MFI

Twelve South’s HiRise Duet keeps your iPhone and Apple Watch charged simultaneously

When you’re a proud owner of both an iPhone and an Apple Watch, you might feel reluctant to have two separate charging docks, each with their own separate wires running across your desk to keep them charged.

Fortunately, Twelve South has you covered with their all new HiRise Duet charging platform, which not only gives you a place to charge your iPhone upright, but also provides an integrated charging disc for your Apple Watch.

Nomad’s new Lightning cables cross durability with function

When you decide to pick up another Lightning cable for your iPhone or iPad, you could choose to go chintzy with another OEM cable that’ll just wear out again in no time at all, or you can go with a beefier option that will have a much longer operating life.

Nomad offers an awesome lineup of MFi-certified heavy duty ballistic 1,000D nylon braided lightning cables that are reinforced with K-29 Kevlar. But what makes these different from the competition?

OtterBox uniVERSE review: the Swiss army knife of iPhone cases

Many people who have cases on their iPhones know that not every accessory will work with it. Some cases are too thick to allow for some accessories, don’t have the room for larger port connectors, or simply aren’t compatible with other accessories because they conflict.

OtterBox wanted to do something about this without compromising your iPhone’s protection. Hence, the OtterBox uniVERSE system was created. We’ll take a look at the OtterBox uniVERSE case system in this review, along with some of the compatible accessories.

Apple supplier Cirrus Logic releases MFi Lightning headphone development kit

Apple supplier Cirrus Logic, which provides audio chips for iPhones, iPads and iPod touches, today released a software development kit for third-party vendors who wish to build Lightning-based headphones under the 'Made for iOS' (MFi) program.

iOS already supports headphones based on the proprietary Lightning connector, some of which are sold by Apple itself. As you know, the next iPhone is widely expected to drop the standard 3.5mm jack in favor of Bluetooth and Lightning headphones.

Food for thought: is 3.5mm audio plug the new floppy drive?

Wired earphones plugged into an iPhone

Responding to Nilay Patel's controversial article on The Verge, titled “Taking the Headphone Jack Off Phones Is User-Hostile and Stupid”, Daring Fireball's John Gruber pulls out the floppy drive analogy.

As you know, the next iPhone is rumored to ditch the industry-standard 3.5mm jack in favor of Bluetooth and Lightning-based headphones.

Gruber goes on to compare Nilay's arguments against removing the century-old analog jack from mobile devices to the similar arguments that had been made in response to Apple's decision to ditch the good ol' floppy drive from the iMac in 1998 for USB.

Fixing common problems with charging your iPhone or iPad

Not only did Apple spend a ton of money and time in the research leading up to its proprietary reversible Lightning cable for charging, but they've also made the software that handles charging your iOS device intelligent too.

Nevertheless, charging your device can sometimes be followed by some frustrating problems, and they're all too common. In this piece, we'll go over some of those problems charging iPhone and iPad, and what you can do to troubleshoot them.

Review: SteelSeries Nimbus Wireless Controller

If you want to do serious gaming on the Apple TV, then using a wireless Bluetooth controller isn’t an option, it’s a necessity. Yes, Apple controversially made it a requirement for all games on its platform to support the Siri Remote, but that’s not going to cut it for any game with an even mildly complex control scheme.

Games like Alto’s Adventure and Mr. Jump play perfectly fine, and are even suited for the Siri Remote, but in most cases, you’re definitely going to want a controller as an option.

Unfortunately, there is no Apple-branded controller to speak of, but Apple did co-design a controller with the help of SteelSeries. The result of that partnership is the SteelSeries Nimbus, and Apple is promoting this controller as the de facto standard alternative input device for the Apple TV.

All of that considered, while there are other 3rd-party Bluetooth controllers that work with the Apple TV, the most obvious choice is the SteelSeries Nimbus.

I purchased a Nimbus on day one, and have been playing with it for weeks. Is the $49.99 controller worth your time and hard-earned money? Is it really the best way to control games on the Apple TV?

How to check battery level of Siri Remote and game controllers on Apple TV

Apple TV Siri Remote in hand

The primary input method for the fourth-generation Apple TV is the included Siri Remote though compatible 'Made for iOS' (MFi) Bluetooth controllers can be optionally used to navigate across tvOS.

Input method notwithstanding, you'll want to occasionally check out the battery level of the connected remote or gamepad, especially if it stops working.

As tvOS lacks an iOS-style status bar, seeing the battery level of the Siri Remote and other Bluetooth devices requires paying a quick visit to Settings.

In this tutorial, you're going to learn how to check out the battery level of your Siri Remote or a Bluetooth gamepad paired with an Apple TV.

tvOS App Store is conveniently flagging gamepad-enabled apps

Unlike the regular App Store for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad application, a brand new tvOS App Store for Apple's latest fourth-generation Apple TV makes it easy to distinguish at-a-glance between games that offer support for 'Made for iOS' (MFi) gamepads and game controllers and those that don't.

As first observed by AppleInsider over the weekend, not only does the device's App Store storefront app clearly states whether or not a game supports dedicated MFi game controllers, but compatible controllers can be used to navigate across the entirety of tvOS.

Keep your iPhone 6 charged at a distance with Bolse’s Cloth Jacketed Lightning Cable

There are two things wrong with Apple's Lightning cable. One is that the cord is just not long enough to be useful. The other is that it tends to tangle when not properly stored.

Bolse solves both of those problems with a six-foot MFi certified cord that is covered in a high-quality nylon jacket so you can plug your iPhone 6 into the wall and still use it while sitting on the couch.

Review: Sennheiser ClipMic digital and Apogee MetaRecorder

As many of you guys know, I’m fairly involved in audio and video when it comes to producing content for iDownloadBlog. As someone who co-produces multiple podcasts each week, I’m especially fond of audio, and any new product that surfaces that could possibly give my audio game a boost is on my radar.

One such product is Sennheiser’s new ClipMic digital ($199 on Amazon). It’s a lavalier mic that connects directly to the iPhone via its MFi certified Lightning connector. With the ClipMic digital, you can basically transform your iPhone into a high quality audio recorder...