Hello, and welcome to the newly revamped 9to5Mac website. It’s the same 9to5Mac you love, but with an all-new design. With our partners at 10up, we’ve given the site a new design that we believe is cleaner, easier to navigate, and faster.
We’re excited to hear what you think…
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Our friends at Relay FM have once again launched their annual fundraiser in support of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Over the years, Relay FM has raised an impressive $1.5 million in support of St. Jude, a Tennesee-based research hospital that treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
This year, 9to5Mac is proud to join in on the Relay FM fundraising efforts, giving you a way to support the incredible mission of St. Jude and earn some 9to5Mac swag at the same time.
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Following Apple’s earnings report yesterday, where it recorded its first quarterly revenue decline since 2003, CNBC spoke with 9to5Mac’s Benjamin Mayo about Apple’s potential future products and revenue streams. Benjamin discusses Apple’s expanding Services sector including Apple Music, the realities of Apple Watch growth possibilities, and more.
Apple’s 40th birthday week came alongside some troubles for iOS 9.3, as our top stories this week surrounded a number of bugs, fixes and responses from Apple related to iOS 9.3 problems and the fix with the release of iOS 9.3.1.
But those issues were balanced out by our excitement over our first impressions with the new iPhone SE and 9.7-inch iPad Pro, as well as the latest leaks for iPhone 7 and other upcoming next-generation iPhones.
[Update: Although details around the problem with iOS 9.3 links causing hangs and crashes remain sparse, it appears to be related to the third-party apps a user installed on the system. We have been able to take an unaffected iPhone 6 and iPad Pro, install the Booking.com app, and then observe Safari consistently hanging when long pressing a link. We do not recommend repeating this however to see the bug for yourself, as the problem appears to stay around. Our test devices continue to exhibit the crashing bug after uninstalling the app and rebooting. We are not sure what exactly causes the issue and thus do not know what class of apps cause the problem to arise. It is likely not limited to just one app, but we are yet to find others. Apple is yet to comment officially on the issue.]
Readers are reporting a strange bug with iOS 9.3 (and older versions apparently, exact characteristics of affected devices is unclear), primarily affecting the latest Apple devices, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. The issue has also been reported on older phones and some iPad models as well. The cause is unknown, but many users are finding themselves unable to open links in Safari, Messages, Mail, Notes and other apps. Instead of visiting the target website, the app crashes, freezes or hangs. Hundreds of reports have already been posted about the iOS 9.3 problem on the Apple Support forums.
Other users are reporting that tapping on links simply does nothing, whereas a tap-and-hold causes a crash. A permanent fix for the issue is not known and Apple has yet to comment on what may be going on. Some people have reported that disabling JavaScript partially solves the issue for opening links in Safari, but remains for other apps.
A poster on Chinese social media site Weibo has supposedly photographed part of the spec sheet for Apple’s soon-to-be-unveiled 4 inch iPhone. The image appeared on the social media site earlier in the week and is likely legitimate, given the official announcement is just a matter of days away.
The image confirms the rumored ‘iPhone SE’ nomenclature and existence of a 16 GB size option for the new phone. This confirms numerous reports from 9to5Mac in the past.
Welcome to the first ever live edition of Happy Hour straight from Las Vegas at CES 2016! In this episode we’re discussing some of the latest announcements, new accessories for Apple products, and more! The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed.
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Recently, we’ve seen a good amount of iPhone 7 rumors with everything from USB-C support to Apple potentially removing the 3.5mm headphone jack. It all sounds a bit crazy, but today we’ll get to the bottom of the rumors and discuss what’s actually possible and what makes sense. Big thanks to Jamf Now (formerly Bushel) for sponsoring this week’s episode. To find out what awesome cloud-based mobile device management can do for you, check out https://www.jamf.com/happyhour.
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The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed.
Earlier in the year, we released a major redesign for all of the 9to5 sites and we continue to roll out improvements to this design. However, we’ve also been working on something else for 9to5Mac … today we are releasing the 9to5Mac app for iPhone and iPad. As a complement to the website, you can now read our latest stories directly from your Home screen.
Download the app from the App Store for free right now. The app runs on iPhone and iPad with custom layouts for the respective screen sizes. It’s the essence of our website, the news stories, reflowed into a format that’s optimized for iOS.
We love the website, but the app allows us to offer you many additional features to further the 9to5Mac experience for our readers. You can subscribe to breaking news notifications, jump into Dark Mode for late night reading and add our latest headlines to the Today view with the included widget. More details after the break …
The day is here: Apple is holding one of its biggest events in company history. Apple is set to unveil a pair of new iPhones (the 6s and 6s Plus) two new iPads (the iPad mini 4 and iPad Pro) a revamped Apple TV set-top-box, Apple WatchOS 2, new bands, and Apple Watch Sport casing colors. We’ll be following the entire event from start to finish, and we’ll also be using this post to issue live updates of the latest information from before the event. We’ll be publishing separate articles detailing all of Apple’s major announcements, but this post will serve as a hub with direct links to all of them. Follow along with us, below:
Apple is making its App Store a bit more social. The company today opened up a new Twitter account dedicated to the App Store’s gaming section. The account, @AppStoreGames, is yet to be officially verified by Twitter, but it was retweeted this morning by the official and verified @AppStore account, which launched a few years ago.
