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

A couple of popular iOS apps have been getting updates for 3D Touch over the past few days, introducing the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus feature into experiences like Facebook Messenger, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, and Evernote. Most recently, Facebook Messenger updated its iOS app with 3D Touch, letting users choose from a quick-select menu and jump directly into a message thread with...

IBM today announced that it has released its 100th MobileFirst for iOS app, fulfilling its goal set in partnership with Apple. The made-for-business apps are used by enterprise customers across 14 industries and 65 individual professions, including wealth advisors, flight attendants, first responders, nurses, retail buyers and more. MobileFirst for iOS apps include Advisor Alerts, Asset Care,...

Last month Pandora announced that it acquired "key assets" and employees from Rdio for $75 million. Tonight, Rdio began emailing its users to let them know that it would officially shut down on December 22, 2015 at 5 p.m. PST. Rdio will also let its former subscribers download an archive of their favorite music and playlists in various formats so that they can import them into their new...

As noted by IT professional and writer Tom Bridge on Twitter, public transit information for Los Angeles has started to go live in Apple Maps on both iOS and El Capitan. The rollout adds another major city to a feature that launched as part of iOS 9. Transit information may still be rolling out to users. Support will include train, light rail and bus services in addition to transit...

Two years after being purchased by Apple for $200 million, social analytics firm Topsy today announced the end of its service. On Twitter, the company tweeted that it has "searched [its] last tweet." Additionally, its website redirects to an Apple support page on using Search on iPhone. Topsy partnered with Twitter to maintain an index of tweets going back to 2006. However, the company also...

Now that HomeKit's been available for several months, more and more HomeKit-enabled products are popping up. When HomeKit first launched in June, there was only one smart plug available (the Elgato Eve), but now there are a handful to choose from. ConnectSense is the latest company to develop a HomeKit-enabled plug, debuting its Smart Outlet in October. I went hands-on with the new...

Pebble today announced new software updates for its line of Pebble smart watches, bringing the timeline feature to Pebble Classic and Steel and introducing a new Pebble Health feature for the Pebble Time lineup. According to Pebble, Pebble Health was created through a collaboration with researchers at Stanford University. Pebble Health is able to track daily activity and automatically detect...

OtterBox today announced the debut of new protective cases designed for the iPad Pro, the iPad mini 4, and the iPad Air 2. The Defender Series is being updated with cases for the iPad Pro, the Profile Series is being updated with cases for the iPad Air 2, and a new Symmetry Series Folio is available for the iPad mini 4. The Defender Series for iPad Pro, priced at $129.95, includes a built-in...

For the past week MacRumors editors and writers have been sharing gift guides featuring hand-picked items for the holidays. Thus far, we've seen gift guides from Juli, Joe, Mitchel, Marianne, Eric, Matt and one featuring your holiday suggestions. Today, I end our series of gift guides with my own. This gift guide was written by me, Husain Sumra, and it's filled with items that I either really...

Twelve South today expanded its HiRise lineup, launching a new stand designed to match the rose gold iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus. Twelve South's HiRise Deluxe stands for iPhone and iPad are some of its most popular products, and with the addition of the rose gold color, there's a finish to match every iOS device. "There is something special about the new Rose Gold iPhone. It has captured...

Enjoy today announced the introduction of the Apple TV, iPad, and AirPort to its free delivery and installation product lineup. The online marketplace and delivery service sends an Enjoy Expert to each customer's house to deliver their ordered product in under four hours and even provide easy setup. Founded by former Apple retail chief Ron Johnson, the company seeks to make the purchasing of...

A new update to the Philips Hue operating software within the popular iOS app has brought about a few changes to the way the lighting system functions with third-party accessories. Specifically, the app will no longer support third-party bulbs that function with the ZigBee wireless protocol, including the GE Link LED and Cree Connected LED bulbs (via CNET). Introduced on both the first...

Apple updated its Apple Pay participating issuers list today with support for BJ's Wholesale Club store cards, including the BJ’s Perks Plus and Elite MasterCards, and 66 additional banks, credit unions and financial institutions in the United States. Apple Pay is now accepted at over 850 participating issuers nationwide, and several more plan to support the NFC-based mobile payment service in ...

We've been sharing a selection of gift guides on MacRumors, featuring Apple-related accessories hand-picked by the MacRumors team from some of our absolute favorite products. Our latest gift guide comes in video format and was created by our videographer, Matt. Matt doesn't write posts, but he does handle most of our videos over on YouTube, so make sure to subscribe to our channel to see more...

PIQ has partnered with Rossignol to create a new version of its multi-sport sensor for tracking skiing performance on the slopes (via Engadget). The 13-axis ski sensor attaches to a ski boot and allows skiers to record runs, analyze turns, challenge friends, track best speeds and more.It can then measure stats like edge-to-edge speed, G-force and carving angle, while giving freestyle skiers air...

As it looks to find a better foothold in the Indian smartphone market, Apple today reduced the price of the bestselling iPhone 5s in the country by nearly half of what it sold for in September (via CNET). Officially, the 2013 iPhone has been reduced from 44,500 Rupees ($665) to 24,999 Rupees ($370) in an effort by Apple to make the two-year-old smartphone more attractive to users in India,...

Following in the footsteps of Juli, Joe, Mitchel, Marianne, and even MacRumors readers, I'm now adding my suggestions to the parade of holiday gift guides we've been publishing over the past week. Below you'll find a varied list of accessories that I, Eric Slivka, use on a daily basis. and hopefully there's something here for just about everyone with accessories for Macs, iOS devices, the Apple...

To provide gift ideas for our readers this holiday season, we here at MacRumors have written gift guides based on our own experiences with products we like and recommend to others. If you want to catch up, here are links to the guides published so far: Juli Clover, Joe Rossignol, and Mitchel Broussard. Here's my selection of gift suggestions based on products I own, use often, and recommend...