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

After launching the Echo over a year ago, today Amazon announced two new additions to the lineup of voice-controlled smart hubs that house the company's personal assistant Alexa. Users will now be able to purchase a more portable version of Echo with Amazon Tap, and even expand the device's power into other rooms with Echo Dot. The $130 Amazon Tap is a more rugged, pick-up-and-go alternative...

Index has announced that it is upgrading clothing retailer American Apparel's point-of-sale systems to enable Apple Pay, Android Pay, and other NFC-based mobile payment services at its U.S. stores. The new systems will also include point-to-point encryption (P2PE) and EMV for Chip-and-Signature or Chip-and-PIN cards. American Apparel, based in Los Angeles, California, is a popular wholesale...

Google today announced a pilot program for its "Hands Free" payment service, allowing customers in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area to pay for goods and services over Bluetooth using a photograph for confirmation. Hands Free, as the name implies, is aimed at allowing people to make purchases without the need to pull out a phone or a wallet. It requires customers to create a...

Adobe today updated its Lightroom photography app for iOS devices to version 2.2, adding two small but notable features. Lightroom is now able to output full resolution files for any file, whether captured directly on an iOS device or taken on a standard camera and transferred to an iPhone iPad. Files added to an iOS device from a direct connection with a camera are also able to be transferred ...

Apple's smartphones have been released on a "tick-tock" cycle since 2008. The iPhone 6 lineup represented a "tick" year, which involved a complete design overhaul, while the iPhone 6s lineup was part of a "tock" year, which generally focused on camera and processor improvements, new features such as 3D Touch and Live Photos, and incremental refinements like faster Touch ID, LTE, and Wi-Fi....

Update: The person who submitted the screenshots and information to MacRumors has admitted that it was a hoax. Sling TV customers who have been hoping for a tvOS app may soon be able to watch the service on their fourth-generation Apple TVs, as it appears a launch could be coming in the near future. This morning, a MacRumors reader came across a Sling TV app in the tvOS App Store, which he...

According to a new report from Economic Daily News (via DigiTimes), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has plans to double the output capacity of its 16nm chip production from 40,000 12-inch wafers in February to 80,000 in March. The news corroborates previous reports that suggested TSMC was ready to expand its 16nm FinFET production capacity in the second quarter of 2016, solely for the...

DxO today announced a new "dramatically enhanced stand-alone experience" for its DxO ONE camera, granting users the ability to take pictures with the miniaturized device without needing to tether it to their smartphone. The DxO ONE's OLED display helps its users line up a shot, which they can then capture easily thanks to the on-board two-stage shutter button. The connected app allows for...

With origins on Kickstarter, the Zuli Smartplug is a device that acts as a buffer between a wall outlet and any electronic device, letting users control the connected appliance through a smartphone app. Today the company announced that it will be integrating that app with the popular Philips Hue lighting system, letting users interact with Hue lights directly within the Zuli app. The...

A new voice search and personal assistant app called Hound debuted on iOS yesterday that apparently outperforms Siri, Google Search and Cortana in terms of speed and recognition accuracy. Developed by the creators of music-recognition app SoundHound, the new app provides extremely fast responses to complex, nested natural language queries with highly accurate results and location-based...

Drone manufacturer DJI has inked a deal with Apple that will see its latest drone, the Phantom 4, available exclusively through Apple retail locations and DJI flagship stores through March 23, reports Re/code. Pre-orders are available beginning today, and brick and mortar locations are expected to have the drone in stock starting on March 15. Apple has long sold DJI products in its retail...

LMcable is a new Kickstarter project aiming to be the world's first cable containing a 2-in-1 connector that can charge both Lightning and Micro USB devices. One side of the 2.4A charging cable has a Lightning connector for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and other Apple products, while the reverse side has a Micro USB connector for devices like select Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone...

Apple has been granted 54 new patents today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, one of which contains details of a flexible display for a possible future iPhone. The patent, titled "Flexible Electronic Devices", covers products that would include flexible housings and internal components, including a flexible version of an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display, reports Patently Apple...

In a recent blog post, developer Keith Blount gave an update on the long-awaited iOS version of popular writing app Scrivener. Blount touched on the lengthy road to development the app has had over the years, mentioning that he took over its development and "rewrote it from the ground up" last year. A screenshot of Scrivener for Mac I know we’ve been quiet about the iOS version recently, and ...

Google today announced an incoming update to its Google Maps for iOS app that will let users add pit stops onto their trips without leaving navigation mode. First introduced on Android last fall, the company said that the pit stop feature will be available in any country where Google Maps navigation is offered, which is "more than 100 worldwide." From navigation mode, users will just need to...

If Apple follows its usual upgrade cycle, iOS 10 should be announced at WWDC this summer with a public release in the fall. In anticipation of the release, our forum members have been discussing iOS 10 wishlist features since October. One common request has been a more customizable control center. Visual designer and animator Sam Beckett has incorporated his views on what a more advanced...

If you've installed an iOS beta either through Apple's developer program or the public beta testing website, you may find yourself wanting to downgrade if you've run into issues. iOS beta software can be notoriously buggy, especially during the first few betas of a major update. Apps often don't work, devices crash, battery life is poor, and entire features can be rendered non-functional. In...

If you own an Apple Pencil, you've probably already misplaced its cap once or twice when charging it. The cap, which hides the Lightning connector, is fully removable and easily lost, a flaw the PencilCozy, from Cozy Industries, aims to fix. Made of a soft, pliable silicone, the PencilCozy has a top portion that fits snugly over the cap of the Apple Pencil and a ring that fits over the Apple...