Update: Apple has now confirmed the arrangement, which includes live-streaming coverage. The Democratic National Committee has today announced the next series of presidential debates for 2020. For the first time ever, Apple News will serve as partner for one of those debates. As reported by Axios, Apple News is partnering up for the 8th Democratic debate on February 7. Apple News is teaming up with ABC and WMUR-TV, a local ABC affiliate, for the debate....

Apple is working to streamline the Apple Pay Transit process for users, a new report suggests. Citing evidence found within iOS 12.3 code, the report explains that Apple is working is expanding the availability of the Apple Pay “Express Transit” feature to new card types. Tap Down Under explains that currently, Express Transit is limited to “stored value cards,” such as Suica. This is a card where you keep a certain amount of money on the card itself, and pre-load it with funds when you run out....

After releasing the Apple Music Awards early this morning, Apple is now celebrating the best podcast shows of 2021. This year, Apple Podcasts Best of 2021 features shows and creators that “provided listeners with a powerful sense of connection in a challenging and uncertain time, curated by Apple Podcasts’ world-class editorial team.” For the “Best Show of the Year” category, Apple Podcasts gave the award to “A Slight Change of Plans” with Maya Shankar from Pushkin Industries and the “Newcomer of the Year” award to “Anything for Selena” with Maria Garcia from WBUR and Futuro Studios....

Apple has posted a new web page that is dedicated to answering frequently asked questions about the transition from MobileMe to Apple’s new iCloud service, which launches this fall (via TechCrunch). The webpage explains which services are staying with iCloud and which are going (shown in image above). Those are in addition to these new services: iTunes in the Cloud Photo Stream Documents in the Cloud Automatic downloads and purchase history for apps and books Backup and restore The site also says that users will be able to migrate their current ....

iOS 14.5 beta 4 is rolling out to registered developers and public beta users today, coming two weeks after the release of iOS 14.5 beta 3. iOS 14.5 packs a variety of new features including the ability to unlock your iPhone using Apple Watch, and beta four makes further refinements to these new features. iOS 14.5 beta 4 is available to developers and public beta users via an over-the-air update in the Settings app....

One day after releasing it to developers, Apple today is releasing the latest iOS 15 beta for public beta testers. Apple refers to this as iOS 15 public beta 5 and it includes a new Weather app icon, App Store tweaks, and more. If you’re interested in signing up for Apple’s public beta testing program, you can do so via Apple’s website right here. Apple’s new software version won’t be complete until the fall, at which point it will be released to the general public....

Every summer, Apple runs an annual Back to School promotion in the United States and other countries. This promo offers students and educators an added bonus when buying a new Mac or iPad. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports today that this year’s Back to School promo is scheduled to kick off on Friday, but with a slight change compared to previous years… Apple’s 2022 Back to School promo When Apple first started the yearly Back to School promo, it offered an Apple gift card with the purchase of a qualifying Mac or iPad....

With the introduction of the first beta of iOS 9.3, Apple introduced a new feature called Night Shift that adjusts the color temperature of your device’s display at night as to make it easier to fall asleep. One qualm many have had with the feature, however, is that you have to go into the Settings app to turn it on and off. Apple’s iOS 9.3 Canadian preview page, however, hints that it make become easier to enable the feature with future iOS 9....

Nearly one year after launching its first devices with NFC chips, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, to enable the Apple Pay mobile payments system, Apple has joined the official NFC Forum as a top-tier sponsor. Along with the sponsorship role, Apple has joined the forum’s Board of Directors, according to the forum’s official website. The site lists representation from Aon Mujtaba, a Director on Apple’s Wireless Systems Engineering team for the iPhone....

Apple today has officially launched support for financing additional products with Apple Card and 0% interest. The new financing options are available for the Mac lineup, iPad, AirPods Pro, AirPods, Apple Pencil, and more. In December, Apple launched a new iPhone 0% financing option for Apple Card users, and during Apple’s most recent earnings call with investors, Tim Cook teased that similar promotions would soon be available for other Apple products and recent reports indicated the rollout was imminent....

Those ongoing analyst predictions that Apple would buy Tesla may have been based on some sort of reality. According the the SF Chronicle, Adrian Perica, Apple’s head of mergers and acquisitions, met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk last spring. But it is unlikely that Apple wanted to buy the car company and even more unlikely that Musk would sell it. In response to the acquisition rumors at the time, he tweeted the following:...

We noted last week that Apple Maps London coverage has been significantly improved as part of a shift to the company using its own UK mapping data sourced from both satellite imagery and Apple Maps cars. A Londoner has now put together some slide-over comparisons, highlighting some specific changes … We summarised the overall changes last week. Jonathan Reed has now written a piece looking in more detail at some of the changes, complete with slide-over before-and-after comparisons in London and other cities....

Specific details about Apple Music are still rolling out after the iPhone maker announced its new subscription music service at WWDC yesterday. Music quality for streaming and offline playback is bound to be one concern for potential members and it appears Apple will be taking a conservative approach, according to Slashgear. By default, Beats Music only streamed at the higher 320kbps MP3 quality on the web and when the setting was changed within the mobile app....

Earlier this year Apple finally allowed apps in the Games category to appear on the South African App Store. Today the company has sent out an email to developers notifying them that the same change has been made in Costa Rica and Qatar. App developers don’t have to do anything to enable their apps for sale in those stores as long as the apps have been cleared for sale in those countries....

A new support document from Apple details all information regarding Dual SIM support for iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max. It goes through how to set it up, and when it will be available. The document also walks us through how to set up an eSIM as your primary phone number. First and foremost, Apple says Dual SIM support will not be available at launch, instead it will ship “with an update to iOS 12 coming later this year....

While retailers and venues have steadily been rolling out Apple Pay support for buying goods in the real world, Apple Pay is possibly even more popular with checking out for physical goods and services within apps. This week’s additions include Apple Pay in-app checkout support on iOS with Ticketmaster, LoungeBuddy, and more. Ticketmaster, which provides you with the ability to buy and sell tickets to “thousands of live music, sporting, arts, theatre, and family events”, updated its app recently to version 1....

The latest COVID-19 lockdown measures in China have seen Apple production halted at three key Chinese suppliers. One of these in particular could significantly hit iPhone availability. Assembly of iPhones, iPads, and Macs has been suspended in the electronics production hubs of Shanghai and Kushan … Background Most countries around the world have, to a greater or lesser degree, concluded that we have to find ways to live with COVID-19, in the same way we do with flu....

Apple has just released a new app into the App Store called iTunes Movie Trailers, which allows users to view trailers for upcoming movies and movies in theaters. Along with trailers, the app displays movie release dates and more importantly movie showing times, as you can see below. The Top 25 section of the app lists the top trailers played. And of course, you can favorite your favorite trailers. Apple filed a patent this summer for purchasing movie tickets inside of an app....

Reports regarding an Apple web-based TV service began to circulate in February of this year, with more details emerging last month. A new report from The Street now claims that Apple and Disney are currently in talks over what specific Disney-owned channels will be available on the service. It’s worth noting that Disney CEO Bob Iger is also on Apple’s Board. The report claims that Apple does not want to offer all of Disney’s channels on its service in an effort to keep the subscription price down for customers....

As it does every year, Apple today has shared its 2017 holiday gift guide. This year’s gift guide highlights accessories for products across Apple’s lineup, including the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac… For each of its product lineups, Apple recommends a handful of accessories. For instance, the iPhone portion of the guide showcases Apple’s first-party cases, such as the $39 Silicone Cases and the $99 iPhone X Leather Folio. AirPods are also featured here and are sure to be a popular gift this holiday season following last year’s supply issues....