iTunes and App Store Down for Some Users
According to Apple’s System Status page, both the iTunes Store and the App Store are down for some users. The iTunes Store has been experiencing issues since just after 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time this afternoon, and while the App Store outage period is not listed, MacRumors has seen several complaints about accessing it going back an hour or two.
Apple’s System Status site says some users may be unable to sign into the App Store and the iTunes Store, an outage that comes at an inconvenient time as the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus were just released, so many people are trying to set up their devices and download new apps.
There’s no estimate given for when services might return to normal.
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iOS 10 review: Apple evolves
With iOS 10, Apple is basically polishing a pearl. iOS 8 introduced a vibrant and “flat” new aesthetic. iOS 9 was focused on refinement. So by this point, we should get something completely fresh and new, right? Well, not quite. Just like the iPhone 7, Apple’s latest mobile OS doesn’t look that much different on the surface. Instead, the company once again chose to focus on improving the overall experience. In particular, this year’s refinements collectively make the OS a lot more convenient (and help Apple play a little catch-up). If you’ve longed for some of the features you’ve seen on your friends’ Android phones, iOS 10 is more than enough to keep you under Apple’s spell for another year.
Getting started
At this point, moving to a new version of iOS probably feels routine. While there were widespread reports of the update “bricking” devices during its launch day, it looks like most of those issues have been ironed out. As always, though, be sure to back up your device before doing any sort of major upgrade. Even if you have your current iOS device set to automatically back up on iCloud, it’s still worth making a local copy through iTunes in case all hell breaks loose. (Also, restoring your phone from the cloud is much slower than with a local copy.)
There’s a good chance you’ve already been prompted to upgrade, but if you’ve procrastinated, head to the “General” section in the Settings app to manually initiate the update. Then just wait for the installation file to download (it’s over 1GB, so it takes a few minutes), and proceed with the installation. You’ll want to have your phone connected to a charger while you’re going through this process, unless your battery is almost full.
A revamped lock screen
Assuming all goes well, you’ll be presented with the all-too-familiar lock screen. This time around, though, it brings some new tricks. Swiping left bring you to the Today screen, which is now far more customizable than before. It’s basically a quick way to access widgets, which can do things like show you the weather, the latest news and your upcoming appointments. Naturally, there’s a bunch of built-in Apple widgets, but plenty of third-party developers are building them as well, including The New York Times, The Weather Channel and yes, even Google.
Swiping right from the lock screen brings up the camera, something that happens almost instantly on my iPhone 6S. Previously, you had to drag up from the bottom right of the screen to open the camera, which was a bit more difficult. I often missed the touch target completely, which left me swiping up a few times in futility. And, come to think of it, I’ve missed out on a few great photo opportunities because of that. Swiping right (get your jokes in now) has turned out to be a much more accurate gesture.
You can also do a lot more with the notifications that appear on the lock screen. If you have a 3D Touch-capable phone like the iPhone 6S or 7, you can interact with things like text messages without even leaving the lock screen. Some notifications will require you to unlock the phone to use 3D Touch features, but that’s just good security. Swipe down from the top of the lock screen to get your full list of notifications, all of which are also interactive using 3D Touch.
A more useful Control Center
If you swipe up from the lock screen, and indeed anywhere else in iOS 10, you’ll bring up the ever-useful Control Center. Instead of cramming all of its functionality in a single screen, it now spans two separate pages. The first houses all of the quick settings you’re familiar with — toggling on and off Airplane mode, WiFi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb and screen rotation lock — along with buttons for managing AirPlay Mirroring, AirDrop and Night Shift. And of course, those handy quick tools like the flashlight and timer are still at the bottom.
But, you might be wondering, what happened to the media controls? All of that is handled in the second page of the Control Center, which has room for more options. In addition to merely playing and pausing songs and skipping tracks, you can jog through your location in a track without leaving the Control Center. That’s particularly useful for longer files like podcasts and audiobooks. The bottom of the screen lets you easily switch between all available AirPlay devices on your current WiFi network.
The redesigned Control Center has ended up being one of the highlights of iOS 10 over my past few months of testing. I don’t have to jump into my iPhone’s settings or music/podcast apps nearly as much anymore. What’s the word for that? Oh right: convenience.
3D Touch (and Taptic Engine) finally feels useful
Apple introduced 3D Touch in last year’s iPhone 6S as a new method of smartphone interaction. Sure, it basically just replicated the “right-click” from PCs, but there was a lot to like in theory: What if you could just quickly access the most popular features of your favorite apps? Who wouldn’t want that? Even I was sold on Apple’s pitch back at the time, and over the past year I’ve grown to rely on it for apps like Swarm and Evernote.
