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.

Mass production of new iPhones slightly delayed, but launch won’t be postponed

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 30, 2016

With just a few weeks until Apple's assumed fall refresh of its smartphone lineup, revered analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities cautions that Apple appears to have slightly delayed mass production of 'iPhone 6s' and 'iPhone 6s Plus' devices.

The phones should enter volume production later this month, or about one to two weeks later than originally expected, Kuo was quoted as saying by Taiwanese media. Thankfully, the slight delay shouldn't affect Apple's launch plans so expect the new iPhones to drop in mid-September.

Microsoft Translator hits iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch with support for 50 languages

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

If you’re traveling frequently or have a need to translate anything in your daily life, Microsoft is here to help. The software giant's new release, an app called Microsoft Translator, helps you translate words, phrases and sentences directly on your wrist.

Powered by the same technology used by Office, Bing, Skype, Internet Explorer as well as partners such as Twitter, Yelp, eBay, WeChat and many more, the app lets you speak to your Apple Watch and get an instant translation in a total of fifty languages.

Microsoft Translator is also supported on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad and is available at no charge in the App Store.

3D photo editor Matter goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ August 6, 2015

Apple has just named Pixite's "Matter" its App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you’ll be able to download the impressive 3D photo editor for free on both iPhone and iPad—a solid savings of $1.99.

For those unfamiliar with Matter, it allows users to add realistic 3D objects to their photos, and customize them using a variety of effects. Sharing is quick and easy, and the app comes with a number of sample backgrounds for you to play with.

HBO NOW updated with support for Google’s Chromecast

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

HBO pushed out an update for its NOW mobile app this morning, brining the iOS client to version 1.2. According to the change log, the release includes performance improvements, and support for push notifications and Chromecast devices.

That latter item is by far the most significant, given that HBO's streaming service has been exclusive to Apple TV since it launched in April. Now, those with Google's $30 HDMI dongle can enjoy HBO NOW content on their big screen TVs.

Outlook’s Apple Watch app updated with replying from your wrist, all-new glance and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

Outlook's Apple Watch has been updated Thursday with the ability to reply to emails directly from your wrist using Siri dictation, emoji or canned responses, among other new features and enhancements.

The new features make the wearable app much more functional than before. Before today, Outlook for Apple Watch only allowed you to see your emails but not reply to or interact with them.

Other changes in Outlook 1.3.5 for iOS include a glance with upcoming appointments and incoming emails, rich notifications that can be interacted with and other tidbits.

Adidas buys fitness app maker Runtastic for $239 million

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Runtastic has been acquired by sportswear giant Adidas, the company's CEO and co-founder Florian Gschwandtner announced in a blog post on Wednesday. The deal is said to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of 220 million euros (or $239 million).

For those unfamiliar with Runtastic, it develops and maintains a number of fitness apps for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry. It has also dabbled in hardware with a GPS watch, a heart rate monitor, and the recently-released Orbit fitness tracker.

Apple’s TestFlight app receives support for native Watch apps and iOS 9’s App Thinning technologies

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 5, 2015

TestFlight, an online service for over-the-air installation and testing of mobile applications that was purchased by Apple last year, in its most recent version 1.2 update has introduced support for testing upcoming iOS 9 features, including native Apple Watch applications with watchOS 2.

In addition, the application has been optimized with support for App Thinning, a set of Apple-provided optimization technologies designed to reduce download sizes of iOS 9 and Apple Watch apps by tailoring app delivery to the capabilities of the user’s particular device.

Facebook launches live video streaming for celebrities

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 31, 2018

Facebook on Wednesday announced a new video streaming feature for its Facebook Mentions app called Live. The feature allows Mentions users, which is currently limited to "verified public figures using Pages," to quickly and easily share live video.

With Live, Facebook's Vadim Lavrusik explains, celebrities can take fans behind the scenes, host Q&As, share announcements and more. And the social network says that The Rock, singer Luke Bryan and many others have already signed on to participate.

WhatsApp for iPhone receives a dozen new features in latest update

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Not to be outdone by rival Viber which rolled out animated stickers, location sharing, a brand new keypad and other enhancements in yesterday's refresh, Facebook-owned WhatsApp today pushed a substantial update to its App Store application.

WhatsApp for iPhone now features richer notifications settings with per-chat rules and mute options, a new swipe gesture to mark chats as read or unread, the ability to directly share contacts from the Contacts app and locations from Apple Maps, backups for your videos and much more.

This concept video gives us a good idea why Force Touch iPhones will be a big deal

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 5, 2015

Force Touch parts for Apple's upcoming 'iPhone 6s' and 'iPhone 6s Plus' phones have recently begun shipping in volume.

We even recently got our glimpse into the implementation of a force sensing layer on a leaked iPhone 6s screen. That being said, some people continue to be puzzled as to what benefits, if any, Force Touch would bring to their iPhone experience.

Maximilian Kiener set out to create a nice mockup video which gives us a good idea how pressing an iPhone's screen firmly could be a valuable user interface shortcut.

BitTorrent Sync update brings a major productivity element to peer-to-peer file syncing

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

BitTorrent Sync made its App Store debut back in August 2013, its major appeal being the underlying distributed technology that facilitates secure file syncing between devices but without a roundtrip to the cloud, thus appealing to privacy-minded customers.

The mobile component to BitTorrent’s peer-to-peer file syncing product, BitTorrent Sync for iOS is receiving a major update later today with an important productivity element added to the app: you can now save various types of files created in other apps right into a Sync folder to share with connected devices via a new Share sheet action.

Apple’s smudge-detection patent prevents an iPhone screen from accidentally turning off

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 4, 2015

When you bring up an iPhone to your ear to take or receive a phone call, the handset taps the built-in proximity sensor near the ear piece to detect that you're holding your phone up and then turns off the display to prevent spray input from your face.

But sometimes a smudge from your finger can block the path of light back to the phone's sensors, prompting the device to shut down the display because it thinks you're holding the device near your head.

A new invention Apple was granted a patent for was published Tuesday by the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), describing a smudge-detection method designed to prevent an iPhone screen from accidentally turning off due to smudges.