If you got a new iPhone or iPad for Christmas, you may have an old one that you're ready to sell or trade in to get a bit of extra cash. You'll want to make sure to adequately erase everything on it to get it ready for its next owner.
There are only a few steps to follow so it take you just a few minutes to clean up an old iOS device. Here's what to do:
Unpair Your Apple Watch
If you're selling your iPhone and have an Apple Watch linked to it, you're going to want to unpair it first.
Make sure your iPhone and Apple Watch are close to each other.
Open up the Apple Watch app on the iPhone.
Choose the "My Watch" tab.
Select the Apple Watch you want to unpair and tap the "i" button.
Tap "Unpair Apple Watch."
Tap a second time to confirm.
You'll need to enter your Apple ID password to turn off Activation Lock.
Turn Off Find My iPhone
Most trade-in sites won't accept your old iPhone or iPad if Find My iPhone isn't disabled, and if you sell an iOS device with the feature still turned on, the new owner won't be able to use it, creating a huge hassle for both of you.
Find My iPhone needs to be turned off because it's tied to Activation Lock. A phone that's linked to your iCloud account through Find My iPhone can't be used by anyone who doesn't have your Apple ID and password.
Open the Settings app.
Tap on your name to open your account settings.
Tap "iCloud."
Scroll down to "Find My iPhone."
Tap it.
Tap the toggle to turn it off.
To turn off Find My iPhone, you'll need to enter your Apple ID password as an extra security measure, which is designed to keep someone who has your unlocked iPhone from turning the feature off.
After Find My iPhone is off, it's time to erase everything on your iPhone. Before you do this, make sure you have an iCloud backup and that there's nothing stored on your device that you're going to miss.
Open the Settings app.
Choose "General."
Scroll down to the bottom of the menu.
Select "Reset."
Choose "Erase all Content and Settings."
You'll need to enter your device passcode if you have one set.
Tap Erase iPhone, then tap it again to confirm.
If you didn't already turn off Find My iPhone, it will be turned off at this juncture and your device will be removed from your iCloud account.
Your iPhone will switch over to an Apple loading screen as the erasing process starts. It will take a few minutes for the device to be fully erased, but once it's done and boots up again, your old iPhone or iPad is clean, unassociated with your Apple ID, and ready to be sold.
AirPods were a hot ticket item this holiday season, selling out from Apple and other retailers.
We're guessing quite a few MacRumors readers got new AirPods during the holidays, so we thought we'd share some super handy tips and tricks that'll help you get the most out of your new earphones.
To use all of the below features, you're going to need to install iOS 10.2 or later, and for some features, iOS 11 or later is required. On the Apple Watch, watchOS 3 or later is required, and on Mac, macOS 10.12 Sierra or later is required.
Devices that support iOS 10.2 or later include the iPhone 5 and later, the iPad mini 2 and later, the iPad Air and later, the 6th-generation iPod touch, and all iPad Pro models. All Apple Watch models work with AirPods, as do Macs that support Handoff functionality.
To take full advantage of AirPods, an iCloud account is required, but if you have an Apple device, you likely use iCloud regularly.
Customize Tap Functionality
Your AirPods are equipped with accelerometers and other hardware that allow them to respond to a double tap, and though it isn't obvious, these gestures can be customized to your liking. Here's how:
Make sure your AirPods are connected to your iPhone or iPad, either when you're wearing them or with the case open and nearby your device.
Open up the Settings app.
Choose "Bluetooth."
Next to the AirPods in the Bluetooth menu, tap the little "i" button.
Select "Left" and "Right" to customize what your AirPods do when you double tap them. Each one can be set to a separate action.
Choices include "Siri," which activates Siri, "Play/Pause," which starts or stops a song, "Next Track," which moves to the next track of whatever's being played, and "Previous Track," which goes back to the track that was previously being played. "Off" turns off whatever's playing.
Once you have your settings in place, whenever you double tap on an AirPod, it will activate whatever action you chose. With Siri, for example, you can double tap to bring up Siri.
You can also use this AirPods setting menu to change the name of your AirPods, deactivate Automatic Ear Detection and set either the left or right AirPod to serve as a fixed microphone.
Note: "Next Track" and "Previous Track" are both options that were introduced with iOS 11, so you will need to have iOS 11 installed to see these two AirPods options. Without iOS 11, you can only choose "Siri," "Play/Pause," and "Off."
Tap Your Ear
You don't necessarily have to tap right on your AirPod to use the double tap gestures. Many people prefer to tap softly on the back of an ear instead. It's a little less audibly jarring and it works just as well.
Switching Devices
There's an Apple-designed chip called a "W1" inside of your AirPods, and this chip connects your AirPods to your iCloud account. What this means is that every device you have where you're signed into iCloud knows your AirPods exist and can connect to them without having to go through a pairing process every time.
Switching between devices is as simple as opening up the Bluetooth settings on a given device and then choosing your AirPods to connect seamlessly. On the device you used to set up your AirPods, they'll connect automatically whenever you open up the case.
Quickly Pair to Apple TV
There's a little trick to make it easier to pair your AirPods to your Apple TV. With the AirPods in your ears or in the case with the lid open, turn on your Apple TV.
At the main Apple TV screen, hold down on the Play/Pause button on the Siri Remote to bring up an interface that lets you select an audio source. Swipe down to your AirPods, click the main button on the remote, and a connection is established.
If you're using the Apple Remote app or the Control Center Apple TV Remote, you can long press on the Play/Pause button to bring up the audio menu.
Quickly Pair to an iOS device
To pair your AirPods on an iOS device running iOS 11, you don't need to open up the Settings app. Instead, you can use the Now Playing widget in Control Center. Here's how:
On your iOS device, swipe up from the bottom of the display to bring up Control Center.
On the main music widget, tap the two lines located in the upper right corner.
From the list, choose your AirPods.
Once selected from the Control Center list, your AirPods will connect to your iOS device automatically. It takes a few swipes and taps, but it's ultimately quicker than opening up the Settings app.
Pair AirPods to Your Apple Watch
You can pair the AirPods directly to Your Apple Watch to listen to music. Here's how:
With the AirPods in your ears, swipe up from the bottom of the Apple Watch display to bring up Control Center.
Tap on the AirPlay icon at the bottom of control Center.
Choose AirPods.
