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

As Nintendo keeps launching new properties onto smartphones, the company has taken different strategies in regards to each app's payment model, including free-to-play (Miitomo, Fire Emblem Heroes) and pay-once-and-play (Super Mario Run). According to a senior official at the company, Nintendo actually "prefers" the Super Mario Run model over Fire Emblem Heroes, despite the more lucrative future...

Casetify, a site that specializes in custom designed iPhone and iPad cases, today debuted a collection of shine-through design cases especially curated for Apple's special edition (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, which also debuts on Friday. In total, 60 different designs make up the collection, which includes repeating pattern designs, favorite quotes, and vector graphics, among other ...

Facebook's Messenger app for iOS devices was today updated with a new Message Reactions feature, which is similar to the Tapback features introduced in Apple's Messages app in iOS 10. Message Reactions are designed to allow Facebook users to react to a message with an emoji symbol to express an emotion without needing to type out a response. Users can choose from emoji like thumbs up, thumbs...

Instagram today continued its rollout of pressure free, community-focused updates that now include a blur filter to obscure potentially sensitive content, as deemed by the Instagram review team when a particular post is reported. Instagram said that this means users are "less likely to have surprising or unwanted experiences in the app," but they can still view the image or video by simply...

Walmart today announced that a new update to the mobile app for its streaming movie service, VUDU, will allow customers to scan and digitize any physical DVD or Blu-Ray into digital form for a price between $2 and $5, right from their smartphone. The update is an expansion of Walmart's "Disc-to-Digital" in-house service, which encouraged customers to bring their physical movies to a local Walmart ...

Government officials in India today confirmed that Apple will begin manufacturing iPhone devices within its Bangalore plant over the next few months, in a bid to boost the company's presence within the Indian smartphone market. As was previously reported, Wistron will take the brunt of iPhone manufacturing in the country, focusing on the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, and iPhone SE. In terms of...

Google announced a couple of notable updates for its Duo and Photos apps yesterday at the company's São Paulo event, where it pitched the features as ideal solutions for users in Brazil who live in low connectivity areas. Google Photos received two new features to make photo backup and sharing easier when using the app in locations with poor network coverage. Photos now backs up images...

Nintendo today released version 2.0 of Super Mario Run, its popular Mario-themed platform game for iOS devices. Today's update adds a host of new features, including new playable characters, an easy mode, additional free content, and more. Starting today, players can get different colored Yoshis in Super Mario Run. Using a Yoshi of a particular color to play Toad Rally will result in more...

With the purchase of one of Apple's new iPads, announced yesterday, Best Buy is offering a free $25 Best Buy gift card that can be used towards future Best Buy purchases. The $25 gift card is a small amount, but it's the best sale we've seen on the as-of-yet unreleased iPad, effectively dropping the price of the entry-level tablet to $305. In its retail stores, Best Buy is also offering a ...

A single hacker or group of hackers who have identified themselves as the "Turkish Crime Family" allegedly have access to at least 300 million iCloud accounts, but they are willing to delete the alleged cache of data if Apple pays a ransom by early next month, according to a report from Motherboard. The hackers have allegedly demanded $75,000 to be paid in cryptocurrencies Bitcoin or...

Google today announced an update coming to the iOS, Android, and desktop versions of Google Maps will introduce a way for users to share their real-time locations with friends and family. Google's update differs from the location sharing in Apple Maps, Messages, and Find My Friends, which all lack the ability to follow friends around on a map in real-time. In Google Maps on iOS, users will be...

Yesterday, Apple announced a special edition (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, to go with its current (PRODUCT)RED line-up that Apple promotes as a way for customers to support HIV/AIDS charity (RED). The red handset, which launches on Friday, is the first time Apple has included its flagship phone in the promotional line-up, but the PRODUCT(RED) iPhone branding does not apply across...

Amazon has added a long-awaited Pocket-style read-it-later feature to its Kindle iOS app that allows users browsing the web to send articles to their Kindle device for offline reading. Amazon has offered desktop Chrome and Firefox browser extensions to feed into its Send to Kindle feature for some time, but the company had not offered a Safari-compatible iOS solution until now. The new...

Flexible writing platform Bear Notes received its first major update on Tuesday, bringing a number of highly requested features to the popular Mac/iOS app. Perhaps top of the list is the new ability to infinitely nest tags. Previously, users could organize their notes by structuring tags in simple hierarchies, so a parent tag could have one child tag. Now, nested tags can go infinitely deep,...

Amazon today updated its Amazon Music app for iOS devices to version 6.4.0, adding a small but important new feature: support for CarPlay. With the latest version of the Amazon Music app, Amazon Music subscribers who own a vehicle equipped with CarPlay can access their music directly through the CarPlay interface when an iPhone is connected to the car. Amazon Music is available to Amazon...

Logitech today announced a new series of accessories made for schools using the just-announced 9.7-inch iPad, or any iPad with a similar form factor. The "Rugged Combo" includes both a case for the iPad as well as a detachable keyboard, and when both are connected Logitech said they combine to become "the ultimate classroom solution" for taking notes, tests, going on field trips, and studying. ...

Apple today discontinued the iPad mini 2, which launched in November 2013 and was most recently sold for $269 in the United States. Apple's cheapest tablet is now the new 9.7-inch iPad, which starts at $329, while those preferring the 7.9-inch size can purchase the iPad mini 4 with 128GB of storage for $399. Apple's tablet lineup has now been narrowed down to the iPad Pro in 9.7-inch and...

Apple this morning made its iPhone 7 silicone and leather cases available in a handful of new colors. The colors of the new silicone cases (above, left to right) are described as Azure, Camellia, and Pebble, priced at $35 for iPhone 7 models and $39 for iPhone 7 Plus. Elsewhere, the leather case options have expanded to include shades of Sapphire, Taupe, and Berry, costing $45 for...