The problem, though, is that Apple didn’t pay nearly enough attention to 3D Touch and the Taptic Engine in the 6S. While a handful of built-in apps and some third-parties adopted it, Apple almost seemed to distance itself from the feature after the 6S launch. Perhaps it was focusing its energy on the more powerful Taptic Engine that would be coming in the iPhone 7, but whatever the reason, many iPhone 6S owners felt like there was a lost opportunity to tap into 3D Touch (heh).
That’s less the case in iOS 7, where 3D Touch works in almost every part of the OS. There’s the notification integration I mentioned earlier, but I also learned to love the smaller additions, like using 3D Touch to change the brightness of my iPhone’s flashlight. Thanks to its more powerful Taptic Engine, the iPhone 7 also brings haptic feedback to simple things, like scrolling through the time in the Clock app, or scrolling through your library in the Music app. It gets to a point where you almost feel like you’re scrolling through a physical book, or a pile of CDs.
The Messages app takes on Snapchat
Apple really focused on improving its core apps in iOS 10, and the Messages app got the bulk of the upgrades. You can now change the intensity of iMessages (the chats labeled in blue that you’re having with other iMessage users), from a huge “Slam” effect that almost takes up the whole screen, to an obscured “Invisible Ink” message that has to be swiped to be read. The latter is particularly useful if you’re in a public place with lots of prying eyes. There are also screen effects that can accompany your notes, including a bunch of balloons, falling confetti, laser lights, fireworks and a shooting star. They’re fun at first, but they’ll be particularly useful for annoying your friends endlessly.
Just like the Apple Watch, you can send hearts (but of course, not your actual heart rate) and other symbols from within Messages using Digital Touch. You can also react to things people send you with “tapback” responses by double-tapping on them. You can also send a handwritten message by turning your iPhone into landscape mode (of course, you can also bring up the keyboard if you prefer typing this way). In the iOS 10 beta, you had to manually enable the handwriting mode, but it was also a bit hard to find.
The biggest change in Messages is that it now has an ecosystem of its own apps and sticker packs. By default, it includes apps for image and video searching (hooray easy-to-find animated GIFs!), as well as for sharing your most recently played Apple Music tracks. But you can easily add even more apps by hitting the icon of four dots at the lower left of the screen. (If that sounds confusing, you’re not alone. Apple’s interface around the entire Messages App experience needs some work, especially once you start piling in more software. It’s one area where I seriously began to feel the limits of the iPhone’s 4.7-inch screen, though it doesn’t seem much better on the 7 Plus either.)
Once you’ve made your way to the Messages App store, you’ll see a plethora of stickers, games and software that will appear right within your chats. It works just like the normal app store, except this time whatever you download shows up in the Messages app section. There’s also a good chance you’ve already installed apps that have brought along their own Messages apps, like Yelp, Evernote and Venmo.
Messages apps are similar to Apple Watch apps: They’re typically focused on a few functions that will work well within a chat. Yelp, for example, lets you share restaurants that you’ve recently viewed. Similarly, you can share specific movie times and locations with Fandango. One of the more interesting app implementations comes from OpenTable, which allows you to pick five restaurants and vote on them with your friends. Once you decide on a restaurant, you can complete the reservation process right from within Messages. (Eater has a good overview of how the whole process works.)
The games selection in the Messages app store isn’t huge, mostly consisting of simplistic board games at the moment. But it’s still cool to be able to play a quick game of chess with friends right from a text conversation. I suspect we’ll see plenty of multi-game entries like GamePigeon, which currently packs in pool, poker, sea battle, Go and a Scrabble-esque anagram title.
The Message app’s Stickers are merely that: Images that get sent to anyone, even friends on other platforms. Much like ringtones, they’ll likely end up being an easy way for Apple to get a few bucks from its users more often. But I’ll admit, the stickers are a lot of fun to use. I dropped $2 on the first collection of Pokémon pixel art. No regrets.
Apple’s intent with all of Message’s upgrades is pretty clear: It wants you to leave the app as seldom as possible, even if that means working even closer with third-party companies. Given the fast rise of Snapchat and Facebook Messenger, it’s not surprising that Apple is actually trying to cultivate its one successful “social network.”
