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

American Express over the weekend released a new advertisement called "Retrospective" that promotes how its timeless safety and security are now available through Apple Pay. The 30-second spot takes a trip down memory lane as it recounts the brand's historic past, starring a number of famous cardholders such as Jerry Seinfeld and Tina Fey in both the past and present. The advertisement first ...

Bluetooth-enabled appliances and electronics that connect everyday household items to smartphones and tablets are becoming increasingly popular, giving us a whole range of connected things -- thermostats, coffee makers and mixing bowls, cars, and even connected toothbrushes, like the Oral-B SmartSeries toothbrush lineup, which features Bluetooth toothbrushes that are compatible with an iPhone...

Philips released an update to its Philips Hue app for iOS yesterday afternoon and users quickly found that the new version of the app continually crashed, making it impossible for them to control their Hue lights. As of this morning, Philips has removed the app from the App Store to prevent it from being downloaded, but thousands of Hue customers have already updated their iOS devices and have ...

SwiftKey is one of the most popular third-party keyboard options on iOS, and today it received a major update adding a highly requested feature -- emoji. Emoji can be accessed by tapping on the smiley at the bottom of the keyboard, and there's also a new predictive emoji tool that learns the most frequently used emoji and suggests them while typing. We've built emoji right into SwiftKey...

FiftyThree today announced an update to its popular drawing and illustration app Paper that will give users of the app free access to every tool and feature previously locked behind an in-app purchase. The app is free to download, but users who wanted a more in-depth editing and drawing suite had to pay up to $3.99 for the entire "essential tools" package (originally priced at $7.99) to get...

Verizon today announced (via Re/code) that it is planning on dropping the price of most of its More Everything data plans by $10 per month, making its service offerings more appealing in the increasingly competitive cellular market. Verizon's 1GB data plan is now priced at $30 instead of $40, and a 2GB plan is priced at $40 instead of 50. Price drops extend all the way up to 8GB, available for ...

Apple continued to be the leader in mobile ad revenue by a significant margin in 2014, based on the latest insights from Opera Mediaworks (via TechCrunch). According to the report, iOS captured 51.67% of ad revenue and 27.18% of traffic during the fourth quarter to close out the year as the leader in dollars earned. Meanwhile, Android trailed in second in revenue with a 41.20% share despite...

HTC last week published a video to its YouTube channel, HTCAmerica, which satirizes HTC's biggest competitors - namely Apple and Samsung - with a song sung by rapper Greg Carr, known as "Doc G." The video, fully titled "Doc G's HTC Anthem "Hold the Crown" w/ David Bruce," centers around the rapper interacting with various people dressed up as smartphones from the various companies. Carr, known ...

Following the October release of its redesigned "Selfie" 4-in-1 Photo Lens for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Olloclip is today introducing two new lens sets to expand the range of options available to iPhone photographers. The new Macro 3-in-1 Lens offers three new magnification levels at 7x, 14x, and 21x, while the new Telephoto + Circular Polarizing Lens brings 2x magnification alongside a...

The end may be near for RadioShack retail stores after a dire September warning that the company would not be able to finance operations "beyond the very near term" without a sale, investment, or company restructuring. According to Bloomberg, RadioShack may be planning to sell half of its stores to Sprint and close the other half in a move that would potentially see the termination of the...

While much of the wearables focus remains on the upcoming Apple Watch launch, Pebble continues to push forward with its own smartwatch platform that began as a record-setting Kickstarter project and has blossomed into a successful company. Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky recently discussed the company's extensive plans for new hardware in the upcoming year, along with a few details of Pebble's...

Apple has never shown much interest in styluses, even as companies like Samsung and Microsoft have embraced them as major selling points for smartphones and tablets. Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs even went as far as saying "If you see a stylus, they blew it," on one occasion, and at Macworld in 2007, he asked "Who wants a stylus? Nobody wants a stylus." Apple's focus on the fingertip as the best ...

Deals have been a bit sparse in recent weeks following the holidays, but we expect things to pick up somewhat in February and March now that we're solidly into the new year. There are a few deals to be had this week on the non-Retina iMac, older now-discontinued iPad Air and iPad mini 2 models, and the Retina MacBook Pro. We've also got some discounted Apple-related accessories and a selection ...

Six-second video sharing service Vine today announced Vine Kids, an app that skews towards a younger generation and is meant to act as a hub for kid-friendly content that may be harder to discover on the original app. In the announcement, Carolyn Penner, Head of Communications and Marketing at Vine, states the idea for the app came from a colleague's daughter and her infatuation with the...

Apple's iOS and Mac App Stores were today updated with new "Get Productive" sections, offering discounted prices on many popular productivity apps for iOS devices and Macs. In the iOS App Store, the 19 discounted apps include Fantastical 2 for iPhone and iPad, Workflow, Clear, Duet Display, Calendars 5, and more. Apps are available for up to 60 percent off their regular prices. In the Mac ...

Elgato recently announced that it is recalling some of its Smart Power 6000 mAh battery packs, as they can overheat while recharging. The company sent out notices to app users today, letting them know about the recall. For those unfamiliar, the $99 Elgato Smart Power battery pack is a compact 6000 mAh external battery that integrated with an iOS app, a neat feature that allowed users to...

Facebook for iOS is gaining a major new feature today, which is designed to provide Foursquare-style recommendations on the places that users visit. Called Place Tips, the tool will offer up posts and photos that a user's friends have shared at the same location that's being visited. For example, when visiting a restaurant, if a Facebook friend has previously been to the same spot, Place Tips...

Following Apple's earnings call on Tuesday in which Tim Cook stated the company "saw more new customers to iPhone than we've ever seen before," research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) today released (via Fortune) a report delving into the specifics of the Android-to-Apple switching statistics revealed by Apple. Expectedly, the report - which surveyed 500 Apple device...