Cody Lee

Cody Lee, iDownloadBlog.com’s longest-serving Editor, joined the site in 2008. He specializes in uncovering the best deals on Apple products, apps, and accessories. With years of experience in technology journalism, Cody helps readers save money while staying informed about the latest trends and updates in the Apple ecosystem. Cody’s history with smartphones goes almost as far back as he does. As the son of a Nokia employee, he was exposed early on to handsets like the N91 and the Communicator. He has since been involved in nearly every aspect of the mobile phone industry. While going to college, he worked at a Nokia factory, building handsets, and later moved on to a sales position at a major wireless carrier.

Apple now offering refurbished 7th-gen iPod nano online

Cody Lee ∙ April 23, 2013

Apple has been very active lately in the refurbished department of its web store. Last week it posted fifth generation iPod touch models to the page for the first time. And just weeks before that, it began offering fourth-generation iPads and iPad minis.

Today, the company has added refurbished 7th generation iPod nano models to its website, bringing its reconditioned offerings for iOS devices it introduced last fall full circle. You can now find nearly every late-model iPhone, iPad or iPod at a discount...

Surprise, Apple continues to lead the pack in US online movie rentals and purchases

Cody Lee ∙ April 23, 2013

Most folks are in agreement that Apple revolutionized the digital music industry, and the music industry as a whole, when it launched its iTunes store in April of 2003. At the time, there was no other service offering easy access to digital tracks for $0.99.

And I would argue that it did the same thing for digital movies and TV shows when it added them to iTunes in 2005 and 2006. No one came close to what Apple was doing in the space back then. And judging by the latest numbers, that still holds true today...

Discovery Channel and TLC apps gain new ‘Plus’ second-screen experience

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

This is pretty cool. Discovery Channel Communications has released updates today for both the Discovery Channel and TLC iOS apps with a new interactive second-screen experience called 'Plus,' that promises to make TV watching more enjoyable.

For those unfamiliar with second-screen apps, they essentially allow users to sync their smartphones or tablets with TV shows/movies to serve up additional—meaning more than what's being offered through the show itself—content to them in real-time...

Popular iPad photo editing app FX Photo Studio HD goes free for a limited time

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

Those in the market for an iPad photo editing app will be happy to hear that the folks over at MacPhun have just announced that following the success of last week's free iPhone app offering, they've made their popular FX Photo Studio HD free for a limited time.

The team says that the $1.99 discount is in celebration of the iPhone version of FX Photo Studio hitting over 1 million downloads during its 3-day free promotion last week, where it became the top free photography app in the App Store of 39 different countries...

iPhone 4 owners begin receiving ‘antennagate’ settlement checks

Cody Lee ∙ April 23, 2013

Ah, who could forget the infamous iPhone 4 'Antennagate' debacle? It had barely been a month since Apple had introduced its newly-redesigned handset, when users began to complain of severe signal attenuation when holding the device a certain way.

Steve Jobs and company held a press conference to defend their product, but it wasn't enough to keep the lawsuits at bay. Apple was forced to offer free bumpers, or $15 in cash, to iPhone 4 owners. And now, 3 years later, the checks are finally on their way...

Netflix announces new $12 per month family plan

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Following the version 4.0 release of its iPhone and iPad app yesterday, Netflix announced that it was going to be rolling out a host of new "family friendly" features over the next few months. And it looks like the first is going to be a new family plan.

Traditionally, folks pay $8 per month for Netflix's service, which allows for unlimited streaming of its content to up to 5 devices—2 devices simultaneously. But with the new family plan, families can stream to up to 4 devices at the same time...

ZodTTD seeds public beta of new gpSPhone GBA emulator

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 28, 2017

Fans of legacy console video game systems rejoice! The well-known iOS emulator developer ZodTTD is back in action. Zod has been absent from the jailbreak scene for a while, but there's been plenty of talk of him coming back to update N64iOS and other popular ports.

That speculation materialized last night, as the developer announced that he had created a Cydia repo where he would be posting public betas of his updated emulators. And he's already seeded his first beta: gpSPhone v8.0.0, an emulator for Game Boy Advance ROMS...

Twitterrific updated with notification badges, Favstar support and more

Cody Lee ∙ April 22, 2013

Following last month's monstrous 5.2 release that brought about push notifications and other changes, Iconfactory has released another major update for its popular Twitter client, Twitterrific. Today's update brings the app to version 5.2.1, and again adds several new features.

Perhaps the most significant part of the update is the addition of notification badges, which tells you your number of unread notifications for the app at a glance. It also brings support for Favstar and Twitter's trending topics, and a number of other bug fixes and improvements...

Apple adds new ‘Later’ download option for iTunes media purchases

Cody Lee ∙ April 22, 2013

Good news iTunes users. It's been discovered today that Apple has added a new download option for folks purchasing a variety of iTunes content including movies, TV shows (episodes, Season Passes, and complete seasons) and boxed music sets.

Now, when purchasing any of the above items using iTunes 11 or a device running iOS 6+, you’re presented with 'Later' and 'Download' buttons. This gives you the option to either download your purchase immediately, or delay it to a later date...

Apple donates $8 million to earthquake victims in China

Cody Lee ∙ April 22, 2013

This weekend, folks in Sichuan, China were rocked by a devastating earthquake that leveled much of the area. The quake, which the country's earthquake administration rated a 7.0 (US Geo Survey says 6.6), destroyed countless houses and buildings.

Apple has since began facilitating donations for relief efforts in the area, and has pledged to provide new equipment for schools in the affected cities. And we've just received word that it's upped its commitment by offering up $8 million to the victims...

How to enable Chat Heads and Stickers in the Facebook app

Cody Lee ∙ April 22, 2013

Last week, Facebook released version 6.0 of its app for the iPhone and iPad. The update included two highly anticipated new features, Chat Heads and stickers, which the social network showed off at its 'Home' media event earlier this month.

Unfortunately, the two features are on a staggered rollout that Facebook said should be done "over the next few weeks," so not everyone has them yet. But never fear. As usual, the jailbreak community has come up with an easy way around this...

Cricket lowers unlimited iPhone plan to $50

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Cricket, a subsidiary of Leap Wireless, started offering the iPhone last year. Initially, it was the only prepaid carrier offering the popular smartphone, but it has since been joined by Straight Talk and other low-cost competitors.

So it's no surprise that the wireless provider announced today that it's revamping its iPhone plans, bringing them more inline with its Android plans and the competition. The service now starts at $50 for unlimited everything...