Take Advantage of Siri
If one of your AirPod double-tap gestures is set to "Siri," you can tap on an AirPod to activate Siri. Siri can play songs and albums from your Apple Music Library, or if you're in the mood for something like 80's music, just ask Siri. Siri will play music from different genres, Apple Music playlists, and radio stations if you have an Apple Music subscription.
Using Siri is a simple, hands-free way to listen to whatever you want on your AirPods, and Siri's also, unfortunately, the only way to adjust the volume on the AirPods without having to use your connected device.
In addition to asking Siri to play music, all of the standard Siri commands are supported, since it's just routing through your phone. Siri can make phone calls, send texts, set reminders, control HomeKit devices, open apps, answer simple questions, and more.
Siri requires an internet connection to function, so the device connected to your AirPods will need to be connected to WiFi or Cellular for Siri on AirPods to work.
Using Just One AirPod
You don't need to use both AirPods at once. If you want to make a call or better hear your ambient surroundings, you can choose to use just one AirPod.
If you have Automatic Ear Detection turned on and take an AirPod out, you may need to press play again, but once you do, it works just like having two AirPods in your ears. Music won't play out of the AirPod not in use, and if you do put it back in, your music resumes in both AirPods.
Pairing AirPods with a non-Apple Device
Your AirPods are designed to work with Apple products, but they use Bluetooth and can pair with your Android device, your PC, or any other device that works with Bluetooth headphones. Here's how to pair with a non-Apple device:
Put the AirPods in the AirPods case.
Open up the lid.
Press and hold the button on the back of the case until a white light flashes.
Open up Bluetooth settings on the device you're connecting to and choose the AirPods.
Get Your Calls Announced
If you get an incoming call while your AirPods are in your ears and want to know who it is without having to look at your iPhone, there's an "Announce Calls" feature for that. Here's how to use it:
Open the Settings app.
Scroll down to "Phone."
Select "Announce Calls."
Toggle on "Headphones & Car" to have calls announced when either headphones are connected or you're in the car. "Headphones Only" will announce calls only when your headphones are in, and not when you're in the car, and "Always" means your iPhone will audibly tell you who's calling even when headphones aren't in.
Locate a Lost AirPod
As of iOS 10.3, there's a dedicated "Find My AirPods" feature for keeping track of your AirPods. Find My AirPods is limited to the AirPods themselves -- it can't locate a lost case, nor does it work when the AirPods are disconnected from an iOS device and stored in a case.
Find My AirPods basically lets you know the last known location of your AirPods. You can access it from the Find My iPhone app or from iCloud, but for detailed instructions on the feature, check out our dedicated how to.
Check Your AirPods Battery
To check the battery of your AirPods while you're using them, swipe on the right of the iPhone or iPad display to bring up your widgets. Find the "Batteries" widget to get a readout on the battery life of your iOS device, your AirPods, and any other connected Bluetooth devices that support the feature.
If your AirPods aren't in your ears, just open up the case when it's near your iPhone to get a popup that shows you the battery life. This is also the only way to see the battery of the AirPods case.
If you have an Apple Watch, you can open up the Control Center while you're using the AirPods and tap the battery icon to see the battery life of both the Apple Watch and the AirPods. On Mac, use the Bluetooth menu to check battery on paired AirPods.
You can also ask Siri to tell you what your remaining battery life is.
Interpreting the Light on the AirPods Case
If you open up the case for your AirPods, you'll see a little light located inside.
Here's what each color means:
Green: Fully charged Orange: Not a full charge Amber: Less than one full charge remains Flashing white: Ready to pair
Charging
AirPods charge with a Lightning cable, so it's super simple to charge them up when the battery is low. Given the design of the AirPods, they're compatible with many iPhone docks on the market, so if you have a dock for your iPhone, you can also use it to charge the AirPods.
Get Your AirPods Serial Number and Check Firmware
If you need the serial number for your AirPods or want to make sure you're running the most up-to-date version of the AirPods firmware, here's how:
Open up the Settings app on your iOS device while your AirPods are in your ears.
Choose "General."
Choose "About."
Scroll down to "AirPods" and tap it.
This menu lists model number, serial number, hardware version, and firmware version.
Wrap Up
The AirPods are one of Apple's most popular accessories in recent history, and they've been largely well-received by Apple customers thanks to the ease of use, simple pairing, long range Bluetooth connectivity, universal fit, easy device switching, and decent battery life.
If you're new to AirPods, you'll likely fall in love with them after just a few uses, and even more so when you've read through our tips and figured out everything they're capable of.
Are there must-know AirPods tips and tricks we've left out? Let us know in the comments!
It was an amazing year for games in 2017, especially during the last few months of the year as developers rushed to get new titles out before the holidays. Many popular PC and Mac games made their way to iOS devices in 2017, and ARKit brought a wealth of new augmented reality gaming experiences to our iPhones and iPads.
For our list of top 10 games of 2017, we've teamed up with our sister site TouchArcade. Our colleagues over at TouchArcade delve into the massive influx of new iOS games that come out each week to highlight what's worth downloading, so we asked them to share their picks for the most notable, most purchase-worthy games that came out this year. This is just a fraction of TouchArcade's list of 100 of the best iOS games in 2017.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a game that's been around since 2012 and on consoles since 2014, and it finally came to iOS devices this year. A dark game, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth was inspired by a biblical tale, and the goal is to get the main character, Isaac, away from his evil mother while battling through a series of procedurally generated dungeons.
This is a roguelike dual-stick shooter with virtual controls and support for MFi controllers. Our sister site TouchArcade says the replay value is "absolutely bonkers" and "unparalleled in the genre," so even though you're shelling out $15, you're getting 500+ hours of gameplay. Read TouchArcade's full review.
Cat Quest, also available on Steam, PS4, and Nintendo Switch, is an open world RPG set in the kingdom of Felingard, where the goal is to take on the role of a cat who is on a quest to rescue his kidnapped sister.
As with traditional RPGs, the idea in Cat Quest is to collect loot, complete quests, and venture through dungeon after dungeon defeating enemies to progress through the game. Cat Quest has adorable graphics that are sure to charm any cat enthusiast, and the gameplay is fun. TouchArcade says the feel of the game "is incredible," with music, combat, and movement combining to create "an amazingly epic environment." Read TouchArcade's full review.
