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

Apple this week joined the NFC Forum as a sponsor member, earning itself a place on the NFC Forum board of directors, reports NFC World. The Near Field Communication (NFC) Forum is the group that works to develop NFC specifications to ensure interoperability between different devices and services. The team also encourages companies to develop products using the NFC Forum specifications and...

Quartz yesterday published an article which analyzed data from Apple Music's Beats 1 radio station, in an attempt to get a feel for the station's most played songs and artists throughout the month of July. The company took data collected from 12,445 songs specifically from "early July to early August," and discovered that artists The Weeknd, Drake, and Disclosure were the top three most-played...

Apple today updated its Apple Store app for iOS with a minor but important change, adding the ability to make purchases using an Apple Store Gift Card. Prior to today's update, customers who wanted to purchase an iOS device or an accessory using an Apple Store gift card had to use the Apple website. The app previously had no way to enter a gift card at checkout, so the only available option...

Apple today added 20 new Flyover locations to Apple Maps on Mac and iOS, highlighting new cities and landmarks in the United States, Austria, Denmark, Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, Spain, France, Mexico, Sweden, Puerto Rico, and Japan. With the new additions, there are now more than 150 Flyover locations available in Apple Maps. For those unfamiliar with the Flyover feature in Maps, it lets...

While recent rumors have claimed that Apple has ditched plans to release the so-called "iPhone 6c" until at least the second quarter of 2016, noted mobile phone leaker Evan Blass believes that the 4-inch budget smartphone could still be released alongside the "iPhone 6s" and "iPhone 6s Plus" later this year. Blass, who has accurately leaked several images and details about unreleased...

Password management app LastPass [Direct Link] today announced that new users joining the service will be able to sign up for free without having to pay for a LastPass Premium or Enterprise subscription on mobile devices. Those users who get started on iOS, Android, or Windows will be able to use the service and even sync passwords amongst other smartphones for free. Now, if you get started...

Despite the immense popularity of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, a recent KGI prediction estimates that Apple may sell somewhere between 65 and 75 million of the so-called "iPhone 6s" and "iPhone 6s Plus" in Q4 2015, pointing towards a strong possibility of zero or negative growth year-over-year for the smartphone line. According to Apple Daily [Google Translate] (via GforGames), the report...

iOS remained the top platform for smartphone activations in the second quarter, despite its overall market share falling from 70% to 64%, according to Good Technology's twelfth quarterly Q2 Mobility Index Report. Android trailed behind with 32% market share during the quarter, up from 26% last quarter, while Windows rose to 3% market share to finish a distant third place. iOS retains the top ...

American Express today announced that the company is the first to introduce corporate credit card support with Apple Pay. The new addition will let customers pay at locations and within apps that support the contactless payments service with an eligible American Express corporate credit card. “Businesses today are going digital, and American Express is at the forefront of digital innovation, ...

The upcoming iPad mini 4 will be the smallest the line-up has seen, equivalent to a miniaturized version of the iPad Air 2, according to a new design render video shared by uSwitch and Nowhereelse.fr's OnLeaks channel. The render gives the iPad mini 4 a thickness of 6.1mm, the same as the iPad Air 2, and less than the current 7.5mm thickness of the iPad mini 3. The design render video backs...

There are a huge number of wearable activity trackers on the market, but few of those are directed specifically at women, an issue Bellabeat aims to fix with the Leaf. The Leaf is an activity tracker that looks more like a stylish piece of jewelry than a standard tracker from a company like Jawbone, Nike, or Fitbit, disguising itself as a "leaf" accessory able to be worn on the wrist, collar, or...

Verizon today announced that the company will be introducing a new set of smartphone rate plans for its customers while simultaneously eliminating the traditional subsidized two-year contract option for new users joining the network. The new plans come in four sizes of data allotments, and will go into effect officially on August 13. Once customers choose the smartphone they want to pay for...

Microsoft this morning launched an official Apple Watch app for its email client Outlook, offering users of the service the ability to read emails and even respond to messages on their Apple Watch. Before today's app, Outlook users with an Apple Watch received basic notification messages on the wearable device with no real way for interactivity, but now notification pop-ups will show more of the...

Apple today updated its TestFlight beta testing platform and app for iOS to add support for upcoming iOS 9 and watchOS 2 features, letting developers begin internal testing on beta features through Apple's official app testing platform. iOS 9 and watchOS 2 introduce a range of new features that will improve apps on both the Apple Watch and the iPhone. With iOS 9 support for TestFlight,...

Asian-inspired fast-casual restaurant Pei Wei today announced that it has begun offering its customers access to Apple Pay at all of its nearly 200 locations across the United States. Pei Wei CEO Ralph Bower notes an ease-of-use and convenience in using Apple's contactless payments system that ties in nicely with the restaurant's fast-casual atmosphere. “Accepting Apple Pay is a win for...

AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile customers in the southeastern United States may be seeing a widespread cellular outage that's preventing them from using voice and data services. Downdetector.com is showing outages in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Indiana for all four carriers. T-Mobile outage map via Downdetector.com According to a Sprint representative that spoke to Re/code, the...

If you are signed up for the free, three-month trial of Apple Music, you probably know by now many of the cool features the streaming music service has to offer. But, did you know that Siri can make the experience even better? We've got a few tips for getting Siri to act as your digital deejay. To get the full use of Siri's compatibility with Apple Music, make sure you are subscribed and...

Previous rumors that a smaller-screened "iPhone 6c" had been canceled for 2015 and perhaps now set to launch sometime in 2016 are getting a bit more heft today, with a report from Digitimes suggesting the "iPhone 5c successor" will launch in the second quarter of 2016. The site's sources from within the seminconductor industry also point to the so-called iPhone 6c lineup arriving with new 14/16nm ...