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

A MacRumors reader has sent in a screenshot of a prompt in iOS 8 that double checks with users asking if they want to continue giving location info to apps. Since iOS 6, Apple has required apps to get explicit user permission before accessing personal data and device information, with iOS 8 now allowing users to determine whether they want apps to keep using location data. Apple's...

The Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) has resolved the dispute between Apple and Mexican telecommunications company iFone over the rights to the phonetic name "iPhone", acquitting Apple of any wrongdoing, reports El Universal [Google Translate]. The IMPI found that the "iPhone" trademark can only be infringed by iFone's fellow telecommunications companies. Because Apple is a...

Philips today tweeted an image demonstrating how the Philips Hue app for its iPhone-controlled line of lights might look when integrated into iOS 8's Notification Center. As seen in the image, adding a Hue widget to the Notification Center would potentially give users direct access to an off switch and a selection of light scenes. This is a concept prototype to show the use of extensions to ...

Big Ass Fans has unveiled the new 'Haiku' ceiling fan with 'SenseME' technology, which is billed as the world's first smart ceiling fan and features an on-board computer that utilizes a companion app on iOS devices. The ceiling fan is composed of a durable bamboo material and boasts an array of sensors that automate a number of tasks, such as adjusting fan speed and powering the fan on and off....

Razer has unveiled its Junglecat iOS gaming controller for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5, bringing a number of hardware features that attempt to make games easier and more natural to play on a mobile device. The accessory features a slide-out unibody design that contains a Lightning connected upper enclosure for the iPhone, and boasts console-style controls such as a D-Pad, ABXY face buttons,...

iOS 8 introduces a new feature to the Find my iPhone and Find my iPad functionality on iOS devices, allowing users to select a "Send Last Location" option that will notify Apple of a device's last known location when the battery drains to a critical level. Currently, if a device is lost with Find My iPhone on and the battery drains and it cannot be located, iCloud will display the last known...

iOS 8 introduces a new peer-to-peer AirPlay feature that will allow iOS devices to stream content to the Apple TV without the need for a shared network connection. Currently, an iOS device must be on the same WiFi network as an Apple TV, which can make it a hassle to use AirPlay when away from home. The new feature is described on Apple's iOS 8 enterprise preview page, as delinking AirPlay...

Instagram received a significant update today, adding 10 new creative tools to the app to put it on par with more robust image editing apps. Users will now be able to manipulate and adjust brightness, contrast, warmth, saturation, highlights, and shadows.When you go to select a filter, you'll now see a new wrench icon. Tap it and you'll find a tray of photo editing tools ready for you to explore. ...

Earlier today at its Worldwide Developer Conference keynote address, Apple displayed a slide from its presentation listing many under-the-radar features and improvements the company has made to iOS 8. One of them was Wi-Fi calling, which allows users to make regular phone calls over Wi-Fi rather than a cellular network. Soon after the event, T-Mobile took to its corporate blog to announce that...

Near the end of today's keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference that included a first look at iOS 8 among other things, Apple revealed what iOS devices will be compatible with its new mobile operating system this fall. That list included the iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPod touch 5th generation, iPad 2, iPad with Retina Display, iPad Air, iPad Mini, and iPad mini with Retina ...

After showing off the main features for iOS 8 at its Worldwide Developers Conference today, Apple announced improvements for the App Store starting with iOS 8, including app bundles, integrated beta testing, improved search and more. In order to improve discoverability, the App Store will soon add an "Explore" tab, allowing users to explore through categories and sub-categories easily....

Apple today announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference that iOS 8 will support system wide third-party keyboards. The company showed something that appeared to resemble the popular-gesture based keyboard Swype running on iOS 8, as software chief Craig Federighi noted that keyboards have the most restrictive sandbox to ensure user privacy and safety. To this point, third-party...

As a part of today's unveiling for iOS 8 at its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced a new "QuickType" feature for the onboard keyboard which offers context sensitive predictive typing suggestions among other features. For instance, an example message asking a user about "dinner or a movie" displayed button suggestions like "dinner", "a movie", and "not sure", while the feature...

While introducing iOS 8 at its Worldwide Developers Conference today, Apple announced a host of improvements for its popular iMessage messaging platform, including in-line audio and video messages and new group features like Do Not Disturb and more. The in-line video and audio messages are accessed from a small radial menu on the right of the text-entry field, allowing users to quickly...

With Apple's WWDC Keynote kicking off on today, some users are interested in avoiding all of the announcements and waiting until Apple posts the recorded video of the event so as to experience it without already knowing the outcome. For those individuals, we've posted this news story, which will be updated with the link to the presentation once it becomes available from Apple. No other news ...

Chair's hit sequel Infinity Blade II has been named Apple's App of the Week and as a result, it is free to download for the second time since its initial 2011 release. Created as a followup to the original Infinity Blade game, Infinity Blade II has enhanced graphics with detailed environments, character textures, and ambient light touches like sharper shadows and atmospheric effects. The In...

Amazon will be launching a music streaming service offered free to customers paying for its $99/year Amazon Prime service. The service will launch in June or July according to a new report from Buzzfeed.The news follows yesterday's acquisition of Beats Music by Apple, and a report from February that claimed Amazon was investigating the possibility of a music service to accompany Prime....

At Re/code's inaugural Code Conference, Apple SVP of Internet Services Eddy Cue confirmed that Beats Music will remain available on Android and Windows Phone after Apple's acquisition of the company. This will make Beats Music Apple's first app for a non-iOS smartphone platform. Some of these things, like iMessage, are really integrated deeply into the hardware. Those types of opportunites are...