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.

This tweak forces Safari to load web pages in Reader or full screen mode

While browsing the web in Safari, two bars typically appear in the app: the navigation bar (top) and the toolbar (bottom). As you scroll through a page, on the other hand, the toolbar disappears and the navigation bar shrinks to conserve vertical space.

There are other modes you can use in Safari to complement the web browsing experience, such as full screen mode in landscape orientation and Reader mode in either orientation, but if you’ve ever wished Safari would just use either mode automatically for every page you visit, then you’re going to love using a new free jailbreak tweak called SafaReaderFullScroll by CydiaGeek.

Smart light bulbs you can control with your iPhone

If you're looking to dip your toes in the smart home pool, there's perhaps no easier or less-expensive way than with smart light bulbs. Simply install them into the appropriate light sockets, pair them with their mobile app, and you're ready to go.

As with most electronics, there are a lot of choices out there, and some are much better than others. So to help you separate the good from the bad, we decided to compile a list of some of the best smart bulbs you can can control with you iPhone.

Bosch wins orders for iPhone 8 motion sensors

German engineering and electronics company Robert Bosch GmbH has reportedly landed orders to manufacture motion sensors for Apple's upcoming iPhone 8. According to a report Friday by Bloomberg citing a person familiar with the deal, the German firm could build as much as half of the motion sensors in upcoming iPhones, with InvenSense supplying the rest.

InvenSense counts Apple as its client and files as the primary supplier of the smartphone motion-sensing components, with the iPhone maker accounting for an estimated 60 percent of InvenSense's revenue. In that regard, the Apple-Bosch deal could be a major blow to Invense, shares of which declined more than five percent in extended trading Thursday.

InvenSense is currently seeking to complete its $1.3 billion sale to TDK Corp. The deal is partly aimed at boosting the Japanese company’s business with Apple. Apple was already one of TDK’s biggest customers before the Japanese firm agreed to buy InvenSense in December.

“We aim to become a strong player in the sensor business with InvenSense as our perfect partner,” TDK CEO Shigenao Ishiguro said at the time.

Bosch did supply gyroscopes and accelerometers for Apple in the past and it currently supplies barometric pressure sensors for iPhones. Before iPhone 5s came out, STmicroelectronics used to supply gyroscope sensors for iPhones.

Since iPhone 5s, Bosch has been supplying gyroscopes and accelerometers for iPhone 6 models, with California-based InvenSense providing the gyroscopes and accelerometers in iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 7 on an exclusive basis.

The first Bosch microelectromechanical systems to make its way inside any iPhone was their Sensortech BMA220 unit in iPhone 5s, which initially suffered from inaccuracies that were later fixed via a firmware update.

The iPhone 6 series uses a three-axis accelerometer sensor built by Bosch and InvenSense’s six-axis MPU-6700 accelerometer. Relying on accelerometers from two different vendors helps increase power efficiency.

The Bosch accelerometer has a significantly faster cold start up time than the InvenSense—3ms vs. 30ms, respectively—meaning users see less of a delay.

For games and other apps that require sophisticated inertial sensing capabilities, iPhone 6 uses the InvenSense sensor. For simpler tasks, such as tracking footsteps and rotating the screen to match the device's orientation, the device uses the Bosch sensor.

Photo: Bosch's Sensortech BMA220 accelerometer in iPhone 5s, via Chipworks.

How to fix photos not uploading to or downloading from iCloud Photo Library

iCloud Photo Library is one of these great features that you think you don't really need until you actually start using it. One of the promises of the service is that it automatically keeps every photo or video you take in iCloud. These photos and videos can then be accessed from any of your devices, assuming the feature is enabled on these devices. iCloud Photo Library is great... at least when it works as it should.

Spotlife hides Today widgets, brings back the iOS 9-style Spotlight page

While some people like using the Today page on the Home Screen, Lock screen, and in Notification Center, others don’t. It really comes down to whether or not you actually use any of your Today widgets.

If you find yourself missing the simplicity of the iOS 9 Spotlight page because you don’t use any Today widgets, then a new free jailbreak tweak called Spotlife by iOS developer pxcex could be a beneficial addition to your device.

The best and worst places to buy an iPhone 7

“If you find yourself on holiday in Turkey, Brazil, Russia or Greece, try to avoid the Apple Store as iPhones are 25-50 percent more expensive than in the United States,” cautions strategist Jim Reid. And he's right.

According to Deutsche Bank’s annual “Mapping the World’s Prices”, iPhone prices can vary wildly from one country to another but one thing has remained true: the United States is still the cheapest place to buy an iPhone.

