How to have the Music app only show songs stored on your device

Thanks to the introduction of goodies like the iCloud Music Library and more recently Apple Music, your Music app on iPhone and iPad has not only turned from a luscious red color into a plain icon, but has also become decidedly more convoluted.

The main change since the coming of the cloud-based additions to the Music app? Songs no longer have to be stored locally on your device in order to be visible and playable. In case you haven’t yet found the trick hiding in plain sight to only play the songs downloaded to your device (and prevent exorbitant data charges), let’s fill you in now!

NoLockScreenCam disables camera access on the Lock screen

Anyone with an iPhone should know by now that you can swipe to the left on the Lock screen to quickly access your camera. On the other hand, not everyone wants their camera to be readily accessible to anybody who picks the phone up.

A new free jailbreak tweak called NoLockScreenCam by i0s_tweak3r is the answer to this ongoing dilemma, as it disables access to the camera from the Lock screen.

Google’s $35 per month YouTube TV service launches in five US cities

Announced a month ago, Google's live TV streaming bundle launched today in five U.S. markets. Named YouTube TV, it's available in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago.

YouTube TV gives you access to live TV streaming from Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC and popular cable networks along with content from 39 other local broadcast networks and channels like ESPN, in exchange for $35 per month.

3D artist Martin Hajek imagines what iPhone 8 with nearly full-screen face might look like

Dutch 3D artist Martin Hajek is behind some of the best conceptual renderings that we've featured here on iDownloadBlog. Recently, he teamed up with German magazine Computer Bild to do a batch of renderings for them imagining Apple's upcoming iPhone X aka iPhone 8 aka iPhone Edition.

The images hit all the right notes, from a curved AMOLED display with no visible side bezels to an almost full-screen face with no visible chin at the bottom and a thin black strip at the top where the earpiece, sensors and the FaceTime camera are located.

Facebook is turning your friends who aren’t hip enough to use Stories into ghosts

Facebook last week rolled out a Snapchat-esque Stories feature to all users of its mobile app. So far, most users seem to be ignoring these glorified auto-vanishing slideshows so the company is introducing some visual tweaks, possibly in an effort to boost usage of the feature.

As first noticed by The Verge, friends who aren't using Stories now appeared ghosted at the app's top as a bit of encouragement for the new feature.

Audio-only calls rolling on Google Duo

Google announced during its Spring event in São Paulo, Brazil that audio-only calls would be coming soon to Duo, its one-to-one video calling app for iOS and Android. Today, the company pushed a small update to Duo for iPhone that enables this feature (which first rolled out to users in Brazil) for everyone. Available free of charge on App Store, Google Duo version 9.1 brings out VoIP audio calling along with unspecified bug fixes and product improvements.

Siri could soon recognize your voice & let you customize “Hey Siri” hotword

The United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) recently published a patent application from Apple, uncovered by PatentlyApple, that's interesting on many levels. It basically hints at a new security feature that may or may not come to Siri in the future. In a nutshell, Apple’s proposed solution would let Siri recognize the voice of the device owner.

The invention has the potential to prevent unauthorized Siri interactions on the Lock screen and across CarPlay and HomeKit devices.

Apple Watch Series 3 to release in second half of 2017, older models likely to be discounted

A third-generation Apple Watch is expected to be announced in the fall with battery life and performance improvements. Today, DigiTimes said Apple had asked its suppliers to begin shipping parts for the device in the second half of 2017.

The tentatively named Apple Watch Series 3 should be assembled by Compal Electronics, with Quanta Computer taking over production of current models.

In other words, existing Apple Watch Series 2 and 1 models should be kept on sale at reduced prices after Apple Watch Series 3 hits.

Battery showdown: Galaxy S8+ vs. iPhone 7 Plus

Samsung's top-of-the-line Galaxy handsets are typically outfitted with some of the best-performing batteries. That said, you could imagine our surprise when we learned that the battery in Samsung's flagship Galaxy S8+ performed worse than the cell powering Apple's iPhone 7 Plus, as per a new test carried out by review website PhoneArena.

How to save .shsh2 blobs for the Apple TV

Given the recent news that a jailbreak for tvOS 10.1.1 may be coming after all, we recently advised all Apple TV 4 owners to downgrade from tvOS 10.2 to tvOS 10.1.1 immediately before signing closes.

Hand in hand with the possibility of a jailbreak comes the necessity of saving blobs for your device, which will allow you to upgrade, downgrade, or restore your device at a later date, without worrying about signing windows. This guide will walk you through how to save blobs for your Apple TV.