Apple to Apple

Apple Maps has had a rocky history since its introduction, which included limited features and questionable data, earning it a reputation as a lesser alternative to Google Maps. Since then, Apple has worked to close the gap, and in iOS 13, they're introducing Collections, whic ...more

The Metaverse, or AR cloud, has been a sci-fi dream for decades, but only recently have companies begun to actually develop the technology to build it. With its latest funding round, Epic Games is suddenly a front-runner in this pursuit. Likewise, smartglasses are another of ...more

In the iOS 17.5 software update, released May 13, there are new features for EU countries and mobile device managers only, but there are also more widespread user-facing changes to Books, Podcasts, and other apps. News is one of those other apps, and it gives us more preferenc ...more

Apple has a secret iMessage effect so hidden that there's only one way to unlock it, and it's not by digging through the Messages app's settings, tools, effects, or interface. However, it's used the same way whether you're messaging from an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, so it's easy t ...more

Apple's Notes app has an important feature many users overlook, yet it's arguably the most crucial thing you should use for all your notes synced across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and iCloud.com. And Apple makes the feature much easier to use than years before, so there's no reason y ...more

Apple removed the option to quickly change between miles and kilometers when using Apple Maps on iOS 16, but it's not entirely gone — it's just not as easy to find. On iOS 15, you can switch between miles and kilometers from an obvious location: the "Maps" preferences in the ...more

Apple released the third iOS 14.6 beta today, Monday, May 10. The update fixes a bug that could cause your iPhone to experience performance issues after startup. Apple seeded developers iOS 14.6 dev beta 3 just past 10 a.m. PDT, the company's standard release time for develop ...more

When you need to drive somewhere unfamiliar, you probably use Apple Maps to get there if you're an iPhone user. But just getting there isn't enough sometimes. If you pull up to the location, and there's nowhere to park, it doesn't matter that you arrived on time since you'll b ...more

While iOS 14.3 is available to everyone right now, Apple is currently working on iOS 14.4 in its beta programs, and the second iOS 14.4 beta just came out for developers. The public beta version of iOS 14.4 beta 2 was released soon after. But what's in these new betas? The fi ...more

Apple just released the fourth developer beta for iOS 14.2 today, Tuesday, Oct. 20. The new update introduces eight new dynamic wallpapers, including four real-life landscapes, and four digital landscapes. Apple released this update just past 1 p.m. PDT, an unusual release ti ...more

Introduced to Apple Podcasts back in iOS 11.2, whenever one episode of a show ends on your iPhone the next one begins right away for an uninterrupted experience. While the continuous playback feature for each show or station is incredibly useful for lengthy commutes, long driv ...more

Check your Settings, software testers — Apple released the fifth iOS 12.1 beta on Monday, Oct. 22, just seven days after seeding the fourth beta to both developers and public testers alike. While this initial update is only for developers, we expect Apple to subsequently relea ...more

A Swedish digital artist has developed an app for the iPhone X that creates mind-bending 3D illusions that correlate to the user's point of view. The app, called TheParallaxView, uses the TrueDepth camera on the iPhone X to track the user's head movements and generates images ...more

Augmented reality developers are rapidly bringing science fiction tropes into the real world, with the latest example leveraging the TrueDepth camera on the iPhone X to emulate the cloaking technology made famous by movies like Predator and Marvel's The Avengers. Japanese dev ...more

Augmented reality is making many of our childhood dreams from Star Wars come true. A week after Lenovo gave us the ability to actually play Holochess, Apple has now made it possible to take live video of ourselves and layer on a (non-3D) hologram-like effect, closely resemblin ...more

Apple has billed ARKit as a means to turn millions of iPhones and iPads into augmented reality devices. The refrain is similar for Kaon Interactive, a developer of product catalog apps for businesses. Kaon's High Velocity Marketing Platform powers product catalog apps for com ...more

A developer has previewed a pair of potential applications built on ARKit that can be triggered by Alexa, the resident voice assistant of the Amazon Echo. The demos come courtesy Scott Finkelstein, manager of web technologies at Adelphi University. In the first video, Finkels ...more

The developers at Immersion VR are clearly fans of both Apple's ARKit and Rick & Morty, as the company has shared its second demo in as many weeks of the augmented reality platform that is influenced by the animated sci-fi series. This time, the payoff is huge. Immersion VR b ...more

A few months ago, a video went viral of a boy playing Super Mario Bros. in the middle of Central Park using augmented reality and the HoloLens. Since then, we've been clamoring to play the real-life version of the classic game. While the original creator has not specified any ...more

The creative possibilities are part of what makes Apple's ARKit so exciting. We've seen new camera effects, painting, and new ways to tell stories through ARKit. Now, the app developer studio "Orb" has created an app to let you create scenes with 3D objects of your choosing. ...more

