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

A new video by YouTube user Junya Sakamoto posted over the weekend shows off a homemade robot, created by Sakamoto, that masters the trickiest stages of popular mobile game Puzzles and Dragons (via Kotaku). The four minute video uploaded to Sakamoto's self-titled YouTube channel details the initial creation and design of the robot to the final, tangible realization of the iPhone game-beating...

Square Enix today launched the iOS version of its popular game Final Fantasy IX [Direct Link], which was originally released in 2000 for the Sony PlayStation. New to the iOS version of the game, players will be able to unlock achievements, activate 7 additional game boosters including a rapid-pace "high speed" mode, game autosaves, and improved high definition cut scenes and character models. G...

Norwegian police will force a 27-year-old man accused of drug possession to unlock his mobile phone via fingerprint, according to local website Bergensavisen [Google Translate]. The police believe the confiscated smartphone may contain evidence about where he obtained the illegal substance. The man, who reportedly admitted he was culpable, has refused to unlock his phone for police since...

Adonit, a company that makes a range of popular styluses for iOS devices, today announced the launch of two new products -- the Adonit Mark and the Adonit Switch. The Adonit Mark is an entry-level stylus that's priced affordably while the Adonit Switch offers a more premium experience. Adonit's Mark is a standard mesh-tipped stylus with a few features to set it apart from competitors,...

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster believes Apple plans to put iOS at the center of several forthcoming augmented reality and VR innovations set to launch within the next two years. In a research note obtained by AppleInsider, Munster claims a timeline of recent purchases and hires by the company suggests that iOS support for "mixed reality" applications could be set for launch as soon as...

Apple today announced that its Swift benchmark suite is open source, just over two months after making its Swift programming language open sourced as promised at the 2015 Worldwide Developers Conference. Apple's Swift benchmarking suite is designed to track Swift performance with 75 benchmarks that cover multiple important Swift workloads, libraries with commonly needed benchmarking functions, ...

Financial tech startup Fit Pay recently launched a new Kickstarter for its third-party Pebble Time "smartstrap" called the Pagaré. The new accessory will bring NFC payment capabilities to the smartwatch, using the power of the Pebble's smart accessory port, giving Pebble Time the same mobile wallet opportunities allowed to Apple Watch customers thanks to Apple Pay. The Pagaré smartstrap will...

Facebook this morning came under fire once more over concerns regarding the impact its iOS app has on iPhone battery life. Writing in The Guardian, technology reporter Samuel Gibbs claims to have found that uninstalling Facebook's iOS app and accessing the social media site via Safari can save up to 15 percent of an iPhone's battery life. Gibbs relates how he uninstalled the app on his...

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Plex to offer one MacRumors reader a chance to win a lifetime Plex Pass that provides access to all of Plex's premium features. Plex is a media server and personal content library for TV shows, music, movies, and photos. It's designed to organize personal media collections, allowing videos and music to be streamed to TVs, iOS devices, Macs, and...

Apple updated its Apple Pay participating issuers list today with 32 additional banks, credit unions and financial institutions supporting the contactless payment service in the U.S. Apple Pay now has 1000 participating issuers nationwide, including 998 U.S. banks and credit unions and store card support at BJ's Wholesale Club and Kohl's. The newly added Apple Pay participating issuers are...

BBC's iPlayer app has been updated for iOS users in the UK today, bringing added support for Spotlight search and Apple's Handoff feature. Users of the app can now directly search for TV programs from their home screen by activating Spotlight search with a swipe down gesture, while the addition of Handoff support enables viewers to pick up where they left off when switching to another iOS...

Instagram has begun testing multiple account support on iOS, suggesting the feature could be coming to all Instagram iOS users in the near future. Starting today, some Instagram users began noticing an option to log into more than one account in the Instagram app, but multi-account support is limited to a small number of users at this time. Instagram users who have access to the multiple...

A few Twitter users on the social network's Android app have begun to notice a dedicated GIF button within the Tweet composition box of the mobile client. Speaking with TechCrunch, Twitter user Phil Pearlman said that the new button lets users browse through current popular GIFs in a trending tab, or select a mood they're feeling to see resulting GIFs based on that emotion. So far the GIF button...

Apple today updated its Apple Music app for Android users, adding a new feature that allows them to save downloaded songs to an SD card on compatible smartphones. "You can now keep more music offline," reads the update note. Several Android-based phones allow users to upgrade their storage using SD and microSD cards. As The Verge points out, with the ability to save downloaded content, Android ...

Apple today added 20 new Flyover locations to Apple Maps on Mac and iOS, highlighting landmarks and features across several countries including France, Italy, Japan, Australia, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the UK, South Africa, and the United States. For those unfamiliar with the Flyover feature in Apple Maps, it lets users see photo-realistic 3D videos of select locations, with tools for...

Pebble today announced multiple updates for its line of Pebble smart watches, introducing new messaging options and new health features for Pebble owners. Pebble owners who use iOS devices are now able to reply to incoming text messages with custom messages instead of the standard canned responses. Custom text replies are available to all iOS users who have text replies enabled from a...

Apple today launched its annual "Back to School" promotion in Australia and New Zealand, offering higher education students, faculty members, parents of students, and select other staff a free pair of Beats Solo2 on-ear headphones with the purchase of a qualifying Mac with education pricing between February 3 and March 21. Eligible models include the iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air,...

Fitbit today announced the "Fitbit Alta," a new device in its fitness-focused wearable lineup that the company aims to be the intersection between personalized style and in-depth activity tracking. As with all Fitbits, the Alta will track a user's daily activities, exercise, and sleep, but now the band includes "Reminders to Move," which will push notifications to the wrist when you've been...