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

Samsung is on course to record a three and a half year high in first quarter profits this year, with analysts predicting record earnings for the rest of 2017 as the company gears up to start selling its Galaxy S8 smartphone (via Reuters). Shares in the tech giant are nearing record highs after gaining nearly 17 percent since the beginning of Q1, coming on top of a 43 percent surge in 2016. The ...

Amazon has won the rights to broadcast 10 National Football League Thursday night games live online this season, as part of its video content strategy exclusive to Prime subscription members. The company paid $50 million for the one-year deal, according to Bloomberg, taking over from a similar agreement Twitter had last year that saw the social media service sprout an Apple TV app for users to ...

Leviton's new line of HomeKit-compatible light switches and dimmers, first announced at CES in January, are now available for purchase from the Leviton website. The Decora Smart 1000W DH1KD Dimmer is available for $65.99, the Decora Smart 600W DH6HD Dimmer is available for $59.99, and the Decora Smart DH15S 15A Switch is available for $53.99. Both the dimmers and the switch are...

Starbucks today updated its iOS app to introduce a new feature that allows Starbucks customers to send digital gift cards to friends and family members using the Messages app. To send a digital Starbucks gift card, the Starbucks Gifts app will need to be installed from the Messages App Store. From there, the app offers an interface with several different gift card graphic options and $5, $10,...

Apple today updated its Apple Music for Android app with a new design that mimics the look of the Music app on iOS devices. Version 2.0 of the app includes the redesigned Apple Music experience that was introduced on iOS devices with the release of iOS 10. Like the iOS version, Apple Music for Android features a bolder, cleaner look with reorganized sections: "Library," "For You," "Browse,"...

Microsoft recently debuted a new iOS app called "Sprinkles - Camera with Fun Ideas" [Direct Link], which launches alongside the recent explosion of camera-centric application updates that offer various filters, emojis, lenses, and captions for users to mess around with. The app officially launched on April 1, suggesting the company intended it as an April Fools' prank, but it's only recently...

Mobile chat platform WhatsApp could be set to roll out peer-to-peer payments in India, which is home to its largest market with over 200 million users (via TechCrunch). According to India-based media company The Ken, WhatsApp plans to use a cross-bank payment system called UPI, which is backed by the government, to enable payments between users within the next six months. WhatsApp has...

Apple today updated its investor relations page to announce that it will share its earnings for the second fiscal quarter (first calendar quarter) of 2017 on Tuesday, May 2. The earnings release will provide a look at sales of the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus following Apple's record earnings results during the first quarter of 2017. It will also provide some insight into sales of the new...

Apple today began sending out emails to customers who purchased popular automation app Workflow in the last few weeks, letting them know that they'll be receiving a refund for the purchase price of the app. Apple is handing out refunds because following its recent acquisition of the Workflow app and team, it made the Workflow app free to download and removed some key functionality. A MacRu...

Apple today debuted a new promotion for some of its older Beats products, dropping prices by as much as $50 depending on the item. The Beats Solo2 On-Ear Headphones in the Luxe line of colors are available for $149.95, a $50 discount off of the regular $199.95 price. Beats Solo2 Headphones are the previous-generation model without wireless connectivity and Apple's new W1 chip. All Luxe colors...

Amazon today announced a new way for its users to add funds to their Amazon accounts, called Amazon Cash. By visiting a participating retailer, Amazon users will be able to show a barcode to a cashier, choose an amount between $15 and $500, and pay the amount in cash to see it transferred digitally and able to be spent on Amazon.com. As TechCrunch reported, Amazon Cash is aimed at "cash...

ESPN today announced a redesign of its Apple TV app that brings live streaming auto-play and ESPN Video On Demand to Apple's fourth-generation set-top box. In addition, the app has been rebranded from WatchESPN to simply "the ESPN app." With live streaming auto-play, users will be able to jump right into the network's stream of sports content with a live video playing immediately when...

Danish hearing aid company GN Hearing today announced the newest iteration of its IoT hearing aid solution, called the ReSound LiNX 3D, as well as new apps for the iPhone and Apple Watch. The major update to GN's new hearing care solution is a way for users to get their hearing aids remotely fine-tuned by their audiologist after an initial fitting at their local clinic, through a cloud-based...

Signs of Facebook's silent testing of new features for its mobile app appear to be continuing apace, after some users noticed a rocket ship-shaped icon appearing at the bottom of their news feed. (Image from iOS app via Wired) The icon has been appearing from time to time at the bottom of the iOS app's main news feed icon and displays a different type of feed made up of posts, articles,...

SoundCloud has added support for Google Chromecast in the latest update to its iOS app, almost two years after support for the feature arrived on the Android version. After updating the SoundCloud app, users of the music streaming service will also be able to cast songs from SoundCloud Go+, the company's paid subscription plan, to their TV and speakers. Now users with a SoundCloud Go+...

Apple, Amazon, and Google are actively engaged in the bidding war to acquire Toshiba's NAND memory unit, according to a report by Yomiuri Shimbun Daily on Saturday (via Korean Herald). According to the Japanese newspaper, there are now 10 bidders looking to buy Toshiba's lucrative semiconductor operation, which accounts for 20 percent of the NAND market. Nikkei reported on Friday that U.S....

April is Autism Acceptance Month, and Apple plans to mark the occasion in several ways, including a dedicated section in the App Store and retail field trips. According to Steven Aquino, a journalist who covers accessibility topics, Apple will offer field trips to retail stores that will host music events designed to include children with disabilities. Kids will be able to participate in...

Twitter today announced that it is doing away with the egg profile photo that was used for any Twitter account that did not upload its own profile picture. Over time, the egg, which has been around for many years, has come to be associated with accounts created to harass others, giving the egg a negative connotation that Twitter wanted to do away with. Instead of the egg, Twitter is...