Death Road to Canada is an action RPG where players are tasked with managing a car of passengers on a road trip to Canada to escape the hordes of zombies that have invaded the United States. It's a little bit like a modern version of Oregon Trail, but it's much harder and there are zombies to contend with.
Along the way to Canada, players must make stops and fight zombies to gather supplies and recruit new team members. The game ends when the team dies, but gameplay is never-ending because each new game is randomly generated with different events. Read TouchArcade's full review.
FEZ Pocket Edition is the mobile version of the popular puzzle platformer FEZ, which has been available on other platforms since 2012. In FEZ, players take on the role of Gomez, who lives on one 2D plane of a 3D world. Using a magical fez, players can travel between a total of four 2D planes that make up the 3D world, rotating back and forth between them to solve puzzles and collect cubes to save the universe.
As the game continues, new gameplay elements are unlocked, and it gets tricker and tricker to solve the puzzles. There are no enemies to contend with -- this is a pure puzzle game. TouchArcade reviewed FEZ and called it a "good game" that's difficult, but not frustrating because there are no real consequences for failure. An MFi controller is recommended to make gameplay better, but it's not required.
Fire Emblem Heroes is a Nintendo franchise, and one of the new Nintendo-branded games that came to iOS devices this year. Fire Emblem Heroes is a tactical roleplaying game where players use turn-based battles to defeat enemies
Characters from across the Fire Emblem universe are available to play, and players are tasked with developing their skills to defeat increasingly difficult enemies. In this mobile version, the storyline has players taking on the role of a summoner to call heroes from different Fire Emblem worlds to save the Kingdom of Askr. It's not a replacement for a full Fire Emblem game, but it works well on mobile. Read TouchArcade's full review.
Gorogoa is a card or tile-based puzzle game where players combine, rearrange, and explore each image to discover the connection between them to advance through the game. Gorogoa has the potential to be frustrating because there isn't always an obvious solution to a puzzle, but the artwork, gameplay, and storyline keep players engaged.
Gameplay consists of rearranging, shifting, and zooming in and out on panels to reveal hidden secrets and progress through the story. Our sister site TouchArcade called the puzzle mechanics in the game "very inventive" and "fun to discover," but it's the hand-drawn art that "really stands out." Read TouchArcade's full review.
GRID Autosport is a racing game where players take on the role of a pro-racer aiming to build a racing career. There are more than 100 cars and tracks in the game, so there's plenty of gameplay for session after session.
Our sister site TouchArcade called GRID Autosport "the best racing game on mobile by far," delivering a "fully premium experience," impressive visuals, customizable controls, and "tons of ways to play." Read TouchArcade's full review.
Reigns: Her Majesty is the followup to Reigns, a card based game where players took on the role of a king and swiped left or right to make decisions affecting the kingdom. In this version, players play the queen, and gameplay is largely the same as the original game.
The idea is rule the kingdom through a series of decisions, which you make by swiping left or right. Players must balance the church, the people in the kindgom, the army, and the kingdom's wealth, with every decision made impacting one of these four areas.
If balance is not maintained, the reign of the current queen ends, and players start fresh with a new queen. New content and cards are unlocked as in-game events and milestones are reached, keeping the gameplay fresh time and time again. Read TouchArcade's full review.
Splitter Critters is a lemmings-style puzzle game where the idea is to split the world with a swipe on the display and then rearrange the pieces to guide little critters back to their space ship while overcoming obstacles.
Splitter Critters won a 2017 Apple Design Award in June and was named Apple's iPhone Game of the Year in December. The game's tearing mechanic is simple enough that it can be played by people of all skill levels, and there are multiple solutions to each puzzle. In a review, TouchArcade called Splitter Critters "inventive, well-presented, and most importantly, fun." Read TouchArcade's full review.
The Witness is an open world puzzle-based exploration game that was inspired by Myst. Players are stuck on an island, and the idea behind the game is to solve puzzles and progress through the 11 island regions. The Witness originally game out in 2016, but didn't make its way to iOS devices until September of 2017.
Gameplay is nonlinear and consists of exploring the island and solving maze-style puzzles that gradually incorporate new concepts, so players may find themselves returning to an area once a new mechanic has been unlocked. TouchArcade describes The Witness as a "very difficult game" that can be repetitive, but says it is "an essential experience for any enthusiastic gamer." Read TouchArcade's full review.
Make sure to head over to TouchArcade to check out their full list of top games of 2017, which is complete with reviews, trailers, and a wealth of information on all of the top game picks. TouchArcade is also worth following on a regular basis if you're interested in the iOS gaming scene and want to keep track of what's worth spending a few bucks on in a given week.
Disagree with this list? Let us know what your favorite 2017 games are in the comments. We'd love to hear!
Apple will reduce its shipment forecast for the iPhone X in the first quarter of 2018 from 50 million units down to 30 million units, according to a report this week by Economic Daily News (via Reuters). A handful of similar downgraded shipment predictions were shared by Apple analysts recently, most believing that the price of the iPhone X will lead to a decline in user demand early next year. The reports have caused shares in both Apple and some of its suppliers to fall.
JL Warren Capital predicted shipments of 25 million iPhone X units for Q1 2018, citing a "high price point and a lack of interesting innovations," while Sinolink Securities said the device's $1,000 price would "dampen consumer enthusiasm." Now that early adopters have gotten their hands on the iPhone X and the first wave of demand has been fulfilled, the high price of the device is again causing market watchers to predict "weakened demand" in early 2018 (via Bloomberg).
Analysts have lowered iPhone X shipment projections for the first quarter of next year, citing signs of lackluster demand at the end of the holiday shopping season.
"After the first wave of demand has been fulfilled, the market now worries that the high price of the iPhone X may weaken demand in the first quarter," Zhang wrote.
Lowered shipment and demand expectations are typical around this time of year. In 2016, a Nikkei report said that Apple would reduce iPhone 7 production by 10 percent in Q1 2017 because of "sluggish" demand and accumulated inventory building up throughout the holiday season.
In terms of availability, iPhone X has been pretty easy to obtain for those looking to purchase the smartphone. Shipping times improved consistently in the lead-up to Christmas and availability at U.S. Apple Stores increased to an average of 75 percent, up from 44 percent the week before Christmas, according to Gene Munster.
Although downgraded shipping estimates have begun to proliferate, other analysts are looking at higher shipment forecasts for the iPhone X. Loop Capital increased iPhone X shipment numbers to between 40 and 45 million units in Q1 2018, while analysts at Jefferies forecast about 40 million iPhone X sales for the quarter.
