Microsoft
By MacRumors Staff
Microsoft How Tos
How to Play Fortnite on iPhone and iPad for Free
Fortnite has been unavailable to play on the iPhone and iPad since Apple banned it from the App Store amid an ongoing legal battle with Epic Games, but the battle royale game has returned to iOS devices thanks to Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming service. This article explains how to get Fortnite up and running on the service – keep reading to learn how it works. Apple removed popular title...
Read Full Article
How to Pair a PS5 DualSense and Xbox Series X Controller With iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV
With the release of iOS 14.5 and tvOS 14.5, Apple users can now connect their PS5 DualSense and Xbox Series X controllers to an iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Keep reading to learn how it works. Since iOS 13 and tvOS 13, users have been able to connect popular console controllers to an iPhone or Apple TV to play Apple Arcade games and other iOS games, instead of having to spend extra money on...
How to Pair a DualShock 4 or Xbox Wireless Controller With iPhone and Apple TV
With iOS 13 and tvOS 13, Apple users are now able to connect their favorite console controllers to an iPhone or Apple TV. In this guide, we've provided a quick rundown of how to go about pairing the DualShock 4 Wireless Controller and Xbox Wireless Controller to both iOS and tvOS devices. Previously, MFi controllers were the only solution to playing games on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. With...
Microsoft Articles
Native Microsoft OneNote App Now Available for Apple Vision Pro
Microsoft today introduced a version of OneNote that is designed to run on the Apple Vision Pro headset. OneNote for Vision Pro was created for visionOS, and it includes many of the features that are available on OneNote for iPad. The app can be used to write memos, notes, and digital notebooks, and there are options to sync content to OneDrive for access across multiple platforms. There is...
Microsoft Says Windows Laptops With Snapdragon X Elite Will Be Faster Than M3 MacBook Air
Microsoft will advertise that its upcoming Windows laptops with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processor are faster than the MacBook Air with Apple's latest M3 chip, according to internal documents obtained by The Verge. "Microsoft is so confident in these new Qualcomm chips that it's planning a number of demos that will show how these processors will be faster than an M3 MacBook Air for CPU...
Meta, Microsoft, X and Match Join Epic Games in Protesting Fees for Non-App Store Purchase Links
Meta, Microsoft, X, and Match today joined Epic Games to protest the way Apple complied with a court ruling requiring it to walk back its anti-steering rules. In an amicus brief in support of Epic Games (via The Wall Street Journal), the four companies said that the fees Apple is charging are too high, and that there are too many restrictions on how developers link to their websites. "The Apple ...
Microsoft Begged Apple to Adopt Bing as Safari's Default Search Engine
Microsoft repeatedly attempted to persuade Apple to switch to Bing as the default search engine for Safari or even buy it outright, it has emerged. The information was disclosed in documents as part of Google's ongoing antitrust case against the U.S. Justice Department (via CNBC). According to the filings, Microsoft approached Apple in 2009, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2020, proposing that...
Microsoft Overtakes Apple as World's Most Valuable Company [Updated]
Microsoft today overtook Apple as the world's most valuable public company by market value. Apple's share price dropped by just one percent, enabling Microsoft to narrowly pull ahead of Apple at a value of $2.87 trillion. Microsoft has briefly overtaken Apple as the most valuable company since 2018, most recently in 2020 and 2021 when concerns about supply chain shortages dented Apple's...
Microsoft's $69 Billion Deal to Buy Activision Blizzard Cleared By UK
Microsoft's revised offer to buy Activision Blizzard has been approved by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) after its initial acquisition attempt was blocked by the UK antitrust regulator. Under the revised deal, French video game publisher Ubisoft will be given the rights to distribute Activision's games on consoles and PCs over the cloud. The CMA said the reworked deal...
Apple Deal Responsible for Google's Dominance in Search, Says Microsoft CEO
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella today said that he believes the search engine deal between Apple and Google has made it impossible for other search engines like Bing to compete (via The Wall Street Journal). With Google as the default search engine on Safari on all Apple devices, people become accustomed to using it, Nadella explained in testimony he gave during the ongoing Google vs. U.S. Department ...
Microsoft Considered Selling Bing to Apple in 2020
Back in 2020, Microsoft considered selling its Bing search engine to Apple, reports Bloomberg. Had the acquisition happened, Bing would have replaced Google as the default search engine on Apple devices. Microsoft executives met up with Apple services chief Eddy Cue to discuss a potential deal, but the talks were just exploratory and did not progress. According to Bloomberg, Apple did not...
