Popular tactical shooter Rainbow Six is on its way to mobile devices, publisher Ubisoft confirmed on Tuesday. The game, which will be somewhat similar to Siege, will see teams battling it out in familiar locations.
Rainbow Six Mobile is being built “from the ground up with mobile usability in mind,” its developers said. It will feature a new control system specifically for touchscreens, and “extensive” optimizations for smartphones and tablets.
Apple launched the iPad in stores exactly 12 years ago today, and the device has evolved enormously since then, in both capabilities and hardware. Today’s devices can do so much more than their forbearers. Tablets have lived up to Steve Jobs’ vision … and exceeded it.
Here are a dozen reasons to love what Apple’s tablet has become.
Apple introduced bug fix updates for every one of its operating systems on Thursday. These updates should improve the battery life on iPhone and iPad. And for Mac users, the new version fixes well-publicized bugs recently introduced by macOS 12.3.
However, there are no new features in macOS Monterey 12.3.1, iOS 15.4.1, iPadOS 15.4.1, watchOS 8.5.1 and tvOS 15.4.1 — Apple just fixed small problems. All five updates are available to download immediately.
Apple on Wednesday confirmed a significant change to its App Store policy that finally allows “reader” apps like Netflix and Spotify to link to their own websites for things like creating and managing accounts.
Until now, including an external link for this kind of purpose was prohibited, and would have resulted in App Store expulsion. That meant a poor user experience for a whole bunch of popular services on iPhone and iPad.
That’s finally changing, but of course, Apple plans to make it as complicated as possible for developers to enjoy it.
If weather apps were judged solely on snarky attitude, there would be one clear favorite: Carrot Weather. But even judged by factors like tracking the weather and variety of features, it’s a darned good app. And now, with a major update released Wednesday “to celebrate the triumphant return of allergy season,” it’s even better.
iPhone and iPad users should manually install the latest iOS and iPadOS updates if they want to get their hands on Apple’s newest features and improvements as quickly as possible, according to one Cupertino chief.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, confirmed that automatic software updates don’t drop until one to four weeks after the company makes them available to manual updaters.
With Friday being the official launch day for sales of Apple’s new iPad Air (and the 5G iPhone SE), Apple has rolled out a new ad depicting high school students battling to become class president. The powerful new tablet is their primary weapon.
It’s now possible to set your iPad’s volume buttons to reflect that you are holding the tablet in landscape rather than portrait.
It’s an optional change, but one many iPad users have been asking for.
iPad users will soon be able to work with applications in floating windows, if an unconfirmed report is correct. This is a highly requested feature from those who want Apple’s tablet to function more like a Mac.
iPadOS will supposedly offer something like tablet mode and laptop mode depending on how it is being used.
Microsoft this week rolled out a big Xbox Cloud Gaming update that promises “major performance improvements” on iPhone and iPad. They should allow for smoother and more responsive gameplay, the company said.
The changes have already been well-received by Cloud Gaming users, with Microsoft seeing a “significant increase” in positive feedback from players.
Apple released macOS Monterey 12.3 and iPadOS 15.4 on Monday. These give Mac and iPad users access to the long-delayed Universal Control.
Plus, iOS 15.4 also went to the public. And watchOS 8.5 and tvOS 15.4 too.
Apple seeded to developers the release candidates of macOS Monterey 12.3 and iPadOS 15.4 on Tuesday. That’s the final step before introducing them to the public, which will finally give Mac and iPad users access to the long-delayed Universal Control.
The iOS 15.4 Release Candidate also went to developers, so iPhone users will soon be able to unlock their iPhone with Face ID while wearing a mask. Plus, the watchOS 8.5 RC and tvOS 15.4 RC were seeded as well.
A group of software engineers have joined forces to form the Open Web Advocacy (OWA), which will fight Apple’s “anti-competitive” web browser restrictions on iPhone and iPad.
The OWA says that Apple’s tight controls, which prevent third-party browsers from using their own engines on iOS, has stalled innovation for the past 10 years and “prevented web apps from taking off on mobile.”