2017 was a big year for apps. The App Store got a major overhaul in iOS 11 to separate apps and games to give both better visibility, and Apple introduced ARKit, an SDK that lets developers build unique augmented reality capabilities into their apps.
Below, we've rounded up some of the most notable apps that came out in 2017, based both on what we use and recommendations from MacRumors readers sourced from Twitter. Our list, which is in no particular order, features AR apps, several photo editing apps, to-do and weather apps, and a few other apps. In our opinion, all of these are worth checking out if you're looking for something to spend your Christmas iTunes cash on.
Affinity Photo for iPad is one of the most robust photo editing tools available for Apple's tablet lineup. Designed with the same backend as Affinity Photo for Mac, Affinity Photo for iPad is a must have for artists and photographers who like to work on an iPad. It's speedy, intuitive to use, and it offers an ideal touch-based interface.
Every tool you'd expect in a pro photo editing app is available, including unlimited layers, support for RAW images, panorama stitching, advanced lens corrections, histogram information, and more, plus there are tools for quick selections and retouches. There's also an advanced brush engine that supports custom brush creation and a wide range of painting, drawing, and texture tools.
Halide is a camera app that was designed specifically with Apple's latest devices in mind - the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus. Halide is a powerful photography app that's also simple to use, as intuitive touch gestures can be used to tweak exposure and focus.
If you want access to full manual controls for shutter speed, ISO, and white balance along with manual focusing options and tools that include an adaptive level grid, a detailed live histogram, and focus peaking, Halide is worth checking out. If you're not looking for manual control, Halide is still great because it has an intelligent automatic mode that churns out some nice looking photos. On supported iPhones, Halide also captures depth information so you can apply Portrait effects after capturing an image.
Trivia app HQ is technically in the games category of the App Store, but we're including it here because it's more entertainment app than traditional game. HQ made our list because of its explosion in popularity over the course of the last month or two.
When it was released in September, HQ had just a few thousand users, but now hundreds of thousands of people tune in to the live trivia gameshow every day at 3:00 and 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. HQ is played live, and players answer a series of 12 questions. If you make it through all 12, you split a cash prize with other winners. Questions run the gamut from super simple to incredibly difficult, so making it to the end can be a serious challenge.
IKEA Place is an augmented reality app that lets you see how IKEA furniture will look in your house before you buy it. It's not an app that you're going to use everyday, but it's on our list because it's one of the apps that best shows off what ARKit is capable of when it comes to improving the shopping experience.
IKEA Place isn't perfect and there are some kinks IKEA has yet to work out, but it's a neat way to see if a particular piece of IKEA furniture works in your living space, and it's a good way to experience a practical ARKit application.
When we asked MacRumors readers about their favorite 2017 apps on Twitter, Apollo is an app that came up time and time again. This Reddit client was introduced in October and it's already become a favorite among Redditors.
Apollo has a simple, clean interface with customizable gestures, a full-screen media viewer, a markdown editor for formatting posts, a Jump Bar for navigating between subreddits, a Dark Mode, and more. The developer behind Apollo is active on Reddit and regularly solicits feedback from Reddit users.
Weather Atlas was designed from the ground up for Apple's newest devices, so it takes advantage of iOS 11-style design elements and the full length of the iPhone X display. Weather Atlas offers a wealth of information in a single glance, with both hourly weather and 10-day forecasts overlaid on a map with standard rader and cloud layers.
Multiple locations are supported, there are built-in weather warnings, and there's an option to see weather patterns on the map over time. Weather Atlas is free to download, but to get rid of the ads and to get features like themes and widgets, you'll need a pro account. Pro accounts are priced at $0.49 per month or $4.99 per year.
Things 3, the newest version of the popular Things to-do/task management app, was another popular choice among MacRumors readers. Things 3 features an overhauled design with all of the same tools Things users have come to know and love, along with all new tools.
The Things 3 interface is more intuitive with reimagined Today and Upcoming screens that merge calendar events and to-dos into a single daily view, there's a new Quick Find feature for searching content across the entire app, and there's a Magic Plus Button for quickly creating new tasks. For anyone who needs a robust task management app that's richly featured but still easy to use, Things 3 is the app to get.
Focos is a fun little photo editing app that works with dual-camera iPhones like the iPhone X and the iPhone 8 Plus. It lets you take Portrait Mode photos that can then be edited with customizable bokeh effects, aka that artful background blur that you get with high-end DSLRs.
You can either snap a picture right in the app or edit a Portrait Mode photo you've already captured. An adjustable aperture tool lets you change the amount of blur in a Portrait Mode photo, and an adjustable diaphragm results in different blur effects. Focos is free to download, but many pro features are behind a paywall. It'll cost $0.99 per month or $5.99 per year to unlock them, but there's also a $9.99 lifetime access purchase option.
Yoink, which is also available on the Mac, is an app that's designed to store items that you drag, copy, or share, giving you a central place to collect things like photos, screenshots, text snippets, URLs, and more, so they're easier to access later.
On iPad, Yoink supports Slide Over and Split View multitasking so you can drag content from any app to Yoink. On iPhone, there's a Share extension for getting content to Yoink, and you can also use copy/paste. It's basically a little storage space where you can hold media you want to be able to use for something else later.
Astro Mail is another app suggested by MacRumors readers. It has a priority inbox powered by artificial intelligence, which is designed to separate important emails from junk mail, and it has tools to snooze, star, archive, delete, and move emails with simple gestures.
There are options to track when an email is opened and send an email at a scheduled date, and the built-in Astrobot assistant can do things like archive old emails, unsubscribe from lists, and more. For Slack users, Astro Mail offers Slack integration so you can manage your email inbox from Slack and search across both Slack and email when looking for something.
Our list only includes apps that were released in 2017, which is why you won't see older but still very popular apps on the list. Many of you told us that your favorite apps were older apps, though, so here's our list of some of the best apps that didn't come out in 2017 but were still widely used or received major updates throughout the year:
- T-Mobile Tuesdays - Free stuff for T-Mobile subscribers every Tuesday.
- Spark - Readdle's email app that supports a smart inbox to filter out the junk, intuitive touch gestures, and more.
- Fantastical 2 - A full-featured calendar replacement with everything you need from a calendar app, plus natural language support.
