Be prepared for toll charges ahead. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
We expect navigation apps to warn us about gridlock, give us the best routes, and tell us how long our drives will be. But Waze is rolling out a new speed-limits feature that, while useful, might come off as a pain at first.
The crowdsourced traffic app now includes limits information for thousands of roads, and it will tell you when you’re breaking the law.
Find more of what you like in new Instagram video section. Photo: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac
If you want to strike it rich on the App Store, here’s a hint: make a game.
Americans who own an iPhone spent an average of $35 on apps and in-app purchases last year, only instead of forking over cash for productivity or education apps, the majority of that money goes to gaming.
Cut a few steps out of project planning by letting IFTTT do the heavy lifting between Todoist and Trello! Photo: Ally Kazmucha/The App Factor
As you may have noticed over the last month or so, I’ve had a little bit of a fascination with workflow automation and iOS. While some of it is the aftermath of trying to go iPad-only, most of it is simply because I love using iOS to make managing tasks easier whenever possible.
And you can throw in multiple clips, too. Photo: Brigham Young University
Once an app only for photos, Instagram is now greatly extending its video capabilities. Coming soon, users will be able to share videos up to 60 seconds in length. Instagram started rolling out this change today and says more improvements to video are coming in a future update.
One such improvement Instagram says will arrive sooner rather than later is the reemergence of multi-clip video on iOS. This means that you’ll be able to import multiple video clips from your Photos library and stitch them together for a single Instagram video. It might sound familiar because Instagram actually used to have this feature… before taking it away.
SoundCloud Go is yet another music streaming service. Photo: SoundCloud
Apple Music’s competition in the music streaming battle just got a little fiercer today with the introduction of a new subscription service by SoundCloud.
The new SoundCloud Go service costs $10 per month, giving you unlimited access to the YouTube of Audio’s vast trove of indie content without ads. You can also save files to listen to offline, but that might not be enough to take on Apple Music and Spotify.
Snapchat just got a major update. Photo: Rob LeFabvreGrab Snapchat 2.0 today! Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Android
The Snapchat revamp you’ve been reading so much about in recent months has landed.
Dubbed “Chat 2.0,” and available today on Android and iOS, it finally brings voice and video calling, improved Snapchat Stories, and 200 brand new stickers.
The MagicMount Pro is so convenient, you may not even miss that air. Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac
MagicMount Pro Vent
I’ve been looking for a new place to keep my phone while I was driving since I upgraded to the iPhone 6s and discovered that even though I’d slapped the slimmest of cases on it, it no longer fit into the cradle that sits in my car’s cup holder. And I don’t know if it’s the phone or the car that’s let me down here, but it’s become a bit of a problem if I want to keep the thing handy while I’m on the road.
The idea of sticking something permanently to my dashboard or phone has never appealed to me, and I also don’t like the idea of blocking part of my view with a suction-based phone mount. But luckily, the magnetic MagicMount Pro Vent exists, and that solves pretty much all of my problems. And if you’re super neurotic like me, you’ll probably want to check it out.
We found your lost iPhone... Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Finding your iPad or iPhone is about to get a whole lot easier, even under the worst circumstances, thanks to a new app from TrackR that can locate your lost iOS devices regardless of whether or not its connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data.
The new free app called TrackR tablet, runs on both iPhone and iPad, and simplifies the way you find lost iDevices. There’s no sign in process to get into the app. Just open it up and ring your lost iPhone.
It's like a classic Super Nintendo Entertainment System, only better. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
For those who grew up with it, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System represents all that’s right and good about gaming. The feel of that classic gray controller, with its signature purple push buttons, is enough to take anybody back to better days, and the SNES30 proves it.
A 1:1 replica design with brand new features like Bluetooth and USB connections, you can connect it with your favorite gaming platform, even mount your phone with an expandable clip mount. And right now you can get one for $34.95 at Cult of Mac Deals.
Grab the latest tvOS 11 update now. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
What’s new on your Apple TV? Quite a bit, if you’ve got the latest fourth-generation device and have updated it to tvOS 9.2.
There’s a new folders system for total organization, new support for Bluetooth keyboards, a podcasts app, a multitasking visual upgrade and a new default video-scrubbing behavior.
Check out all of the awesome new tricks you can do with the latest Apple TV update.
