Apple

OS X 10.11 El Capitan software update launching tomorrow on Mac App Store

OS X 10.11 El Capitan is launching tomorrow and Apple just issued a reminder in the form of a media release alerting customers of the impending update.

“Apple today announced that OS X El Capitan, the latest major release of the world’s most advanced desktop operating system, will be available on Wednesday, September 30 as a free update for Mac users,” reads the press release.

Will you be taking the plunge?

Apple Music free trials expiring tomorrow, here’s how to disable auto-renewals

Apple faces a big day tomorrow as free three-month Apple Music trials are set to expire on Wednesday, September 30. Just yesterday, the firm posted a series of guided tour videos to help new and existing users understand the various features of the service.

Ahead of the initial wave of free trial expirations, Apple is pushing notifications to those who signed up for a free-trial to encourage them to renew their membership.

If you signed up for your first three months of free services and have forgotten to disable the Auto-Renew option, you can still do so before Apple charges your credit card on file, here's how.

New patent points to lusciously animated Apple Maps with photorealistic visual effects

Three-dimensional Flyover aerial photography in Apple Maps is cool, but wouldn't it be great if things like water, foliage and other dynamic objects were animated based on touch, motion and sound?

That's exactly what Apple appears to be researching if a new patent application uncovered by AppleInsider is indicative of future Apple Maps features. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Tuesday awarded the iPhone maker a new patent on “Non-static 3D map views.”

Apple details what it does and doesn’t collect in Privacy website refresh

Apple on Tuesday refreshed the Privacy section of its website with new information on what “we do and don't collect.” In a post titled “Apple’s commitment to your privacy,” Apple CEO Tim Cook explains the great lengths his company goes in order to protect your private data from prying eyes.

Among other things, Apple's approach to protecting your privacy entails employing strong encryption and strict policies that govern how all data is handled.

Semiconductor analysis confirms iPhone 6s ‘A9’ chip manufactured by Samsung and TSMC

An initial analysis of the Apple-designed A9 system-on-a-chip powering the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, conducted by semiconductor experts over at Chipworks, has identified both Samsung and rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company as manufacturers of the package.

What's really interesting is that the A9 comes in two sizes, depending on who manufactured it, with the Samsung-built units being a bit smaller than those manufactured by TSMC. This is the first time an Apple-designed processor for an iPhone came in two different sizes.

Review: Password Chef—enjoy untethered password entry with recipes

The App Store offers several high-quality apps that help you create strong passwords for various services, manage your passwords and synchronize them between devices with ease, AgileBits' freemium 1Password being perhaps the most popular one.

But there's now a brand new password manager on the block which takes a clever approach to securing all your online accounts with strong passwords but without having to actually remember them.

How about re-creating passwords from recipes?

Welcome to Naranja Studio's Password Chef, a novel $2.99 app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad which takes advantage of unique recipes to basically turn any site name into an easy-to-recall password, canceling the need for additional software or devices.

How to zoom in and out of your iPhone 6s screen with 3D Touch

We have been covering various 3D Touch features extensively here on iDownloadBlog and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future.

In addition to using your iPhone 6s keyboard in trackpad mode, adjusting the sensitivity of 3D Touch and turning the feature on and off, iOS 9 also provides a way for iPhone 6s owners to use its built-in zooming capability in conjunction with 3D Touch, based on the amount of force exerted on an on-screen controller.

They're calling it Peek Zoom and once activated lets you invoke iOS's standard Zoom feature through 3D Touch rather than requiring you to double-tap with three fingers.

Rumor: iPhone 7 will be water and dust-proof and ditch a metallic casing altogether

According to MacOtakara, a fairly accurate Japanese blog, the next iPhone could have waterproof and dust-proof features as Apple is apparently producing prototype 'iPhone 7' units that appear to be way more ruggedized than current models are.

In addition, the site claims that next year's iPhone will feature a new exterior design (we knew that, since 2016 won't be an S-upgrade year) and feature a newly designed non-metal chassis, which does sound interesting.

Some iPhone 6s users report poor low-light camera performance with Live Photos enabled

Some iPhone 6s owners took to Reddit to say that using Live Photos degrades low-light photography performance on their iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. We have yet to confirm their claims independently but it would seem that the issue stems from how taking Live Photos works.

When you enable Live Photos in the Camera app, your iPhone 6s records 1.5 seconds of video before and after the still photo is snapped, allowing you to see small bursts of motion and sound.

Here's why using Live Photos might degrade your camera's performance in low-light conditions.

If iOS 9 is gobbling up all your mobile data, you should turn Wi-Fi Assist off

iOS 9 includes a new feature designed to optimize network performance by automatically switching to a mobile data network if a poor Wi-Fi signal is detected or Wi-Fi responds painfully too slow. It's called Wi-Fi Assist and comes enabled by default on iPhones and cellular iPads running iOS 9 or iOS 9.0.1.

As first noted by Quartz, some iPhone owners with poor Wi-Fi reception are seeing dramatic increases in their mobile data usage after updating to iOS 9.

For example, some folks are reporting a jump from one to as much as seven gigabytes since updating to iOS 9. To avoid unwanted overage fees on your wireless bill, disable Wi-Fi Assist with just a few taps, here's how.

iPhone 6s may suffer from iOS 9 bug affecting some apps which tap into compass and gyroscope data

Apple's new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus seem to be affected by a potential software bug present in iOS 9.0 and iOS 9.0.1 that appears to affect some, but not all apps which rely on data collected from the handset's compass and gyroscope sensors.

As first reported by AppleInsider, developer Fifth Star Labs has confirmed that reported issues with the Compass feature in its Sky Guide stargazing app are indeed limited to the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus and do not extend to older hardware.