- Dark Sky - A popular weather app known for its accuracy at delivering hyperlocal weather data.
- Pennies - A super simple budgeting app that lets you know how much you can spend each day after you input a monthly target.
- Day One - A popular subscription-based personal journaling app that has a rich selection of features.
- Bear - A subscription-based cross-platform writing and note taking app.
- Shazam - Shazam, which Apple is in the process of buying, identifies songs that are playing aloud. A visual feature can also identify magazines, books, posters, and more.
- Waze - A community based navigation app that offers up live traffic and road condition reports, along with the best routes to save time.
Along with our list of top apps of 2017, make sure to check out our top games of 2017, a list sourced from our sister site TouchArcade. Have a favorite 2017 app we didn't mention, or a favorite overall app? Share it with us in the comments.
Rumors originally suggested the iPhone X would be tough to get through the holidays, but Apple significantly ramped up supply, so it's been relatively easy to get a new iPhone X ahead of Christmas.
That means lots of new iPhone X devices are getting unboxed today, and if you're coming from an iPhone 8 or later, it's a big adjustment. Those of us who have been using an iPhone X since November can confirm that it takes a bit of time to get used to all of the changes in the device, but within a week or two, you won't even miss that Home button.
We've shared a lot of details on the iPhone X over the course of the last month, and this post resurfaces some of that content along with a few new tidbits and tricks that will help you get used to your iPhone X more quickly.
The iPhone X Interface
Not having a Home button is on the iPhone X is the most immediately jarring change, because there are new and unfamiliar gestures to learn.
Instead of pressing on the Home button to get to the Home screen of the iPhone X, you swipe up from the bottom of the display. This minimizes any app that's open.
On earlier iPhones, a double tap on the Home button brought up the App Switcher, but on iPhone X, you swipe up from the bottom and then pause for a moment to get to the App Switcher. Closing apps is no longer done with a single swipe -- you'll need to hold again on an app in the App Switcher until the red "-" appears, and then tap it or swipe up on the app.
To activate the display of the iPhone X to see your notifications, you can use a new "Tap to Wake" gesture, which, as the name suggests, means you just tap a finger on the inactive display. Pressing the side button also works.
Getting to the Control Center is going to be one of the most difficult gestures to learn. Instead of swiping up from the bottom like you're used to, you swipe down from the top of the status bar that displays battery life and cellular signal.
A swipe down from the top of the iPhone X anywhere else on the display brings down the Cover Sheet of the Lock screen so you can see all of your notifications. Accessing Siri is now done by pressing twice on the side button instead of holding down on the Home button.
The iPhone X has an edge-to-edge display that does away with all bezels, except for a "notch" at the top of the device. Many criticized this design decision ahead of the release of the iPhone X, but in practical use, it's something you acclimatize to after a week or two of using the iPhone X, and it fades into the background instead of being a focal point whenever you're using the phone.
Apple needed the notch to hold all of the sensors for the TrueDepth camera, but it was implemented in a way that takes up as little space as possible, with two ears at the sides that house status information.
Apple, in developer materials, encourages developers to embrace the notch rather than to hide it away, and that's the path most apps and games have taken. In portrait mode, the notch is easy to ignore, but it will be a bit harder to get used to in landscape mode.
The iPhone X is the first iPhone from Apple to feature OLED technology for true-to-life colors, deep blacks, and an improved contrast ratio. At a resolution of 2436 x 1125 with 458 pixels per inch, it has the highest resolution and pixel density ever introduced in an iPhone.
It is the best display we've seen in an iPhone, and it's one of the features you're likely to fall in love with immediately after unboxing the iPhone. It supports HDR, wide color, 3D Touch, and True Tone for adjusting the white balance of the display to match the ambient lighting.
Face ID, like the removal of the Home button, is a major change in the iPhone X. A fingerprint is no longer required to unlock your iPhone because it's using a 3D facial scan instead. Face ID works through a TrueDepth Camera system that projects thousands of tiny dots onto your face, which are read through an infrared camera.
For most people, Face ID is as secure as Touch ID, but it can sometimes be fooled by masks, twins, and children.
Face ID is identical to Touch ID in terms of what it's used for (Apple Pay, device unlocking, password replacement in apps), it just uses your face instead of your finger. Developers have no access to Face ID data, nor does Apple, so it's just as secure as Touch ID.
Built-in machine learning features allow Face ID to adjust to facial changes. It can recognize you with sunglasses on, when you grow a beard, when you cut your hair, when you wear a scarf, and in other similar situations.
The TrueDepth Camera isn't just used for Face ID -- it powers a new feature called Animoji, which are animated characters that mimic your facial expressions. Animoji live in the Messages app, so you can send friends and family messages featuring animated characters with your voice and facial expression.
Animoji were popular just after the release thanks to "Animoji Karaoke," designed to make it look like the Animoji characters were singing hit songs, but that has died out over the last few weeks.
The TrueDepth Camera can send a rough facial map of your face to developers for ARKit apps. Snapchat, for example, can use this additional data from the TrueDepth camera to make its built-in facial filters more realistic than ever before.
Apple Pay on iPhone X is as simple to use as Apple Pay with devices that have Touch ID, but the checkout process is different.
Instead of confirming a payment with a finger on the Touch ID Home button, you'll need to unlock your iPhone X with Face ID, hold it down towards the payment terminal, and then press twice on the side button. The video below walks through the steps required:
Wireless Charging
You can still charge the iPhone X via Lightning port like any other iPhone, but it also supports wireless charging functionality. It will work with any Qi-certified wireless charger, with or without a case (with the exception of cases with a very thick back, aluminum cases, or cases with built-in magnets).
Wireless charging is about as fast as charging with the standard 5W wired charger from Apple, but it's slower than other wired charging methods and charging speeds can vary based on factors like ambient temperature and the amount of power being delivered by the charger.
Compared to older iPhones, the iPhone X cameras operate in much the same way, but there are some improvements and tweaks to be aware of. The iPhone X's rear-facing cameras are vertical rather than horizontal, but in practice, they work the same way.
Portrait mode, limited to the rear-facing camera in older Plus iPhone models, is available on both the front and rear facing cameras on the iPhone X. With the front camera, Portrait Mode is enabled through the TrueDepth camera system.