Think you're a true Star Wars fan? I bet you haven't created a demo using Apple's ARKit that creates a map of the entire Star Wars galaxy. How's that for being a fanatic? ARKit developer Namek Kural posted the demo on YouTube after previously abandoning a website with similar ...more

We've seen some pretty cool space-related Apple ARKit demos in the past few weeks. One guy literally had the entire solar system rotating around the sun in his bedroom. Now, a recent demo shows that you can get up close and personal with our Earth, watching how it changes as i ...more

When we think of augmented reality, we usually think of it as adding things to our reality. A new demo has shown that using Apple's ARKit, we can not only add to reality but subtract from reality as well. The demo was posted by Laan Labs who just yesterday created a demo that ...more

It's safe to say that mobile developers are excited about the prospects of Apple's ARKit, with demos popping up seemingly on the hour on YouTube, Twitter, etc. Now, developers are starting to preview actual products. One of them, Directive Games based in Shanghai, China, has ...more

Beer pong is a classic game created by college kids to drink and have a good time. However, the process of setting it up is messy and takes a while. Luckily, a demo has introduced an app coming soon where you can play an augmented reality version of beer pong using Apple's ARK ...more

Companies are already clamoring to figure out strategies for integrating augmented reality into their advertising platforms. AR is going to become a huge asset to marketers, and Apple's ARKit is only going to help that along. Mixed reality producer Bilawal Singh Sidhu has give ...more

It's certain that the release of Apple's ARKit is going to be game changing for businesses. This demo video was created by YouTube user hdsenevi who used the ARKit to create a simple bar chart. The chart has adjustable settings, allowing the user to make each bar larger or sm ...more

A new demo has given a hint about what's going to be possible in the world of mixed reality, thanks to Apple's ARKit. The demo comes from Normal VR, a virtual reality developer that is currently working with leading VR platforms such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation ...more

This is one of the coolest applications of Apple's ARKit that we've seen so far. The 3D software product studio gradientspace has created a Minecraft 3D scanner using ARKit. The scanner lets you Minecraft your real world. While it's unclear exactly how the application works, ...more

The gaming company Ivanovich Games has created a sort of "game-ception" using Apple's ARKit. They have designed a Steam-powered playable arcade machine game called "Operation Warcade" which can now be projected into real life using augmented reality, creating a true "go inside ...more

You will soon be able to play an AR version of one of the most frustrating mobile games of all time, thanks to Apple's ARKit. We all remember the game "Flappy Bird." It took the nation by storm, making millions fast. People became addicted to trying to get that little bird to ...more

There have been many classic games that have been rebooted thanks to Apple's ARKit, including Tetris, but none have been quite so immersive as this one. YouTube user KobiSnir has created an augmented reality Pac-Man game where you are Pac-Man, dubbed "ARMan." The game looks a ...more

Two salsa dancers who also happen to be programmers are soon releasing an app called Dance Reality, made with Apple's ARKit. Through this app, you will be able to practice your dancing with augmented reality as your teacher right from your iPhone. Update: Next Reality origina ...more

Apple has revealed software improvements and new hardware users can look forward to today, including a new and improved Control Center for iOS 11. This recent announcement shows that the Control Center will now be consolidated into one panel as opposed to two, and all commands ...more

Apple has been aggressively smashing bugs with its last few updates to iOS 10, so it seems like all of the major work is done. With the iPhone 7 release date approaching fast, it's a good sign that the only remaining hurdles are relatively minor and cosmetic tweaks (though the ...more

Unlocking our iPhones with Touch ID isn't something most of us pay any mind to; it's quick, simple, and gets the job done. Today, I'll be slowing things down for a second and showing you how to add the Apple Pay checkmark animation to your Touch ID-enabled lock screen. It look ...more

At the most recent Apple event, the company announced its new Fusion Drive, a hybrid hard drive designed to increase performance and speed by combining traditional and flash storage. It's composed of a small solid-state disk and a larger spinning hard disk drive, and files and ...more

Apple's new iPhone 5 has enjoyed three weeks out in the public since its September 21st release. Millions of consumers have been shelling out big bucks and waiting in long lines just to get their hands on it. But sometimes users forget to actually keep their hands on their new ...more

The makers of arguably the two most important mobile AR apps, Niantic and Snap, both had good news this week, with the former preparing to replicate its success with Pokémon GO for another franchise and the latter notching another popular augmented reality Lens for Snapchat. ...more

Since iOS 8, it's been possible to use third-party tools such as Bing Translator and Microsoft Translator to translate foreign language webpages in Safari into your primary language. Now, in iOS 14, there's a better way to do it. Before, third-party translation services would ...more

