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

While a prediction that the next-generation iPad will be thinner and lighter than the current one may not seem an overly ambitious one, Digitimes claims to have details, suggesting that the iPad 5 will borrow the G/F2 (DITO) thin-film type touch screen technology used on the iPad mini. Digitimes cited an un-named industry source as reporting that the screens would use a similar mix of...

At Macworld/iWorld this afternoon, one company was demonstrating an archery-based iPhone accessory, the BowBlade, which was inspired by movies like The Hunger Games. The BowBlade is designed to look and feel like a traditional bow and arrow with one caveat - there's an iPhone attached. The iPhone goes at the front of the device, the bow is extended, and a trigger at the back fires a shot. When ...

Mauz is a Kickstarter project that is designed to attach to the iPhone's dock, turning it into a device that is able to control computers using gestures and visual cues. In other words, the Mauz morphs an iPhone into a computer mouse. The main product consists of a small dongle that plugs into the phone to function as a laser sensor. The dongle links to the Mauz app, which turns on the...

In the two weeks since Temple Run 2 launched on the App Store, Google Play, and the Amazon Marketplace, the app has been downloaded more than fifty million times, the fastest downloaded mobile game in history.The previous fastest downloaded game was Angry Birds Space, selling 50 million copies in under six weeks -- though Angry Birds Space was a pay app, not a free download like Temple Run 2. T...

The excellent iPad notebook app Penultimate has received its first major update since it was purchased by Evernote in May of last year.The update adds Evernote integration, as well as a new feature to make handwritten notes in the app searchable. The app uploads notes to Evernote, which does all the handwriting recognition server side.One of Evernote’s magic features is its ability to make...

When iOS 6 was announced last June, Apple said it was working with car manufacturers on a new "Eyes Free" mode for Siri that would integrate with voice command buttons found in an increasing number of car models to allow users to interact with Siri without needing to look at their devices' screens. At the time, Scott Forstall displayed a slide showing that Apple was working with BMW, GM,...

While iOS 6.1 brought several widely publicized new features such as support for several dozen new LTE carriers and new support for ordering Fandango movie tickets through Siri in the United States, a number of other minor changes were also included in the update. Given the frequency with which our readers have been pointing some of them out, we thought it would be appropriate to make note of...

Apple's decision to launch the 128 GB iPad in February seems to make rumors of a new model in March or April appear unlikely, suggesting the fall as a more likely time for a refresh. iLounge was among the sites to suggest a Spring 2013 date for the launch of the iPad 5, although the site has since backtracked from that claim to suggest that the device will be arriving in or around October....

Judge Lucy Koh ruled in a court filing (via The Verge) tonight that Samsung did not willfully infringe Apple patents. This decision denies any additional damages to the $1.05 billion awarded to Apple last August. As this is the sum total of Apple's arguments and evidence that Samsung's infringement was willful, the Court cannot conclude that Apple has met its burden to show willfulness by clear...

THX, the company behind Lucasfilm's audio/visual reproduction standard for movie theaters, A/V equipment, and more, has released a new iPhone app to assist consumers with calibrating their HDTV's and home theater setups. The app is currently free for one week, but will rise to $1.99 after.THX prefers that users connect the app to their television via Apple's official HDMI adapter, but AirPlay...

Last week, Apple pulled the 500px photo sharing app from the App Store over concerns about "artistic" nude photographs on the service.Today, according to reports from both TechCrunch and 500px's Twitter feed, the app has returned to the store.The app returns with an age-gate warning, advising that the content in the app is for 17+ audiences, and also adds a new “Report Photo” button to...

Twitter's six-second video sharing app Vine made headlines early this morning after The Verge discovered that an 'Editor’s Pick' clip within the app linked to pornographic content. Vine's Editor's Picks are curated content and are therefore displayed at the top of the app, which means a large portion of Vine's users saw the feed containing the inappropriate clip. Apple originally...

With the release of iOS 6.1 this morning, Apple introduced a minor change to Passbook, restoring the former "Welcome" screen to the app. When Passbook was first introduced with iOS 6, it opened with a page that gave users a quick way to locate and download Passbook-enabled apps. Unfortunately, the Welcome screen disappeared after a single Passbook app was downloaded, making it difficult to...

WhatsApp Messenger, a popular cross-platform SMS and group chat replacement, is the subject of a joint report between Canadian and Dutch authorities. The report says the app violates the countries' privacy laws because users are required to give the company access to both users and non-users in its address book, reports Reuters.The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) and the Dutch ...

TouchArcade notes the appearance of an arcade game called Gridlee in the App Store. Gridlee is a 1983 arcade game that was never officially released, but the code was later released for free for non-commercial usage in 2001. The App Store app uses MAME 0.139u1 (MAME4iOS) to provide the emulation engine for the game. MAME is a popular arcade machine emulator that will run thousands of...

iPad Mini ship times have dropped to 3-5 days at a number of Apple Online Stores around the world, including the U.S., Canadian, Australia, New Zealand, Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Japanese outlets. This was first noticed by iPhoneinCanada.ca. The most notable exception to the shipping time improvement is the European stores, which have a 2 week lead time. During its first quarter...

Google yesterday overhauled its news aggregation app Currents for iOS, revamping the design and adding features to make navigation more sleek and simple. What's New in Version 2.0 - Edition sidebar - quickly access your editions within categories such as business, sports, etc. - Fast scan - Vertical swipe to scan an edition, horizontal swipe advances to next edition - Breaking stories -...

Forbes reports that analysts at Detwiler Fenton believe Apple is working on a low-cost iPhone that uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor rather than the Apple-created processors that the company is currently using for the iPhone. “It is likely that the work with QCOM is being driven by AAPL’s concern regarding maintaining gross margins as well as the need to differentiate the product by...