The rear facing camera is much improved, with an improved 12-megapixel sensor, new color filter, and a new image signal processor for better automatic adjustments and faster autofocus. Also new is optical image stabilization for the telephoto camera, meaning better portraits and an overall improvement to both lenses in the device.
For both the front and rear cameras in the iPhone X, there's a new Portrait Lighting effect that works alongside Portrait Mode to let you adjust the lighting in your image to introduce studio-quality effects.
For video, iPhone X supports 4K video at up to 60 frames per second and slo-mo video at up to 240 frames per second, and all of the aforementioned new hardware brings better stabilization for reduced blur and shakiness.
There are a ton of other new features in the iPhone X, including a new battery design for more battery life and an A11 Bionic processor that's incredibly fast and powers all of the iPhone X's camera functionality, but these are under-the-hood inclusions that won't be an immediate change from former iPhones.
AirPods, introduced last December, are Apple's completely wire-free earphones that have a W1 chip inside for simple pairing between devices.
AirPods work like magic, and while they're easy to set up, the process may not be intuitive to all users who received AirPods this Christmas, so we thought we'd share some quick, easy to digest instructions.
Remove the AirPods from the packaging.
Leave the AirPods in AirPods case.
Power on your iPhone or iPad, unlock it, and go to the Home screen (aka the main app screen).
Open up the lid to your AirPods case.
Hold the AirPods case with open lid next to your iPhone or iPad.
Your iOS device will recognize the AirPods and you'll see a popup to connect your AirPods.
Tap "Connect."
You'll be instructed to press and hold on the back button of the AirPods case.
Press it for a few seconds, and the popup on your iPhone will change to "Connecting."
When the connection is complete, the popup will display the battery life for both the AirPods and the case.
That's all there is to it. Once this setup process has been completed, your AirPods will re-pair to your iOS device whenever you open up the case lid. This re-pairing process takes just a few seconds, so your AirPods are essentially ready to go whenever you pull them out.
Your AirPods are linked to your iCloud account, so once you pair them with one device, your other devices know they exist. You can switch connections between your devices through the standard Bluetooth settings options, where AirPods will be listed on any device that you're signed into with your iCloud account.
On iOS devices, go to Settings --> Bluetooth and tap "AirPods." On a Mac, click on the Bluetooth icon in the status bar, choose AirPods, and then select "Connect." On Apple TV, open up the Settings app, choose "Video and Audio," scroll down to "Audio," select "Audio Output" and choose AirPods.
On iOS devices, you can also use the Now Playing widget in Control Center to select AirPods, and on Apple TV, you can hold down the Home button on the main Apple TV screen to bring up a shortcut to audio options.
Update: As some MacRumors forum members have pointed out, when pairing with an iOS device signed into your iCloud account, the step involving a button press may not be necessary. In this situation, the AirPods should be ready to pair after opening the case near an iPhone or iPad.
If you got a new iPhone or iPad for Christmas and you already have at least one iOS device that's running iOS 11, setting up the new device is simple and quick with Automatic Setup.
Introduced in iOS 11, Automatic Setup streamlines the setup process for new iPhones and iPads, transferring over Apple ID info, your WiFi network credentials, your preferred settings, and your iCloud Keychain.
Automatic Setup is meant to be used in tandem with a restore from an iCloud backup, because while it transfers many settings, it does not offer full device-to-device content transfer. When you buy a new device, Automatic Setup will pop up automatically, but there are some steps to follow to get everything transferred over:
Power on your new device, which will open up to a menu asking you to pick a language.
After choosing a language, you'll see a "Set Up Your iPhone (or iPad)" prompt.
When this appears, place your existing iOS device near the new device to initiate Automatic Setup.
Your existing device will show a pop up letting you know you can use Automatic Setup. Tap "Continue" to start.
An Apple Watch-style pairing image will appear on the new device, and you'll be instructed to scan it with the camera on your existing device.
In an area with decent lighting, hold the existing device's camera over the image on the new device to pair the two together.
Enter the passcode from your existing device on the new device.
From there, all of your data will start transferring from the old device to the new device.
When the first few Automatic Setup steps are complete, your iPhone or iPad will walk you through setting up Touch ID/Face ID, Siri, and Apple Pay, which are separate steps.
An additional "Express Settings" feature following Automatic Setup is designed to speed up new device activation even further. Express Setup automatically enables Find My iPhone, location services, and analytics, so if you don't want these features on, make sure to tap "Customize Settings" to change them.
Once you've transferred all of your settings with Automatic Setup, you can restore from an iCloud backup to get all of your apps transferred over. If you want to set up a device as new without downloading all of your old content, though, you're finished once Automatic Setup is completed.
If you don't have an iOS device running iOS 11, you'll need to go through a more traditional setup process. The steps are a lot like Automatic Setup, but instead of choosing an existing device after setting a language, you'll need to manually enter data like your Apple ID and your WiFi password.
If you unwrapped an Apple product today it likely came with one of the company's first-party Lightning cables, but having an extra on hand is always a good idea, so you can place it in other rooms in your house, in your car, or in a bag when you travel.
For that reason, now's a good time to shop for third-party Lightning cables that are cheaper than Apple's own accessory, but still Made For iPhone certified to guarantee their quality.
One of the best examples of this is well-known and reliable third-party accessory maker Anker, which has a 3ft / 0.9m Lightning Cable for just $5.99 on Amazon. Apple's comparable product, the Lightning to USB Cable, sells for $19.00 on Apple.com.
Many of Anker's accessories have been certified under Apple's MFi program, which helps consumers identify products that are assured to work well with iPhone, iPad, and iPod. Shoppers should keep an eye out for MFi certifications when shopping for products like Lightning cables, and be wary of counterfeit accessories that are somewhat common on Amazon and could potentially harm their devices.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
If you show an interest in Apple or technology in general, chances are good that you received at least one iTunes gift card today from a friend or family member today.
Given the card can be used to purchase apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, books, and more, it can be difficult to decide what to buy with your newly acquired funds.
We're here to help with a roundup of ongoing iTunes and App Store sales as well as some other hand-picked recommendations.
iTunes gift cards can be used to pay for an Apple Music subscription, which costs $9.99 per month for individuals, $14.99 per month for families with up to six people, and $4.99 per month for students in the United States and Canada. Prices and student plan availability vary by country.