Smarter Photos
So, about those other core iOS app upgrades: The Photos app now uses computer vision technology to make some sense of your piles of pics. For example, searching for “cats” brings up a healthy dose of my obsessive feline photography. It’ll also automatically detect the most common faces in your photos. While it’s up to you to actually name those faces, it’s still a big help if you hate organizing photos as much as I do.
Photos also creates “Memories,” or auto-generated slideshows of pictures from your library. It’s similar to the way Google Photos slideshows work in that they’ll typically focus on a single person or photos taken around a specific event. The Memories themselves are a combination of stills, Live Photos and video in your library. You can also set the music mood and length of each Memory, which will likely be useful if you’re throwing them over to an Apple TV to watch with a group.
Memories usually turned out well, though they’re still clearly a work in progress. Sometimes the software would choose photos with fingers blocking them, or pictures that I know for a fact have a better duplicate in my library. Still, it’s useful if you don’t want to build a slideshow on your own.
Refined Music
The new Music app actually looks very different from what came before, which isn’t the case for the rest of iOS 10’s updates. The new interface is all about large fonts, bold colors and disc art wherever possible. Those of you who were annoyed by Apple focusing more on its streaming music service than your own collection of tunes will likely be pleased, as your local library is the first thing to pop up. The “For You” section also does a better job of recommending tunes (as well as explaining why you might want to listen to them).
I’ve seen both praise and criticism of the Music app’s redesign, but personally I dig the clean aesthetic. But really, anything is better than the last iteration. One nifty addition: You can quickly access lyrics of songs on Apple Music from within the Now Playing screen. It’s not there for every song, but it’s an easy way to get prepped for karaoke.
Siri gets smarter, again
After launching to much fanfare, it’s almost as if iOS users have grown to hate Siri. She had a penchant for not hearing you properly, and her actual capabilities were fairly limited. That’s changing with iOS 10, as Apple has — you guessed it — opened up Siri to other developers. I was able to book Uber and Lyft cars, as well as send cash to a friend using Venmo, with only voice commands. You’ll still have to deal with some accuracy issues, but at least now Siri is actually starting to get useful.
Siri also powers contextual awareness in iOS 10’s predictive keyboard. So, on top of just trying to guess what word you’re typing next, it can do things like fill out contact information if you start chatting about someone’s phone number. And if you’re trying to schedule something, it can also tell you when you’re available by looking at your calendar. This feature still seems to be in its early stages, but it’s a fascinating way of implementing predictive intelligence.
Odds and ends
- I didn’t talk much about iOS 10’s design because, honestly, nothing really changed. The home screen still looks like the same old wall of icons you’ve seen before.
- Yes, I know we’ve seen plenty of these features in Android already. But at this point, everyone in the mobile industry is shamelessly getting “inspired” by the competition.
- While iOS 9 offered up some big changes for iPad multitasking, iOS 10 doesn’t add much. The Control Center has a bit more room to breathe, but that’s about it.
- You can finally remove built-in Apple software, like the much-maligned Stock app. But, to be clear, the app basically just disappears, it doesn’t actually get uninstalled.
- It really feels like iOS 10 breathed new life into my iPhone 6S, and I’m hearing similarly good stories from people installing it on the iPhone 5. It also runs well on my first-gen iPad Air.
- I didn’t have any HomeKit-equipped hardware to test out the Home app, but I’m looking forward to seeing how Apple tries to unify the messy IoT space.
Ultimately, iOS 10 is a collection of small, but important, changes to an already solid mobile OS. I would have liked to see a whole new design too, but what matters more is that actually using the OS is a significantly better experience. The combination of the new Today screen and Control Center has already saved me plenty of time.
We’ll probably end up seeing a major facelift next year, but for now, iOS 10 is an upgrade that Apple users should look forward to.
iOS 10 Messages Apps and Games Worth Checking Out
With iOS 10 now available to the public, there are hundreds of new Messages apps available in the dedicated Messages App Store. For the first time, we’re getting a look at just what apps in Messages are going to be capable of, and it’s more than a just a gimmick.
There are apps for all doing all kinds of things, from expressing yourself with GIFs and stickers, to sending song lyrics, sharing movie information, maps locations, weather reports, and more, plus there are even more in-depth tools for figuring out what restaurant to eat at, sending money to friends, and other conveniences that are sure to save you a lot of time.
In the list below, we’ve gathered up a handful of some of the most useful apps in the Messages App Store, so if you’re looking to see what Messages apps can do, this is a good starting point.
