iPhone

Stay up-to-date on the latest iPhone news and learn new tips and tricks with our comprehensive tutorials. From software updates to new features, we’ve got you covered.

Apple honors World AIDS Day with (RED) apps, products, accessories and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Apple logos on the company's retail stores around the world have turned bright red today, and that means one thing: it's honoring the World AIDS Day. In the App Store, Apple and (RED) joined forces with developer Supercell, with 100 percent of proceeds from customers who buy (RED) packs for Supercell's games going to the Global Fund to fight AIDS.

And via its homepage at Apple.com, the company is inviting customers to help the initiative by purchasing (RED)-branded products like Macs, iPhones, iPads, iPods, Watches and accessories such as Beats headphones, the Smart Cover for the iPad Air and the Smart Case for the iPad Air 2.

Hangouts for iOS now supports Apple Watch, gains quick-replying from notifications and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 1, 2015

Google Hangouts, the search giant's instant messaging and VoIP mobile client, was updated in the App Store last evening with several new features and refinements.

For starters, Apple Watch owners can now respond to instant messages received from other Hangout users directly on their wrist and also from the notification banner on their iPhone, iPod touch or iPad (provided they use iOS 9.1).

Sketchy report calls for iPhone 7 with USB-C, dual cameras, Touch ID-integrated screen & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 26, 2016

A sketchy rumor originating from sources in China has it that Apple is currently experimenting with at least five different iPhone 7 configurations, each with its own unique hardware characteristics.

Some of the features Apple is reportedly testing out for the next iPhone include a USB Type-C connector compatible with wireless headsets, wireless charging, multi-touch-capable Force Touch technology, dual cameras and a next-generation Touch ID technology embedded within the display.

Review: SteelSeries Nimbus Wireless Controller

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

If you want to do serious gaming on the Apple TV, then using a wireless Bluetooth controller isn’t an option, it’s a necessity. Yes, Apple controversially made it a requirement for all games on its platform to support the Siri Remote, but that’s not going to cut it for any game with an even mildly complex control scheme.

Games like Alto’s Adventure and Mr. Jump play perfectly fine, and are even suited for the Siri Remote, but in most cases, you’re definitely going to want a controller as an option.

Unfortunately, there is no Apple-branded controller to speak of, but Apple did co-design a controller with the help of SteelSeries. The result of that partnership is the SteelSeries Nimbus, and Apple is promoting this controller as the de facto standard alternative input device for the Apple TV.

All of that considered, while there are other 3rd-party Bluetooth controllers that work with the Apple TV, the most obvious choice is the SteelSeries Nimbus.

I purchased a Nimbus on day one, and have been playing with it for weeks. Is the $49.99 controller worth your time and hard-earned money? Is it really the best way to control games on the Apple TV?

Google Docs and Play Books gain new features

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Several of Google's applications in the App Store—including Docs, Slides, Sheets, Play Books and YouTube—have gained new features or bug fixes in a barrage of updates this morning. The company's productivity and Office replacement app, Docs, will now render your comments and suggestions in Print layout, show line spacing and strikethrough in Office's Compatibility mode and let you control paragraph directionality for right-to-left languages.

Microsoft rolling out Cortana for iOS to beta testers

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 30, 2015

Following its announcement earlier in the month that Cortana for iOS would soon launch for a limited number of beta testers, Microsoft has now made good on that promise and started rolling out the beta software, TechCrunch reported this past weekend.

Cortana for iOS looks just like the Windows 10 Mobile and Android equivalents, and works in a very similar way, with a few exceptions stemming from Apple-imposed restrictions on third-party iOS app development.

Puzzle platformer To-Fu Fury is Apple’s new Free App of the Week

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 28, 2015

To-Fu Fury from Amazon Game Studios, regularly $1.99, is available at no charge until next Thursday as Apple's new Free App of the Week via the App Store's weekly promotion.

Released in July 2015, this puzzle platformer challenges you to save the Fortune Kitty playing as To-Fu, a stretchy, sticky, flingy and combative cube of bean-curd. Expect a lot of puzzle solving and physics-based action in this game.

Rumor: iPhone 7 to lose 3.5mm headphone port in favor of Lightning port

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 27, 2015

Apple's next iPhone will be so thin that the company has decided to ditch the standard 3.5mm headphone port for the first time since the iPhone's 2007 inception, a reasonably accurate Japaese blog, Macotakara, reported Friday.

The move should help Apple's engineers shave off another millimeter of thickness or so, reports the publication, adding that users will instead connect wireless headphones over Bluetooth or compatible wired headphones over the Lightning port.

Lara Croft GO gets its first expansion

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 26, 2015

Just in time for Thanksgiving, Square Enix's Lara Croft GO for iOS has received its first expansion pack following the game's August 2015 debut in the App Store. Titled “The Shard of Life” and available at no charge to those who have purchased the game, the update packs in more than two-dozen additional levels and a bunch of new monsters to defeat, costumes to unlock and gemstones and artifacts to discover.

Apple patents technology that would allow iPhones to detect touches while wearing gloves

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 26, 2015

Did you know that your iPhone's multi-touch display cannot detect touches while you're wearing gloves? That's because the iPhone uses capacitive touchscreen technology that takes human body capacitance as input and gloves block your fingers from touching the screen directly.

A new patent application Apple filed for with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) in the summer of 2014 was published this morning.

Titled “Glove Touch Detection”, it seeks to fix this problem via dynamically adjusted threshold values, which would permit the touchscreen to register touch events while the user is wearing regular gloves.

How to save Vine videos

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 22, 2017

Who knew 6-second-long looping video clips would turn out to be so much fun? If you're into short-form entertainment, there's probably no better place to get your daily fix of user-posted clips, some of which are quite interesting—I've seen whole how-tos compressed into six seconds—than Vine.

The problem is, both Vine the website and mobile app prohibit you from saving your favorite clips to your computer or mobile device. Thankfully, there are apps for that, too.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to save Vine videos to your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or Mac using a nifty little utility and a free of charge web app.

Pixelmator for Mac goes half price, iOS version discounted to $1.99

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 25, 2015

Pixelmator for OS X, the Mac edition of the powerful image editing application which debuted on iOS in October 2014, has gone half price in the Mac App Store today. In addition, the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad edition of the software has been discounted to just $1.99 in the App Store.

Selling regularly for $29.99, Pixelmator for Mac can now be downloaded for just $14.99, a steal given the app's rich set of powerful image editing features, tools, brushes and more.