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

The Apple Watch will officially launch in Belgium this Saturday on September 19, after previously being given a vague "available in 2015" launch date (via Apple Weetjes). The release of the Apple Watch will also coincide with the grand opening of Apple's newest retail location in Brussels, the first one ever in Belgium, which will see its grand opening on that day. Photo of the new Brussels ...

T-Mobile has announced the expansion of its Simple Global coverage to an additional 20 countries to now cover all of Europe and South America. Simple Global is now available in the Bahamas and 145 total countries worldwide, covering more than 90% of the areas that Americans travel abroad each year. Simple Global provides Simple Choice postpaid customers with unlimited low-speed data and...

In iOS 9, some of the best features are the ones that aren't readily visible. iOS 9 has several under-the-hood updates that boost battery life, improve security, and cut down on the amount of storage space iOS updates and apps use on iPhones and iPads. Even disregarding all of the consumer facing features, these quiet improvements make the upgrade to iOS 9 from iOS 8 or iOS 7 well worth it on...

Apple's iPhone video editing app iMovie was today updated to version 2.2, a major update that adds several new features to make the app compatible with features in the new iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPad Pro. iMovie now supports 4K videos on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, allowing 4K video captured by the two devices to be edited within the app. The app has also gained support for 3D Touch,...

iOS 9 focuses on intelligence and proactivity, giving iOS devices the tools to learn user habits and act on that information. In iOS 9, our iPhones and iPads can open up apps right when we need them, make recommendations on places we might like, and guide us through our daily lives through improvements to search and Siri. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Proactiv...

iOS 9 brings a long-awaited Split-Screen multitasking feature to the iPad for the first time, letting users operate two apps simultaneously and bolstering the productivity capabilities of Apple's tablet lineup. There are three different multitasking features that are available on various iPad models: Slide Over, Split View, and Picture in Picture. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel ...

Apple News is an all-new app on iOS 9 that aggregates stories from several sources into one mobile-friendly format for reading on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The app is very similar to existing news apps such as Flipboard and Zine, displaying a list of news articles and personalized stories based on publications that interest you. International readers should note that Apple News is currently ...

Alongside the launch of iOS 9, Apple today introduced a new "Move to iOS" app for Android devices. The app, which is now available for download, is designed to help Android users transfer their content from an Android device to an iOS device. With Move to iOS installed on an Android smartphone or tablet, the Move to iOS service is able to transfer almost all important data from the Android...

Apple has made the Notes app a lot more useful on iOS 9 by integrating it with several other stock apps, including Photos, Mail, Maps and Safari. In addition to traditional note-taking, users can now create checklists, draw sketches and insert photos, videos, links, maps, Pages documents and other attachments into notes. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Checklists ...

Apple Maps launched in September 2012 as the default mapping app on iPhone, but soon faced widespread criticism for having incomplete data, providing incorrect directions and lacking features over Google Maps. The controversial launch resulted in Apple CEO Tim Cook issuing a rare public apology, while former iOS chief Scott Forstall was ousted from Apple just one month later. While there is...

iDevices today announced the launch date of its trio of HomeKit-enabled products that includes the iDevices Switch, Outdoor Switch, and Thermostat. The Switch and Thermostat will be available for purchase on iDevices' online storefront, or exclusively from Lowe's retail stores, starting on September 28, while the Outdoor Switch is slated for a release later in November. Originally announced...

watchOS is the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch, powering its fitness tracking capabilities, apps, communication features, time-keeping abilities, and more. Apple plans to push regular updates to fix watchOS bugs, refine performance, and introduce new features, and the release of watchOS 2 alongside iOS 9 later today is a major uprade for the platform. (Update: Apple has delayed the...

According to a few sources out of the Dutch telecommunications industry, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will be launching in the Netherlands on October 2, with pre-orders for the release beginning a week earlier on September 25 (via iPhoned) [Google Translate]. The pricing for the new smartphones will be a bit different compared to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, with the 16GB version of...

Costco has launched a promotion allowing its U.S. Costco card members to receive $100 or $50 mail-in rebates when they pre-order an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus. The mail-in rebate amount is different for each carrier. T-Mobile customers get a $100 mail-in rebate when they pre-order any iPhone 6s or 6s Plus in any color and / or storage option. Verizon and Sprint customers, however, only receive a...

At last week's "Hey Siri" media event, Apple announced new iCloud pricing tiers, expanding the amount of storage provided to users. The company has now updated its iCloud support document to outline the new pricing information in all countries where iCloud storage is available. While Apple previously offered iCloud storage in 5GB, 20GB, 200GB, 500GB and 1TB tiers, the new tiers include only...

Apple updated its Apple Pay participating issuers list today with 46 additional banks, credit unions and financial institutions supporting the contactless payment service in the United States. Apple Pay now has over 500 participating issuers nationwide, and several more plan to support the NFC-based mobile payment service in the future. Citizens Bank and E-TRADE Bank highlight the complete...

First released in 2012, Launch Center Pro was one of the first quick action apps in the App Store, designed to let users create shortcuts to features normally buried within apps, such as opening up Instagram directly to the camera, or opening a specific search within Yelp. Over the years, Launch Center Pro has been updated several times with new features and while it has encountered some...

A new report today from Swedish news service Rapidus (via Tech.eu) claims that Apple has been quietly increasing its presence in Lund, Sweden with a focus on an "advanced mapping technology" that aims to further improve Apple Maps . The company is reportedly working out of a new R&D center in the city said to have launched last November. Now, a report from news agency Rapidus claims Apple has...