Items tagged with iOS 8
Do you remember that 80s flick Cocoon, where senior citizens received new leases on life (along with youthful exuberance) by taking a dip in a pool that was occupied by alien lifeforms? Well, Apple looks to have its own fountain of youth for older iOS devices in the form of iOS 9. As we reported earlier this year, Apple is looking to hold the line when it comes to adding a wealth of new features to the next version of iOS. Instead, Apple is working overtime to squash existing bugs and make iOS 9 its most stable release ever at launch. To use a past example from Cupertino, the move from iOS 8 to iOS 9 should be similar to the upgrade from OS X Leopard to Snow Leopard. Today, serial Apple leaker...
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It looks as though thieves are finding fewer reasons to target smartphones as a way to make a quick buck. Back in 2013, Apple implemented the Find My iPhone Activation Lock feature in iOS 7, which makes it extremely difficult for a stolen iPhone to be of any use without its original owner. Without a user’s Apple ID and password, a thief would be unable to turn off Find My iPhone, erase the device, or reactivate it. So someone could nab your iPhone if they wanted to, but it would completely useless in the wrong hands. With iOS 7, Activation Lock was turned when Find My iPhone was enabled. With iOS 8, Activation Lock was enabled by default. iOS 8 currently has a 72 percent adoption rate according...
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Apple labels iOS 8 as “The biggest iOS release ever”, but if a new report is accurate, the company may be moving more towards “refinement” with iOS 8. Mirroring the transition from OS X 10.5 Leopard to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, iOS 9 will put a large emphasis on “fixing bugs, maintaining stability, and boosting performance” according to 9to5Mac. Apple’s mobile-centric operating system already received a rather massive visual overhaul with iOS 7, and iOS 8 further refined the UI and added new functionality like Apple Pay, QuickType, iCloud Drive, Family Sharing, Health, and Continuity. While we’re certain that some new features will be added with iOS 9, much of the main focus will be put into ensuring...
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A class action lawsuit filed this week in the Bay Area's federal court is taking Apple to task over claims that iOS 8 can chew up as much as 23.1 percent of the advertised storage space on the company's mobile products. In reality, there's no way to avoid using up a certain amount of space on electronic devices that require a meaty operating system, though in this instance, the lawsuit alleges that Apple doesn't inform potential buyers how much of their device's advertised capacity goes to the OS. To make matters worse, the lawsuit says Apple encourages users to purchase more storage space through its iCloud service. The suit seeks unspecified damages along with...
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Swype, the top paid third-party keyboard for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users running iOS 8, just learned a whole bunch of new languages -- 16 to be exact, bringing the total number to 21. Also new to Swype version 1.1 in iTunes is intuitive Emoji input. When you compose a message, Swype will analyze your choice of words and suggest appropriate Emojis, whether you're feeling happy, confused, tenacious, or satisfied. "The response to Swype for iOS 8 has been amazing, and we’re thrilled to have quickly updated the app with 16 additional languages – the most currently available for any third-party keyboard for iOS 8," said Aaron Sheedy, vice president of mobile solutions, Mobile Division,...
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Most are in agreement that Apple's iPad Air 2 is one of the finest tablets ever produced, if not the best out there, period. Certainly, it's not difficult to make that case -- after all, the latest 9.7-inch iPad is thinner than its predecessor at just 6.1mm thick, wicked fast with its custom A8X System-on-Chip (SoC), and incredibly light at just under a pound. Toss in a gorgeous display and a set of ancillary features that have been upgraded for this latest release, and even the most stringent critics can't help but pile on the praise. That's the easy part. What's a bit more difficult to address is whether or not you should upgrade to the iPad Air 2. Obviously the answer depends in part on which...
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Most are in agreement that Apple's iPad Air 2 is one of the finest tablets ever produced, if not the best out there, period. Certainly, it's not difficult to make that case -- after all, the latest 9.7-inch iPad is thinner than its predecessor at just 6.1mm thick, wicked fast with its custom A8X System-on-Chip (SoC), and incredibly light at just under a pound. Toss in a gorgeous display and a set of ancillary features that have been upgraded for this latest release, and even the most stringent critics can't help but pile on the praise. That's the easy part. What's a bit more difficult to address is whether or not you should upgrade to the iPad Air 2. Obviously the answer depends in part...
