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

Apple today released a new software update for the Apple Watch, upgrading watchOS 3 to watchOS 3.1. The new watchOS 3.1 update comes more than one month after watchOS 3 was first provided to the public, marking the first update to the new operating system. watchOS 3.1 has been in testing since September 21, with Apple having seeded three betas before launch. watchOS 3.1 can be downloaded...

Apple today released a new update for tvOS, the operating system designed to run on the fourth-generation Apple TV. tvOS 10.0.1 comes one and a half months after the release of tvOS 10 and marks the first minor update to the new operating system. tvOS 10.0.1 has been in testing since September 21, with Apple having seeded four betas to developers before releasing it to the public. The new tvOS ...

In a press release sent out today, which further confirms the launch of the Apple Watch Nike+ this Friday, October 28, Apple has given detailed information on the availability of the running-focused device as the rollout begins this weekend. For its official launch on Friday, the Apple Watch Nike+ will debut in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and 38 other countries. Following the...

Google's Pixel phones are the first official devices with Google Assistant, its machine learning AI and assistant, built directly into it. The company wants Google Assistant to be "your own personal Google," performing basic tasks for a user, carrying on conversations, and performing search queries. YouTuber Marques Brownlee decided to test the new Google Assistant by putting it into a...

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Casetify to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a customizable iPhone 7 or 7 Plus case from Casetify, a site that offers a range of customizable and community-designed cases. Made from a soft polycarbonate, Casetify's cases are available in clear or black to match all of the different iPhone finishes Apple offers. The cases are matte and...

China has "shattered" records with the highest iOS revenue quarter reported to date, for any country that has been tracked by app intelligence firm App Annie. In total, the country is now the number one largest market in the world for App Store revenue on Apple's iPhone and iPad devices, with its record-breaking number sitting at $1.7 billion for Q3 2016. China is now 15 percent ahead of the...

Last week, a number of German blogs noticed Germany highlighted on an Apple Pay availability map within a support document about participating banks in Europe. Germany has since been removed from the map, but the mixup suggests Apple Pay could launch in its fifth European country soon. Germany highlighted on Apple Pay availability map (since removed) Reddit user Alisamix has since discovered...

A group of seven individuals robbed an Apple retail store in Natick, Massachusetts on Tuesday, managing to get away with a total of 19 iPhones worth more than $13,000 (via AppleInsider). The "organized pack of thieves" is believed to be comprised of young teenagers and potentially connected to a similar crime in the nearby town of Hingham. In a video posted on the Natick Police Department's...

Apple has added Telemundo Now to the universal search function on the fourth-generation Apple TV, enabling U.S. users to search for TV shows on the world's second most popular Spanish-language channel. Telemundo, owned by NBCUniversal, is syndicated worldwide to more than 100 countries in over 35 languages. For those unfamiliar with universal search, it's a feature that allows users to...

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of tvOS 10.0.1 to developers for testing purposes, 10 days after releasing the third tvOS 10.0.1 beta and more than a month after releasing the tvOS 10 update. tvOS 10.0.1 has been in testing since September 21. Designed for the fourth-generation Apple TV, the tvOS 10.0.1 beta can be obtained by connecting the Apple TV to a computer with a USB-C to USB-A...

The wireless headphone market has been shaken up so much recently that it's hard to know where to begin when a new entry appears on the stage and announces itself as the next big thing. Fortunately this latest Bluetooth offering from Sony is targeting a very specific market segment best referred to as "premium noise cancelation", and the company seems pretty confident that with the MDR-1000X...

During the Seattle leg of his Saint Pablo Tour, Kanye West was reported as calling out the rivalry between Apple Music and Tidal as the main factor behind the reason why there won't be a sequel to Watch The Throne, his 2011 collaboration with Jay Z. The main reason appears to be Jay Z's ownership of Tidal and the streaming company's ongoing rift with Apple Music, which he previously said was negat...

Developer Steve Troughton-Smith has uncovered a one-handed keyboard code by hacking the iOS Simulator, also discovering that the code for the feature has "been there since at least iOS 8." The one-handed keyboard mode works by letting users left-swipe or right-swipe from the edges of the iOS keyboard to pull the keys towards their dominant hand, making it easier to type with just one hand....

WhatsApp today added several new camera improvements for its iPhone app, including the ability to draw, write, and place emoji on photos and videos before sharing them. The features are similar to the camera features offered in both Snapchat and Instagram Stories. Users will be able to use the new editing tools for photos and videos captured within the app and photos and videos previously...

An update to Google's iOS Gboard app today has introduced 3D Touch into the third-party keyboard, letting users move the cursor by hard pressing and sliding their finger around the keyboard to pinpoint the location they want to land. Gboard's 3D Touch lacks the free-floating cursor of Apple's stock keyboard, however, and simply moves left and right throughout a message, without the ability to...

In the consistently updated Facebook app for iOS, the social media company is today introducing a slew of new features focused on event discovery and streamlined interaction with brands. Notably, now in the company's mobile app users will be able to purchase tickets to movies and concerts, buy food, or book an appointment without leaving Facebook. For food and ticket orders, the feature is...

Apple has stopped signing iOS 9.3.5 for compatible iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models, effectively ending iOS 9 downgrades. iOS 10.0.1 is also no longer being signed, making iOS 10.0.2 the oldest software update users can still downgrade their devices to via iTunes. Apple routinely stops signing older software updates several weeks after they are released. iOS 9.3.5 was released in late ...

Researchers at Microsoft claim to have created a new speech recognition technology that transcribes conversational speech as well as a human does (via The Verge). The system's word error rate is reportedly 5.9 percent, which is about equal to professional transcribers asked to work on the same recordings, according to Microsoft. Microsoft researchers from the Speech & Dialog research group ...