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

Apple today has been granted a patent for technology that could potentially be used to circumvent the issue of foldable displays creasing and cracking at the fold over time – a problem that has plagued many consumer foldable devices that have made it to market thus far. Published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office under the heading "System with multiple electronic devices," the patent...

Deals retailer Woot today has notable low prices on refurbished models of the Apple Watch Series 1 and Series 2, as well as the 4th generation iPad mini. There were Series 3 and Series 4 Apple Watch models on sale, but as of writing they have sold out. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Woot. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us...

Free open source RSS Reader NetNewsWire 5 just got its release on iPhone and iPad, bringing over a handful of notable features that debuted in the redesigned Mac app, which launched last year. As you'd expect from an RSS reader, the app collates articles from blogs and news sites that users can subscribe to using the Really Simple Syndication standard. (Here's MacRumors' RSS, for example.)...

Facebook is testing a new feature that would allow Facebook Stories to be cross-posted to Instagram Stories, reports TechCrunch. Right now, Instagram Stories can be shared to Facebook Stories, but the reverse is not possible. The new option would allow Stories to be shared interchangeably from one platform to another. Jane Manchun Wong, who often digs into unreleased features in social...

Tile is back with a new set of discounts on the Tile Mate, Tile Slim, and Tile Sticker, offering up to $80 off original prices. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Tile. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running. To start, you can get the Tile Mate in a 1-pack for $19.99, down from $24.99. The Tile Mate is the...

Spotify today updated its home screen on iOS and Android, providing users with an easier way to access their favorite songs, playlists, and albums. This update will also appear on the Spotify app for tablets. The main change can be found at the top portion of the home screen, which now greets users with a "Good morning" message. This area recommends songs, playlists, and albums that are the...

Apple sold fewer than 500,000 iPhones in China last month amid the ongoing curbs on travel and transport, according to government data shared on Monday (via Reuters). Shipments of Apple devices slumped to 494,000, from 1.27 million in February 2019. In January, their shipments had held steady at just over 2 million.That amounts to an almost 60 percent slump in iPhone sales – worse than...

Forgive us for getting confused in our headline. Chinese smartphone maker OPPO today introduced its first smartwatch, the OPPO Watch, with a so-called "signature design" that just so happens to look virtually identical to the Apple Watch. "This might be the best-looking smart watch of the year," said OPPO's vice president of marketing Brian Shen. The OPPO Watch uses OPPO's custom...

Making a FaceTime call on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac costs nothing and it's extremely easy to do. And if you get camera shy when you're using ‌FaceTime‌, you can turn the call into an audio-only connection. In fact, you can change the audio and video settings in the ‌FaceTime‌ app at any time during a call. The steps below show you how. Start or answer a ‌FaceTime‌ call in the usual way. Tap...

Sonos is eliminating its controversial "Recycle Mode" that was part of the company's trade-up program that provides a discount of 30 percent on new devices, reports The Verge. Customers who wanted to take advantage of Sonos' recycling program to get a 30 percent discount on a new speaker were required to download software that rendered existing speakers inoperable within 21 days....

"Truth Be Told," an Apple TV+ series starring Octavia Spencer and Aaron Paul, has been renewed for a second season, Apple announced today. The show was originally planned as a limited series, but was also designed to work for a multi-season run, with each season focusing on a new story with new characters. Octavia Spencer will be in the second season of the show as podcaster Poppy...

General Motors is introducing wireless CarPlay and Android Auto in several of its 2021 vehicle models, including the Trailblazer, Yukon, Suburban, Tahoe, Escalade, and Bolt, according to Electrek, Torque News, and various tweets. CarPlay‌ is Apple's in-car platform that enables drivers to access a range of iPhone apps from the dashboard, such as Messages, Apple Maps, Apple Music, Podcasts,...

Some users may experience delays or slowness when using various iCloud services or sending messages using iMessage, according to Apple's system status page. The issues began within the last few hours. We'll update this post once Apple indicates the issues have been fully...

WhatsApp is in the early phases of testing a new privacy feature on the messaging platform that will allow users to secure their chat backups, according to WABetaInfo. Currently, WhatsApp on iPhone lets users back up their chat history to iCloud, but messages and media that users back up are not protected by WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption while in ‌iCloud‌. This new feature would...

WhatsApp messenger recently rolled out its long-awaited Dark Mode theme for iPhone, which is good news for anyone who uses the chat app in bed when they just can't sleep. With ‌Dark Mode‌ enabled, users will benefit from no more bright white splash screen blinding them upon opening WhatsApp, a less harsh app interface, new dark themes for chat threads, and potentially less battery drain. ...

We've been tracking deals on the AirPods Pro for a few months now, and as of yet the best offer on a brand new pair runs for around $235 on Amazon, or about $14 off the accessory's regular $249 price tag. Today, Best Buy is offering the AirPods Pro for $208.99, if you're okay with owning a refurbished product. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link...

FaceTime, Apple's video and audio chatting app, can use up a decent amount of data. That probably doesn't matter if you're using WiFi or have an unlimited cellular data plan, but if you do need to keep track of data use, you might want to check how much data is being eaten up when you make a call. On average, FaceTime video appears to use somewhere around 70 to 80MB per 20 minutes, but it can...

As convenient as Apple's FaceTime is, sometimes you might not want to be surprised or interrupted by a prompt asking you to accept a video or audio call on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Fortunately, Apple has made ‌FaceTime‌ very easy to turn off, and if you want re-enable it in future, you won't have to set it up all over again. Simply follow the steps below. How to Turn Off FaceTime on...