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

Case-Mate is taking on Otterbox for the claim of best super-protective case. The Otterbox Defender series has long-been the go-to case for those looking to keep their iPhone free from harm -- but Case-Mate says the Tank provides military-grade protection for the iPhone 4 and 4S. Modeled after motorcycle helmet engineering, Tank is designed with a hard, impact resistant exterior and a shock...

Bluetooth headset manufacturer Jawbone has released the UP wristband to track users activity, sleep, and food intake to "encourage healthier living". The water-resistant wristband, which is designed to be worn constantly, has a built-in motion sensor that tracks movement (steps, distance, calories burned, pace, intensity level and active vs inactive time) and sleep (hours slept, time to fall...

While Apple revealed as part of its notes on the new iTunes 10.5.1 beta 2 released earlier today that iTunes Match is now available for testing on Apple TV, the option is appearing not just for developers but also for regular users. The general public is unable to activate the feature, however, as subscriptions to iTunes Match must be initiated through iTunes 10.5.1, which has yet to see a...

Yahoo has launched an iPad app they call a "living magazine". The app, called Livestand, is vaguely like Flipboard, but pulls content from Yahoo websites and more than 100 publications. One of the stars of the show was Livestand from Yahoo!, a personalized living magazine designed first for iPad and available to download today, free from the App Store in the U.S. Livestand weaves together...

The native Gmail client for iPhone and iPad has been released: Waiting. Walking. Watching TV. Working out. Winding down. Waking up. We check email pretty much everywhere these days. And when we do, we want easy access to our important messages so we can respond quickly and get back to life -- or slinging birds at thieving green pigs. With that in mind, we’ve created a new Gmail app for...

Apple's new Cards app makes it very easy to send real, physical greeting cards through the mail. For just $2.99 (within the U.S.), Apple will print and mail a custom card. But the implementation has some faults. For one, when sending cards to multiple addressees (holiday cards or event invitations, for example), Apple treats each card as an individual purchase from the Apple Online Store,...

TwelveSouth's PlugBug fixes one of those problems you didn't know you had, in a very clever way. It's a $34.99 attachment that adds a USB charging port to the standard MagSafe power adapter for an Apple notebook. This way, users can charge an iPhone or iPad -- or any other USB device -- and a MacBook simultaneously, using the same wall outlet. If one isn't using the MagSafe connector, it...

Over the weekend, there was a report that Apple did indeed acquire 3D mapping company C3 Technologies. In our original profile of the company, we mentioned that it was purchased in part from Saab AB, a Swedish aerospace and defense company. The technology had originally been developed for...

MG Siegler shares word that Google is preparing to launch a native iOS application for Gmail, offering some expanded capabilities beyond the current mobile-optimized version for Safari. According to Siegler's sources, the app may even have already been submitted to Apple for App Store approval.Google is on the verge of launching their native Gmail app, multiple sources tell me. In fact, I...

Switching off automatic time-zone sensing in iOS 5 can improve iPhone battery life significantly, according to iDownloadBlog. The site claims that a bug in iOS 5's GM release causes the GPS-enabled location tracking connected to the automated time-zone function to run constantly. This unnecessary use of the GPS circuitry may drain the battery exceptionally quickly. To fix the alleged bug and...

A major update to the Plex Media Server was released over the weekend, with significant updates to both the server and client software. Plex is a media player, similar in some ways to Apple's Front Row, but much more powerful. The software automatically organizes movie and television files ripped from DVD's or acquired from other sources and pulls title and plot descriptions from online...

As noted by Gizmodo, one NASA engineer has used the iPad 2's FaceTime video conferencing feature to his advantage when creating a Halloween costume:A very smart dude by the name of Mark Rober figured out that if you strap two iPad 2's to yourself, you can create this incredible, freaky hole effect.The two video conferenced iPads gives the impression of a gaping hole in the middle of his...

Apple is giving away free redemption codes for the excellent Jetpack Joyride game via its App Store Facebook page. Simply head to Facebook.com/AppStore and follow the appropriate directions to receive a redemption code. Apple rolled out revamped App Store pages on Facebook last year with searching and sharing tools, though this is the first time Apple has actually given away an App to Facebook ...

Personal finance site Mint has released an iPad-native client, along with an upgrade to version 2.0 for iPhone users. Mint, which Intuit bought for $170 million in 2009, is designed to help users keep track of spending and budgeting. It automatically imports data from bank, credit card and investment websites, but does not actually control anything -- it only downloads transactions, to lower...

Sprint today announced financial results for the third quarter of 2011, and while the carrier did not begin offering the iPhone until after the quarter ended, it was still able to beat analyst estimates and report a smaller-than-expected loss. Perhaps most significantly, Sprint reported a net gain of 1.3 million subscribers during the third quarter, the carrier's best performance in over five...

Jeff Robbin and Tony Fadell were the co-leads behind the development of the original iPod. Now, 10 years past the iPod's introduction, Jeff Robbin is reportedly in charge of Apple's effort to remake the television. But what of Tony Fadell? He promised Steve Jobs that he wouldn't make anything that would compete with Apple products and instead started a new company, Nest Labs, to remake the...

Lisa Bettany, one of the developers behind ">Camera+, has posted two interesting series of photos comparing the camera quality across all generations of the iPhone, as well as to Canon point-and-shoot and professional-level cameras.The iPhone 4S is dramatically clearer and sharper than previous iPhone versions. Using separate focus and exposure in Camera+ on the iPhone 4 & 4S significantly...

Earlier this month, Apple released Apple TV software version 4.4, adding a number of new features to the set-top box including Photo Stream support, AirPlay mirroring, and NHL and Wall Street Journal content. The update was not without its issues, however, as a number of users reported that the update temporarily bricked their devices, requiring that they be connected to iTunes with a micro USB...