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

Logitech today announced a new POP Smart Button, its first Apple HomeKit compatible programmable smart button for controlling connected devices around the home. The idea behind the original POP is to free up control of smart devices so that anyone in the home can operate them regardless of whether they have a smartphone and the associated app for each device. The latest POP builds on that...

Google Maps for iOS was today updated to version 4.30.0, introducing a new Directions Widget that allows Google Maps users to access turn-by-turn navigation directly on the lock screen of the iPhone. The widget can be enabled by going to the Today View of the Notification Center, scrolling down to the "Edit" button, and then enabling Google Directions. Once turned on, turn-by-turn navigation...

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming watchOS 3.2.2 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the second watchOS 3.2.2 beta and three weeks after the release of watchOS 3.2, which introduced Theater Mode. The third beta of watchOS 3.2.2 can be downloaded through the Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software Update. To install the update,...

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming tvOS 10.2.1 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the second 10.2.1 beta and three weeks after releasing tvOS 10.2, an update that included improve scrolling and iPad support for the Apple TV Remote app. The tvOS 10.2.1 beta is designed for the fourth-generation Apple TV. It can be downloaded by connecting the Apple...

Four months after giving its users the ability to save posts to view them later, Instagram today announced a new update that will allow for more organization within saved posts. Called "Collections," users on iOS and Android can now place any Instagram post they've saved into specific categories, so it's even easier to revisit them later. Now when users save a post using the bookmark icon,...

Apple has posted a Mother's Day gift guide on its website with many of its usual suggestions, ranging from the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to the Apple Watch Series 2 and BeatsX wireless earphones. The gift guide also groups accessories into four categories: What's New, Creativity, Health & Fitness, and Headphones & Speakers. Mother's Day is May 14 in the United States, Australia, Belgium,...

Nest recently announced a new discount has launched for customers looking to purchase the company's Nest Learning Thermostat, allowing them to buy the IoT temperature-controlling device for $219 on its website, totaling $30 in savings. Nest founder and chief product officer Matt Rogers announced the temporary deal in a blog post this week, which he said is tied into upcoming celebrations...

Amazon has fired another salvo in the virtual assistant wars by opening up access to the far-field voice recognition technology found in its Echo smart speakers so that third-party manufacturers can make their own versions (via BBC). The move comes as Amazon attempts to spread the use of its Alexa virtual assistant across a wide range of connected products and take ownership of a larger...

Top music interviewer and CBC Radio 2 host George Stroumboulopoulos debuted his new House of Strombo music series on Apple Music on Thursday (via Billboard). The 10-episode show is a spin-off of the Canadian host's radio series The Strombo Show, which is filmed at his Toronto home in front of a live audience. The show is set to feature video segments, artist interviews, and exclusive...

Indie high-speed space flier Hyperburner has been named Apple's App of the Week, and as a result, it will be available for free for the next seven days. Normally priced at $2.99, this is the first time Hyperburner has been available for free since it was released in June of 2016. In Hyperburner, players take control of a spaceship in a distant colonial solar system. The idea is to navigate the ...

Although Hulu's new live TV bundle is set to launch before spring is over, details about the service have been noticeably scant ahead of the its launch. Today, sources speaking with TechCrunch who have knowledge of Hulu's plans have claimed that the new cord-cutting bundle will cost subscribers exactly $39.99 per month, which comes in right under Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins' promise of a bundle that...

Apple has partnered with the National Hockey League to provide coaches with iPad Pros for use behind the bench during the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which began on Wednesday, as reported by The Associated Press. Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock (Image: Sportsnet) All sixteen NHL teams that qualified for the playoffs have up to three iPad Pros available to them to review plays. The...

As the competition between Instagram and Snapchat continues to heat up, a new blog post by Instagram today has revealed that the company's Snapchat clone "Instagram Stories" now has more daily active users than Snapchat itself. Of its 600 million users, Instagram now has more than 200 million users posting to or interacting with Stories every day, while Snapchat reportedly has around 158...

Apple today has rebranded iTunes Podcasts to be called "Apple Podcasts," and updated its marketing website for podcasters to learn how the new branding can help promote their shows. Apple Podcasts promo materials now include a new "Listen on Apple Podcasts" badge, while most of the pre-existing graphics standards and podcast identity guidelines remain unchanged. The rebranding also stretches...

Last month Apple acquired work automation app Workflow, which gives users the ability to create a variety of workflows that can translate articles, create GIFs from photos, calculate tips, and more. It's still unclear what Apple plans to do with the app in the future, but Workflow remains on the App Store in the wake of the acquisition, and now it appears that the app will no longer receive any...

An Italian school has launched the first Android-specific course in Apple's increasingly popular open source Swift programming language. The Swift University based in Reggio Emilia claims to be the first, globally, to offer the course for Android, and aims to show students how to use the programming language across both platforms while avoiding the limitations associated with cross-platform...

Burger King made headlines yesterday when it began running a 15-second television ad made to intentionally activate Google Home speakers and Android phones within earshot. The simple commercial involves someone posing as a Burger King employee who leans into the camera to ask the question "OK Google, what is the Whopper burger?" – a request designed to prompt Google virtual assistants nearby ...

Former software engineer Scotty Allen wanted to find out if it was possible to build an iPhone entirely from spare parts, so he decided to visit Shenzhen, China to see if he could collect all the requisite pieces. As it turns out, it is indeed possible to build an iPhone from scratch using a hodgepodge of parts, as Allen demonstrates in the video below. He built a like-new 16GB iPhone 6s...