Installing a Messages App
To install an app from the Messages App Store, tap on the “App Store” icon when in a conversation. From there, tap on the icon of four dots to open the app drawer, then choose the “+” button to access the store itself. The Messages App Store is similar to the iOS App Store, so choose an app and then tap on the price or “Get” to download it.
Messages apps are usually installed automatically, but can be accessed in the App Store by tapping on “Manage” and toggling apps on and off.
Notable Apps and Games
– GIF Keyboard (Free) – GIF Keyboard from Tenor is available as a Messages app, making it easier to insert GIFs directly into chat conversations. It features a create-a-GIF- option, trending GIFs, GIF categories for access to quick reaction GIFs, and a search tool.
– ETA ($2.99) – With ETA, you can share the arrival time before you reach your destination directly in the Messages app, so if you’re on your way somewhere, the person waiting for you will know when you’re going to arrive. You can share from your saved location or search from any nearby destination.
– Carrot Weather ($3.99) – Carrot Weather lets you check the weather within the Messages app and share weather forecasts with friends. It features the same humorous weather updates available in the main Carrot Weather app.
– Fandango (Free) – Fandango’s app lets you send movie suggestions and times to friends with just a tap, and once you agree on what to see, you can purchase movie tickets to the local theater without leaving Messages.
– Drafts ($4.99) – Drafts, an app for quickly taking down notes and sending them almost anywhere, now has an iMessage extension that lets you insert text snippets from Drafts into Messages. It’s a quick way to share notes or other information with friends and family.
– iTranslate (Free) – iTranslate is a useful app that will let you translate text in Messages just before sending it. More than 90 languages are available, and it features a Direct Voice Translation feature. When the person you’re communicating with has iTranslate installed, there’s an option for easy two-way real-time communication in two different languages.
– Music Memos (Free) – Apple’s Music Memos app, which is meant to be used for recording and saving quick song and melody ideas, now works in the Messages app. You can share your song ideas in Messages using the new Music Memos for iMessage app, giving you a quick way to send what you’re working on to friends and family.
– OpenTable (Free) – Reservation app OpenTable’s Messages app aims to answer the question “Where should we eat?” It offers the ability to suggest restaurants to friends and family, vote on options, and then make a reservation all without leaving Messages.
– Genius – Song lyrics and music app Genius has a Messages extension that allows users to look up lyrics to songs and then send them to friends. It’s a handy way to share the lyrics to what you’re listening to without having to look them up in Safari or another app.
– Truth Truth Lie (Free) – From the creator of SketchParty TV, Truth Truth Lie is a Messages game that allows users to record three video clips, two containing a truth and one containing a lie. The objective is to guess which ones are the truth and which is the lie.
– Square Cash (Free) – As long as you’ve connected the Square Cash app to your phone number and bank account, Square Cash for iMessage lets you quickly send money to your friends from within iMessage. You can choose an amount and send it in just a couple of taps, making Square Cash’s already-simple money sending process even easier.
– Snappy Browser ($1.99) – Snappy Browser is a third-party browser that lets you use the web within Messages for looking up quick tidbits of information. You can look something up and then send a link without having to exit Messages to use Safari.
– ESPN (Free) – With the ESPN Messages app, you can watch game highlights in iMessage and share current scores with friends. It pulls data from from your ESPN account, displaying the teams you follow, and offers a quick way to send a score to keep someone up to date on a game.
– Momento ($1.99) – Momento is an app that scans your photos and makes GIFs from your images, which can then be shared in the Messages app. It takes two or more images that were taken at the same time and combines them, for quick little animations that resurface old memories.
Found an awesome app or game we haven’t covered? Make sure to share it in the comments.
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Apple’s iWork for iOS Apps Updated With Real-Time Collaboration
Apple today updated its iWork line of apps, including Pages, Keynote, and Numbers, for iOS 10. The new versions of the apps include a real-time collaboration feature, which is available as a beta.
With real-time collaboration, first announced on September 7, multiple users can edit an iWork document at one time using a Mac, an iOS device, or iCloud.com. Real-time collaboration allows all users to see what each person is doing inside the document, with multiple cursors and a list of document editors.
Also included in today’s update is a new formatting pane designed for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, support for wide color gamut (a feature coming in the iPhone 7), improved downloading, and enhanced keyboard navigation and keyboard shortcuts.