More than 12 years after the iPad made its debut, it still doesn’t have a native Instagram app. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to get one any time soon. Instagram head Adam Mosseri believes that not enough people want it.
“It’s still just not a big enough group of people to be a priority,” Mosseri said Sunday in response to a tweet from Marques Brownlee (MKBHD).
Keeping large numbers of browser tabs open is such a common habit that Apple created a system to organize them. Safari Tab Groups let you put open tabs into logical collections so you can more easily work with them. And the same groups are available across all your Apple devices.
The system gets a little complicated. But here’s how to get started with Safari Tab Groups.
On the heels of a big Obscura 3 camera app refresh, another popular and powerful photo app sees major changes this week. This time, it’s the Halide MK II app for iPhone and iPad, from Lux Optics, which also makes the Spectre app for creating long exposures.
The Halide app’s important updates include the addition of batch actions — so you can finally work with multiple photos at the same time — and an improved “Image Rescue” function.
Facebook parent company Meta is still bemoaning App Tracking Transparency, the “harmful” feature Apple introduced last year in iOS 14.5 to bolster the privacy of iPhone and iPad users.
The change is “making it harder and more expensive” for businesses to reach their customers, Meta said as advertisers reportedly slash their spending on Facebook and Instagram and turn to rivals like Amazon and Google instead.
Not a good time to send that important message to a colleague in Slack? The widely used communication platform lets you schedule messages to send later on desktop and mobile. You simply choose the date and time, and Slack takes care of the rest.
The feature comes in particularly handy if you work with colleagues in other time zones and don’t want to bother them after hours. Here’s how to send Slack messages later on iPhone, iPad and Mac so they arrive at appropriate times.
Dutch regulators hit Apple with another $5 million fine Monday for not properly complying with new rules that say dating apps should be allowed to accept alternative payment methods. The penalty now totals $20 million.
The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) dismissed Cupertino’s feeble attempts to satisfy its requirements and said developers should not have to build brand-new apps to offer alternative payments options.
If you’ve ever tried saving Nintendo Switch screenshots to your iPhone or iPad, you’ll know it’s a less than seamless experience. It seems Nintendo didn’t put a great deal of thought into designing its rather primitive transfer tool.
Fortunately, someone else did. Developer Filip Němeček has built an app called SwitchBuddy that makes fetching your Switch screenshots on iPhone and iPad faster, easier, and much more enjoyable. Here’s how to use it.
Apple recommends iPhone and iPad users install a system software update released on Thursday. It removes a security hole on all web browsers, and also includes an accessibility fix.
There are also fresh updates for watchOS as well as macOS available.
Apple on Thursday published new details on how it plans to handle third-party payments for dating apps in the Netherlands. The document confirms that Apple will continue to take a cut of all net revenues at a “reduced” rate of 27%.
It also states that developers must provide Cupertino with a report of all transactions each month so that they can be invoiced for the commission. Apple says it has the right to carry out audits to ensure accurate reporting.
Universal Control, which is finally in testing ahead of its public debut, lets you control a Mac and an iPad with the same keyboard and mouse, bringing the two computers closer together than ever before. It’s particularly handy if you rely on both macOS and iPadOS apps and find yourself regularly switching between them.
The feature looked pretty ambitious and exciting when Apple previewed it during its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote back in June. And now that it’s here (mostly) and we’ve had the chance to try it out, we firmly believe it is one of Cupertino’s most magical features to date.
Here’s why Universal Control will knock your socks off.
WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart has revealed that the company “would love” to deliver a native iPad app after acknowledging that users have been waiting for it for a long time.
WhatsApp is one of the only major messaging platforms that doesn’t offer a tablet app for iPad or Android. But Cathcart says “the underlying technology is there” now that WhatsApp offers proper multi-device support.
Apple will be fined up to €50 million (approx. $57 million) by Dutch regulators for its rather pathetic attempt at allowing third-party payments for apps and subscriptions in the Netherlands.
Although Cupertino took half-hearted steps to comply with new legislation, it ensured that it was incredibly difficult for developers to implement third-party payment systems. It also demanded fees for payments it wasn’t processing.
