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Midweek news bites – app updates, emoji fixes, and iOS bugs

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Plenty of Apple, iPhone, and iPad news gets released each week – but we know you’re busy, so we’ve got your back. Here, we’ve picked out some of the most notable things you should know from the past few days and summarized them for easy digestion. Not just straightforward Apple news, but interesting iPhone-adjacent tidbits, too. You’re welcome.

So please dig into this week’s Apple news bites, freshly sourced from all around the web. As ever, click through to read the full stories if you want to know more!

Mario Kart Tour released for iOS

It’s been a long time coming, but Nintendo’s most popular multiplayer franchise has finally hit iOS. Mario Kart Tour is free to download, and though it’s peppered with IAP, the visuals look great and the core gameplay seems pretty promising. If Apple Arcade’s new Sonic Racers game left you pining for the king of kart racers to return, look no further.

Apple fixes several ‘incorrect’ emoji

iOS 13.1 was released yesterday and amidst the routine bug fixes are some graphical changes to a bunch of new emoji. Icons including the squid, octopus, and mosquito had been flagged as anatomically incorrect – so Apple has fixed the offending items. Several other emoji have been similarly updated based on user feedback.

IKEA Place improves its AR capabilities

One of the first mainstream apps to toy with augmented reality (AR) has just launched a huge update. IKEA Place now allows users to try out multiple items at once and preview entire room setups. It’s also improved its interface with a focus on curation, to help you find the best furniture to explore.

Update for Apple’s video editing apps

No matter how you like to edit your videos, Apple has you covered. Updates to its iMovie editing suite as well as the more lightweight fun-oriented Clips app bring various improvements to both, including support for iOS 13’s Dark Mode. iMovie is now compatible with external storage drives, handy if you’re working on a massive project.

iOS bug grants full access to third-party keyboards

Here’s a worrying bug for those with keyboard tweaks installed on their device. Third-party keyboards in iOS are required to ask for full or partial access to what you type. Apple says that a just-discovered bug allows some of these keyboard apps full access even without the user granting permission. The bug is set to be fixed in the next iOS update, but in the meantime, we recommend uninstalling any third-party keyboards just to be safe.