Here's what an iPhone 7 costs in Apple Stores in the following 33 countries:

Turkey—$1,200 Brazil—$1,115 Russia—$1,086 Greece—$1,028 Poland—$1,005 Italy—$995 Czech Republic—$994 Norway—$993 Denmark—$986 Sweden—$982 Portugal—$973 Finland—$973 Ireland—$973 New Zealand—$972 France—$962 Spain—$962 Netherlands—$962 Belgium—$962 Austria—$951 Germany—$951 Mexico—$941 Australia—$926 India—$902 China—$899 United Kingdom—$898 Switzerland—$886 The Philippines—$885 Singapore—$874 Canada—$855 Malaysia—$846 Hong Kong—$821 Japan—$815 United States—$815

To be sure, the aforementioned prices are for the 128-gigabyte 4.7-inch iPhone 7 model.

Deutsche Bank has obtained the prices from official Apple websites and online retailers. “In the absence of official prices via the websites, we have used prices from online retailers and news websites,” cautions Deutsche Bank.

It's important to note that US prices exclude the sales tax because it differs from one state to another. Online prices in the United Kingdom and other countries include the sales tax so that's something to keep in mind when comparing local iPhone prices to those in the US.

I'm based in Europe, one of the worst places to buy an iPhone.

Apple likes to say that the cost of doing business in Europe is higher than in the US, which is true, but that doesn't fully explain why people in Turkey are paying nearly one and a half times as much as users in the United States. Other factors are clearly at play here, including import taxes and other regulations specific to every country.

It's interesting that Turkey has now replaced Brazil as the most expensive expensive place in the countries surveyed to buy an iPhone 7.

As Business Insider explains, that's due to the combination of political instability in the country and the big ramp in US dollar appreciation against global currencies after Donald Trump’s win smashed Turkey's Lira currency  late last year.

As a result, Turkey has replaced Brazil as the most expensive place in the countries surveyed to buy an iPhone. By the way, Brazil now ranks second on the list with a 37 percent higher iPhone 7 price vs US.

With iPhone 7 said to cost north of $1,000, I'm afraid to think what

32GB iPhone 6 now available in Spain, Italy, Turkey, Germany, Austria, Denmark & elsewhere

Apple's limited-edition iPhone 6 with 32 gigabytes of storage, dubbed “iPhone 6 (2017),” is now available in Spain via the German retailer Media Markt for €469, which works out to about $500, with a two-year warranty and a 14-day return policy.

In comparison, Apple sells the 32GB iPhone 6s in Spain though its online store for €659, or about $720.

The handset is available in other markets, too, including Chile, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Italy, Turkey (aka the worst place to buy an iPhone) and possibly elsewhere.

iPhone 6 originally launched in 16, 64 and 128-gigabyte versions and this new storage tier appears to be Apple's option for budget shoppers in select markets.

The 32GB iPhone 6 was originally relaunched in January in China.

In early-March, Taiwan Mobile began promoting the 32GB iPhone 6 in gold casing as the cheapest iPhone to be offered on its network, for the equivalent of $435 unlocked.

In mid-March, it arrived in Belarus, a landlocked country in Eastern Europe bordered by Russia, via the i-Store retail chain, priced at the equivalent of $522 (999 Belarusian rubles).

Amazon is also offering the device via its online store in India.

The 32GB iPhone 6 (2017) is identical to the original iPhone 6 which debuted in 2014, complete with a 4.7-inch 1,334-by-750 pixel resolution screen, a 1.2-megapixel camera out the front, an eight-megapixel shooter out the back, Apple’s 64-bit A8 processor with 1GB of RAM and more.

Aside from the previously unavailable storage SKU, the phone comes with iOS 10 versus iOS 8 which came pre-installed on Apple's original iPhone 6 models.

Another claimed iPhone 8 drawing shows vertically stacked cameras and nearly full-screen face

Prolific leakster Steve Hemmerstoffer on Thursday posted a purported image of what appears to be yet another technical drawing that may or may not relate to Apple's upcoming iPhone 8. “This is a tipped leak, which means I can't confirm if legit or not but there you have it,” he wrote on Twitter.

The image “confirms” some of the iPhone 8 rumors, namely an enhanced dual-camera system out the back with vertical rather than horizontal alignment and a nearly full-screen front face with just a tiny physical slit at the top of an OLED display for the earpiece.

As Steve himself says, he got this leak from someone who is not a trusted source yet so do take this report with a pinch of salt. The drawing depicts Apple's quad-LED True Tone flash as sitting between the two cameras. It appears to be built directly into the camera bulge.

I'm not an imaging expert, but positioning the flash LEDs between the cameras may not be smart because the placement might affect the quality of photographs. On the other hand, this could actually be a new 3D camera sensor we've been hearing about, not the actual LED flash.

Benjamin Geskin tweeted out a new image of his updated CAD model of iPhone 8.

As you're seeing above, he has edited the 3D model to match the recently leaked schematics that hinted at the possibility of a charging mat or a coil of sorts on the back of the device.

Unbox Therapy 3D printed a mockup based on the technical drawings provided by Geskin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua61ltayFNg&feature=youtu.be

To reiterate, there's really no way of telling for sure if any of these leaks are accurate or not because real-world iPhone 8 components are yet to leak out from factories in Asia.

