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

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming watchOS 3 update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after seeding the third beta and more than a month after first unveiling watchOS 3 at its 2016 Worldwide Developers Conference. The third watchOS 3 beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on an iPhone by going to General --> Software update. To install the...

Social media app Instagram is planning to launch a new feature that allows its users personalized control over the comments shared on each of their posts. The company has long had blanket rules for what constitutes appropriate speech on its network, but the new comment filter ability will let each user tweak specific rules to their own liking, since "different words or phrases are offensive...

Earlier this weekend, Apple began promoting book-related content with a new Instagram account centered around its iBooks digital platform. The launch of the iBooks Instagram page coincided with the release of the script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which the account posted about yesterday. Apple also wished author J.K. Rowling a happy birthday through its new verified Instagram...

Apple continues to slowly expand the transit functionality of Apple Maps, today adding Prague, Czech Republic as the third city in Europe behind London and Berlin to be supported. Apple Maps transit data in Prague includes the Prague Metro and Esko Prague commuter rail, as well as local trams and buses and even Czech Railways' seasonal Cyklohráček "excursion train" targeting cyclists and...

The newest story set in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter universe, called Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, has launched worldwide on Apple's iBooks platform. Referred to as "the eighth story," Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a script of the play of the same name, which has been in previews at the Palace Theatre in London over the last few weeks, and made its official world premiere tonight....

An update to Pokémon Go rolled out to iOS and Android devices today, bringing new features to the game along with a few slight shifts in the user interface. One of the biggest new additions is the opportunity for players to customize their avatar (which was previously only allowed when starting the game), giving the chance for added personalization in Pokémon Go. One of the longest-running ...

While I have long used the Twelve South Forté on my bedside table to dock my Apple Watch each night, I lacked a convenient alternative for on the go until last week. Enter the Standzout Helix Dock, a compact and convenient charging solution for the Apple Watch. Helix is an Apple Watch dock made from injection molded polycarbonate plastic. It stores between a 0.3-meter and two-meter Apple Watch ...

A week after launching a new emoji-predicting keyboard, SwiftKey is now facing some pushback after a few users noticed that the main SwiftKey app was propagating suggestions related to the email accounts, phone numbers, and names of complete strangers (via The Telegraph). The Microsoft-owned app, available on iOS and Android, is widely known for its artificial intelligence and machine learning...

Popular third-party chat app WhatsApp is leaving a "forensic trace" of every supposedly deleted chat log, meaning anyone with access to your smartphone -- or another device connected through the cloud -- could potentially access data from the app. The discovery comes from iOS researcher Jonathan Zdziarski, who shared the information in a blog post after discovering the potential security flaw in...

Hinted at by the company earlier in the month, Nest recently debuted a minor, but notable, update for its iOS app, introducing a few user interface tweaks and ways to share live videos from the company's indoor and outdoor cameras. For those users with a Nest Thermostat and an Apple Watch, the 5.6.0 update should be of particular interest, since it brings with it the ability to let you adjust the ...

Apple today updated iMovie for iOS, its consumer-oriented video editing app designed for iPhones and iPads. iMovie version 2.2.3 makes it easier to start and share projects and it includes unspecified stability and performance improvements. iMovie users are now able to start projects more quickly by selecting multiple photos and videos to insert into a project, and there are options for...

Every time you visit a website on your iPhone or iPad, you are sharing information about yourself with the outside world. This guide runs through a number of methods you can use to gain more control over what gets shared, and who it gets shared with, whenever you use Apple's Safari browser to access the web on an iOS device. It also covers some methods you can use to prevent traces of your...

Apple engineer Ivan Krstic is scheduled to host a discussion at this year's Black Hat Conference, offering a "Behind the Scenes" look at iOS security. Black Hat is an annual event designed for the global InfoSec community, giving security professionals a place to meet up and gain training on new techniques. According to an overview of Krstic's talk, three iOS security mechanisms will be...

Apple released its fiscal third quarter earnings results earlier this week, confirming that it sold 9.95 million iPads from early March through late June. iPad shipments have now declined for ten consecutive quarters, but the lineup continues to outsell all Samsung, Amazon, and Microsoft tablets combined. Taiwanese market research firm TrendForce has released new quarterly data that shows...

Twitter today will begin rolling out its new "Stickers" feature for iOS and Android devices, which it first announced in June, letting users choose from a set of custom-made stickers in order to customize photos before posting them to the micro-blogging social network. The update brings Twitter a step closer to the comical editing capabilities of Snapchat, where users can place, enlarge, and...

Google this morning announced "Family Library" for Google Play that allows six family members to share their online purchases from the company's stores across devices. The new program means movies, TV shows, and books can be shared by families on iOS devices and the web, as well as over connected TV platforms like Roku and Smart TVs, with no sign-up fee required. Starting today, Family...

Samsung reported its best earning results in two years on Thursday as the company's Galaxy S7 phones outperformed all expectations, despite slowing growth in the overall smartphone industry (via The New York Times). The South Korean company announced a 8.14 trillion won ($7.22 billion) operating profit on revenue of 50.94 trillion won ($45.2 billion), up 18 percent from the previous year. ...

Logitech-owned Jaybird has been designing Bluetooth earbuds since 2007 and has established itself as a manufacturer known for creating quality headphones ideal for working out. Jaybird's latest product, Freedom, is the culmination of years of design refinements. The Freedom Wireless Buds are Jaybird's smallest and most comfortable yet, with a sleek sweat-proof design, multipoint pairing, and...