Year: 2016

All-new Apple TV Remote app with Siri and tilt gaming support hits the App Store

The new Apple TV Remote app with Siri features and support for controlling games on the fourth-generation Apple TV via tilt controls on your iPhone is now available for download on the App Store. Formally announced at WWDC in June 2016, the app used to be available as a developer-only preview, but now everyone can download it from the App Store. The new app doesn't replace the old one, which is still available on the App Store.

Both apps support the second, third and fourth-generation Apple TV, but only the new one packs in full support for Siri and tilt-based gaming on the new Apple TV.

Apple adding more than 100 gender diverse emoji in iOS 10

Apple is adding more than 100 new and redesigned emoji characters in iOS 10, the company said in a press release on Monday. The new emoji are accessible in the latest beta—iOS 10 beta 4—which was released to registered developers this morning.

The focus of the additions is gender diversity. So characters that previously only featured men options, such as the cyclist, swimmer and construction worker, are now available for both men and women, and likewise for previous women-only emoji.

Pangu: untethered jailbreak is not coming for iOS 9.3.3

The Pangu jailbreak team is the one responsible for having released the iOS 9.3.3 jailbreak, and there has been a lot of confusion about the jailbreak that has led the team to ultimately make an official Reddit account to help keep the community in the loop.

The team recently cleared up the question on whether or not 32-bit devices would ever be supported by the iOS 9.3.3 jailbreak, and now they appear to have confirmed that an untethered jailbreak for iOS 9.3.3 isn't going to happen.

Apple seeds fourth beta of iOS 10, watchOS 3, tvOS 10 and macOS Sierra to developers

Two weeks following the release of the third beta of iOS 10, watchOS 3, tvOS 10 and macOS Sierra, Apple on Monday issued iOS 10 beta 4, macOS Sierra beta 4, watchOS 3 beta 4 and tvOS 10 beta 4 to members of the Apple Developer Program. The public beta of iOS 10 and macOS Sierra matching the latest developer-only releases should be released tomorrow to public beta testers enrolled with the Apple Beta Software Program.

Were you “forced” to start over after this weekend’s Pokémon GO update? Here’s the fix

Following this weekend's Pokémon GO game update from Niantic, many players who used their Google accounts to play have claimed that the update deleted their account data and forced them to start over by making a new account to play with.

If you were one of these people, this is a troubleshooting tutorial you'll want to read, as your account data is probably still there and you may have made a new account by mistake after following the on-screen instructions.

This website chronicles a comprehensive list of things you can do with Siri

As Apple continues perfecting Siri and adding new operations to her arsenal of supported actions, chronicling everything the digital personal assistant can do on your behalf is becoming increasingly difficult, even for Apple itself which highlights only the most popular Siri queries on its website.

That's where a new website, aptly named Hey Siri, jumps in. As first discovered by The Loop, it's a comprehensive list of things you can do with Siri which uses crowdsourced data to share some of the most successful queries made to the digital assistant.

Apple launches new iBooks account on Instagram, releases new Harry Potter book

Following launch of the widely popular and incredibly active Apple Support account on Twitter earlier this year, Apple has now created a brand new account on Instagram. Dedicated solely to iBooks, it shares book quotes, spotlights authors and reviews, promotes new arrivals and more. At the same time, the iPhone maker has now released the script for “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” on the iBooks Store (also available from Amazon and other retailers).

Judge voids $625 million verdict against Apple in VirnetX patent spat

In February 2016, a federal jury ordered that Apple pay $625 million to VirnetX Holding Corp after being found guilty of willfully infringing on technologies found in VirnetX's patents related to virtual private networking protocols. Friday, the judge voided that ruling after determining that the case should be revisited, CNBC reports. VirnetX alleges that its patented technology is used in FaceTime and iMessage on the iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Fully functional Lightning EarPods caught on video

Following blurry photos of an alleged Lightning-based edition of the EarPods, Apple's stock iPhone headphones, a new video now gives us a far better look at what appears to be fully functional headphones resembling the EarPods, except they connect into the iPhone's Lightning port.

Published on YouTube channel EverythingApplesPro on Friday and first discovered by French blog iGen.fr, the 60-second clip shows the headphones connected via Lightning to an iPhone running iOS 9. They work as you'd expect, including controlling playback via the in-line Play/Pause and Volume Up and Down buttons.

Apple-backed Didi Chuxing buys rival Uber China

Now we (probably) know why Apple poured a cool $1 billion into China's leading ride-sharing service Didi Chuxing as that company's just invested—you guessed right—$1 billion into its biggest rival, Uber China. The transaction, subject to closing conditions, will also give a 20 percent stake in the combined firm for Uber and its shareholders, said Bloomberg.

You’ll soon be able to filter individual comments on Instagram, even disable commenting

Instagram is working on some significant enhancements for the commenting feature found its mobile app, potentially giving users the ability to filter their own comment streams on the service or even disable commenting on all posts, according to The Washington Post. Instagram has been testing these features with some businesses, but soon everyone will be able to screen individual comments in their feed and decide for themselves if they might be better served by disabling commenting on their account altogether.

Purported Mute switch leak reaffirms rumors of Space Black iPhone 7 model

A lot of people seem to be excited for the supposed iPhone 7 variant in Space Black, resembling the Space Black stainless steel Apple Watch or the dramatic Darth Vader-like black-clad appearance of the iPhone 5. Dutch publication TechTastic.nl on Monday published a photo of an alleged Mute switch for the next iPhone.

What's especially interesting about this particular part leak is the part's finish that strongly suggest—assuming the component is genuine—that the next iPhone will in fact be offered in Space Black.