Apple

Apple’s rumored 4-inch iPhone 6c apparently won’t run A9 chip after all

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 17, 2015

Reliable analyst who have been calling for a refresh to the now discontinued four-inch iPhone 5c may have gotten one detail wrong: it sounds like the device, expected to be branded under the 'iPhone 6c' moniker, will run Apple's A8 processor used in last year's iPhone 6 rather than the latest A9 chip powering the new iPhone 6s.

That's what Japanese blog Macotakara, which has a pretty good track record when it comes to Apple leaks, said this morning citing “credible sources” familiar with the device.

UK’s TSB and Tesco Bank now support Apple Pay

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 17, 2015

In addition to adding Canada as the third country where Apple Pay is available (limited to American Express cardholders at launch), availability of Apple's mobile payments service in the United Kingdom, where Apple Pay launched this summer, increased today with financial institutions TSB and Tesco Bank now supporting the service. This leaves Barclays as the last UK major bank without support for Apple Pay.

Apple Pay hits Canada with American Express

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 17, 2015

A year following its October 2014 debut in the United States, Apple's mobile payments service is now available to American Express cardholders in Canada, the company said on Twitter.

“Cardmembers can earn the same rewards they already enjoy using Amex with Apple Pay,” said the financial services corporation. In addition to the US and UK, where Apple Pay launched this summer, this marks the third country where the service is available.

Is Apple boosting rankings of its own apps on App Store’s Top Free charts?

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 16, 2015

A sneaking suspicion that Apple could be taking advantage of the App Store's charts to promote its own apps at the expense of others has received a prominent, though inconclusive, confirmation in today's TechCrunch report.

The publication noticed that multiple Apple apps such as Pages, Keynote and Numbers are being listed on the App Store's Top Free charts on some iOS 9.1 devices in higher positions than they would normally rank.

These same apps are ranked differently in the App Store within desktop iTunes and on other iOS devices. So, what's going on here?

Facebook deep links will begin to soon surface in Google search results

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 16, 2015

As reported by The Wall Street Journal this morning, your Google search results will soon start to serve deep links based on content from Facebook's mobile app which, when clicked, will take you straight to the relevant part of the Facebook app.

A spokeswoman for Google parent Alphabet has confirmed the feature will begin to roll out soon.

Last month, the Internet giant announced integration between its search engine and iOS 9 apps via so-called App Indexing feature and today's announcement delivers on that promise.

Many iPad Pro owners are complaining about unresponsiveness after long charge

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 11, 2016

A couple of threads are currently growing on Reddit and the Apple Support Communities forums, with a significant number of lucky owners of the iPad Pro complaining that their device becomes unresponsive after being charged for a lengthy period. This typically occurs during overnight charging.

The annoying issues causes the device to require a hard restart to restore functionality. Apple had not commented on the hiccup publicly at the time of this writing, and almost certainly will not.

Waze gains 3D Touch shortcuts on iPhone 6s

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 16, 2015

Google-owned social-mapping and traffic service Waze today pushed an update to its iPhone application in the App Store, adding handy shortcuts available upon pressing its Home screen icon on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

Waze's 3D Touch shortcuts provide access to popular features like address search, location sharing and turn-by-turn navigation based on your work and home address on file.

Tim Cook on why making converged Mac and iPad doesn’t make sense

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 16, 2015

Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down with The Independent to talk the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, Apple's latest addition to the iPad lineup.

Asked to shed more light on his statement to The Daily Telegraph last week that most mainstream consumers might no longer be interested in buying a PC, Cook reiterated that “We don’t regard Macs and PCs to be the same” and argued that people “are not really looking for a converged Mac and iPad”.

Another analyst calls for 4″ iPhone 6c in mid-2016

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 30, 2016

Apple's rumored refresh of the four-inch iPhone lineup is yet again being pegged for a summer 2016 launch in another analyst note.

Kevin Wang, IHS’s Technology Research Director in China, wrote in a post on Chinese microblogging service Sina Weibo that the new handset, reportedly branded as 'iPhone 6c,' is expected to be released in mid-2016 featuring the same four-inch form factor as the iPhone 5c.

WhatsApp picks up 3D Touch Peek and Pop, redesigned settings and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 16, 2015

Facebook-owned WhatsApp today issued a new update to its iPhone application in the App Store which brings extended support for 3D Touch on the iPhone6s and iPhone 6s Plus with Peek and Pop gestures for previewing chats without actually opening them.

The app's also gained a redesigned settings interface, the ability to browse your starred messages in one place and optionally include rich previews when sharing links.

Review: Vevo’s revamped iOS app is a lot cleaner and more fun to use than Apple’s Music

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

In case you missed it, Vevo has completely redesigned its lagging iPhone and iPad application in the App Store. I watch music videos from Vevo artists on YouTube on my desktop. On mobile, not so much and I blame Vevo's hopelessly outdated design, inconsistencies and complicated features for that.

Bumped to version 5.0, the new Vevo experience starts with a black-and-white logo and a matching app icon.

The headline change here is an all-new interface—it gets out of your way, unlike Apple's own Music app, and sports a tremendously useful mini-player. It's almost too weird to say that Vevo's new iOS app is a lot easier and way more fun to use than Apple's stock Music app has ever been, but it's true.

App Store search results are now smarter and more relevant

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Apple has been working hard in recent weeks to make App Store search results smarter and more relevant, reports TechCrunch. The outlet points to comments from high profile app developers, who began noticing changes to the search results earlier this month and a major algorithm update on November 12.

"I just searched Twitter on the App Store and Instagram is gone," Contrast's David Barnard pointed out on Twitter. "Tweetbot is #4, Twitterrific #5, and more relevant results overall." Tapbots developer Paul Haddad also spotted the change, noting that the change has had a significant impact on his app searches.