MacRumors

Amazon Music now has more than 55 million customers worldwide, according to a company press release. The announcement represents the first time Amazon has shared growth metrics for its streaming service, which is catching up to Apple Music's last subscriber count of over 60 million last June.

The figure is actually a tally of customers across several tiers that Amazon offers. Amazon Music Unlimited is the $9.99 a month plan that serves as a direct rival to Spotify and ‌Apple Music‌. According to Amazon, subscriptions numbers on this tier grew by more than 50 percent last year alone.

The other tiers include: Amazon Music Unlimited ($3.99 single-device plan) for customers who just want to listen on an Echo speaker; Amazon Music for Prime subscribers, which includes ad-free access to over 2 million songs; ad-sponsored Amazon Music, a free plan offering access to top playlists and thousands of music stations; and Amazon HD, a high-definition tier costing $14.99 a month.

• Apple Music vs. Amazon Music

Amazon says its streaming service has grown nearly 50 percent year-on-year across the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Japan, and has more than doubled in its newer markets like France, Italy, Spain, and Mexico

Despite the respectable growth across its range of tiers, Amazon Music has some way to go before it catches up to Spotify, which in September announced it had 113 million paying customers.

Twitter has announced support for emoji reactions in its direct messages. The new feature lets you respond to DMs without having to type anything, similar to the reactions available to iMessage users when they want to acknowledge messages without sending a proper reply.

To use the new emoji reactions in Twitter, either tap the small heart icon with the plus sign merging into it that appears to the right of each message bubble, or double-tap a message to reveal an emoji reactions menu.

There are seven emoji at present, including staple reactions like laughing face, sad face, thumbs up, and heart. All participants in a conversation get notified when you lay down an emoji, but you can also undo them at any time.

One of the issues that Apple Card users sometimes raise is that while the Wallet app offers plenty of well-organized information about spending, there's no option to directly share transaction data from the card with many third-party money management apps like Mint or Lunch Money.

Fortunately, Apple has provided a solution – you can now download a CSV/OFX spreadsheet from the Wallet app that contains all your ‌Apple Card‌ data, which you can then import into most budgeting apps and get a more complete picture of your finances.

Alternatively, if you're a Quicken or QuickBooks users, you can directly export into the appropriate QFX/QBO formats. The following steps show you how it's done.

1. Launch the Wallet app on your iPhone.
2. Tap the Card Balance panel under your ‌Apple Card‌.
3. Scroll down to the Statements section and tap on the month you wish to export transactions from.
   
4. Tap Export Transactions at the bottom.
5. Select CSV, OFX, QFX, or QBO from the pop-up menu.
   
6. To save the data as a CSV/OFX/QFX/QBO file, tap the Share icon in the upper-right corner of the screen, where you can opt to AirDrop it to another device such as your Mac, print it, or Save to Files to save it your iCloud folders or on your iPhone.

Note that some budgeting apps accept imported transaction data, but may need file format conversions prior to import.

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming watchOS 6.1.2 update to developers, one week after releasing the second beta and more than a month after releasing the watchOS 6.1.1 update with bug fixes.

Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS beta can be downloaded through the dedicated ‌‌Apple Watch‌‌ app on the iPhone by going to General > Software Update.

To install the update, the ‌‌Apple Watch‌‌ needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it has to be in range of the ‌iPhone‌.

There's no word yet on what features are included in the watchOS 6.1.2 beta, and there were no new features discovered in the first two betas, but we'll update this article should anything new be found in the third beta.

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming tvOS 13.3.1 update to developers, one week after seeding the second beta and over a month after releasing the tvOS 13.3 update.

Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the new tvOS 13.3.1 developer beta can be downloaded onto the ‌‌‌Apple TV‌‌‌ via a profile that's installed using Xcode.

tvOS updates are typically minor in scale, focusing on under-the-hood bug fixes and improvements rather than major outward-facing changes. Apple provides little to no information on what's included in tvOS beta updates, so we may not discover anything new after installing the software.

While we don't often know what's new in tvOS during the beta testing process, we let MacRumors readers know when new updates are available so those who are developers can download it upon release.

A collection of iPad discounts have appeared this week at retailers including Amazon, Adorama, B&H Photo, and MacMall. You'll have a chance to save on Apple's 10.2-inch iPad, 10.5-inch iPad Air, and the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Sales start with $50 off the newest entry-level iPads, where you can get the 32GB Wi-Fi model for $279.00. Additionally, Amazon has up to $160 off the latest iPad Air models with both Wi-Fi and cellular support, and notable markdowns have appeared at numerous retailers for the iPad Pro, particularly related to the 12.9-inch model.

iPad Discounts

10.2-inch iPad

• 32GB, Wi-Fi - $279.00, down from $329.00 ($50 off)
• 128GB, Wi-Fi - $379.00, down from $429.00 ($50 off)

10.5-inch iPad Air

• 64GB, Cellular - $569.00, down from $629.00 ($60 off)
• 256GB, Cellular - $619.00, down from $779.00 ($160 off)

iPad Pro

• 11-inch, 64GB, Cellular - $799.00, down from $949.00 ($150 off)
• 12.9-inch, 64GB, Wi-Fi - $899.00, down from $999.00 ($100 off)
• 12.9-inch, 64GB, Cellular - $1,019.00, down from $1,149.00 ($130 off) [matched at Adorama]
• 12.9-inch, 512GB, Cellular - $1,349.00, down from $1,499.00 ($150 off)
• 12.9-inch, 1TB, Cellular - $1,529.00, down from $1,699.00 ($170 off)

Be sure to visit our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more Apple-related products and accessories.

Apple's main iPhone manufacturer in India is set to significantly boost its overall production capacity, following the construction of a third plant in the country.

Wistron won approval to build the new smartphone factory in March 2019 and has already completed trial production at the plant, thanks to collaborative efforts by the Taiwanese firm's local team.

According to Wistron company chairman Simon Lin, local talent will fill the top- to mid-tier management roles at the plant, which will undertake production of lower-priced iPhones initially, possibly starting with the iPhone 8.

Wistron has two other plants in India, both in Bengaluru, that have been producing iPhone SE and iPhone 6s devices for sale in the local market.

Meanwhile, DigiTimes reports that Apple has continued expanding its mid-tier iPhone production in India, with partner Foxconn already manufacturing iPhone XR devices there.

Apple has been setting up ‌iPhone‌ manufacturing hubs in India ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi began promoting his "Made in India" initiative, which requires that 30 percent of products sold by foreign companies be manufactured or produced within the country.

India is the world's second largest smartphone market, but just one in four Indians are said to own a smartphone, providing Apple with an opportunity to sell iPhones to millions of new customers in the country.

Apple has asked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to increase production of the A-series chips that are used in the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max due to higher-than-expected demand, reports Bloomberg.

iPhone 11 and 11 Pro demand has been outperforming Apple's expectations, and sales have been especially strong in China, a welcome change from the drop in sales that Apple saw with the 2018 iPhone models. Apple's iPhone 11, priced starting at $700, has been a "particular driver" for the increased demand.

Apple's TSMC A13 chip orders are set to increase again in just a few months as Apple prepares to launch a new low-cost iPhone, which will be a successor to the popular iPhone SE.

The upcoming iPhone, which could launch as early as March, is said to feature an affordable price tag. The device is rumored to feature a 4.7-inch display, thick top and bottom bezels with a Touch ID Home button, and a single-lens camera, but it will be equipped with the same A13 chip used in the 11 and 11 Pro.

During a recent earnings call, TSMC reported earnings above most analyst expectations and forecasted a strong quarter ahead.