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Attention iOS developers, Apple just dropped the ban hammer on any 32-bit coding aspirations you may have had for new apps you plan to release on Apple's ecosystem. Effective February 1, 2015, all new iOS apps uploaded to the App Store must include 64-bit support and be built with the iOS 8 SDK, which is included in Xcode 6 or later. "To enable 64-bit in your project, we recommend using the default Xcode build setting of 'Standard architectures' to build a single binary with both 32-bit and 64-bit code," Apple says. This shouldn't come as a bombshell to iOS developers. After all, just about every current iOS device is rocking a custom 64-bit A7 or A8 series System-on-Chip (SoC). That's been true...
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When introducing the iPhone 6 Plus, Apple described it as the “biggest advancement in iPhone history.” Naturally, the use of “biggest” was quite intentional, a pun almost. Prior to 2014, Apple’s entire iPhone line had only ever had two screen sizes: 3.5-inch and 4-inch. Those sizes were perfectly acceptable in their day, but of late, the market has asked for more. More screen real estate, more pixels, more horsepower and more battery life. While Samsung, LG, HTC, Nokia, Sony, and just about every other smartphone maker on the planet introduced larger and larger smartphones, Apple held steady. Samsung pushed the very limits of what we’d label a “phone”...
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When introducing the iPhone 6 Plus, Apple described it as the “biggest advancement in iPhone history.” Naturally, the use of “biggest” was quite intentional, a pun almost. Prior to 2014, Apple’s entire iPhone line had only ever had two screen sizes: 3.5-inch and 4-inch. Those sizes were perfectly acceptable in their day, but of late, the market has asked for more. More screen real estate, more pixels, more horsepower and more battery life. While Samsung, LG, HTC, Nokia, Sony, and just about every other smartphone maker on the planet introduced larger and larger smartphones, Apple held steady. Samsung pushed the very limits of what we’d label...
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Apple’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus may have sold 10 million units combined during the first weekend of launch, but the new iOS software has been causing problems for Apple’s latest products. Consumers have reported that, since the release of iOS 8.0.1, features such as Touch ID are no longer working and even cellular reception is being disrupted. Due to the complaints, Apple is pulling the update. “We have received reports of an issue with the iOS 8.0.1 update,” said a spokesperson to The Verge. “We are actively investigating these reports and will provide information as quickly as we can. In the meantime we have pulled back the iOS 8.0.1 update.” When the...
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Apple's iPhone 6 Plus packs a bevy of improvements into its phablet-sized frame -- its battery life dwarfs all previous iPhones, its screen quality and resolution are excellent, it's just six ounces, and a scant 7.1mm thick. As an added bonus, according to a number of MacRumors readers, it's got a hidden feature -- it bends! And no, we don't mean it bends in a "Hey, what an awesome feature!" sort of way. More like a "Hey, the entire phone is near to snapping" kind of way. What's even more troubling is that many of the users who are reporting bent devices also claim that they were carrying it in front pockets or in a normal fashion as opposed to sitting on it directly. Image Credit: Unbox Therapy -...
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As iOS 8 rolls out across Apple's devices, the bug reports -- the inevitable, sometimes hilarious, and sometimes maddening bug reports -- have begun to surface as well. iPhone and iPad users are complaining of slow keyboards, iMessage problems, glitches, app crashes, content management issues, missing content, sticky notifications, and a host of other problems. The good news, I suppose, is that no one has uncovered any truly game-ending bugs yet. That's not to say people haven't suffered crashes; any time you update a device to a new operating system someone somewhere is going to have a failure -- but there are no widespread reports of people bricking devices or destroying them wholesale. That...
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Not even three weeks removed from a rather controversial iCloud hacking incident in which hackers were able to obtain nude photos of celebrities and post them online, Apple is championing itself as the protector of user privacy. Not many companies have the marketing mojo to go from one extreme end of the spectrum to the other, let alone do it in such a short time, but that's Apple for you. The iCloud incident is now old news, and the focus going forward is how Apple has your back when it comes to privacy. Apple CEO Tim Cook posted a message on the company's website talking about trust, respect, privacy, encryption, and how they all relate to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Privacy is a hot topic,...
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Apple didn't reveal a new iPhone, iPad, or iPod during its recent Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), nor did the Cupertino company unveil any new systems or hardware of any kind. Instead, it was all about the software, first with a focus on OS X Yosemite and it's pretty new trash can, followed by iOS 8 for mobile devices. With iOS 8, shopping will be a lot snappier -- literally. The folks at 9to5Mac spotted a new feature in the Safari browser for iOS 8 that lets users scan their credit cards using their mobile device's built-in camera. For folks who take advantage of the feature -- and who don't have their credit card numbers memorized -- this would replace manually punching in the digits....
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