iPhone 6s

Apple airs iPhone 6s commercial for Mother’s Day

Mother's Day is one week from today. Apple has already sent an email blast to registered customers to remind them to pick up an Apple Watch as a Mother’s Day gift recommendation and now the company has started airing a brand new iPhone 6s television commercial, aptly titled “Mother's Day”.

The 30-second ad “celebrates motherhood through the lens of iPhone users around the world”.

Drawing with pressure and other 3D Touch tips and tricks for Notes

With 3D Touch shortcuts and gestures available for iOS's stock Notes application, you can elevate your productivity and accomplish certain tasks faster and with fewer taps than without 3D Touch.

iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus owners can take advantage of their device's pressure-sensitive screen to quickly start a new note from the Home screen, preview a specific note’s content, sketch using pressure-sensitive drawing tools, quickly delete, share and copy notes and more.

Imbued with the information in this tutorial, you'll take full advantage of 3D Touch interactions that are available to you in Notes so that you can be more productive.

New iPhone 6s commercials are all about Touch ID, 4K video capture and chopping onions

Following its nicely done Earth Day ads featuring iMessage and a recycling robot dubbed Liam, Apple on Monday released a pair of brand new television commercials for the iPhone 6s, which promote Touch ID and the handset's ability to capture video in crisp 4K resolution through the lens of its twelve-megapixel rear camera.

The new commercials, titled “Fingerprint” and “Onions,” run thirty seconds each and are available on Apple's official YouTube channel, but we've embedded them into this article for your viewing pleasure.

3D Touch tips and tricks for the stock Videos app

In this day and age of YouTube streaming and on-demand video, the stock Videos app feels a little outdated and way too limited in terms of features though it gets the job done.

With the Videos app, you can watch movies, televisions shows and music videos that you bought or rented from the iTunes Store, as well as enjoy your personal clips synchronized from iTunes on your computer.

On the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, using the Videos app is a little more engaging thanks to 3D Touch. In this tutorial, we'll let you in on 3D Touch shortcuts and gestures that are available  in the Videos app.

Server-side patch fixes vulnerability that allowed access to Contacts and Photos on iPhone 6s

An iOS vulnerability that permitted nefarious people to gain access to Contacts and Photos data has been fixed swiftly without the need for a software update. A server-side fix has patched a security hole in Siri which allowed the personal digital assistant to use email links in tweets to gain access to contacts and photos on a locked iPhone 6s running iOS 9.3.1. Apple has confirmed to The Washington Post that it's fixed the flaw on its servers.

Easy to fix iOS bug bypasses Lock screen on iPhone 6s, giving access to Contacts and Photos

First spotted by Jose Rodriguez, who last September found a similar flaw in iOS, and highlighted by The Daily Dot, Apple's mobile operating system contains a vulnerability that lets others access your Contacts and Photos using Siri on the Lock screen of your iPhone 6s, bypassing your passcode.

Fortunately, there's an easy fix for this which involves revoking Siri access to Twitter and Photos and disabling Lock screen access to the personal digital assistant. Apple has not commented on the bug, which will likely be squashed in an upcoming software update.

Torture tests expectedly find iPhone SE less durable than iPhone 6s

Extended warranty provider SquareTrade has put the new iPhone SE through its paces in terms of durability. After pitting the device against the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus models in bend, drop and water tests, the firm has found the iPhone SE to be less durable than the iPhone 6s series, made from a strengthened aluminum alloy.

“While it holds its own against the much bigger iPhone 6s Plus, the new iPhone SE still has some growing up to do before it can compete with the durable iPhone 6s,” concluded SquareTrade. A video of the tests shows the four-inch iPhone SE being submerged in water, dropped on its corner and bending under pressure.

Top 3D Touch shortcuts in Apple’s Podcasts app

Podcasts, previously an optional download from the App Store and now a stock application in iOS 9, may not be the most elegant software to enjoy your favorite podcasts, such as iDownloadBlog's Let's Talk iOS series.

That being said, the app is adequate enough for basic use: with it, you can easily browse, subscribe to and play your favorite audio or video shows on your iOS devices.

And if you own an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, you can take advantage of 3D Touch to start listening to the next unplayed episode of your favorite show right from the Home screen, use Peek and Pop gestures in the app to preview shows, see unplayed station episodes and more.

Teardown of iPhone SE finds hardware is a collage of 5s, 6, and 6s parts

The first legitimate hardware teardown of Apple's new 4-inch smartphone, the iPhone SE, has been conducted by Chipworks. Apple just unveiled this new handset at its recent 'Let us loop you in' event alongside the new 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

The teardown finds that the iPhone SE is more than just a new generation of smaller iPhone from Apple, but that it's actually a very clever device that takes the best from the performance world and combines it with the economics of older devices. This allows Apple to provide a product at a cheaper cost, but with similar performance.

As the teardown reveals, the iPhone SE is actually a Frankenstein of iPhone 5s, 6, and 6s parts that all work together to create a powerful 6s-like performance experience in a smaller 4-inch package.

T-Mobile promo takes half off any iPhone when you buy a second iPhone and add a line

In time for the new iPhone SE, which lands on store shelves tomorrow, wireless carrier T-Mobile announced a new BOGO (Buy One Get One) promotion that gives qualifying Simple Choice postpaid customers half off any iPhone when they buy a second iPhone and add a line.

Devices eligible for this promotion include all iPhones that the company currently stocks, including the new four-inch iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. Certified pre-owned iPhones are not eligible for this time-limited offer, which goes live on Thursday, March 31.

Deal: Best Buy has sweet discounts on iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, 9.7″ iPad Pro and Apple Watch

If you're thinking about getting an iPhone SE or Apple's new 9.7-inch iPad Pro, you might want to check out the new promotions over at Best Buy. The electronics retailer is currently offering notable discounts and deals on both devices, as well as on the iPhone 6s and Apple Watch.

For starters, if you purchase and activate an iPhone SE with a two-year contract and sign up for a free My Best Buy Mobile account, they'll throw in a free $50 gift card for good measure. The offer is valid if you get the device on monthly installments, too.

Those who are in the market for Apple's new 9.7-inch iPad Pro can trade in their existing iPad 2 or newer model and receive a $100 gift card for the new model purchase.

But that's not all.