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

In September, Yahoo confirmed that at least 500 million of its users' accounts had been compromised during an attack in late 2014. Now, in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it was revealed that the company knew about the hack when it originally happened in 2014, but waited two years to divulge it to the public (via TechCrunch) Describing the investigation, the new...

Snapchat's video-recording Spectacles became available to buy in the U.S. on Thursday, not online or in stores, but from pop-up vending machines. Called 'Snapbots', the giant vending machines will dispense the Spectacles in either Black, Coral or Teal, and allow customers to try them on virtually using a built-in augmented reality display. For those unfamiliar with Snapchat's first...

Apple has quietly introduced a new tvOS app for kids called "iBooks Storytime," designed to allow children to read along with interactive books on their television sets. iBooks Storytime features a selection of children's books from the iBooks Store that feature Read-Along capabilities. Read-Along books are audio-enhanced with different character voices, vivid sound effects, and word-for-word...

An update rolling out to the iOS, Android, and Windows 10 Instagram app today has introduced the company's standalone app "Boomerang" directly into its new Snapchat-like stories feature. Boomerang allows users to take a burst of photos that cycle forwards and backwards quickly, creating an animated GIF that they can share to Instagram and Facebook directly within the app. Today, when users...

Apple's annual extended holiday return policy began today in the United States and several other countries. Most products and accessories purchased between November 10 and December 25 of this year are eligible for return until January 8, 2017 in the United States, Australia, Canada, and select other regions, or until January 20, 2017 in many European countries such as France, Germany, and...

Apple Maps has recently been updated with all-new traffic data in Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Slovenia, providing users with real-time updates about vehicular traffic in three more European countries. As usual, highly congested areas will display orange or red lines along the roads to indicate that drivers may face delays. The traffic feature is also now available in Gibraltar, a small British...

Apple recently expanded the universal search feature on its fourth-generation Apple TV to include MUBI, Hopster, and CW Seed. MUBI's universal search functionality has been added in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, while Hopster has been added in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Additionally, only users in the U.S. can take advantage of having CW Seed in...

Following Target's Black Friday ad shared yesterday, today electronics retailer Best Buy posted its Black Friday deals, showcasing doorbusters and all-day sales that include a few Apple products. Sixteen sales in total are even beginning now, one on the 13-inch MacBook Air with Intel Core i5, 8GB memory, and 256 flash storage, which is $200 off its original price of $1,199.00. For every other...

Feral Interactive announced today that classic strategy game Rome: Total War is now available on iPad for a one-time purchase of $9.99. The third title in the Total War series, Rome was hailed by MacRumors sister site TouchArcade as "not only one of the best strategy games ever, but one of the best PC games, period". In what's considered the highlight of the series, players get to take...

Apple has shared its annual holiday gift guide on its website, with product recommendations such as the 12-inch MacBook, iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad Pro, fourth-generation Apple TV, gift cards, and related accessories. The guide also points gift-givers towards various music products, photography products, games, and toys. This year's holiday gift guide is less sophisticated than in previous...

PayPal has updated its iOS app to include Siri integration with support for a variety of languages across 30 countries. In a post on its official blog, PayPal announced that users of the digital payment service will be able to use Apple's voice-activated AI personal assistant to send and request money among friends and family. With so many P2P transactions happening during such a busy...

Target has posted its Black Friday ad for 2016, listing several deals on Apple products. The promotions include 25% off all Apple TV models, $150 off the 9.7-inch iPad Pro and $180 off the Beats Solo2 Wireless. The retailer is offering discounts and promotions in two waves: there's an Early Access period that begins today and runs until November 24 both in-store and online. Then, on...

Popular messaging app Viber today launched a new commercial account format to enable businesses and brands to communicate with users (via TechCrunch). Approximately 1,000 Public Accounts including the likes of the BBC and The Weather Channel were launched with the v6.5 update, allowing users to subscribe to them and share stories with users in their contacts list. Public Accounts are also ...

Apple recently inked a deal with Cuscal Payments Group, which will see Apple Pay expand to more than 30 small banks and credit unions in Australia in the near future. Apple Pay is expected to be available for up to four million Australian customers through the partnership. Some of the banks and credit unions that will accept Apple Pay include Credit Union Australia, Bank Australia, Beyond Bank ...

Snapchat is joining in on the augmented reality craze today with an update to its iOS app that lets Snapchatters use both their outward-facing and self-facing cameras to discover objects hidden in the world around them through their iPhone screens. Called "World Lenses," the options include an Election Day filter, rainbow-vomiting clouds, floating glitter, snow, hearts, and a horror-themed lens...

In a lengthy blog post about Facebook's ten-year plan to "accelerate innovation and power new experiences with AI," chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer mentioned that one update coming to the company's mobile apps will be a "style transfer" tool that turns normal photos and videos into works of art using "high efficiency neural networks," all running directly on iOS and Android smartphones. ...

Samsung has issued a full-page ad in three major U.S. newspapers and published an open letter on its website apologizing to its customers for the Galaxy Note 7 debacle (via The Verge). The print letter was signed by Gregory Lee, president and CEO of Samsung Electronics North America, and appeared in Monday editions of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. ...

Facebook has agreed to pause data collection from WhatsApp users in the United Kingdom following a government probe into the company's privacy policy (via Engadget). Back in August, Facebook-owned WhatsApp updated its terms of service and privacy policy to reflect that it would begin sharing select data with the social media network, including the phone number a user verifies during the...