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

Lyft yesterday quietly announced a new calendar integration feature for its popular ride-hailing app, allowing users to sync their calendar to search and select upcoming event locations. That's right: When requesting a ride, you no longer have to fumble through multiple apps to find the name or address of wherever it is you need to go. Just sync your calendar once and you're all set.To...

German soccer club FC Bayern Munich announced a sponsorship deal with Apple Music on Monday, offering exclusive playlists and other content to fans of the team that currently tops the Bundesliga, which is regularly broadcast on TV in over 200 countries. According to iPhone-Ticker.de, Apple Music is to be regarded as FC Bayern's official music service, with the first playlist already available...

Nintendo on Tuesday announced it is delaying the release of the currently untitled mobile version of Animal Crossing, which was previously slated for release before the end of March (via The Verge). Nintendo said the much-anticipated mobile game won't appear until the following financial year, which runs from April 2017 to March 2018. Nintendo had originally planned to launch mobile games...

Following the release of iOS 10.2.1 on January 23, Apple has stopped seeding iOS 10.2, the previous version of iOS that was available to consumers. Customers who have upgraded to iOS 10.2.1 will no longer be able to downgrade their devices to iOS 10.2. Apple routinely stops signing older versions of software updates after new releases come out to encourage customers to stay up to date. iOS...

Electronic payments company Square today announced a new partnership with Apple that will allow small businesses to obtain free processing fees with Apple Pay and compatible Square Readers. Starting today, eligible small businesses across the U.S. will have the chance to process over $12,000 worth of Apple Pay payments for free (based on the 2.75 percent contactless transaction fee charged by...

Starbucks today launched a limited iOS beta test for a new artificial intelligence assistant called "My Starbucks barista," which will let customers order their favorite menu items by speaking with a virtual barista within a new messaging interface in the company's mobile app (via TechCrunch). If they choose to, users can also opt to simply type their order to Starbucks, similar to chatbots...

T-Mobile USA today introduced a limited time promotion offering customers a prepaid MasterCard with a new smartphone purchase starting February 1. The card is worth 11.2% of the smartphone's retail price, which T-Mobile advertises as covering more than the sales taxes that a customer would pay. The deal is valid on every new smartphone that T-Mobile sells, including iPhones. Each smartphone...

Fitbit is set to announce cuts of between 5 to 10 percent to its workforce later on Monday amid lower-than-expected fourth quarter results. According to The Information, the job cuts are expected to affect between 80 and 160 people across multiple departments and save the company $200 million in costs. The Q4 results will be the second consecutive quarter in which Fitbit has missed its...

Apple has allegedly begun removing iOS apps originating in Iran from the App Store, according to reports over the weekend. Tech news site Techrasa posted a story claiming that the biggest e-commerce service, Digikala, had its app removed from the store a few days ago (Via TechCrunch). The removal appears to relate to international trade laws. No official App Store exists for Iran, so Iranian...

Apple Maps has been updated with comprehensive transit data for the Houston, Texas metropolitan area, enabling iPhone users in the city and select Harris County suburbs to navigate using public transportation, including METRO buses and METRORail. Amtrak also goes through Houston, as previously supported by Apple Maps. Apple introduced Transit in Maps as part of iOS 9 in select cities around...

British carrier Three has seeded a carrier settings update—version 27.1—that enables native Wi-Fi calling on iPhones. Three previously required iPhone customers to use its free Three inTouch app for Wi-Fi calling, but the carrier settings update released on Friday introduces system-level support for Wi-Fi calls and texts under Settings > Phone > Wi-Fi Calling.We know that sometimes you can't ...

Today marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year, and to celebrate the Year of the Rooster, Google has teamed up with 12 museums from Beijing to Washington to create a new online exhibition that can be visited through the Google Arts & Culture iOS app. Across Asia and around the world, families are coming together, houses and neighborhoods are being dressed up in red and traditional...

Nanoleaf started out in 2013 as small company offering a Kickstarter project for an energy efficient light bulb, which led to the launch of the HomeKit-enabled Nanoleaf Smarter Kit, a set of three standard-style bulbs connected by a hub. Nanoleaf's first HomeKit accessory worked well but was rather ordinary, something that can't be said about its newest product, the Aurora Smarter Kit....

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Grovemade to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win one of the company's wood iPhone cases and a matching dock. All of Grovemade's products, ranging from Apple accessories to desk sets, are made from high quality wood and leather, and everything matches. Grovemade's docks, priced at $79, are made from wood and solid aluminum. Available in Walnut...

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday published an Apple patent application for a "sublimator/vaporizer" invention, leading to sensational headlines suggesting Apple might release a vape or enter the vaping industry. In actuality—and this could go without saying—the invention is completely unrelated. The patent instead relates to a semiconductor device fabrication process...

Apple has formally joined the Partnership on AI as a founding member, confirming an earlier report, the organization announced today.Apple has joined the Partnership on AI as a founding member. The company has been involved and collaborating with the Partnership since before it was first announced and is thrilled to formalize its membership alongside Amazon, Facebook, Google/DeepMind, IBM, and...

The U.K.'s Ministry of Defense has chosen Apple's iPhone 7 over Samsung as the "device of choice" for its military personnel, according to a report by TechRepublic this week. Telecoms company BT is said to be working with the country's MoD to harden the security of the phone so that military officers can discuss and store sensitive information on the device. Steve Bunn, technical business...

Mozilla has added more than 20 new languages to Firefox Focus, its privacy-centric browser that automatically blocks all trackers as users navigate around the web. The latest update to the stripped-down web browser – which features an "Erase" button at the top of the app to erase all browsing history, searches, cookies, and passwords instantly – means users can now browse privately in 27...