Yesterday showed us our first look at the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max. But it wasn't all about hardware. Apple also released the iOS 13 Golden Master, making iOS 13.1 the main focus for us beta testers. Now, Apple just seeded the third public beta, followin ...more

It's a big day for Apple. First, the company announced its new suite of phones: iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max. Then, we get the iOS 13 Golden Master, the beta version of iOS 13 that will eventually release to the general public on Sept. 19. Now, it seems the ...more

Beta testing certainly has its perks. While you do need to deal with bugs, you're introduced to new features before the general community. And if we're talking iPhones, there are over 200 new features in iOS 13 beta. If you're already on board with iOS 13 public beta 6 for iPh ...more

There are many ways to calculate basic math problems and solve algebraic equations, geometric expressions, and trigonometric functions on your iPhone, but Apple just came out with one that will blow you away. With the upcoming iOS 18 software update, released on Sept. 16, you ...more

Apple announced the long-rumored iPhone SE with 5G capabilities on Tuesday, March 8, and the preorder and release dates are just around the corner. The third-generation iPhone SE is vastly improved over its 2020 predecessor thanks to the A15 Bionic chip, which is two generati ...more

Ratings and reviews apply everywhere, from a restaurant you want to try to a new camera you're thinking of buying and games you might want to play. Podcasts are no different. Reading reviews of shows can help determine which are worth listening to, and your opinion is valuable ...more

Mobile AR developer Blippar has achieved a breakthrough by releasing what appears to be the first commercially-available AR navigation app. The company's new app, AR City, gives users overlay directions for walking routes as well as points of interest. The app is available vi ...more

After watching Samsung's exploding phone fiasco this past year, I took comfort knowing that the likelihood my iPhone would suddenly combust was slim. However, after hearing about a recent incident in Wisconsin, iPhone owners may have reason to worry. According to a man named ...more

A judge just handed down a ruling that will make the U.S. government's quest to unlock the work iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters much more difficult. U.S. District Court Judge James Orenstein ruled against the government in another case, which argued that a search ...more

Apple scrubbed the floor clean of all existing text-bombing apps in the iOS App Store, and even though there were once a ton of these apps in Cydia, the go-to store for jailbroken devices, there few and far between these days. If they do exist, they either cost money or don't ...more

Apple seeded developers the second iOS 14.6 beta today, Friday, April 30. The update (build number 18F5055b) comes four days after the launch of iOS 14.5, which introduced over 60 new features and changes to iPhone, and eight days after the first 14.6 beta hit developers' iPho ...more

We're basically living in the future, so let's work like we are. For decades, we have, without question, opened a word processor like Pages, and clicked or tapped our way to starting a new document. What's wrong with that? It's unnecessary. We all have a digital assistant livi ...more

The race for the future of AR wearables gained steam this week with several pivotal developments. First, Apple, the subject of numerous reports and rumors regarding its purported AR headset, is reportedly eyeing an in-person unveiling of the device for later this year, rather ...more

Apple just released the third public beta for iOS 14.2 today, Wednesday, Oct. 14. This update includes new glyphs for the HomePod mini and Beats Flex, support for HomePod's upcoming new "Intercom" feature, new core media features, and SwiftUI fixes. Intercom is a HomePod feat ...more

After the iPhone X eclipsed the $1,000 mark, phone prices skyrocketed. Android OEMs like Samsung started putting out phones in the same price bracket that were crammed with expensive parts. To appease the folks that didn't want to drop over a grand on even the nicest phones, a ...more

While there are other photo-editing apps to choose from on the App Store, Apple Photos is more than good enough for most needs on the iPhone — and things only get better with age. With each new iteration of iOS, Apple refines and improves Photos for the better, and iOS 14 adds ...more

Unless you have unlimited cellular data, you probably connect your iPhone to every Wi-Fi network you come across. It could be a local coffee shop, public library, or just a friend's place. Wherever it is, you'll need to ask for the access point's password if it's a secured net ...more

There's no default keyboard on the Apple Watch, but watchOS has another way to let you type text out for emails, messages, music searches, and more on the small display, and that's Scribble. With it, you simply draw letters and other characters on the screen with your finger, ...more

There's already some fierce competition between Snap and Facebook in the AR space, but it's about to heat up even more, with Snap snatching up a 3D mapping startup that could add some new AR capabilities to its arsenal. Meanwhile, Facebook is investing a sizable portion of it ...more

Apple seeded public testers the second iOS 14.6 beta today, Friday, April 30. The update (build number 18F5055b) comes three hours after Apple released the second 14.6 developer beta, four days after the launch of iOS 14.5, which introduced over 60 new features and changes to ...more