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

Amazon has added a new service to its Amazon Web Services division that should make it easier for developers to integrate push notifications into their apps, particularly when developing for multiple platforms.SNS Mobile Push allows developers to send notifications to iOS, Android and Kindle Fire devices for $1 per million notifications sent, without developing a complicated push notification...

In an interview with Australian newspaper AdNews (via The Next Web), Samsung Australia's chief marketing officer Arno Lenior offered retrospect on the Korean company's 2012 "Next Big Thing" ad that mocked Apple loyalists, saying that it signaled Samsung "coming-of-age" as a brand, and "marked a tipping point" for the company's standing in consumer electronics globally. Lenior also stated that...

DIRECTV today launched a newly revamped iPad app designed to offer improved content discovery and quicker access to TV shows and movies. While the app retains its current feature base that allows customers to watch live TV, DVR content, and on demand titles, it includes several newly implemented tools to make browsing and viewing simpler. The app's content and features are now aggregated into...

Apple is expanding its USB Power Adapter Takeback Program to countries beyond the United States and China, reports 9to5Mac. First introduced last month following the electrocution of a Chinese woman using a counterfeit iPhone charger, the recycling initiative is designed to allow iOS users to safely replace and dispose of questionable third-party power adapters. Under the terms of the...

Facebook is adding new integration with OpenTable and greater Hashtag support to its iOS app.The hashtag support was added to Facebook recently as part of a greater push to keep track of trending topics across the social network. The OpenTable integration is part of a broader partnership between the two companies that allows Facebook users to make restaurant reservations right from the Facebook ...

Skype has updated its iPhone and iPad apps, adding support for HD video calling on both devices, as well as other "general fixes and improvements" and better support for the iOS 7 beta.Latest improvements:- Audio and video call quality and stability improvements.- Make HD (720p) quality video calls from your iPhone 5 or iPad 4 (iOS devices with Retina display).- A new, easier to use...

Industry sources have told Taiwanese news outlet Digitimes that production of the upcoming iPhone 5S will be limited to 3-4 million units in Q3 2013 due to a shortage of the fingerprint scanners to be used in the phone. Specifically, the sources cite difficulties in interaction between the fingerprint scanners and Apple’s upcoming iOS 7 mobile platform. Production of Apple's next iPhone,...

According to a report from Chinese news outlet Da Lian Evening News [Google Translate] (via ZDNet), a woman in China suffered eye injuries from her iPhone 5 after it exploded while she was on the phone. The woman reportedly felt the device's screen become warm after talking for 40 minutes, and eventually it combusted after she tried numerous times to end the call by tapping on the screen. The ...

Video game broadcasting platform Twitch has released an update for its iOS app, bringing new features such as a redesigned chat interface and a live toggle between mobile-ready and desktop-optimized streams. Also, the update increases the amount of viewable channels on the app to 750 channels total, up from 200 previously, and adds integration with live in-game offers from gaming platform Steam. ...

Following a strong backlash after the introduction of its AT&T Next smartphone upgrade program, AT&T has cut pricing on a number of devices in the program, including the iPhone. Previously, the iPhone cost $32.50 per month under AT&T Next, making it more expensive than comparable plans from Verizon and T-Mobile. Now, however, the 16GB iPhone can be had for $27 per month -- one dollar per year...

T-Mobile will be discontinuing the "No Money Down" promotion that it launched in late July, reports AllThingsD. The promotion, which ends on Saturday, allowed new T-Mobile subscribers to purchase an iPhone with no downpayment, paying for the full cost of the phone with monthly payments of approximately $25. While the iPhone 4 and other smartphones will still be available with no money down,...

Announced earlier this year, the Automatic Smart Driving Assistant is a Bluetooth 4.0 device that plugs in to your car's OBD-II port. Typically found somewhere under the steering wheel of every vehicle made after 1996 in the USA, the OBD-II port provides all sorts of useful diagnostic information which traditionally is only used by mechanics and for emissions testing. Over the years, a number...

Twitter today launched a significant update for its Twitter #music app, adding new music discovery features to allow the service to better compete with other music services like Rdio, Pandora, and Spotify, all of which offer robust content discovery tools. Users can now listen to an artist's top tracks, listen to similar artists, or listen to artists that a favored artist follows on Twitter....

Video game company Blizzard Entertainment has launched Blizzard WCS for iOS, an app made specifically for tracking the progress of the StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS). The app allows users the ability to watch live streams of WCS matches as well as archived videos with AirPlay capability, and also features content that spotlights individual players and eSports news. The...

Earlier this week, The Cincinnati Enquirer took a look at the history and future of Cincinnati Bell, the 140-year-old telecommunications company serving the Cincinnati, Ohio area. Included in that report was a mention that the company's wireless division will begin offering the iPhone for the first time later this month.Cincinnati Bell plans to start carrying Apple’s iPhone 5 this month, which...

Rise, an alarm clock app optimized for both the iPhone and iPad, has been named Apple's App of the Week and can now be downloaded for free. The app distinguishes itself from the stock Clock app found on iOS in that it allows for the user to set alarms with dragging gestures and also features the ability to set alarms with individual audio from a device’s library or an iTunes playlist. The...

Google has updated its Google Play Books app, adding support for both rental books and textbooks, which were added today to the Google Play Store. Textbooks can be rented or purchased via the website, and then accessed in the iOS app itself. Once added to a personal book list on the website, the textbooks will show up in the app, though they will be displayed in the same section as regular...

Roku has updated its iOS app to version 2.3.0, allowing users to broadcast videos from their iPhones to their Roku players. Previously, the app limited its "Play on Roku" sharing, which works somewhat similarly to Apple's AirPlay, to photos and music. The app's new video sharing capability only works with video that was captured using the iPhone and saved to the photo library; it does not work ...