iOS 6

New FIPS 140-2 level 2 certification could spur government adoption of iOS

Cody Lee ∙ June 30, 2013

As BlackBerry continues on its downward spiral, more and more of its government clients are jumping ship. And it's no secret that pretty much every other handset manufacturer out there is looking to lure the RIM refugees into their respective mobile platforms.

At least it seems that Apple is working hard to earn their business. Just a few months after receiving Level 1 FIPS 140-2 certification—a security standard developed by the US government for use in its computers, comes word that it's gained Level 2 compliance...

Apple starts charting iOS adoption, 96% of users are on iOS 6

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 21, 2013

Apple has started charting the iOS adoption figures via a portal for its registered developers. While Google's been doing this for quite some time now, it's the first time Apple offered the continuously updated official iOS adoption data.

Key takeaway: a whopping 96 percent of Apple customers are now using iOS 6, as measured by the App Store during a 14-day period ending June 3, 2013.

There is a massive difference compared to Android 4.x versions that, according to Google's dashboard web page, was on 58.6 percent of Android devices accessing the Android Play store during a 14-day period ending on June 3, 2013.

And with 39.8 percent of Google customers on the now outdated Android 2.2 Froyo and up to Android 3.2 Honeycomb software, Apple's huge advantage in terms of platform fragmentation is undisputed...

Feeling suicidal? Don’t do it, Siri can call National Suicide Prevention Lifeline for you

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 18, 2013

Sometimes, one just feels like life isn't worth living anymore. Maybe you've been trying too hard for too long or life hasn't been treating you fairly?

Perhaps love of your life has suddenly dumped you? Or, it could be the economy. Whatever the reason, far too many people are having suicidal thoughts these days.

And who could blame them - we're living in a time when the entire world is increasingly becoming a Prozac nation. When desperation sets in, suicide prevention centers step in to save lives. But those considering committing suicide are often way too depressed to even seek professional help on their own.

Apple feels their pain, too. In a recent server-side update, the company's digital assistant has gained ability to help individuals in suicidal crisis reach out to National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by automatically placing that potentially life-saving phone call for you...

iOS 6 vs iOS 7: the different UI views

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

iOS developer MPow recently tweeted an interesting comparison image of iOS 6's UI views versus the new elements found in iOS 7. It's a great way to gain a high level overview on the scope of the visual changes occurring with iOS.

The image compares common elements like the toolbar, tabbar, searchbar, switches, sliders, and much more. It's a great way to appreciate some of the widely seen visual changes happening with iOS. If you happen to be a developer, or are at least interested in what it takes to create an app on iOS, you'll especially appreciate this. Take a look inside for the full image.

How to downgrade iOS 7 to iOS 6.1.3

Jeff Benjamin ∙ June 11, 2013

Apple makes it sound like a life or death scenario when developers decide to install iOS 7 beta on a test device. In fact, it's always done so with its beta releases. In the notes for iOS 7, Apple states that "Devices updated to iOS beta can not be restored to earlier versions of iOS."

The thing is, that simply isn't true. I've always been able to successfully downgrade my firmware in the past for a beta test device, and I've confirmed that the process still works perfectly fine on iOS 7. In fact, it's extremely easy to downgrade your firmware from iOS 7 to iOS 6.1.3; it doesn't even require any special tricks or techniques like some downgrades do. Check inside as I walk you through the extremely simple step-by-step process for downgrading iOS 7 back to iOS 6.1.3.

Icon comparison: iOS 6 vs iOS 7

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 11, 2013

Apple's new look and feel in iOS 7 is certainly polarizing, that much is clear. While approximately half of those who took part in our informal iOS 7 makeover poll said they loved the new design, nearly a third think the new interface will take some time getting used to. While the vast majority seem to support the facelift, a lot of people have taken issue with the new iOS 7 icons.

Complaints range from the icons being too colourful and out of place to being completely different from each other to resembling a terrible Photoshop job by a 14-yer-old. We'll let you be the judge: here's a side-by-side comparison of iOS 6 vs iOS 7 icons...

Facebook friends disappearing from iOS Contacts? It’s a new feature!

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 6, 2013

If you've ever used Facebook integration in iOS 6, you may have noticed iOS lets you grant the Contact app access your Facebook account in Settings > Facebook. Enabling this feature creates a new 'Facebook' group in Contacts which contains entries for all of the people you're friends with on Facebook. According to a thread over at Apple's support forums, a number of people are experiencing an issue where some of the entries are dissapearing from the Facebook group in iOS Contacts.

If you have noticed similar symptoms, don't panic - it's a feature rather than a bug...

Developer of ‘Elements’ iOS app teases upcoming release using Passbook

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 28, 2018

Fans will be happy to hear today that Second Gear, the developers of the popular iOS note-taking and Markdown editing app Elements, have a new application in the works. We don't yet know what that app is, but we do know how they'll announce it.

Passbook, apparently. The team has created an information server called Pit Pass, and it will actually push updates regarding the status of their new app to devices using Passbook. It's a clever idea, that has heightened anticipation for their new software...

Skycore launches cross-carrier delivery of Apple’s Passbook items by MMS

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Apple's Passbook reads data from .pkpass files, which can be attached to email messages and embedded on web sites. The system lets Safari and Mail clients running on Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad devices to automatically import tickets, digital coupons and other items into the Passbook application and sync them across devices via iCloud. That's all fine and dandy, but what if there was an easier way to share Passbook passes? Thanks to a company called Skycore, Passbook items can be now delivered to users via MMS...

SMS on GV integrates Google Voice SMS into your Messages app

Cody Lee ∙ May 23, 2013

Avid Google Voice users will be happy to hear that there's a new jailbreak tweak out that integrates Google's SMS service into the stock Messages app. We've seen tweaks like this before, such as SMS GV Extension. But to my knowledge, none of them made it to iOS 6.

The tweak we're going to be talking about today, however, does support iOS 6 (as well as later versions). It's called SMS on GV, and like the others we've seen, it allows you to send and receive text messages using your Google Voice account from within Messages...

Give your iPhone a gorgeous makeover with iMIUI

Cody Lee ∙ May 16, 2013

A few days ago, we were contacted by one of the developers of a jailbreak theme I had never heard of before called iMIUI. In the email they told us that we just had to check out their theme, saying it could be the next ayecon.

Given that Surenix's ayecon theme is easily the most popular in the jailbreak community right now, that's a pretty bold statement. But after using iMIUI over the past few days, I'm starting to think they might just be right...

iPhone, iPad granted security clearance for Pentagon’s network

Cody Lee ∙ May 13, 2013

It appears that all of that talk regarding iOS devices being close to gaining Pentagon clearance was spot on. Bloomberg is reporting this weekend that the US Department of Defense plans to give Apple security clearance later this week.

As we've discussed before, the DoD's approval would mean a lot for the Cupertino company, who has been trying to get its iPhone and iPad into government buildings, that were once reserved for BlackBerry, for quite some time now...