Beats redesign is coming to WWDC 2015. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
We got our first taste of Apple’s updated music app two weeks ago with the release of iOS 8.4 beta 1, but Apple’s already seeding a new update to its mobile operating system.
The iOS 8.4 beta 2 update is available now in the iOS Dev Center as well as via an over-the-air update for all public beta testers. Apple also pushed out Xcode 6.4 beta 2 to developers this morning.
The Apple Watch next to a classic mechanical watch. Photo: iFixit
The folks at iFixit wasted no time gutting their new Apple timepiece.
Their Apple Watch teardown confirms that the device comes with a hidden diagnostic port. They’ve also exposed the watch’s Taptic Engine, located the tiny battery, and found some gold highlights on the Apple Watch Sport.
Jimmy Fallon brings fun and feathers to his game Tedzy, which launched on iTunes Thursday. Photo: Sparklehorse/YouTube
Jimmy Fallon is known for inventing silly games to play with his guests on “The Tonight Show.” It’s part of the hot host’s comedic repertoire that keeps his show atop of the late-night ratings.
Now Fallon is trying his hand at developing games for the iPhone.
Fallon formed Sparklehorse, a game production company that debuted Thursday on the iTunes store with the game Tedzy, a colorful teddy bear on a quest for feathers to stuff his pillow and get a good night’s sleep.
Gather all your friends for a groupie with the timer on your iPhone. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
It can be tricky to get the best shot when taking a selfie or group shot with your iPhone. If you want a better angle than the length of your arm can provide (or your ridiculous selfie stick will telescope to), you might consider setting your iPhone on a ledge or tripod and using the built-in timer mode to get yourself and everyone else into position before the shutter goes off.
It’s not super-tricky, but you do need to know where to look. Here’s our recipe to enable timer mode on your iPhone.
Keep your activity data private. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
With the advent of Apple’s motion coprocessor chip (the M8 in recent iOS devices), any apps that you download and grant permission to can use this data to enhance their offerings.
This lets apps like RunKeeper, Carrot Fitness and others both gather fitness data from your iPhone as well as send it to the Health app.
This could raise privacy concerns for some, so being able to decide which apps we allow to access our fitness-tracking data — or whether the iPhone tracks these activities at all — can be a helpful.
Here’s our recipe for getting finer-grained control over your fitness-tracking data.
Beats redesign is here! Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Apple just delivered a huge update to users with the release of iOS 8.3 last week, now it’s giving developers a preview of it’s upcoming redesign of the Music app with iOS 8.4 beta 1.
The new iOS 8.4 beta is available now in the iOS Dev Center and includes new Music app with an all-new design that makes exploring your music collection “easier and more fun.”
We’ll let you know what new features we find. In the meantime, here’s Apple’s description of the new Music app:
Want to be among the first to strap on an Apple Watch? These tips will help. Photo: Apple
The Apple Watch launch might be Cupertino’s most innovative — and complicated — product rollout ever. Usually you just pick between a colors and tech specs, but for Apple’s “most personal device yet,” things aren’t so straightforward.
Even the actual purchasing process is different: Lining up at the store a couple days early isn’t going to help you this time, but this guide to buying an Apple Watch definitely will. It’s loaded with tips for beating the odds and wrapping an Apple Watch around your wrist on launch day.
Here’s everything you need to know about how to preorder and buy an Apple Watch.
(Editor’s note: This post has been updated and stickied to the top of Cult of Mac’s homepage. You’ll find fresh Apple news by scrolling down the page.)
Chock full of our amazing content, all in one easy-to-find spot. Photo: Stephen Smith
This week, Buster looks to the future with the nine features we want most in the upcoming iPhone 6s, while Luke gazes into the past with a piece on how a Californian architect influenced Apple. Luke turns his sight to the future again with a possibly waterproof iPhone, as well as the present with Tim Cook’s slam of discriminatory laws. John then shows us all how to create a thoroughly modern paperless office. All this and much, much more in this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine.
Letting water in? There's an app a patent for that. Photo: TechSmartt
Aside from better battery life, a waterproof iPhone has to be one of the most-requested upgrades Apple could make to its smartphones — a feature that H20-defying rivals like the Xperia Z1 haven’t wasted a moment bragging about possessing.
But a new patent application published today suggests a waterproofed iPhone could finally be on the way, thanks to a method for sealing buttons specifically designed for iOS devices.
Apple's not offering the big bucks for old iPhones. Photo: Cult of Mac Photo: Cult of Mac
Apple’s China trade-in program only went live today, but already it’s on the receiving end of criticism, as would-be sellers are disappointed to find that Apple is offering far less credit than is offered by private third-party buyers.