Those looking for a slightly better deal on an annual Apple Music subscription should consider a 12-month Apple Music gift card, which Apple sells for $99. A 12-month subscription to Apple Music normally costs $120 when paying for the service directly with iTunes credit or another form of payment, so you can save $20.
Apple Music provides on-demand access to over 40 million songs from the iTunes catalog across iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, Apple Watch, PC, and Android.
Other Subscriptions
iTunes gift cards can be used to pay for many subscriptions available as in-app purchases, although prices can be higher in the App Store as some companies charge extra to make up for Apple's 30 percent cut of sales.
For magazines, iPhone and iPad users can download the Texture app and subscribe to unlimited access to over 200 of the world's most popular magazines for $6.99 per month as part of an ongoing sale. Magazines can be read on up to five devices per subscription, with the ability to download issues for offline reading.
Some of the magazines available include People, Vogue, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, GQ, Sports Illustrated, Wired, Maxim, Men's Health, GQ, Bloomberg Businessweek, ESPN The Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly. New issues are available alongside a searchable archive of thousands of past issues.
Numbered Coloring Books
The latest App Store craze is numbered coloring books in which children colorize pixel art by following a numeric guide. Many of the apps have in-app purchases available to unlock additional pixel art, remove watermarks, and/or remove ads.
As it has done in previous holiday seasons, Google today began tracking Santa's journey on the web, mobile web for iOS, as well as on Android mobile and Android TV. With the tool, you can easily track Santa's trip as he delivers presents around the world in real time, including an estimated arrival time for your specific area. This marks Google's thirteenth year of tracking Santa's journey.
To start tracking, open a web browsing app on your iPhone or iPad (Safari and Chrome support the mobile optimized tracker), and then visit the official website for Google Santa Tracker. On both mobile and desktop, the site will show you a live map of Santa's location, his next stop, a live video feed of his trip, and an estimated arrival time for your area.
If you scroll down you can see pictures of the places he's already visited, more details about these locations, a live count of the gifts he's delivered, and more. Google last year added these features into its main Google Maps app for iOS, but as of writing the Santa tracker does not appear to be in the iOS app this year.
Of course, there are plenty of other Santa tracking services and apps on the App Store, including NORAD Tracks Santa Claus [Direct Link]. NORAD's Santa tracking app is mainly a countdown timer that links you out to the mobile web when you want to start tracking the journey.
Similar to Google, NORAD details where Santa was last seen, where he's heading to next, and how many gifts he's delivered. You can also interact with a 360-degree video feed of Santa's sleigh as he makes his journey around the Earth. If you're on Mac or other desktop computers, you can visit NORAD's full Santa tracking website right here.
At the time of writing, Santa was last seen over the Andaman Sea and heading to Thailand.
Although sales on App Store and iTunes gift cards usually end soon after they launch, Amazon and PayPal still have 15 percent discounts on $100 iTunes cards happening in the last few days before Christmas. The ongoing sales make for easy last-minute gift ideas since you can get a code emailed in under 24 hours.
At Amazon, if you purchase $100 or more in iTunes credit you'll get $15 off once you enter the promo code ITUNES15 during checkout. This will lower the $100 iTunes card to $85, and Amazon's storefront limits the promotion to one card per customer.
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.
PayPal's sale is happening through its Digital Gifts eBay store and is the same as Amazon's: you can buy the $100 iTunes card for $85, but no promo code is required. You'll need a PayPal account to complete the purchase, and the card will be valid only on purchases made on the United States App Store. With both sales, you can enter your own email address, or enter the email address of a friend or family member and directly send the code to them.
App Store and iTunes gift cards can be used for a variety of items and services found on Apple devices. You can rent and buy movies on iTunes, subscribe to Apple Music, pay for your monthly iCloud storage, purchase a new app, expand your iBooks collection, and much more. If you're looking for more specific ideas, MacRumors will be sharing a roundup of apps, games, movies, books, subscriptions, and more that you can buy with any iTunes cards you might get this Christmas, so be sure to check back on Monday for the full list.
Google has reportedly poached one of Apple's top chip designers, as it continues to pursue plans to design its own chipsets for consumer devices like its Pixel range of smartphones.
According to The Information, the search giant has hired well-regarded Apple chip expert John Bruno, who has worked on silicon architecture for iPhones since 2012. Before moving offices to Cupertino to help with Apple's ARM-based mobile chip push, Bruno worked at Advanced Micro Devices and led chip design at ATI Technologies.
Bruno founded and managed Apple's silicon competitive analysis group, which sought to keep the company ahead of competitors in the area of chip performance. He follows several other experienced chip engineers who have defected to Google from Apple over the past year, including Manu Gulati, Wonjae (Gregory) Choi and Tayo Fadelu.
The hires highlight Google's attempt to keep pace with Apple, which has been designing its own mobile chips since 2010. Recently, Google said it would sell chips known as Cloud Tensor Processing Units (TPU) to other companies so that they could benefit from its deep learning tool set, TensorFlow. However, the recruitment drive is more likely to be aimed at making own-branded chips for Google's Pixel smartphones.
Indeed, Google's first mobile chip could be right around the corner, according to Jim McGregor, an analyst at Tirias Research who spoke to The Information. With the help of off-the-shelf intellectual property, the Mountain View-based tech giant could have a multifunctional system-on-a-chip up and running in as soon as six months, McGregor said.
Popular pro-grade photo editing software Darkroom reached version 3.3 on Saturday, bringing improved image format handling to the app and smoothing out a handful of new features that were introduced in November's iPhone X focused redesign.
Last month, Darkroom v3.2 embraced Apple's latest dual-lens camera smartphone with a brand new 5.8-inch user interface and support for Wide Gamut Color, which makes the most of the OLED screen's full-color depth and contrast. It also received a 20 percent boost in performance thanks to its implementation of Metal 2 rendering.
The big news in today's v3.3 update is added support for RAW+JPEG images. Now, when Darkroom detects that a photo is a RAW+JPG composite image, it will default to treating it as a RAW image.
The feature is designed to appeal to DSLR users who prefer shooting in RAW, as well as bring Darkroom into a greater level of harmony with the Halide camera app, which is often included in user workflows. The only caveat is that Darkroom users won't have access to the JPEG variant of the composite image, although the developers aim to add support for the file type in the future.
Moving on, Darkroom now has an in improved Modify Original export option which aims to make workflows that rely on multiple apps more seamless. Users can now continue editing on top of previous edits made either by Apple's native Photos app or other third-party apps.
