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

Apple's first retail store in Taiwan will open on Saturday, July 1 at 11:00 a.m., according to Apple's Taiwanese website, which the company has been updating with new details on the store since it was announced. To celebrate the store's opening, paper-cutting artist Yang Shih-yi will showcase a huge and intricate tree cutout designed to welcome people into the store and highlight a tree as a ...

Apple is said to be aiming to reduce the share of revenue record labels get from streaming music as it works to establish new deals for Apple Music and iTunes, reports Bloomberg. Apple is reportedly pursuing lower rates as part of an effort to revise its "overall relationship" with the music industry. Apple's current deals with record labels expire at the end of June, but Bloomberg's sources...

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming watchOS 4 update to developers, a little over two weeks after its introduction at the 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference. Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the watchOS 4 beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software update. ...

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming tvOS 11 update for the fourth-generation Apple TV, a little over two weeks after seeding the first beta following the keynote of the 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference. Registered developers can download tvOS 11 by connecting the Apple TV to a computer with a USB-C cable and installing the beta software using iTunes. tvOS 11 received...

Snapchat for iOS was today updated with a new "Snap Map" feature that's designed to let Snapchat users share their current location with their friends, facilitating real-life meet ups. With the new Snap Map, all of your friends with location sharing enabled will show up on an in-app map with either photos or "Actionmoji" avatars marking each friend location. For those who do not want to share...

Virgin Mobile USA is moving to an iPhone-only business model beginning June 27, and to entice customers to switch it's offering an entire year's worth of unlimited talk, text, and data for $1. Called the "Inner Circle," the unlimited plan is available until July 31, and only to customers who purchase a new iPhone and transfer their phone number to an Inner Circle plan. After their first year...

Sega today announced a new mobile gaming initiative that will see a vast collection of the company's classic games launch monthly on iOS and Android devices for free, although in-app purchases will be available so users can get rid of ads. Called "Sega Forever," the program will let iOS gamers play "nearly every Sega game ever," from all of Sega's previous console generations, including Master...

A new report by The Wall Street Journal this week has taken a look into entrepreneurial teenagers and the lucrative business of summertime iPhone repairs. One 16-year-old in Nantucket, Massachusetts interviewed for the article, Grayson Shaw, cited a nearly $24,000 income for iPhone repairs made in the summer of 2016, when he fixed as many as nine iPhones every day. Shaw has been repairing...

Apple's ramping up of "iPhone 8" component production is causing some electronics manufacturers to scramble for parts, particularly DRAM chips and NAND memory chips, ahead of the expected September launch of the three 2017 iPhones. The companies are said to be "paying a premium" to sign longer-term contracts as well as placing component orders ahead of time to prevent low inventories from...

Swift creator Chris Lattner, who left Apple to become vice president of Tesla's autopilot program, has parted ways with the electric car maker after just six months in the job. "Chris just wasn't the right fit for Tesla, and we've decided to make a change," Tesla said Tuesday, according to The Wall Street Journal. Lattner followed Tesla's statement with a post on his Twitter account announcing ...

Uber founder Travis Kalanick has resigned his position as CEO, following a series of controversies and scandals that have recently dogged the ride hailing company. Five major investors demanded Kalanick's immediate resignation on Tuesday in a letter delivered to the chief executive, according to The New York Times. After "long discussions" with some of the investors, Kalanick agreed to step...

Spotify today announced a new mobile feature called Group Playlists for Messenger, which enables users of Facebook's chat app to create music mixes collaboratively within a conversation thread. With Group Playlists for Messenger, users can create new Spotify playlists with friends and immediately begin collaborating to build out their perfect mix. Ideal for parties, road trips, or simply...

Philips today sent out an email announcing that its White Ambiance E12 candle light bulb is now available for pre-order in the United States. Priced at $29.95, the candle (or candelabra) bulb is designed to fit small decorative lamps with E12 sockets in the United States. Like other Hue bulbs, the new candle bulb can be connected to a Philips Hue bridge and controlled via HomeKit. At the...

MBNA Canada, a division of TD Bank Group, today launched Apple Pay support for its MasterCard and Visa credit cards. Multiple iPhone users have successfully activated an MBNA-branded credit card in the Wallet app today, as reported by iPhone in Canada. Apple has also added MBNA to its list of Apple Pay participating issuers in Canada, accompanying TD Canada Trust, BMO, CIBC, RBC,...

Uber today announced a new "180 Days of Change" initiative that's designed to improve working conditions for its drivers and bolster its public image. As part of the upcoming changes, Uber plans to implement tipping, a feature that drivers have long desired. Tipping is currently available in the Uber app in Seattle, Minneapolis, and Houston, with Uber pledging to add more cities over the next...

Pioneer today introduced Rayz Rally, which it claims is the world's first Lightning-powered plug-and-play speaker that has no battery. The portable speaker can be used to listen to music, but Pioneer is heavily marketing it as a speakerphone for conference calling. For conference calling, Pioneer says users simply plug the Rally into the Lightning connector, initiate calls from the...

Google is today updating its search engine across mobile devices and the web with a collection of results that will make it easier for people to find useful information related to job searches. The update is part of the new "Google for Jobs" initiative that was discussed at its I/O conference this year, with the goal of connecting employer and employee through streamlined and bolstered search...

Samsung is planning to introduce its newest smartphone, the Galaxy Note 8, sometime in the second half of August, according to people familiar with the company's plans (via Reuters). If accurate, the August announcement will come about four months after the launch of the Galaxy S8 and nearly one year since the first cases of exploding batteries in the Galaxy Note 7 were reported by users....