Apple is continuing to tweak its Apple Watch showroom experience within Apple Stores. Upon the initial rollout of the Apple Watch in April, Apple Stores installed large glass tables as a showcase for the different Apple Watch variations. Customers could test drive the Apple Watch via a demo unit connected to an iPad mini or try it on at a series of try-on stations. Following a pilot program across select Apple Stores across the world, Apple has now begun a widespread rollout of a new Apple Watch testing program called Mobile Try-On, according to Apple Retail employees.
Apple is planning to retire its long existing One to One training program within Apple Stores on September 28th, according to a memo sent this week to Apple retail employees. One to One launched in 2007 as a $99 per year subscription program where a Mac user could make appointments with a “Creative” at an Apple Store to learn more about using their Mac and creating content with either consumer or professional applications. Apple cites “fewer customers” signing up for One to One as the reason behind the service’s upcoming closure:
Another week in the world of Apple and it looks like Tim Cook may have violated some important SEC regulations. Along with that, there has been major demand for Apple Watch, but not where you’d expect it. Oh, and remember Bendgate? Looks like it won’t affect the iPhone 6S. The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed.
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You might notice that 9to5Mac has changed. Indeed so has the whole network. Long before the page size/speed and advertising controversies, we knew that we needed to rethink how we presented ourselves.
While we were one of the lightest and fastest sites in our field, our feature creep and advertisers were adding complexity and page load times, which is especially crucial on mobile – an ever expanding percentage of our growing audience.
We decided to start over…
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This week we’re talking iOS 9 beta 3. What’s new? Why should you care? We’ll go over all of the new and upcoming features in iOS 9 as well as a new public beta program for iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan. Along with that, we discuss Apple’s new watchOS 2 downgrade protocol and some great news for iOS device owners in the UK. The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed.
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In line with shipments beginning yesterday for multiple Apple Watch models, the Space Black version of the stainless steel Apple Watch has begun arriving at the doorsteps for those who placed orders early into the April pre-order process. We’ve received our 42mm Space Black Apple Watch and have put together a hands-on gallery of photos for those interested in the only all-black Apple Watch model. As our photos indicate, this Apple Watch still includes white packaging and a silver MagSafe charging puck, so there are no special black accessories for this version. We also highlight how the Space Black Apple Watch looks with the black Leather Loop and Sport Band in this gallery, below.
Apple today released the third beta of iOS 8.4 to developers, labeled build 12H4098c. The update is available via Software Update on iOS and it should be hitting the developer center soon. The second Public Beta is available as well for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Xcode 6.4 beta 3 is also available. As with the first pair of betas, iOS 8.4 brings a revamped Music application with a new design, Up Next functionality, a Mini Player, and a new version of iTunes Radio. As we’ve reported several times, iOS 8.4’s Music app will also be home to Apple’s upcoming Beats-based streaming music service. Sources say that the new service will be announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8th alongside iOS 9 and OS X 10.11, and it will launch publicly in several countries alongside the new iTunes Radio in late June.
Below, we list the changes in this new beta:
Hundreds of iOS developers have been working with Apple in secret Cupertino-based sessions on apps for the Apple Watch, and now we’ve learned that this list includes game developers. According to two sources, multiple “mass market, casual” game developers have been in the running to show off light games on stage during Monday’s “Spring Forward” event in San Francisco. While Apple could end up not showcasing games next week, we’re still told that they are championing the idea of light weight gaming on the Apple Watch. As one source said, “the iOS gaming ecosystem will be well represented on the Apple Watch despite [the simplicity] of the Software Development Kit (SDK)…
In addition to Wireless CarPlay, more diverse Emojis, and improved logging in for Google services, iOS 8.3 adds a major new feature: several new languages for Siri. Over three years following the initial Siri beta in 2011, iOS 8.3 adds support for the following languages in Siri: Russian, Danish, Dutch, Portuguese, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, and English for India…
Apple is preparing to take some pages out of the traditional jewelry store playbook. For the upcoming 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition, Apple is planning several new features for its retail stores to support the device. As we reported several months ago, Apple is planning on allowing customers to actually try on the watches and test out different band styles inside of stores. With the high-expected price tag of the gold watch models, Apple will also step up its security features for stores…
Apple has made yet another key hire from the fashion industry: Chester Chipperfield, the Vice President of Digital and Interactive Design at Burberry. Chipperfield was “responsible for User Experience and Digital Design for all channels” and was “highly involved in digital retail initiatives” at Burberry, according to his LinkedIn profile. He confirmed the move to Apple on his profile as well as on Twitter…
The latest iOS 8.2 beta for the iPhone adds support for Apple’s next major product launch: the Apple Watch. Inside of the Bluetooth Settings menu is a new panel specifically for pairing an iPhone with the Apple Watch. Additionally, the instructions inside of the Bluetooth menu specifically indicate that Apple will release a dedicated “Apple Watch app” for setting up and controlling the wearable device. An early preview of the Watch explained the standalone app as follows:
As they’ve done in years’ past, some Apple retail stores this holiday season will repurpose the Genius Bar for additional product space, pick-ups, or other uses as Apple attempts to make the shopping experience for customers as smooth as possible, 9to5Mac has learned.
The repurposing for the holidays will only arrive in some stores depending on needs and traffic, with some stores scheduled to use the Genius Bar area to complete express sales and hold products scheduled for pick-up. Other changes, however, will go beyond the holidays as the stores under new retail chief Angela Ahrendts evolve to better deal with increased foot traffic.
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