Previously, Darkroom had an issue where image edits would be double applied when the image was edited in another app, after being exported from Darkroom using Modify Original. That's now been fixed. This update also fixes an issue where depth information captured using Portrait Mode would be lost upon export.
Elsewhere, an option has been added to the recently introduced Auto Align setting that allows users to turn it off or back on at will. A bug has also been fixed that caused the app icon to show incorrectly on iPad.
Darkroom is a free download from the App Store and includes in-app purchases for some tools. [Direct Link]. The developers are currently promoting a weeklong holiday giveaway: users are encouraged to share their Darkroom-edited holiday photos with the #darkroomapp hashtag on Instagram, to be in for a chance to win one of 50 promo codes to unlock absolutely everything in the app.
PureSwitch fits in any standard U.S. outlet, and it's designed to let you manage your energy use by allowing you to wirelessly control whatever's plugged into the Smart Plug. It can turn any appliance or lamp into a smart device that can be controlled alongside the rest of your HomeKit products.
The PureSwitch Smart Plug connects to your HomeKit setup over WiFi, and it can be controlled with the PureSwitch app, Apple's Home app, or Siri voice commands. It can also interact with other HomeKit products and it can be used in scenes for automation purposes.
At $39.99, PureSwitch is priced competitively with other HomeKit-compatible smart plugs on the market, and at one side, there's a built-in 2.1A USB-charging port you can use to charge your iPhone, iPad, or any other USB device.
Like any other HomeKit product, the PureSwitch can be controlled on all of your devices, including iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, and with Home hub functionality enabled through an Apple TV or an iPad, it can be controlled remotely.
We have seven of the PureSwitch Wireless Smart Plugs to give to MacRumors readers. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winners and send the prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumorsFacebook page.
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The contest will run from today (December 22) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on December 29. The winners will be chosen randomly on December 29 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.
Tidal today announced that starting on Christmas Day anyone will be able to try out its music-streaming service for free for a period of 12 days. This free trial will include the company's $19.99/month High Fidelity tier that includes lossless sound quality, and it does not require a credit card for you to start so all you will need is an email address (via The Verge).
Tidal's new Apple TV app
To celebrate its free trial, Tidal will release exclusive content every day of the 12 day trial. The content will range from four new original shows to interviews, music videos, and documentaries on Rapsody and Trombone Shorty. Additionally, free trial users will have a chance to win concert tickets, but to which specific show was not mentioned.
Tidal has been in the news recently for its reportedly dire financial state, with the company believed to have enough capital to last only another six months. In the wake of that news, Tidal launched a new app for Apple TV and Android TV devices so users can listen to music and watch videos on a larger screen. With the new free trial, more users will have a chance to check out the service's features and potentially bump up its "stalled" user growth.
The $39.95 screen protector is no longer available to purchase from Belkin's website or Apple's online store after dozens of customers—but not all—complained about it cracking in normal usage conditions and without ever dropping their devices. We're told it has also been pulled from shelves at Apple retail stores around the world.
Here's one customer review from Belkin's website:
I purchased this at the Apple Store a little over a month ago and had them install it using their machine. Installation was quick and the fit on my iPhone X was flawless. I loved the glass feel and everything was fine until a couple days ago when I lightly tapped on the top portion of the screen with my pen and it cracked! There are 3 crack lines coming from the initial crack point. I am very disappointed in the durability of this product to say the least.
When we first reached out to Belkin about the InvisiGlass Ultra's many one-star reviews in November, a company spokesperson informed us that it had not identified any issues with the screen protector at the time. It has since changed tune.
"We have been constantly testing this product since we released the first generation of it timed to iPhone X availability and things have evolved since you and I last spoke," a Belkin spokesperson informed MacRumors. "We identified some improvements to be made in the next generation of this product."
A new and hopefully improved version of the InvisiGlass Ultra screen protector for the iPhone X will be available to purchase from Apple in January and from Belkin around January or February, according to the spokesperson.
Belkin said it considers "product quality and consumer feedback of paramount importance" and said that customers who have any questions should contact the company directly or reach out to their local Apple store. Belkin didn't specify if customers will be eligible for a refund, but hopefully it honors these requests.
The original InvisiGlass Ultra uses 0.21mm ion-strengthened glass from iPhone display glass manufacturer Corning. Belkin said the screen protector improved the iPhone X's scratch resistance by up to three to five times, with up to a 25 percent increase in protection against cracking and breakage from drops.
The InvisiGlass Ultra was released in late October alongside Belkin's anti-glare and tempered glass screen protectors for iPhone X, which both remain available to purchase for $19.95 and $24.95 respectively.
Sources in the semiconductor packaging and testing service industry claim that pre-orders for the iPhone X are not as strong as expected in some markets, such as the U.S., Taiwan, and Singapore, although supply remains tight in other markets including Japan (via DigiTimes).
In contrast, Apple Watch sales are said to have been impressive across the board, with shipment estimates reaching 27 million units, which is higher than an earlier forecast putting the number around 23 to 25 million units.
iPhone X shipments are expected to reach 30-35 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017 and level out or dip slightly going into next year, according to the same sources from the upstream supply chain.
Today's report casts a different light on steady improvements in iPhone X supplies which have seen shipping estimates fall to 1 to 2 weeks in several countries. According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who frequently shares accurate information from Apple's supply chain, the supply increase is due to better-than-expected improvements in production since the device's launch, rather than weakening demand.
As a result of the improved production, Kuo believes iPhone X shipments in the fourth calendar quarter could be higher than previous estimates, although he too expects the acceleration to cause shipments in the first quarter of 2018 to be flat or slightly lower compared to the fourth quarter.
Apple is rumored to be launching a trio of new iPhone models in 2018, including 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch models with OLED displays and a 6.1-inch model with an LCD display.
If you unwrapped an Apple product today it likely came with one of the company's first-party Lightning cables, but having an extra on hand is always a good idea, so you can place it in other rooms in your house, in your car, or in a bag when you travel.
If you show an interest in Apple or technology in general, chances are good that you received at least one iTunes gift card today from a friend or family member today.
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.
Sources in the semiconductor packaging and testing service industry claim that pre-orders for the iPhone X are not as strong as expected in some markets, such as the U.S., Taiwan, and Singapore, although supply remains tight in other markets including Japan (via 
