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

Apple plans to attract users to sign up for Apple Music by offering a free three-month trial period, but another way it will attempt to lure subscribers is by offering exclusive content through the incoming streaming music service. In late April, it was reported that the company was in talks with multiple artists, including Florence and the Machine and Taylor Swift, about exclusive content deals. ...

Apple Pay will be arriving for customers inside of the United Kingdom, backing support from about 250,000 UK merchants, sometime in July. Today, Apple released a support and FAQ page on its website to document the processes and answer the questions that some merchants may have with the impending launch of the service (via 9to5Mac). Following the confirmation by multiple banks on the matter...

Apple has added 7 new Flyover locations to Apple Maps, including cities in Portugal, Spain, England, Germany and Puerto Rico. The additions bring the total number of Flyover cities in Apple Maps to 148, allowing users to see photorealistic 3D tours of those cities and zoom in on landmarks and buildings. The following cities were added to Flyover: - Almería, Spain - Braga, Portugal -...

Today at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Apple's recent "Shot on iPhone 6" ad campaign, officially referred to as "World Gallery", won the Outdoor Lions Grand Prix, one of the most prestigious awards in advertising (via Fast Company). According to the jury president Juan Carlos Ortiz, creative chairman at DDB Americas, the judges didn't so much choose "World Gallery," it ...

Apple Watch features a heart rate monitor to help guide you through your workout sessions, tracking your heart rate while you exercise to better determine the amount of calories you burn during your activities. The monitor also automatically tries to measure your heart rate every 10 minutes, but doesn’t record the data if your arm is moving. That is why your Health app doesn't reflect a...

Instagram today began rolling out a small but noteworthy update to its iOS application, namely focusing on expanding and deepening the features of the "Explore" tab inside the app. The first feature focuses on showcasing trending topics and places, with "dynamically updated content" that promises to give each user a real-time look at events and pictures happening nearby. Users will also be...

After posting an open letter to Apple on her Tumblr page about Apple's free streaming policy for its upcoming music service, popular artist Taylor Swift managed to get the company to change course -- Apple now planning to pay artist royalties during its three-month free trial period of Apple Music. But, thanks to a new statement provided to The Wall Street Journal, it appears artists'...

Chinese team TaiG has released an iOS 8.3 untethered jailbreak tool on Windows for compatible iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices. TaiG warns that some jailbreak tweaks are not compatible with iOS 8.3 as Jay Freeman (saurik) has yet to update Cydia Substrate/Mobile Substrate to be compatible with the latest jailbreak. An iOS 8.3 jailbreak tool for OS X has not been released. Jailbreaking...

As an entire computer that fits on our wrists, the Apple Watch already seems like something out of a science fiction novel, but a new video from software developer Nick Lee demonstrates just how far computing has come in the last two decades. Lee's hacked an Apple Watch running watchOS 2 to run a port of a 20-year-old Macintosh OS, System 7.5.5, using the Mini vMac Macintosh emulator. ...

Apple plans to seed iOS 8.4 Golden Master (GM), which has historically been release candidate software, to registered developers today ahead of the Apple Music launch on June 30, reports BGR. iOS 9 beta 2 is also reportedly scheduled for release today, although it is possible that the release date is pushed back by one week to next Monday, June 29. The iOS 8.4 GM will succeed iOS 8.4 beta 4...

Now that HomeKit-enabled accessories are hitting the market, you may be wondering what you can do with your new connected devices. Whether you are controlling the temperature, turning off lights, or locking the front door, you will be able to use your iPhone to take care of various activities around the house. If you are away from home, you’ll even be able to use Apple TV (third-generation...

Most of the Apple Watch stands and docks that we've reviewed so far have been from major manufacturers, but the Wave Apple Watch Charging Stand from SchuttenWorks is made by a small team in Oregon. Available in several different woods, the Wave is named for its shape, which resembles the crest of a breaking ocean wave. Visually clean and simple, the Wave uses a clever split design and magnet...

Sprint today expanded its ongoing bill-slashing promotional campaign to its subsidiary Boost Mobile, giving Cricket and MetroPCS customers a chance to lower their monthly cell phone payments by switching to Boost Mobile service. Through July 20, Cricket and MetroPCS subscribers who bring their phone number to Boost Mobile can save between $20 and $30 per month for a full year with the...

Apple today updated its iOS App Store with a new "Amazing Fantasy Games" section, discounting a wide selection of popular iOS games in the fantasy genre by 50 percent or more. Most of the 16 games universal, and all are available on both iPhone and iPad. The games range from puzzle games to platformers to full RPGs. Discounted titles are listed below: - BADLAND - Terraria - Oceanhorn - L...

iPhone camera accessory maker Olloclip has been producing lenses for the iPhone 6 since shortly after the phone debuted last year, but the company recently improved its product lineup with the addition new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus cases and a new Active Lens, which combines an ultra wide-angle lens with a telephoto lens. Olloclip's iPhone photography accessories are some of the most popular on the...

The Unicode Consortium today released Unicode 8, the next update to the Unicode Standard that defines special characters and symbols, including emoji. Unicode 8 introduces 7,716 new characters, including six new scripts and new symbols, with letters to support languages in Africa, lowercase Cherokee symbols, and more. Of interest to iPhone and Mac users is the emoji portion of Unicode 8, which ...

The Apple Watch screen is small. So small that it can be difficult for some people to read messages and other text on the device. Also, even though the Home screen icons get bigger when they are centered on the screen, you might find yourself accidentally tapping the wrong one more often than you'd like. Apple has included a couple of accessibility features that make dynamic text larger on the ...

Dotti and Notti are small iPhone-controlled smart lights created by design company Witti. More fun than practical, the two lights connect to an iPhone over Bluetooth, allowing their colors to be changed and letting them light up when a notification is received. Notti, the more inexpensive of the two at $60, is an angular light that somewhat resembles a candle. Dotti, priced at $80, is a square ...