Apple on Monday released iOS 8.1, the first major update for iOS 8 that brought some new features to users (such as Apple Pay for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus) and also fixed several other issues. However, Apple has apparently failed to fix an important iOS 8 issue it has never acknowledged since launching its newest OS version on September 17th — and it’s particularly important because it may have prevented many users from upgrading from iOS 7. More →
Released on September 17th, iOS 8 was quickly installed on many compatible devices, even though users had to battle with unexpected storage problems for iOS upgrades performed directly on iPhones, iPads and iPod touches. A few days later, on September 21, Apple revealed on its developer pages that 46% of devices that connected to the Apple Store were already running iOS 8. However, since then, reports have suggested iOS 8 adoption is far from matching its predecessor’s performance, and Apple is now confirming that iOS 8 installations have come to a screeching halt. More →
Xiaomi is making the job of former Googler Hugo Barra more and more difficult when it comes to denying copycat claims that say Xiaomi products look too much like their Apple-made alter egos. After launching the Mi iPad a few months ago, which is basically a nearly identical iPad mini clone, Xiaomi is now releasing MIUI 6, its latest Android-based operating system that looks very much like iOS 7, TechCrunch reveals.
In a recent update to the App Store Distribution page, Apple has revealed that iOS 7 adoption has reached 90% across all iOS devices as of July 13th. It took less than 24 hours for adoption to hit 29% and then 60% after a single week of availability. Of the 10% that haven’t updated yet, 9% are still on iOS 6 while the remainder are all on even earlier versions of the mobile operating system. More →
Do you want to try out the awesome new iOS 8 interactive notification center without upgrading your phone to the iOS 8 beta? Well you’re in luck: Cult of Mac flags a terrific new jailbreak tweak that will bring the new interactive notification center to iOS 7. More →
Smartphone theft has been a growing problem in recent years but apparently a key feature that Apple introduced last year is helping to stop it dead in its tracks. The New York Times reports that law enforcement officials in London, New York and San Francisco have all credited the addition of the Activation Lock feature in iOS 7 with leading to a sharp drop in smartphone thefts in their cities. In all, police found that iPhone robberies dropped by 38% in San Francisco and by 24% in London in the six months after Apple introduced the new feature. More →
The world just recently got its first glimpse at Apple’s next-generation iOS 8 mobile software, and we took an in-depth look at iOS 8 earlier this week. As great as all the new features look, there are still dozens of iOS 7.1 features you don’t know about. You shouldn’t worry about it too much, though — mobile software packs so many features these days that it’s impossible to figure them all out.
While developers (and anyone else willing to pay $100 a year for a developer account) have already gotten their hands on an early version of Apple’s new iOS 8 software, most iPhone and iPad users will have to wait until this fall before they can get install iOS 8 on their devices.
In the meantime, perhaps we can help make your iPhone feel new again with these 10 awesome iOS 7.1 features you might not have known about. More →
We have seen several security flaws discovered in iOS in the past that let people bypass a user’s lock screen by using a convoluted sequence of taps and swipes. The good news is by the time enough people learn about these vulnerabilities for them to pose a serious threat, they’re often already addressed in an update from Apple. Since so many people update to the latest versions of Apple’s iOS software so quickly, threats are often minimized.
The bad news, however, is that each time one hole is plugged, a new one is discovered. More →
Apple on Monday unveiled iOS 8, introducing many new features that users will appreciate. Some have been available on Android for a while now, or via jailbreak apps on iOS, but they will all be appreciated by users when they roll out this fall. To give people a better idea of how things will change, one blog decided to compare the new features in iOS 8 with what’s currently available in iOS 7. More →
Apple’s iOS mobile platform is easily among the most user-friendly operating systems we have ever seen. But even still, there are so many features and settings that it’s practically impossible to remember them all. While it may never be possible to remember all of iOS’s features, there are some tips and tricks in particular that can dramatically improve your experience while using an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. More →
Even though Apple thinks unifying the iOS and OS X universes — in a similar manner to Microsoft’s “no-compromise” Windows approach — would be a waste of energy, the two operating systems have various things in common, allowing users to somewhat merge their iPhone/iPad and Mac universes. However, some developers have actually worked on making the two operating systems more similar, iTwe4kz revealed on YouTube. More →
You might want to hold off on sending sensitive attachments through your iPhone or iPad if it runs on iOS 7 or higher. 9to5Mac draws our attention to a recent post from German security researcher Andreas Kurtz, who claims that encryption for email attachments has been disabled on iOS versions 7 and higher, even the recently released iOS 7.1.1 that was issued specifically to fix security flaws. Kurtz says that he reported the problem to Apple, which supposedly acknowledged it but didn’t give a timeline for when a fix would be released. As 9to5Mac says, this is obviously a potential problem because Apple touts iOS 7 as providing encryption for email attachments and many users have likely been sending important files through email under the assumption that they’d be encrypted.
