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

Amazon has announced it is extending third-party support for its Alexa Voice Service (AVS) internationally, with rollout beginning today across the U.K. and Germany (via TechCrunch). First launched in the U.S. in 2015, AVS is the voice-interaction software that powers the company's Echo family of smart speakers as well as a range of supporting third-party smart home connected devices, such...

At least 76 popular iOS apps have been found to be vulnerable to data inception, according to a report from a security expert. The discovery was made by app binary code scanning service verify.ly and published in a Medium post by Sudo Security Group CEO Will Strafach, who revealed that the apps failed to make use of the Transport Layer Security protocol. The TLS protocol secures...

Truphone has introduced international data plans for iPad users with an Apple SIM, including 500MB for €8, 1GB for €11, and 3GB for €20. Each plan lasts up to 30 days and can be used in 40 countries, such as the United States, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom. For now, iPad users need to be in Spain when purchasing an Apple SIM plan from...

Apple Maps has recently been updated to provide users with real-time traffic conditions in Argentina. As usual, highly congested areas will display orange or red lines along the roads to indicate that drivers may face delays. Argentina is the fourth Latin American country to support the feature after Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. Apple Maps shows traffic conditions in over 40 other countries,...

During Tim Cook's visit to France over the weekend, he met with French newspaper Le Figaro for an interview (via MacGeneration [Google Translate]) covering topics ranging from augmented reality to Apple's future retail plans in France. Much of what Cook said has been mentioned before in past interviews, conference calls, and other public appearances, but he did have some France-specific...

Target is currently discounting its entire Series 1 Apple Watch lineup by $70, dropping prices as low as $199.99 on 38mm models and as low as $229.99 on 42mm models. Regular pricing is at $269.99 for 38mm Apple Watches and $299.99 for the 42mm Apple Watches. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Target and may earn commissions on purchases made through these links. A total of...

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming watchOS 3.2 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the first watchOS 3.2 beta and two weeks after the release of watchOS 3.1.3, the current public version of the operating system. The watchOS 3.2 beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software Update after...

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming tvOS 10.2 update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after seeding the first tvOS 10.2 update and more than two weeks after releasing tvOS 10.1.1, the current release version of tvOS. Designed for the fourth-generation Apple TV, the second tvOS 10.2 beta can be obtained by connecting the Apple TV to a computer with a USB-C to USB-A...

Apple Maps has been updated with comprehensive transit data for the New Orleans, Louisiana metropolitan area, enabling iPhone users in the city and select suburbs to navigate using public transportation, including RTA buses and streetcars. Jefferson Transit buses and Amtrak routing is also available in the area. Apple introduced Transit in Maps as part of iOS 9 in select cities around the...

Apple remained the fourth largest smartphone vendor in China in 2016, beaten out by Oppo, Huawei, and Vivo in first, second, and third places, respectively, according to new data from research firm IDC. As a whole, IDC said it was a good year for the smartphone market in China, which saw a 19 percent year-over-year growth in 2016, and a 17 percent quarter-over-quarter growth in the fourth quarter ...

Snapchat has secured the rights to stream six exclusive mini episodes of hugely popular BBC nature documentary series Planet Earth II (via The Verge). The short run of mobile episodes is due to start on February 17, one day before the full series is scheduled to begin broadcast on BBC America. The 4-6 minute episodes accessible to Snapchat users will consist of content shown on the BBC in...

Apple has fired the latest salvo in its continuing battle with Australia's banks over the future of mobile payments, accusing the industry of continually trying to obstruct the expansion of Apple Pay into the country (via Bloomberg). In a submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) published on Monday, Apple said the banks' attempts to delay or even block the...

Apple CEO Tim Cook paid an unexpected visit to an Apple Store in the port of Marseille, France, earlier today, according to French tech blogs Mac4ever.com and iPhone.fr. Both staff and shoppers got an unexpected surprise when Cook arrived unannounced at the commercial shopping mall of Terrasses du Port, where an Apple Store – the country's 20th – opened last May. Photo: Philippe Gouy Cook ...

Jawbone is officially exiting the consumer wearables market to focus on developing medical products for direct sale to clinical practitioners, according to a new report. Speaking to TechCrunch on Friday, sources familiar with the matter said Jawbone's latest pivot away from its fitness tracker and Bluetooth speaker business involved working on a health product for the medical sector, including ...

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Satechi to give MacRumors readers a chance to win a prize pack that includes wireless headphones, a headphones case, and a stand for the headphones. Satechi's Aluminum Wireless Headphones are designed to match Apple's line of iPhones and are available in four complementary colors: Space Gray, Silver, Gold, and Rose Gold. Priced at $69.99, the...

It's been nearly a year since a U.S. federal judge originally ordered Apple to help the FBI hack into an iPhone owned by Syed Farook, one of the shooters in the December 2015 attacks in San Bernardino. As we learned in the months after the initial court order -- which Apple continually opposed -- the FBI enlisted the help of Israeli mobile software developer Cellebrite to open up the iPhone 5c in ...

Popular messaging app Viber has received an update that brings a number of new features to the platform, including the ability to send Secret Messages. Users are now able to specify how long photos, videos, and chat messages can be accessed for after being viewed by the recipient. The time limit options for viewing a Secret Message are 1, 3, 7, and 10 seconds. Viber has also added the...

Apple has hired a former Spotify executive to head up its Apple Music label relations team, according to Business Insider. An Apple spokesperson confirmed that former Spotify VP of content Steve Savoca has been recruited to oversee the music streaming service's global label relations, which work out of New York. Savoca is tasked with building relationships with smaller, independent labels,...