The government doesn't want to share information with Apple. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The Department of Justice is unlikely to reveal to Apple exactly how it was able to hack the locked iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters, according to a federal law enforcement official.
Miitomo is almost here! Photo: NintendoMiitomo is almost here! Photo: Nintendo
The wait for Nintendo’s first smartphone game is almost over if you live in the U.S.
Miitomo, which racked up a whopping 1 million downloads in three days after making its debut in Japan a fortnight ago, will be available on Android and iOS on Thursday, March 31.
If, like me, you sank countless hours into Pokémon games during your misspent youth, there’s some great news: Pokémon GO, an augmented reality game for smartphones, is one step closer to rolling out.
Fight for the Future has played a vocal part in the Apple vs. FBI story since the very start. Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac (via Apple and protestsign.org)
The FBI’s case against Apple may be over, but the repercussions involved in this battle sure aren’t.
Apple has already made clear its belief that this particular case should never have been brought, and now activist group Fight for the Future — which has played a vocal role in this ongoing story — claims that this will be recorded as the biggest PR disaster in FBI history.
Apple thinks the FBI should never have brought a case against it in the first place. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
The Justice Department may have dropped its suit against Apple after successfully gaining access to the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters, but according to Apple the case should never have been brought to begin with.
In a statement, Apple doubles-down on its beliefs about the importance of user privacy. Check out the company’s words of wisdom below:
The FBI didn't need Apple's help after all. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The Department of Justice has removed all legal action against Apple after the FBI successfully hacked the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone without assistance from Cupertino.
Apple and the FBI have been fighting a very public legal battle over whether the government can force the iPhone-maker to create a backdoor into iOS. Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly defied a federal court order to deliberately weaken iOS security for millions of users, but it appears that the feds are backing down — at least for now.
If you use the default iOS Mail app on a regular basis, you definitely need to learn these tips and tricks. Photo: Ally Kazmucha/The App Factor
No matter how many email apps I try, I just keep coming back to the stock iOS Mail app. While some of the things I’ve come to love about the iPhone’s built-in Mail app are obvious, some are not — such as shortcuts or gestures that make using it even more intuitive. Here are a few favorite iOS Mail tips I think everyone should know.
Apple makes higher margins when you buy more memory. Photo: Apple
Upgrading to an iPhone with 64GB of storage will cost you an extra $100, but Apple actually only spends about a tenth of that to pay for the bigger memory chips.
With the iPhone 6s and new iPhone SE both starting with a paltry 16GB, shelling out the extra cash for more space is practically a no-brainer, and that plays right into Apple’s plan to milk the margins on its higher end models.
tvOS changes the default scrubbing behavior of your Siri Remote, and we couldn't be more glad. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
There’s a new Apple TV update in town, and it adds a few obvious features, like Bluetooth keyboard support and Siri Dictation in search and user name/password fields.
tvOS 9.2 also has some less-obvious improvements, though. For instance, it’s easy to locate the exact spot you want to find in any video. Here’s how to scrub through video on Apple TV with your Siri Remote in tvOS 9.2.
Stream your favorite playlists with the E3. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
These days, very few of us actually purchase individual albums or singles, thanks to the growing popularity of subscription-based services such as Apple Music and Spotify. Playing these streaming services through Bluetooth speakers is just as easy as playing them from your iPhone. But what if you want to play your favorite Spotify playlists without having your phone glued to you?
Introducing the GGMM E3 Wi-Fi Smart Cloud speaker. I admit, I’d never heard of GGMM either. Launching on Kickstarter last week, the E3 boasts a ton of features to earn the “smart” title, including cloud music play, favorites, multiroom play and much more.
Check out the video after the jump to see it in action.
Get your iOS device up to date fast and easy. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
A fix for the Activation Lock bug that plagued older devices that upgraded to iOS 9.3 has been released by Apple this morning, after the company pulled iOS 9.3 availability on select iPhones and iPads last week.
Apple pushed out iOS 9.3 build 13E237 to iPad Air and earlier models, as well as the iPhone 5s and earlier models. The previous build bricked those models during Activation Mode due to failed password authorization.
If you have an iPhone running iOS 9.3, whatever you do, do not install the Booking.com app.
iPhone users are reporting that an iOS 9.3 bug, possibly related to the Booking.com app, causes some apps to freeze and crash when tapping on links — and it’s not entirely clear what’s causing it.