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

Facebook is planning to provide developers with toolkits for customer service chatbots and live chat APIs, according to a few sources that spoke with TechCrunch. The company will debut the new features at Facebook's F8 conference next week, following in line with a host of recent institutions getting behind chatbot support. Facebook's intentions are to connect its users with businesses via...

A review of Apple's track record of handling government data requests claims that the company received and complied with its first court order to unlock an iPhone in 2008. According to a Wall Street Journal piece published yesterday, the first court order came from investigators involved in the prosecution of child sex offenders Amanda and Christopher Jansen, a married couple from Watertown,...

Google is considering making Apple's Swift programming language a "first class" language for Android, reports The Next Web. Executives from Google, Facebook, and Uber reportedly attended a meeting to discuss Swift in December, around the time that Apple officially made Swift an open source language.Google's Android operating system currently supports Java as its first-class language, and sources...

Twelve South today announced the launch of a new product designed for the Apple Watch, the TimePorter. Described as a travel tote and portable charging stand, the TimePorter is shaped like an eyeglasses case with room inside a hinged compartment for an Apple Watch charging puck, a power adapter, and extra Apple Watch bands. The Apple Watch charging puck fits into a slot at the top of the...

After disclosing its method of accessing the iPhone 5c of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook to a few U.S. Senators, the FBI today released a new sliver of information regarding the highly secretive invasive steps the organization has taken to get into the iPhone in question. FBI director James Comey gave a few hints about "a tool" from a private party that it used to gain access to Farook's...

T-Mobile has announced a limited time promotion offering two lines, each with unlimited talk, text, and 6GB of LTE data, for $80 per month starting April 8. T-Mobile does not charge access or data overage fees, and instead limits each line to unlimited 2G data once the LTE data included has been used. As a comparison, Verizon charges $100 per month for two lines with unlimited talk, text,...

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival recently announced a partnership with contactless payment company Square, letting attendees at the outdoor event pay for merchandise and food with the help of Square's new NFC and chip card reader (via AppleInsider). Launched late last year, the compact device lets any small business -- or any vendor at Coachella -- adopt contactless payments with...

Apple revealed an expansion to its collection of Hermès Apple Watch bands today, with four additional colors becoming available to buy separately later this month. Apple's refreshed collaboration with the French fashion house brings sapphire blue, peacock blue, white and orange to the existing collection of Fauve (deer brown), Etain, Capucine, and Bleu Jean. In the past, Hermès...

The FBI has begun telling some U.S. Senators how it accessed the data on San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook's iPhone 5c, according to The National Journal (via CNET). Previously, the FBI has been coy on how it accessed the data on the phone and hasn't communicated the exploit used to Apple. California Senator Diane Feinstein, the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence,...

Apple today provided developers with the first beta of an upcoming 9.2.1 update to tvOS, the operating system designed to run on the fourth-generation Apple TV. tvOS 9.2.1 is a minor update that comes two weeks after the launch of tvOS 9.2, a significant update that introduced a range of features from Bluetooth keyboard support and dictation to Siri search for the App Store and app folders....

Apple today seeded the first version of an upcoming watchOS 2.2.1 update to developers, just over two weeks after releasing watchOS 2.2, a significant watchOS 2 update that introduced new features like multi-watch support for iPhones and Maps improvements. The 2.2.1 beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on an iPhone by going to General --> Software update. To install the ...

Facebook today announced a dedicated segment of its popular iOS and Android app will find a renewed focus on both live and pre-recorded videos, taking the place of the Messenger button which sent users to that separate private messaging app. The social network's main focus in the new hub will be on starting up your own live videos, or joining in on another, but Facebook hopes the new feature...

WhatsApp has enabled full end-to-end encryption for all users of the mobile instant messenger app. The Facebook-owned service started implementing end-to-end encryption to standard chat messages in 2014, but has now completed rollout to all forms of communication within the app, such as photos, videos and calls. WhatsApp co-founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton officially announced the rollout ...

Kik Messenger for iOS officially opened a dedicated bot store yesterday that allows anyone to create chat bots for use within the app. Chat bots are automated chat accounts that are programmed to deliver specific content or services when users interact with them, sidestepping the need to download a separate app to access the service or content in question. The popular teen messaging app...

As of today, Apple has stopped signing iOS 9.2.1 for compatible iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models, meaning users can no longer upgrade or downgrade to that version of iOS using iTunes. Apple is now signing iOS 9.3 and iOS 9.3.1 only. iOS 9.3 was released to the public on March 21, and iOS 9.3.1 was released 10 days later on March 31. iOS 9.3 has suffered from several bugs since it was...

In March, Reddit released an updated version of its Alien Blue app for iOS, which included a free four-year Reddit Gold subscription gift for all Alien Blue users with Pro accounts. At the time, Alien Blue users were able to redeem the gift in the app, with Reddit promising to send the Reddit Gold credit at a later date. As of today, Alien Blue users have begun receiving private messages...

On April 1, Apple celebrated its 40th anniversary, marking four decades since Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne co-founded the company. To mark the occasion, Apple shared a 40th anniversary video, flew a pirate flag at its Cupertino headquarters, held a beer bash, and launched an Apple Music playlist filled with songs that have been used in past Apple advertising spots. Apple's...

Twitter today announced the addition of a new "Message" button to the Twitter apps for iOS and Android, giving users a simpler method for sharing tweets through Direct Messages to start private conversations. Sending a tweet to a user through a Direct Message is a feature that was originally implemented in 2014, but using the feature required long pressing on a tweet in the timeline and...