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

Apple partnered with 15 photographers in a number of countries around the world to capture New Year's Eve festivities with photos taken on iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus devices, according to CNN. The photos range from Samah El Ali's shot of the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge fireworks from The Royal Botanic Gardens in Australia to John Lehmann's shot of festivities in Vancouver on Canada's west...

Following reports this month that Apple has been in talks to manufacture its products locally in India, as well as set up a distribution center in the country, an article by Bloomberg today suggests that the Cupertino company is now asking India to offer up tax concessions on iPhones created within its borders. According to people familiar with the matter, Apple is asking for lower import...

Foxconn is deploying a plan broken down into three phases that will eventually "automate entire factories" in China (via DigiTimes). According to the general manager of Foxconn's Automation Technology Development Committee, Dai Jia-peng, the company's first phase of the plan is "to set up individual automated work stations for work that workers are unwilling to do or is dangerous." The second...

A new trend study published by Nielsen this week looks into the top smartphone apps of 2016, as well as the operating systems that the apps were downloaded on. This year within the United States, Facebook won the top spot with more than 146 million average unique users each month. The social network company also dominated the second spot with Facebook Messenger at 129 million unique users...

Kanex today announced two additional devices to its line of GoPower Apple Watch accessories: the GoPower Watch Stand and GoPower Watch Mini. The two new accessories join the GoPower Watch Portable Battery, which debuted this past August for $99.95. The magnetic GoPower Watch Stand charges and displays both 38mm and 42mm Apple Watch variations. There's also an additional USB port on the back...

In a conversation on Twitter this morning that followed a call for ideas to improve the Twitter platform, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said he believes some form of editing function is needed on the social network. Twitter is one of the few social networks where editing content that's been shared is not possible, despite Twitter users having long desired the feature. On social networks like...

Twitter's video streaming service Periscope was today updated with support for live 360-degree video, allowing broadcasters to share a more immersive video streaming experience with their fans on Periscope and Twitter. Live 360 videos are denoted by a special badge and when viewed, users can tilt, rotate, or tap on their devices to see additional angles of an uploaded video. 360 video works...

Hulu yesterday announced it has signed a multi-year licensing deal with Walt Disney Studios, which will see Hulu granted exclusive subscription video on-demand rights to a selection of Disney movies. Hulu users are now able to exclusively stream popular Disney titles like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Mulan, Pocahontas, Hercules, Sister Act, and AirBud."The Disney brand is synonymous with...

Like it did on Thanksgiving, Apple today has begun notifying Apple Watch owners of a soon-to-launch Activity challenge, hoping to encourage users to get moving and work out in the new year. To earn the achievement, Apple Watch owners will have to close all three Activity rings each day for an entire week in January. Image via MacRumors forum member friednoodles The challenge should become...

Smart home company LEDVANCE today announced the Sylvania Smart Multicolor A19 bulb, a HomeKit-enabled Wi-Fi smart light that users can control through Siri and the new Home app without the need of a separate hub. Because there's no hub installation, all users have to do is screw in the bulb into a light source and sync it with HomeKit to begin controlling the Sylvania lights. The hub-free...

PayPal is offering 10% off iTunes e-gift cards until December 30 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. Available denominations include a $25 iTunes e-gift card for $22.50, $50 iTunes e-gift card for $45, and a $100 iTunes e-gift card for $90. The gift cards are not physical but instead delivered electronically via email. iTunes gift cards can be used to purchase apps, games, music, movies, TV shows,...

Google's Santa Tracker finally went live today, allowing anyone with Google Maps installed on an iOS device to keep up with Santa's mythical journey across the world in real time. Users can type 'track santa' into the Google Maps search field to view the area in which Santa can be currently found dispensing gifts. Tapping the blue Santa icon in the bottom right of the screen offers up more...

MacRumors is holding a series of software giveaways in celebration of the holidays, and for today's giveaway, we've partnered with AgileBits to give MacRumors readers a chance to win a three-year subscription to 1Password for Families. For those unfamiliar with 1Password, it is password management software, which is essential in an era where critical website hacks occur on a near-daily basis....

Target today is having a sale on a collection of iPad models, including the most recent Wi-Fi versions of the 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro. For the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, Target has taken off $150, marking the 32GB, 128GB, and 256GB iPad down to $449.99, $549.99, and $649.99, respectively. Not every version of the iPad is available to ship, however. At the time of writing, for the 9.7-inch iPad ...

The team over at our sister site TouchArcade plays, reviews, and highlights thousands of mobile games every year, making them experts on the best iOS titles out there. Now that the App Store freeze is in place and no additional apps will be coming out in 2016, TouchArcade has compiled its list of the top 100 mobile games of the year. TouchArcade's list, which is alphabetical, spans multiple ...

Uber responded on Friday to concerns surrounding its app's background tracking behavior by explaining that the issue is being caused by an update to iOS itself, not the company's ride-hailing app (via TechCrunch). Concerns were first raised about Uber's use of location services when the company announced it would track customers' whereabouts for a few minutes after their trip ends and the app...

Israeli mobile software developer Cellebrite gained media attention earlier this year when rumors suggested the FBI recruited the company to unlock San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook's iPhone. While the FBI did not enlist Cellebrite's help, the company does have technology licensed by governments that can extract iPhone data. ZDNet has obtained documents that reveal the scope of this technology. ...

On its YouTube channel, Apple today shared three videos promoting iBooks exclusive enhanced versions of titles from George R.R. Martin's popular "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. Each video features Martin talking about one of the books in the series, starting with "A Game of Thrones," which is the first book. In the two minute video, which is accompanied by artwork, Martin speaks about one of...