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

One week after it launched in the United States, Pokémon Go is now the biggest mobile game in the country's history, in statistics focusing on the amount of daily active users (DAU) the app draws. Within the first 24 hours of launch, Pokémon Go beat out popular games like Slither.io and Clash Royale, but didn't have enough traction at the time to topple massive hits like Candy Crush Saga at its...

ABC today announced a rebranding of its Watch ABC app for iOS and Apple TV devices, now simply called "ABC," aimed at offering a wider breath of content as well as new, exclusive digital series for users who download the app. The interface has also been redesigned and the app is exclusive to iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV (via Entertainment Weekly). One of the more interesting aspects of the new ...

Ailing consumer electronics brand Polaroid has leant its name to a new motion photo sharing platform called Polaroid Swing which saw its release on the App Store yesterday. Similar to Live Photos in iOS, the app lets users capture a one-second moment with their device's camera, which can then be shared over social media or in the new platform's Instagram-like social feed. While its...

Amid all the hype for Pokémon Go this week, one non-game release that's enjoying relatively quiet success in the App Store is a new photo editor called Prisma. The brainchild of a team of Russian developers, Prisma describes itself simply as an "editor for Instagram", but has attracted far wider attention thanks to an impressive series of stylistic and art-inspired filters. The app uses...

Pokemon Go received its first update earlier today, fixing several bugs players had experienced since the app's release. Some users on Reddit (via The Verge) are now claiming that the update (1.01) includes a game-breaking bug that locks them out of the app. Users who sign into the app via a Pokemon Trainer Club account rather than a Google account are now unable to access the game and its...

A judge in Amsterdam has ruled in favor of a Dutch woman [Google Translate] who sued Apple for refusing to replace her broken iPhone 6 Plus with a new model, and instead offering her a refurbished model as per its standard policy. The court nullified the purchase agreement and ordered Apple to refund the woman the full €799 that she paid for the iPhone, which was purchased in December 2014...

Given the intense popularity of the new augmented reality game Pokémon Go, a few retailers have begun facing shortages of the game's $35 wrist-worn accessory, the Pokémon Go Plus, which allows users to receive notifications about nearby Pokémon right on their wrists. Although some players expected the app itself to send push notifications to their phone's lock screen, as it stands the only way...

Earlier this month a federal appeals court decided that an employee "acted without authorization" after he used a former co-worker's password login without their permission, in order to gain access to a collection of their data. Concerning the case The United States of America v. David Nosal, this has led to a decision by the court to rule that password sharing is a federal crime under the...

Last week, we reported that Google is said to be working on its own branded pair of smartwatches, in a break from its traditional reliance on third-party manufacturers to come up with the hardware for its Android Wear OS. Given the continuing interest in rival smartwatches of the round-faced variety, some readers may be interested in the latest renders showing what Google's upcoming pair of...

Photos from the ninth annual iPhone Photography Awards have been posted on the IPPA website, offering a look at some of the best photos captured on an iPhone in the past year. As in previous years, the photos depict a range of subjects, from people to landscapes to animals. This year's grand prize winner was "Man and the Eagle" by Siyuan Niu. The photo depicts a 70-year-old man sharing a...

The success of Pokemon Go has had many real-world ramifications recently, including cautionary tales of car accidents, thieves using the game to stage robberies, and Nintendo's shares jumping 25%, or $7.5 billion, in days. The new augmented reality game is also driving business to local restaurants and bars, according to a new report from Bloomberg. Food and drink sales spiked by about...

Liquor, wine, and beer drinkers across Ontario, Canada can now pay for their alcoholic beverages with an iPhone or Apple Watch, as LCBO has confirmed that it now accepts Apple Pay at all of its over 850 stores in the province. LCBO had been gradually rolling out Apple Pay support since June at its stores, which have long been equipped with NFC-based terminals for contactless payments, and the...

Nintendo shares jumped by nearly a quarter today following the runaway success of its long-awaited Pokémon Go mobile game released last week (via Reuters). Stock spiked as much as 25% ($7.5 billion), a record since it began trading in Tokyo in 1983. According to Bloomberg, shares of the Kyoto-based company have climbed 34% in the past two days of trading after the game was released for iPhone...

Apple Music for Android has been updated with a few bug fixes related to playback and playlist issues. In particular, the update resolves a playback issue where songs skip over the first two seconds of music. It also fixes an issue where albums added to a playlist appear in an unexpected order. Apple Music version 0.9.11 is available on the Google Play store as a free...

Facebook has announced that it will begin rolling out optional end-to-end encryption within its Messenger app for iOS and Android on a limited test basis, ahead of the option becoming more widely available through early September. Messenger users will be able to create one-to-one "Secret Conversations" in Messenger that will be end-to-end encrypted and which can only be read on one device of ...

Snapchat is facing a lawsuit over claims that the app is guilty of routinely serving sexually explicit content to minors without warning (via The Verge). The lawsuit was filed this week by a 14-year-old boy and his mother in a district court in California. The plaintiffs argue that offensive content was shown in Snapchat's Discover page, where non-subscribed publications are delivered to user...

One week after news emerged that Google is working on its own smartphone hardware to compete with the likes of Apple's iPhone, a separate report this week claims the company is also set to enter the wearable market with a pair of Google-branded smartwatches. As with its Android mobile operations, the company has traditionally focused on developing its Android Wear OS while relying on...

Apple today updated its iOS feature availability page with 30 new Flyover locations around the world, including cities in the United States, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Flyover is an Apple Maps feature that provides photo-realistic 3D views of primarily large cities and landmarks. In satellite view, users can zoom, pan, and rotate to get a closer look at...