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

Instagram today announced that it will introduce a new algorithm-based feed in the coming months, shifting from its current chronological-based feed. The move follows Twitter's announcement that it was moving to an algorithm-based feed. Instagram parent company Facebook has used an algorithm-based news feed for years. You may be surprised to learn that people miss on average 70 percent of their...

Popular music producer and performer Joel Thomas Zimmerman, most popularly known as deadmau5, is set to join Apple Music's Beats 1 radio station this Friday. The 35-year-old artist will have his own show, called "mau5trap presents," debuting at 3PM PST on Friday, March 18. Besides the announcement tweet via the Beats 1 account, no other specifics regarding the content of mau5trap presents were ...

Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe discussed a range of topics, including Apple executive Jimmy Iovine's advice to him and his own personal history, in a new interview with Vice's music channel Noisey. When he first arrived at Apple Music, Lowe said there was only one piece of advice Iovine had given him. "I was trying to go and seek sage-like advice from the master," Lowe said. Iovine had asked him how ...

Apple recently added a new ad format designed to allow publishers to share sponsored posts alongside regular news content in Apple News, according to developer specification document [PDF] that was shared by Business Insider. The document features all of the different ad types available within Apple News, including a new "Native Banners" feature. With Native Banners, which are meant to blend...

Zagg's Mobile Charging Station for the Apple Watch and iPhone is both a portable charging platform and a backup battery for your Apple products. With its 5,000 mAh battery, the Mobile Charging Station is meant to be used while away from a power source. It has enough capacity to provide a full charge for both an iPhone and an Apple Watch, with a little juice left over. There are a few...

Microsoft recently updated the iOS version of its email client Outlook [Direct Link] with the ability for users to enable Touch ID when accessing the app. Outlook is the first of the major email apps on iOS -- including Gmail and Apple's own stock Mail app -- to support the fingerprint security features of Touch ID. To set up Touch ID in Outlook, navigate to the "Settings" tab within the...

Philips is extending the capabilities of its Hue lighting system even further with the Philips Hue White Ambiance kit, which will give fans of the smart lighting system access to every shade of white light (via SlashGear). The new bulbs are a more robust version of the Philips Hue Lux system, which is limited to dimmable white light rather than the full array of colors available with the standard ...

Technology firms operating in the UK will be forced to install backdoors in their products and services for state surveillance purposes under proposed new laws, reports The Sunday Times. The new powers come under the controversial Investigatory Powers Bill (IPB), referred to by critics as the "Snooper's Charter", which was published by Home Secretary Theresa May on March 1 and is due to get...

Apple came under fire over the weekend for an apparent failure of its App Store algorithm to rank app categories using any meaningful criteria. Several users took to Twitter to voice their displeasure after subcategories in the App Store Games section were shown to be displaying multiple variations of similarly named apps spanning several pages. More examples quickly followed, and apps...

Last Week Tonight host John Oliver tackled Apple and the FBI's duel over encryption as the main segment on his show last night. He played out cases for both sides before siding with Apple and creating a comical ad for the Cupertino company in its signature style explaining why encryption is important. Oliver starts the segment by explaining what encryption is, what it protects and how it can ...

Reddit has released a new version of Alien Blue this week that gifts pre-existing Pro users with a four-year Reddit Gold subscription for free. The one-time gift can be redeemed through a pop-up menu in Alien Blue version 2.9.10. Alien Blue is the most popular Reddit app for iPhone and iPad, developed by Jase Morrissey and acquired by Reddit in October 2014. The universal iOS app is free on...

Wikipedia yesterday released a major update to its iOS app, offering an all-new interface and several new features designed to enhance content discovery. Wikipedia Mobile 5.0 brings several optimizations to devices running iOS 9, featuring Spotlight Search integration, Handoff support, and 3D Touch enhancements for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 Plus users. Previous updates to the app added...

Apple today provided developers with the sixth beta of an upcoming 9.2 update to tvOS, the operating system that runs on the fourth-generation Apple TV and powers its built-in App Store. Today's tvOS 9.2 beta 6 update comes more than a week after Apple released the fifth beta of tvOS 9.2 and one and a half months after the release of tvOS 9.1.1, a minor update to tvOS 9.1. tvOS 9.2 has been in...

Electronic Arts today announced a new game in the popular Plants vs. Zombies series, called Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, that ditches the tower defense mechanisms of past mobile installments for a collectible card format in the vein of Hearthstone (via VentureBeat). EA and PopCap Games aimed to make the game "accessible, with a lot of depth" to satisfy those new at card battling games but keep...

Readdle has updated PDF Expert with Handoff support, allowing users to start working on iPhone or iPad and easily pick up on Mac where they left off. To transfer a PDF document from an iPhone or iPad to Mac, click on the Handoff button in PDF Expert for Mac and select the file. Handoff will automatically transfer the PDF document to the desktop, including all annotations and edits. The...

Apple has rolled out a small but notable update to the Radio tab in Apple Music, removing the static Beats 1 logo at the top of the landing page and replacing it with a new UI that dynamically updates to the currently-airing live radio show (via 9to5Mac). In addition to the title, the tab will update with new artwork and the airing location of the show. The change also brings more direct UI...

An Apple patent application that could turn the Apple Watch into a fully fledged medical device was published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday. The application, titled "Care event detection and alerts", envisions a hardware system with the ability to monitor the surrounding environment for events that would require assistance from medical professionals, police, fire rescue...

Mobile security company Lookout released an app yesterday that alerts Apple Watch users if they are about to leave their iPhone behind. The iOS and Apple Watch app uses the Bluetooth connection of an Apple Watch to keep tabs on a user's iPhone location, so that if the wearer steps out of range of their phone, the app automatically buzzes their watch. Lookout can also make an iPhone in...