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

During its "Hello Again" event today Apple revealed that the popular crafting video game Minecraft is heading to the fourth-generation Apple TV sometime by the end of 2016. During the presentation, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that users will even be able to play with friends who are on an iPhone or iPad. "You can build new worlds on your Apple TV, and play with your friends using iPhones and...

Twitter today announced plans to shut down Vine, the video sharing service it acquired in 2012. Twitter plans to discontinue the mobile app "in the coming months," but did not give a specific timeline. Introduced in early 2013, Vine allows users to capture and share looping video clips that are six seconds in length, sharing them on various social networks like Facebook and Twitter.Thank you....

A few users who pre-ordered the Apple Watch Nike+ have begun sharing that their devices are shipping, although with the Apple storefront now offline customers can't check the specific status of their orders. Shipping mentions began earlier in the week, with more email updates being reported this morning, one day ahead of tomorrow's official launch of the Apple Watch Nike+. Orders appear to be...

Continuing in the tradition of changing Reactions to suit a theme or holiday, Facebook today has begun rolling out a Halloween version of the six Reaction buttons. Replacing Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry are a skeleton's hand, candy heart, witch, ghost, Frankenstein's monster, and a pumpkin. Some Reactions, including Like, change into their festive versions after being tapped Using...

Google has officially rebranded its "Google Cast" iOS and Android apps to "Google Home," getting the mobile apps ready for the launch of its hands-free smart home speaker, similarly named Google Home. The new name also comes with a new app icon, new features, and some slight UI tweaks that make "the app easier to use." The old Google Cast icon (left) compared with the new Google Home version ...

Amazon began rolling out Alexa voice assistant to its Amazon Fire tablets yesterday, extending the feature beyond its original smart devices, such as the Echo speaker. The rollout means owners of 7-inch, 8-inch, and 10-inch Fire tablets will be able to issue voice commands for specific requests, like playing music or having the news read to them, but unlike the always-listening smart...

Elgato today launched the Eve Light Switch, the first available light switch to support Apple's HomeKit platform. Eve Light Switch replaces a standard light switch to transform any single or multi-bulb setup into an intelligent lighting system controllable via Siri voice commands or the Elgato Eve app. The switch connects directly to an iPhone or iPad using Bluetooth LE, without the need for ...

Delta Airlines recently announced an update to its Fly Delta app that will allow customers to track their luggage by following its journey on a map of the United States. Using RFID tags on a user's bag, which the airline introduced earlier in the year, the app shows the luggage's "last known location," determined by the airport at which it was most recently scanned (via CNN). When the app is...

Recode has announced Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey will speak at its latest Code Commerce event at Westfield's Bespoke in San Francisco on December 6.Apple executive Jennifer Bailey has been with the company for 13 years, first running all of Apple’s e-commerce sites and now heading up the digital payments service Apple Pay. While there’s still industry debate about whether Apple...

During the Money 20/20 conference taking place in Las Vegas this week, MasterCard announced that it's creating a chatbot for Facebook Messenger that will allow customers to "transact, manage finances, and shop via messaging platforms." Like many other companies, MasterCard is getting in on the chatbot craze to boost customer loyalty and profits; according to Gartner "nearly $2 billion in online...

IBM announced at its "World of Watson" event in Las Vegas on Tuesday that it intends to combine the cognitive computing technology with its MobileFirst for iOS enterprise apps. Watson is the company's cloud-based deep data analytics and natural language processing framework, which has previously seen limited use in secure cloud and analytics services for enterprise versions of Apple's...

During today's fourth quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook highlighted the significant growth Apple saw in its services category, which is up 24 percent year over year. In the quarter, Apple's services segment, which consists of the App Store, iTunes, Apple Music, Apple Pay, AppleCare, and more, brought in $6.3 billion, up from $5 billion in the year-ago quarter. According to Cook,...

Duet Display, the app that allows you to turn your iPad into an extra display for your Mac, is today gaining new features designed to turn the iPad Pro into a high-performance graphics tablet able to compete with Intuos or Wacom drawing tablets. The new "Duet Pro" capabilities allow Duet Display to support the Apple Pencil on a 12.9 or 9.7-inch iPad Pro, allowing users to draw directly on...

Best Buy has shared its annual list of "must-have" tech gadgets ahead of the holiday shopping season, with four Apple products making the cut this year. Specifically, the iPhone 7, Apple Watch Series 2, Powerbeats3 Wireless Earphones, and 9.7-inch iPad Pro were named to the list in no particular order: Google Home Bose® QuietComfort® 35 Wireless Headphones Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer Leno...

Xiaomi unveiled its latest phablet phone, the Mi Note 2, at an event in Beijing today, with the clear intention of filling the void left by the ill-fated Samsung Galaxy Note 7. The Note 2 is the newest model in Xiaomi's premium Mi line and features a 5.7-inch flexible OLED display that sits under a panel of wraparound glass and curves around the sides of the handset. On the rear is a...

Google tonight updated its Maps app, adding food delivery support for popular services like Grubhub, Seamless, Eat 24 and more. The update also makes it easier for users to find plus codes and to take and add photos within the app. Food delivery support is available on many restaurant pages within Google Maps. There's a new "Place an order" option above the restaurant's phone number and...

Apple recently removed Support Profiles from its website, redirecting the page to a new "Get Support" tool that similarly enables customers to check their technical support and service coverage status for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other Apple products they own. There is, however, one notable difference. The new "Get Support" tool only lists Apple products signed into any given Apple ID,...

Following the release of iOS 10.1 this morning, Apple has activated Apple Pay in Japan, making it available for use at all locations that accept the Suica prepaid money card, QuicPay, or iD. Apple Pay in Japan is unique because rather than exclusively using NFC, it also supports the FeliCa payments standard that’s been widely adopted in the country. iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models sold in...