Apple Releases iTunes for Windows Update With Support for iPhone 15 Models
Apple today released an iTunes 12.12.10 update for Windows users, and the new software adds both security improvements and support for new devices that include the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models. iTunes for Windows is not updated on a regular basis, and this is the first new software release since May when Apple addressed a major security vulnerability. Following the update, Windows...
Microsoft Completes Rollout of Basic iMessage Support on Windows 11
Microsoft today announced it has completed its rollout of iPhone support for its Phone Link app on Windows 11, as spotted by The Verge. With the Phone Link app for Windows 11 and the Link to Windows app for iOS, iPhone users can make and receive phone calls, send and receive text messages, and view notifications directly on their PC. Notably, this means Windows 11 technically supports...
Microsoft Planning Privacy-Focused Version of ChatGPT as Apple AI Efforts Flounder
Microsoft is planning to launch a privacy-focused version of ChatGPT amid Apple's apparent lack of grip on emerging AI technologies, The Information reports. Microsoft's Azure cloud server unit plans to offer a version of ChatGPT that runs on dedicated cloud servers where the data is kept separate from that of other customers later this quarter. Data on this isolated server will not...
Microsoft Now Rolling Out iMessage Support on Windows With Several Limitations
Microsoft today announced it is beginning to roll out iPhone support to the Phone Link app on Windows 11. In a blog post, the company said this functionality will be available to all Windows 11 users around the world by mid-May. With the Phone Link app for Windows 11 and the Link to Windows app for iOS, iPhone users can make and receive phone calls, send and receive text messages, and view...
UK Regulator Blocks Microsoft's $70 Billion Activision Blizzard Acquisition
The U.K.'s antitrust regulator has announced it will block Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard over concerns the deal would be anticompetitive in the cloud gaming market. In a press release announcing the block, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had prevented Microsoft's proposed purchase of Activision over concerns the deal would lead to "reduced innovation and...
Apple Releases Updates to Apple Music and TV Preview Apps for Windows
Apple has released updates for its Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Devices apps for PC users running Windows 11, bringing what appear to be notable improvements and bug fixes to the preview apps. Last year, Microsoft said that Apple Music and Apple TV apps would be coming to the Microsoft Store in 2023 for installation on Windows devices, offering a better experience of Apple Music and...
SwiftKey for iOS Gains Bing AI Chatbot Integration
Microsoft last year said it would be ending support for SwiftKey on iPhone, then only weeks later it backtracked and asked users to "stay tuned" for the arrival of new features. The company has now lived up to its promise with a fresh update that, perhaps unsurprisingly, integrates its ubiquitous Bing AI chatbot into the predictive keyboard app. There are three components to SwiftKey's new...
Microsoft's AI-Powered Bing Experience Gains Image Creation Functionality
Microsoft today announced that its AI-enhanced Bing browser now includes Bing Image Creator, image-generating technology powered by OpenAI's DALL-E deep learning model. DALL-E is designed to generate digital content through natural language descriptions, and it has been a popular image generation tool for some time now. Microsoft says that the Bing Image Creator will bring AI-powered visual...
Microsoft Wants to Launch Xbox Games Store on iPhone
Microsoft is reportedly preparing to launch an Xbox games store on the iPhone as early as next year, but the plans depend on multiple regulatory measures. In an interview with the Financial Times, Microsoft's gaming chief Phil Spencer said the app's launch hinges on regulators approving the company's acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard, as this would give Microsoft a wider...
Microsoft Announces Outlook for Mac is Now Free to Use
Microsoft today announced that its Outlook app for Mac is now free to use, eliminating the need for a Microsoft 365 subscription or license. Outlook supports multiple email providers, including Outlook.com, Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo Mail, and others, with a unified inbox and universal search functionality available. As noted by The Verge, the app has been optimized for Macs with Apple silicon...
Microsoft Announces iMessage Support on Windows With Several Limitations
Microsoft today announced that it is adding iPhone support to its Phone Link app on Windows 11. The app allows iPhone users to make and receive phone calls, send and receive text messages, and view an iPhone's notifications directly on a PC. Notably, the app brings limited iMessage functionality to Windows. After pairing an iPhone with a PC via Bluetooth and granting some permissions on the...
AI-Powered Bing Search Comes to Microsoft Edge, Skype and Bing iOS Apps
Microsoft today announced the rollout of new Bing, Skype, and Edge apps for the iPhone and the iPad, all of which feature the chat-based AI-powered search capabilities that the company unveiled earlier in February. The redesigned Bing mobile app has an overhauled look and a new chat experience. Tapping on the Bing icon at the bottom of the app opens up a chat session, where users can ask the ...