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

Twelve South has announced that its BookBook and SurfacePad covers are now available for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. BookBook is a leather case reminiscent of a vintage sketchbook and includes a built-in kickstand and Apple Pencil holster. The case retails for $79.99 for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, while the Rutledge Edition is $99.99. SurfacePad is a Smart Cover-like leather cover with a built-in ...

Jackery has introduced the Jewel, claimed to be the first-ever Apple-certified Lightning-to-USB cable with a built-in battery for iPhone, iPad, and iPod models. The 3.2-foot cable features an integrated 450mAh battery that can, for example, fast charge an iPhone 6s up to 26% or an iPhone 6s Plus up to 16%. Like any other Lightning cable, the Jewel can provide a 1 amp charge from any USB...

Popular photo manipulation app Prisma has been updated to allow offline processing of images for the first time. The photo app recreates images in the style of famous artists and gives shots a painterly aesthetic using neural networks, but up until now users needed an internet connection and had to wait for the app's Moscow-based servers to process their pictures. The latest update...

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has predicted a consumer backlash if Apple drops the headphone jack in the upcoming iPhone 7 in favor of an all-in-one Lightning connector for audio output, charging, and accessory connectivity. "If it's missing the 3.5mm earphone jack, that's going to tick off a lot of people," claimed Woz, speaking to The Australian Financial Review. "I would not use...

Popular augmented reality game Pokémon Go was today updated to version 1.5.0, adding new features to make gym battling more straightforward. New to the game is a "Pokémon Appraisal" feature, which will see in-game Team Leaders offering tips on each Pokémon's attack and defense abilities to help trainers determine which Pokémon to use in gym battles. While longtime Pokémon players are...

Back in 2015, Jawbone sued Fitbit for "systematically plundering" confidential information, stealing patented technology, and acquiring trade secrets from former Jawbone employees, and since then, the two have been embroiled in an ongoing legal dispute. It looks like Fitbit is temporarily off the hook, though, as the United States International Trade Commission today said Fitbit did not steal...

Popular app Instapaper, designed to allow users to save notable news articles to read at a later time, has been acquired by Pinterest. Created by Marco Arment in 2008, Instapaper was one of the first apps that implemented read-it-later functionality, and it was certainly one of the most widely used and well-known apps in the genre. Instapaper, available on iOS, Android, Kindle, and the web,...

While its parent company Walmart remains one of the most notable Apple Pay holdouts in the United States, British supermarket chain Asda now appears to be testing the mobile payments service at select locations in the United Kingdom. The supermarket chain, which has 626 stores across the U.K., recently confirmed on Twitter that Apple Pay is something it is "currently trialling in a few of...

LG recently unveiled a trio of new Bluetooth speaker collections ahead of the IFA 2016 tech conference taking place in Berlin September 2-7. The new speakers are called the PH2, PH3, and PH4 and "run the range from casual to audiophile grade" in order to suit the listening style of each LG customer. The cheapest speaker starts with the small PH2, measuring 3.8 inches in diameter and just 1.5...

Lyft co-founder and president John Zimmer today refuted reports from over the weekend that the ride-hailing company was seeking out buyers for a potential purchase -- reportedly including Apple -- outright telling Business Insider that "Lyft is not seeking a buyer." According to Zimmer, Lyft itself was approached for a purchase opportunity, which was misconstrued in reports by The New York Times...

Starting today, Facebook will begin testing autoplay videos -- including ads -- with sound in its iOS and Android apps. Facebook told Mashable the test will be limited to Australian users and rolled out in two different ways to gauge how users react. In both versions of the test, sound will only play if the iPhone's volume is turned up, and sound can also be turned to "always off" in Facebook...

After launching its point-of-sale system app in the United States in 2013, Shopify today announced that both the company's POS app and physical hardware will finally be made available to business owners in the United Kingdom (via TechCrunch). The app and "Tap, Chip, and Swipe" card reader work in conjunction to accept various kinds of retail payments from customers, while also providing merchants ...

After weeks of intense usage, new data from Axiom Capital Management (via Bloomberg) paints a picture of Pokémon Go's overall waning popularity as August comes to a close. With research lead by Senior Analyst Victor Anthony, the investment advising firm collected various user engagement statistics -- and even figured out how much attention Pokémon Go brought to augmented reality gaming -- in a...

Over the weekend, Samsung announced plans to shut down its Milk music streaming service in the United States, more than two years after it first launched. Milk Music, powered by Slacker Radio, was never able to compete with more popular music streaming services like Pandora, Spotify, and Apple Music. As of September 22nd 2016, Milk Music will no longer be available. Samsung is encouraging...

Twitter today announced that it is expanding its "night mode" option to its iOS app, allowing Twitter users to enable a darker mode suitable for reading tweets at night. Twitter first brought night mode to Android devices in July and after a beta testing period, the company is now ready to offer the option in both of its mobile apps. Night mode can be enabled by tapping on the gear icon and...

Nike today updated its popular "Nike+ Running" iOS app with a new name, "Nike+ Run Club," as well as introducing various user interface changes and features (via Fast Company). The big new addition centers around "coaching plans" that let users choose a workout and running plan, which then dynamically adapt to the specific progress made by each user. Some of these plans include categories like ...

ZEISS has announced that its iPhone-compatible VR ONE Plus virtual reality headset is now available at Best Buy stores across the United States for $129. The headset has a universal smartphone tray that fits most smartphones with a screen size between 4.7 and 5.5 inches, including the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. iPhone users can use the VR ONE Plus with thousands of virtual reality apps on ...

NPR posted an audio interview with singer Barbra Streisand over the weekend, focusing on Streisand's North American tour of her new album Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway. In the middle of the 8-minute interview Apple gets mentioned briefly, specifically regarding the way that voice assistant Siri has mispronounced Streisand's name over the last five years. Siri uses a hard 'z' sound when...