Microsoft Cortana, the software giant's Siri-like personal digital assistant available on Windows Phone and Windows 10 mobile and desktop platforms, will expand later this year to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices, as well as Android smartphones and tablets.
The company officially confirmed the news in a blog post this morning, basically corroborating an earlier March report by Reuters which claimed Cortana would hit non-Microsoft mobile platforms this fall.
It's been said before that the next major version of Apple's mobile operating system will be a Snow Leopard style upgrade in that it won't focus as much on new features as it would on optimizing code base for stability, performance and quality.
In a new report, 9to5Mac details what lies ahead for both iOS 9 and OS X 10.11, not just in terms of speed and stability, but also regarding both operating systems' stronger security and a few new end-user facing features.
Apple is developing not one, but two new twelve-inch iPad models, codenamed “J98” and “J99”. Also, the firm's doubled down on advancing productivity aspects of iOS with a much-needed dual-app multitasking mode and support for multiple users in iOS 9, a report Thursday by 9to5Mac alleged.
The same publication originally claimed side-by-side multitasking would debut in iOS 8 with the iPad Air back in 2014 so take today's story with a grain of salt.
“Sources now say that Apple plans to show off the side-by-side feature for iOS 9 using currently available iPad models,” the article states.
Split-screen multitasking should be formally announced at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference next month, with multi-user support reportedly slated to arrive later this year alongside new iPads.
One important piece of the Apple Maps puzzle is about to fall in place at next month's WWDC as Apple readies to announce the Transit feature within Apple Maps in iOS 9, 9to5Mac reported this morning.
The same publication ran a scoop last year reporting that the Transit feature would launch as part of the iOS 8 software update, but the rumor didn't pan out.
“Having originally planned to add a new transit directions feature to Maps last year, only to pull the feature before WWDC 2014, Apple now hopes to launch its Transit service with iOS 9,” the report, based on “sources,” reads.
Enhancements to Apple's HomeKit are expected to be among a flurry of software and platform advances in tow for the Worldwide Developers Conference next month. According to sources, the Cupertino company is thought to be announcing a new app in iOS 9 called Home for managing and controlling HomeKit-certified accessories for the connected home, 9to5Mac learned Wednesday.
The San Francisco font used throughout the Apple Watch's operating system is expected to replace Helvetica Neue as the new default font in iOS 9 code-named “Monarch” and OS X 10.11 code-named “Gala,” according to sources with knowledge of the preparations who spoke to 9to5Mac.
In addition to achieving a consistent look across Mac, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Apple Watch devices, it should help alleviate much of the criticism leveled against Apple over its use of thin weights of Helvetica Neue in iOS 7, iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite.
SwiftKey, the popular gesture keyboard for iPhones, iPads ands iPods with iOS 8 or later, today launched a brand new theme store featuring a dozen themes for customizing the look and feel of its keyboard.
After debuting on Android in 2014, the built-in theme store is now available to iOS users with twelve newly designed themes, priced from 99 cents to $1.99.
Sunrise, a powerful cross-platform calendar application, on Thursday launched Meet, a companion iOS 8 keyboard specifically designed to make scheduling one-to-one meetings ridiculously easy.
Available as a free update to the Sunrise app in the App Store, Meet lets you schedule one-to-ones with another party like a pro, without having to leave the context of the app you're currently in or switch to Sunrise for that matter.
After passing the eighty percent mark two weeks ago on the heels of Apple Watch launch, and less than a month before WWDC 2015, Apple's mobile operating system has been found to now power 82 percent of iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices in the wild.
The new data comes via the official App Store Distribution dashboard, which is publicly available on Apple's portal for developers. iOS 7 has kept its seventeen percent share from two weeks ago while older versions of the software continue to comprise about two percent of legacy hardware out there.
When it's released ahead, during or after next month's WWDC, iOS 8.4 should at last make it possible to enjoy digital textbooks on your iPhone. Although Apple makes no mention of this feature in the official release notes accompanying today's release of iOS 8.4 beta 3, Teddy Svoronos noted it on Twitter.
If true, this is a pretty big deal. In iOS 8.4 beta 3, any publication created with Apple's free iBooks Author app, not just digital textbooks, is reportedly viewable on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus along with their video content, Study Cards, the glossary, highlights and linked online content.
According to Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, Twitter content such as tweets and accounts are coming to Apple's Spotlight search engine on Macs and iOS devices, allowing for an even tighter integration between the iPhone maker and the popular micro-blogging service, MacWorld reported Wednesday. Apple added Twitter to the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad as the inaugural third-party service integration in iOS 5 three years ago.
After experiencing a slowdown following a record-smashing Christmas quarter, the rate of iOS 8 adoption is notably picking up speed again.
According to the official App Store Distribution dashboard, publicly available on Apple’s portal for developers, about 81 percent of iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices in the wild are now running iOS 8.0 and later. Jut two weeks ago, the pace of iOS 8 adoption stood at 79 percent of active devices.
A notable uptick could be explained by the Apple Watch, which requires the iPhone 5 and later running iOS 8.2 and later. For those wondering, Apple measures active devices by monitoring iPhones, iPads and iPods that access the App Store.