What’s New in Version 3.0
– Real-time collaboration (feature in beta)
– Edit a document with others at the same time in Pages on Mac, iPad, iPhone, and iCloud.com
– Share your document publicly or with specific people
– See who else is in a document
– See participants’ cursors as they’re editing– A new format pane takes advantage of the display on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro
– Improved downloading – Pages now downloads documents from iCloud only when you’re ready to work on them
– Wide color gamut image support
– Enhanced keyboard navigation and additional keyboard shortcuts
In Keynote, there’s an option to present a slideshow that users can follow along with from their Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iCloud.com, and there’s a feature for highlighting with the Apple Pencil while presenting on the iPad Pro. Pages and Keynote also both feature support for opening and editing Pages and Keynote ’05 documents.
Apple’s line of iWork apps are free to users who have recently purchased a new Mac or iOS device. Otherwise, each iWork app for Mac is available for $19.99 while each iWork app for iOS is available for $9.99.
Pages for iOS – [App Store]
Keynote for iOS – [App Store]
Numbers for iOS – [App Store]
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Apple Says Over-the-Air iOS 10 Update Issue is Fixed
In a statement given to BuzzFeed’s John Paczkowski, Apple says the issue that was causing iOS 10 updates installed over-the-air to fail on some iPads and iPhones has been resolved, making it safe to resume iOS 10 downloads.
“We experienced a brief issue with the software update process, affecting a small number of users during the first hour of availability. The problem was quickly resolved and we apologize to those customers. Anyone who was affected should connect to iTunes to complete the update or contact AppleCare for help.
Shortly after iOS 10 was released, a number of people who attempted to install iOS 10 using an over-the-air download saw their installation fail, effectively bricking devices until plugged into iTunes for an update or restore. For people who are not near a computer or who do not own one, this is a significant problem.
Users who were already affected by the problem will need to continue on with the restore process using a computer, but new users who attempt to install the update should not run into the problem.
Apple recommends creating a backup before installing any new iOS update, and those worried about having the install fail can instead download the update through iTunes, an installation method that has not been affected.
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iOS 10 Over-the-Air Update Bricking Some iPhones and iPads
The new iOS 10 update, released today, appears to be causing problems for some iPad and iPhone owners who are installing it over-the-air. On the MacRumors forums, we’re seeing multiple reports from users who have attempted to install iOS 10 and have had their devices put into recovery mode, requiring a restore.
It does not seem to be limited to a single device, but most reports from iPad owners are coming from those who have the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, which has had trouble with new software releases in the past. Multiple iPhone models also appear to be affected. From MacRumors forum member bit_bucket:
What the actual heck. iPhone just bricked itself as well. That makes 2 devices screwed up by the OTA update and I have to try and restore to the older version now. I do not jailbreak and I did not preinstall the update. Just installed for the first time now. Come on apple. Appears since I hit update right after it hit the servers, I somehow got a corrupt install.
Anyone else having these issues?
Users who have their iOS 10 devices bricked by the update will need to do an iTunes restore, which will erase all data.Here’s the message users are receiving:
There is a problem with the iPhone “iPhone” that requires it to be updated or restored.
The problem may be fixed by updating your iPhone, which preserves your settings and content. However, if updating doesn’t work, it may be necessary to click Restore, which erases all settings and content. If you backed up this iPhone to this computer or iCloud, you’ll be prompted to restore the backup onto the iPhone.
In light of the installation issues some users are facing, those who are concerned about their devices being sent into recovery mode and bricked should hold off on downloading the iOS 10 update for the time being until more information can be uncovered. A backup before installing is also recommended.
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Apple releases iOS 10 and watchOS 3
You no longer have to be a guinea pig to give Apple’s latest software upgrades a try — as promised, the Cupertino crew has released the finished versions of iOS 10 and watchOS 3. As before, iOS’ biggest improvements are in communication — Messages gets apps, hand-drawn images, secret messages and stickers (among many other additions), while Siri now offers you control over third-party apps. You’ll also see major interface revamps in Maps (which now offers proactive suggestions) and Music, a Home app to manage smart household gadgets, lock screen widgets and wider use of 3D Touch on supporting hardware.
As for watchOS 3? It’s nothing less than a major rethink of the platform. Your favorite apps will not only load much faster (as they’re stored in memory), but the side button has changed from its original focus on contacts to bringing up favorite apps. You can also hand-draw replies, quickly access common settings and share activities to get some extra motivation. A Breathe app reminds you to relax, and iOS 10’s Home app gets a wrist-worn counterpart.
And Apple TV fans, you’re included too… although the upgrades aren’t as dramatic. The newly launched tvOS 10 update primarily introduces a dark mode for those late-night movies, a single sign-on to spare you from signing into umpteen services and Siri voice search for YouTube. You’ll need a fourth-generation Apple TV to see any of these differences.
