ...

Japanese cybersecurity company Trend Micro today announced its sixth annual Mobile Pwn2Own competition will be held at this year's PacSec security conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, November 1 and Thursday, November 2. The competition is part of Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative, a program for rewarding security researchers for responsibly disclosing vulnerabilities to companies like Apple,...

Apple today seeded the eighth beta of an upcoming tvOS 11 update designed for the fourth-generation TV, one week after seeding the seventh beta and more than two months after releasing the first beta during the 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference. Registered developers can download the tvOS 11 update by connecting the Apple TV to a computer with a USB-C cable and installing the beta software...

Apple today seeded the eighth beta of an upcoming watchOS 4 update to developers, one week after seeding the seventh beta and more than two months after introducing the watchOS 4 update at its 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference. Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS 4 beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch...

Sonos is gearing up to launch an all-new smart speaker that includes voice control functionality fueled by far-field microphones, picking up on user commands from anywhere in a room. The information was discovered in a filing with the FCC (via Zatz Not Funny), and hints that Sonos could be yet another company planning to enter the smart speaker market, following Amazon, Google, and Apple this...

Apple is now selling a trio of Beats products in new "Neighborhood Collection" colors on its online store and retail stores around the world. Solo3 Wireless Headphones and Powerbeats3 Wireless Headphones are now available in Asphalt Gray, Brick Red, Break Blue, and Turf Green. The Beats Pill+ Speaker comes in only Asphalt Gray and Turf Green. • Solo3 Wireless Headphones ($299.95) • Powerb...

Fitbit today announced a collection of all-new products and services, centering upon the company's first smartwatch, the Fitbit Ionic, along with a new subscription coaching service, Fitbit Coach. The Fitbit Ionic includes improved GPS and heart rate tracking, is water resistant up to 50 meters, supports contactless payments, smartphone notifications, on-board music, and more. Like past Fitbit ...

A recent report by Mac Otakara [Google Translate] has delved into a few of the specifications that could be coming to the inductive-style wireless charging feature of the iPhone 8, iPhone 7s, and iPhone 7s Plus. According to the site, citing a source well versed in the Wireless Power Consortium, Apple's devices will only support half of the power profile currently standard in Qi version 1.2,...

In celebration of Force Friday II later this week, Apple has invited customers to attend free Star Wars–themed sessions and workshops at select Apple retail stores between Friday, September 1 and Saturday, September 9. Participating countries include the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands, Spain, Hong Kong, Sweden, Taiwan,...