iPod Touch

Apple stops signing iOS 10.1.1

Apple has stopped signing iOS 10.1 and 10.1.1 on Tuesday in a move that's sure to choke the jailbreak community a little bit further. It's typical of Apple to follow this kind of behavior after a new firmware release, so it's not surprising this would happen as iOS 10.2 was released just over a week ago.

With the firmware no longer being signed, downgrades to iOS 10.1.1 are currently no longer possible, so if you've upgraded to iOS 10.2 recently or need to do a fresh restore of iOS 10.1.1 in iTunes, then you're out of luck.

Viber launches instant video messages, chat extensions, redesigned emoji & more

About a month and a half ago, Viber rolled out Public Accounts as a new way to reach brands. Today, the messaging service pushed another update to its mobile app on the App Store. With Viber 6.5.5 for iPhone, you can now send instant video messages to contacts, share interesting online content with chat extensions without leaving the app, enjoy completely redrawn emoticons and add up to 250 participants to a group chat.

Instagram enhances Stories with stickers, Save Story option, hands-free shooting & more

Instagram is on a roll: hot on the heels of enabling a bookmarking feature, Boomerang montages, commenting improvements and disappearing media attachments in Direct, the popular photo-sharing service today announced additional features for your Stories. These include regular and holiday-themed stickers, text enhancements, hands-free video mode, the ability to save a Story video to iOS's Camera roll and more.

Apple launches beta 2 of iOS 10.2.1 and macOS Sierra 10.12.3

Apple on Tuesday seeded to members of the Apple Developer Program a second beta of iOS 10.2 and a second beta of what would become the third major update to macOS Sierra. iOS 10.2.1 beta 2 (build 14D15) and macOS Sierra 10.12.3 beta 2 (build 16D17a) are now available to install over-the-air via Settings → General → Software Update on iOS devices and under the Mac App Store's Updates tab on the Mac.

Duet Display update brings Touch Bar to your iPad

Duet Display, an app from ex-Apple engineers that turns your iPad into an extra display for your Mac or Windows PC, was updated today on the App Store with an interesting new feature that adds a Touch Bar to your tablet. Simply use Duet Display's free of charge iOS app to connect to Duet Display running on a Mac with Sierra 10.12.2 or later and enable the new feature in Duet's menu bar settings.

Download Super Mario Run in the App Store right now

As promised, Super Mario Run, Nintendo's first real smartphone game, launched on the App Store today, December 15. The side-scrolling, auto-runner platformer is available free of charge with a non-compulsory $9.99 upgrade to unlock the game's three modes completely.

If you don't see the GET button quite yet, force refresh the App Store app, then simply tap on the Notify button in the App Store description of the game. Enter your password or use Touch ID when prompted, and the game will begin downloading. If that doesn't work, iDB editor Jim Gresham suggests force-quitting the App Store app, rebooting the device, launching the App Store app, and then download the game.

The anticipated title is optimized for one-handed play: as Mario automatically runs from left to right, you just tap the screen to make him jump. The longer you touch the screen, the higher he jumps. As with other Mario games, you'll be avoiding various obstacles and collecting coins along the way whilst attempting to get our hero safely through the level in the fastest time possible.

Instagram passes 600 million users

Aping Snapchat seems to have paid off in a major way for photo-sharing service Instagram as it announced passing a whopping 600 million users earlier today. The last hundred million Instagrammers joined the service in the past six months, said the Facebook-owned company.

Instagram infamously ripped off Snapchat Stories with its own Stories feature, which debuted in early-August.

Video: how Mario games have evolved over the years

With Super Mario Run now live on the App Store following its announcement at the iPhone 7 event back in September, both Apple and Nintendo are now promoting the game like crazy. Early reviews indicate that Super Mario Run has all the hallmarks of the Mario franchise even though the game is optimized for one-handed gameplay so Mario constantly moves forward through the courses. Celebrating Mario's App Store debut, Nintendo has put together a little video showing how the game has evolved over the years.

iOS 10.2.1 and macOS Sierra 10.12.3 now available to public beta testers

After seeding iOS 10.2.1 beta 1 and macOS Sierra 10.12.3 beta 1 to members of the Apple Developer Program yesterday, Apple today released versions of these software updates for public beta-testing. If you sign up at the Apple Beta Software Program website to become a beta tester and install an appropriate configuration profile on your device, you too will be able to install the first beta of macOS Sierra 10.12.3 on your Mac and take iOS 10.2.1 for a spin on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

How to save battery when playing Super Mario Run

Nintendo's highly-anticipated Super Mario Run launched on the App Store Thursday afternoon as a free download with a non-compulsory $9.99 In-App Purchase to unlock all of the gameplay modes and levels. If you're as excited for this game as I am (amazing what nostalgia can do, eh?), you'll be collecting those coins like there's no tomorrow.

In order to prevent unwanted battery drains, we have some tips for you about minimizing energy consumption while playing Super Mario Run on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

Deliveries gains full iOS 10/watchOS 3 support & many new features in latest update

Deliveries, my favorite package tracker for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, received a major update on the App Store this morning. Bumped to version 8.0, Deliveries is now fully compatible with iOS 10 and watchOS 3 and supports many new iOS 10 features, from rich notifications and haptic feedback to a reworked widget, deeper 3D Touch support, faster background updating for the Deliveries widget and its Apple Watch app, improved suggestions when you add a delivery, an iMessage sticker pack and more.

Dropbox for iOS gains bulk renaming of photos, offline folders & recent save locations

Popular cloud-storage service Dropbox has refreshed its iPhone and iPad application on the App Store with three new features: bulk-renaming of photos, offline folders and recent save locations. In addition, the company announced a major infrastructure push enabling faster sync speeds thanks to several new proxy servers established across the globe, including accelerators in California, Texas, Virginia, New York, Washington, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.