Year: 2016

Apple’s free app of the week: Pixel Cup Soccer 16

Apple on Thursday updated its App of the Week promotion with the game Pixel Cup Soccer 16. This means from now through next Thursday, you’ll be able to pick up the retro-style football title for free on both iPhone and iPad—saving you $3.

As you've probably gathered by now, Pixel Cup Soccer 16 is a retro-style, dynamic arcade game. It features fast-pace gameplay, nostalgic graphics and soundtrack that will take you back to the 90's, and 3 game modes: Friendly, competition and PKs.

Sprint reveals its own unlimited data plan

Joining a chorus of carrier updates, U.S. wireless carrier Sprint today revealed an unlimited plan of its own. Called Unlimited Freedom and available starting at $60 per month, it offers unlimited 4G LTE data, talk and text, with the ability to add a second line for an extra $40 per month, or up to eight lines for an additional $30 per month each.

Additionally, Sprint's prepaid subsidiary Boost Mobile revealed a similar plan of its own. Both plans are available for new and existing customers starting tomorrow.

With few weeks until iOS 10’s fall release, iOS 9 adoption hits 87 percent of devices

Various editions of iOS 9 are currently installed on 87 percent of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices, a one-point gain versus a month ago. During the same period, iOS 8 has dropped from eleven to ten percent of devices, suggesting much of iOS 9's growth could be owed to upgrades. Earlier editions of iOS continue to comprise about three percent of devices.

The stats were derived from Apple's logs capturing devices that accessed the App Store on August 15, 2016, and are publicized on the App Store dashboard.

T-Mobile One gives you unlimited 4G LTE data for $70 per month beginning September 6

Just as U.S. carrier AT&T announced more affordable data plans with no overage charges, Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile USA today launched One, its brand new $70 per month plan with unlimited 4G LTE data, calling and text, plus no data caps. However, if you plan on streaming high-definition video on One, that'll be an extra $25 unless you're content with video streaming in standard (DVD-like) quality in 480p.

The new plan is available for new postpaid customers beginning Tuesday, September 6 at T-Mobile stores nationwide and t-mobile.com.

3D Touch controls have come to Jetpack Joyride

Jetpack Joyride by Halfbrick Studios, one of the few games I still play and always keep on my phone thanks to regular content updates, has been refreshed on the App Store with support for 3D Touch, letting you press the display on your iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus to control the character.

Thanks to 3D Touch's ability to sense multiple degrees of pressure, the harder you press, the faster you'll jetpack.

In addition, the game introduces a new Hardwood costume whilst ditching the rolling inventory, which means you can now buy any extra item whenever you want.

Chick-fil-A to accept Apple Pay starting tomorrow

American fast food chain Chick-fil-A said on Twitter it's upgraded its registers and will start accepting Apple Pay payments tomorrow. Responding to an inquiry about NFC support, a company representative has confirmed that as of tomorrow, August 19, Apple Pay and Android Pay will be available for payment both in-restaurant and in the Drive Thru.

With Apple Pay support, Chick-fil-A customers will simply bring their iPhone or Apple Watch to the card reader to pay for their meal.

Snapchat optimized for iPhone’s Low Power Mode

Earlier this week, Snapchat issued a small update to its free of charge iPhone application on the App Store. Bumping version number to 9.37, the app is now optimized for iOS's Low Power Mode which debuted in iOS 9 last year.

“When your device is in Low Power Mode, Snapchat will now automatically reduce its battery usage,” according to release notes accompanying a 96.1-megabyte download.

Deus Ex GO for iPhone and iPad now available

Thursday, Hitman GO and Lara Croft GO [review] creators Square Enix Montréal released their latest premium game on the App Store, Deus Ex GO. A turn-based puzzle infiltration game set in a stylized interpretation of the Deus Ex Universe, it puts you in the shoes of covert agent Adam Jensen. You'll use hacking, combat and augmentations to solve “the most intricate puzzles of the entire GO series”, according to developers.