Apple Releases iOS 10 With Redesigned Lock Screen, New Messages Features, Third-Party Siri, and More
Apple today released iOS 10, the latest operating system designed for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, to the public. iOS 10 can be downloaded on the iPhone 5 and later, the iPad mini and later, the iPad 2 and later, and the 6th generation iPod touch.
The update is available on all eligible devices through iTunes or over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the update, go to Settings –> General –> Software update. As with all major software releases, it may take a few minutes for the update to propagate due to high user demand.
According to Apple, iOS 10 is the “biggest release ever” for iOS devices, with major updates for Messages, Siri, Photos, Maps, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and the iOS interface.
iOS 10 features a redesigned Lock screen experience with 3D Touch-enabled notifications, a more easily accessible camera, and a widgets screen. A revamped Control Center also offers 3D Touch support along with new controls for music and HomeKit devices. Raise to Wake, a new feature for the latest devices, wakes up the iPhone without bypassing notifications.
Messages has been entirely overhauled with new features like background animations, bubble effects, rich links, and Digital Touch, and there’s even a full Messages App Store that can add almost unlimited capabilities to messages, from sending stickers and GIFs to making payments or placing collaborative dinner orders.
A new Siri SDK lets developers build support into their apps, and a dedicated “Home” app gives users a central place to control HomeKit devices. Photos features impressive facial and object recognition capabilities, and a new Memories feature allows you to discover forgotten memories.
Maps and Apple Music have both been redesigned with cleaner, simpler interfaces, with Maps gaining proactive suggestions and integrated third-party apps and Music gaining better content discovery features and a new focus on lyrics.
There’s a new feature that lets stock iOS apps be hidden from sight, and the QuickType keyboard is smarter with new contextual predictions, including emoji predictions. Apple Pay is available on the web starting today, and Game Center has been largely eliminated.
For full details on the new features included in iOS 10, make sure to check out our complete iOS 10 roundup.
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Apple Releases Swift Playgrounds Coding App for iPad
Alongside iOS 10, tvOS 10, and watchOS 3, Apple today officially released Swift Playgrounds, a new app aimed at teaching both children and adults how to code through simple interactive coding exercises. It’s meant to make learning to code “easy and fun” for everyone.
First announced in June at WWDC, Swift Playgrounds is meant for beginners who have no experience with coding, and it will be deployed in numerous schools around the world as standard curriculum.
“Everyone should have the opportunity to learn coding, and we are excited to bring Swift Playgrounds to the next generation of programmers looking for a fun and easy way to explore key coding concepts using real code,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “More than 100 schools around the world have already committed to adding Swift Playgrounds to their fall curriculum, and we can’t wait to see what students create with it.”
Swift Playgrounds is organized into a series of lessons that introduce new concepts and guide users through challenges and puzzles. It’s centered on three characters that need to be guided through a graphical world using coding concepts like issuing commands, creating functions, performing loops, and using conditional code and variables. Apple plans to release new lessons on a regular basis.
The app also includes built-in templates that can be modified to create customized programs that can be shared with friends and family, and Swift Playgrounds code can be exported directly to Xcode to be turned into a full iOS or Mac app.
Swift Playgrounds is compatible with all iPad Air and iPad Pro models, along with the iPad mini 2 and later. iOS 10 is required to download the app, which is available for free from the App Store.
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Nintendo’s Super Mario Run Sticker Pack Launches Ahead of iOS 10
Nintendo today released its promised Super Mario Run sticker pack designed for the Messages App Store, offering Nintendo fans a selection of high-quality Super Mario stickers to share.
The Super Mario Run sticker pack can be downloaded on an iOS device, but it is not listed in the dedicated Messages App Store nor can it be installed on a device running an iOS 10 beta or the iOS 10 golden master.
When iOS 10 becomes available to the public tomorrow morning, the Super Mario Run sticker pack, along with other sticker packs, will be accessible. We expect to see iOS 10 released right around 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time on September 13.
Unveiled at Apple’s September 9 event, Super Mario Run is an upcoming Mario-themed endless runner. In the game, Mario runs forward continuously while players jump to collect coins and avoid enemies, and there’s also a “Toad Rally” battle mode for competing against other players.
Apple is promoting Super Mario Run heavily, including offering a new “Notify” system in the App Store that will let players know when it’s released. According to the Super Mario Run Stickers app, Super Mario Run will see an official launch in December of 2016.
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