ROUNDUP: iPhone 8 concepts and mockups—Part I

A NYU grad student, who spent six weeks working undercover in a factory in Shanghai operated by iPhone manufacturer Pegatron, has reveled that only high-level managers are permitted to bring their phones inside the facilities where future iPhones are being assembled.

“I’m not sure whether photos can get leaked by that,” he said.

Which feature are you most excited for in iPhone 8: an improved dual-lens camera, rumored augmented-reality capabilities, wireless charging, stainless steel construction, an all-new industrial design, an OLED display or something else?

Let us know in the comments!

iPhone 8 concept roundup: Part I

Conceptual renderings and mockups of iPhone 8 have been increasingly feeding the rumor-mill in the absence of leaked components, to the point where they've become a major part of the excitement surrounding unreleased Apple products.

Taking rumors at face value, talented 3D artists and CAD addicts conceptualize what Apple's next handset might look like. More often than not their work is off the mark, but some of the concepts we've seen thus far are plausible and give us nice food for thought.

We asked our resident video editor Andrew O'Hara to create a short video summarizing some of the conceptual iPhone 8 renderings we've featured thus far here on iDownloadBlog.

Without further ado, watch our video roundup of iPhone 8 concepts and mockups.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKqCKdEGEPk

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The video features work by these artists and publications:

Steel Drake Techno Configurations Venlamin Geskin Imran Taylor Handy Abo Vergleich Benjamin Geskin ConceptsiPhone AlHasan Husni Vianney le Masne Computer Bild iFanr Martin Hajek

Part 2 of iPhone 8 concept roundup will explore additional iPhone 8 concepts.

On a recent conference call with Wall Street analysts and investors, Apple CEO Tim Cook has attributed what he believes to be “a pause” in iPhone purchases to the rumor-mill and leaks that have been proliferating earlier than usual this year.

“We’re seeing what we believe to be a pause in purchases on iPhone, which we believe are due to the earlier and much more frequent reports about future iPhones,” he said.

How do you like the conceptual artworks and 3D models highlighted in Andrew's video? Which is your favorite one, and why? Which one will we see, if any, come this fall?

Let us know by posting a comment below.

Apple clarifies only in-app commissions have dropped to 2.5 percent

Apple has clarified in an email communique by its iTunes Affiliate Support team that the recently reduced affiliate rates which went into effect May 1 only apply to in-app content, not to apps linked on websites and other outlets.

The company announced a policy change last month, saying commission rates for apps and in-app content would drop from seven to just 2.5 percent. The firm now clarifies that the change applies only to affiliate links used inside apps, not the ones on websites like iDB.

“Please note that only in-app commissions have changed,” reads the message from iTunes Affiliate Support. Here are the correct new app commission levels, according to Apple itself:

iOS apps commissions: 7 percent In-app iOS commissions: 2.5 percent Mac apps commissions: 7 percent In-app macOS commissions: 2.5 percent

Several website owners and bloggers linking to App Store and Mac App Store apps have reported that the seven percent commission for apps has in fact remained unchanged.

MacGamerHQ provides the following screenshots of Apple's email to iTunes Affiliate members.

Apple originally said about two weeks ago that beginning May 1, 2017 commissions for all apps and in-app content would get slashed from seven percent to just 2.5 percent globally. The poor wording of the message has been blamed for the misunderstanding.

“We will also continue to pay affiliate commissions on Apple Music memberships so there are many ways to earn commissions with the program,” Apple said two weeks ago.

Aside from slashing commissions for in-app content, items like music, movies, books and TV subscriptions remain subjected to the seven percent commission rate across all markets.

iTunes Affiliate Program lets website owners and developers claim a small percentage of the proceeds from linked apps and content.

The company's Affiliate Resources webpage offers a Getting Started guide on becoming an affiliate partner, an updated Program Overview section providing information on the commission raters, reporting, creating links and other useful resources.

Apple’s social video editing app Clips gains new feature in first update since launch

Apple yesterday pushed the first update to Clips for iPhone and iPad following the software's debut on App Store nearly a month ago. Bumped to version 1.0.1, Clips packs in improvements to the Live Title feature that lets you create animated captions and titles in 36 different languages using your voice.

Apple says you can now tap on Live Title text while playing or paused to edit it manually in case Siri misheard you. Additionally, when you share your edited video to a contact who has multiple messaging addresses in your address book, the app will now suggest the most frequently used address.

Lastly, the stability and reliability when capturing and sharing videos that contain certain posters have been improved in this edition of the app.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2dfeWpwfyk

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Clips is compatible with iPhone 5s and later, 9.7-inch iPad (2017), all iPad Air and iPad Pro models, iPad mini 2 and later and sixth-generation iPod touch.

The app requires iOS 10.3 or later and does not work on 32-bit devices.

For more on Clips, check out our walkthrough video included above. Clips was introduced as part of a flurry of Apple's Spring product refreshes in March.

Download Clips for iOS for free via App Store.