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

Chapter one of Steve Jackson's Sorcery! fantasy role-playing game is currently available for free for a limited time on the App Store. Usually $4.99, the critically acclaimed interactive adventure by Inkle is the first in a four-part series loosely based on the mechanic so successfully employed in the popular Fighting Fantasy role-playing gamebooks of the 1980s. The fully interactive...

Spotify has quietly added the ability for users to adjust the playback position of the currently playing track directly from the iOS lock screen. The option to adjust the progress of a playing track – also known as audio scrubbing – from the lock screen has been a feature of Apple's native Music app for some time, but the ability has been missing from Spotify until very recently, as noted...

Google Maps received an update on Wednesday that makes it easier to contribute reviews to points of interest and adds the option to get reminders to make a transfer on a transit journey. The user contribution aspect comes in the form of a new "Local Guides" widget that allows users to propose new places to visit, to comment on existing points of interest, and upload location photos. The...

Apple today updated its investor relations page to announce that the company will share its earnings for the third fiscal quarter (second calendar quarter) of 2017 on Tuesday, August 1. The earnings release will provide a look at ongoing iPhone 7 and 7 Plus sales ahead of the iPhone 8, as well as early sales of the new iPad Pro and Mac models that were introduced at the Worldwide Developers...

Smart wireless earphones company Bragi has been making waves in the "hearables" market since 2014, when it debuted a Kickstarter for The Dash, the company's original pair of truly wireless intelligent earphones that subsequently launched to the public in early 2016. After numerous Bragi OS updates to The Dash, and the lower-priced, lower-specced launch of The Headphone, this year Bragi revealed...

The U.S. government has lifted the in-cabin ban on laptops and other large electronic devices on inbound flights from Dubai and Istanbul, according to Emirates and Turkish Airlines. An Emirates spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday that the ban was lifted for flights out of Dubai after the airline adopted new security measures announced last week by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security....

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is seeking clarification from Apple over its decision to ban an app extension that lets Westpac bank customers use social media and mobile messaging platforms to make payments. Known as Westpac Keyboard, the feature was announced in March and let the bank's customers change the default keyboard in social messaging apps such as Facebook ...

Samsung is developing a voice-activated smart speaker to rival the likes of the Amazon Echo and Apple's forthcoming HomePod, according to a report published on Tuesday. The project, internally codenamed "Vega", will be based on Samsung's Bixby virtual assistant, but many of the speaker's features and specifications have yet to be decided, according to sources who spoke to The Wall Street...

Two years ago Apple Music officially launched, alongside the debut of the service's 24/7 streaming radio channel Beats 1. In celebration of that anniversary, Beats 1 DJs Zane Lowe, Ebro Darden and Julie Adenuga have given an interview to Highsnobiety to discuss their career high points working on Beats 1, the evolving landscape of digital radio, and more. Zane Lowe has spoken about his origins ...

While Samsung remains the world's the dominant supplier of OLED panels and will supply Apple with up to 92 million OLED screens over the next two years, a new report today suggests that Apple is looking to diversify its supply chain by investing $1.75-2.62 billion into LG Display's OLED manufacturing. Specifically, Apple and LG Display are said to be considering a deal that would funnel Apple's...

A popular virtual private network service has been forced to close in China on orders from the government, it emerged on Monday. Bloomberg reported that GreenVPN sent a notice to its customers saying it would end the service from July 1 after "receiving a notice from regulatory departments". VPNs route and encrypt internet traffic to servers outside of the country, making them popular with...

Soon after Jay-Z's newest album, "4:44," launched as an exclusive on his own streaming service Tidal, sources speaking to Billboard this weekend have said that 4:44 will be coming to Apple Music and iTunes later this week. Tidal and Sprint are believed to have a one week exclusivity window on 4:44, so it's predicted that the album will launch on Apple Music next Friday, July 7. A rumor last...

Red Lion Hotels today announced plans to enhance guest experiences with a series of Apple-related technology upgrades, including Apple TVs in hotel rooms, an updated iOS app that allows guests to check in using their iPhones, iPad kiosks for lobby areas, and more. Red Lion Hotels is starting to add in-room Apple TVs to its "Hotel RL" branded properties. The TVs will be equipped with Red Lion...

While this week was filled with loads of iOS news, what's likely the most time sensitive is the number of sales happening on the App Store right now. It seems like practically every iOS game (and app) developer either has their game or IAP inside of their game on sale. A great place to follow along with these sales is by keeping an eye on AppShopper. There are too many to list, but if you're...

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Brilliant to give MacRumors readers a chance to win a Brilliant Control, which is a touchscreen-equipped smart lighting solution that's able to control your lights and all of your other smart home products. The Brilliant Control, available in a range of colors to match any decor, is designed to replace one of the light switch panels in your home....

In August 2012, iOS users began noticing that the default YouTube app had been removed from Apple's software in iOS 6 Beta 4, becoming permanent with the public debut of the software in the fall of 2012. For the five years prior, YouTube was a mainstay on the iPhone, launching as a default app on iPhone OS as far back as the original iPhone in 2007. Animosity between Apple and many Android...

Apple has added Hopster, an app with TV shows, nursery rhymes, and games for kids, to the universal search function on the fourth-generation Apple TV. For those unfamiliar with universal search, it allows users to use Siri or input text-based searches to find TV and movie content across a wide range of channels. At launch, universal search only supported a few channels, but Apple has been...

With Apple still showing six-week shipping on AirPods, those looking to get their hands on a pair of the wireless earphones more quickly might want to check out Best Buy, which currently has them in stock with free two-day shipping. It'll take a bit longer than the stated timeframe to get them with the weekend and Fourth of July holiday in the U.S., so Best Buy is generally quoting July 5 for...