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EA announces Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, a collectible card game set in the PvZ universe

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 10, 2016

Super publisher Electronic Arts today announced Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, a new installment in its popular Plants vs. Zombies series that “takes you beyond the backyard.” A collectible card game, Heroes lets you choose from hundreds of characters across the Plants vs. Zombies universe, including new roster favorites from Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 like Super Brainz, Z-Mech, Citron and Rose.

Featuring comic-style narrative that tells the story gradually as the game progresses, Heroes challenges you to assemble an all-star Plants vs. Zombies team to outwit opponents in battle. The game soft-launched in New Zealand ahead of its upcoming worldwide release.

Apple seeds tvOS 9.2 beta 6 to developers

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 10, 2016

Thursday, Apple seeded a sixth beta of the upcoming tvOS 9.2 software update for the fourth-generation Apple TV to the members of the Apple Developer Program.

The new tvOS 9.2 beta 6 has a build number of “13Y5232a” and is available as an over-the-air update on new Apple TVs with a configuration profile installed.

The restore image to side-load tvOS betas on Apple TVs via iTunes or Apple Configurator using a USB-C to USB-A cable is on Apple's portal for developers.

Apple sends out invites for March 21 event: “Let us loop you in”

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Following weeks of speculation, Apple on Thursday sent out invites for a media event later this month that should serve as a launchpad for new iPhone and iPad models, Apple Watch bands and possibly more.

The press event will be held at Apple's Cupertino campus on Monday, March 21, 2016, at 10:00am PT, and will be live-streamed using HTTP Live Streaming.

As you may have guessed, iDownloadBlog will continue covering everything there's to know about about Apple's product refreshes.

Eddy Cue: what if FBI forces Apple to spy on users via iPhone’s camera or microphone?

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 10, 2016

Not a day goes by without one of Apple's executives reaffirming the company's position on encryption. In a new Spanish-language interview with Univision, Eddy Cue, Apple's Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, made the case against the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) gaining additional surveillance powers.

Were the government to force Apple to create a version of iOS with decreased security, nothing would prevent it from seeking other concessions, Cue said.

“For example, one day the FBI may want us to open your phone's camera, microphone,” he cautioned. “Those are things we can't do now. But if they can force us to do that, I think that's very bad.”

Social Square puts your favorite social networks in one app

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 10, 2016

As a rule thumb, the more popular a social network is the uglier, slower and more terrible its mobile app gets.

Facebook's app, for instance, has long been criticized for its battery hogginess, especially after it's been discovered that it's suspiciously circumventing Background App Refresh to continue running in the background when it should not.

That's where Social Square comes into play.

Formerly known as MySocial, this iPhone app by Chase Giles lets you browse Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and Tumblr without having to worry about your iPhone's battery life.

Spigen’s case renderings suggest iPhone SE may be nearly indistinguishable from iPhone 5s

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 10, 2016

Accessory vendor Spigen has created renderings of a work-in-progress case that it designed for Apple's upcoming 'iPhone SE'. Spigen often has some of the first cases available for new iOS devices so assuming they know what they're doing here, it could be concluded that the upcoming iPhone SE might be virtually indistinguishable from the iPhone 5s.

The rumor-mill is in disagreement over the design of the iPhone SE, with one camp claiming the handset is basically a four-inch iPhone with an iPhone 6/6s-like case and the other insisting the device will feature an iPhone 5s-like look and feel.

Claimed iPad Air 3 case has holes for quad speakers, Smart Connector and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2016

After posting images of a purported iPhone 7 case with holes for a pair of speaker grilles and dual cameras on the back, gadget leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer today posted on Twitter images of a claimed iPad Air 3 case.

Corroborating the notion that Apple's third-generation iPad Air is basically a smaller, 9.7-inch iPad Pro with the same A9X processor, Smart Connector and a four-speaker setup like the iPad Pro, the images show off openings in the right places for quad speakers and the Smart Connector.

Readdle updates PDF Expert with Handoff support and other enhancements

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 10, 2016

Readdle, the Ukrainian developer of fine productivity software, has refreshed its PDF management and annotation app, PDF Expert for OS X and PDF Expert for iOS, with support for Apple's Handoff technology.

With Handoff, PDF Expert users can start editing a PDF document on their iPhone or iPad and then continue right where they left off on their Mac, and vice versa.

In addition, today's update includes half a dozen enhancements like the ability to select part of a document and crop or copy it.

Apple semi-officially confirms that force-quitting apps won’t extend iPhone battery life

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 10, 2016

As our own Sebatien recently explained, force-quitting multitasking apps to save your iPhone's battery life is a terrible idea because A) Apple is giving developers proper tools to have their apps work efficiently in the background; and B) users should trust the operating system is effectively managing apps that aren’t active.

Today, Apple has confirmed that users should not force-quit apps frequently and has said that doing so won't help extend the iPhone's battery life at all.

Apple Music Radio tab enhanced with live schedule, show details and other new features

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 10, 2016

Apple has refreshed the Radio tab within the stock Music app on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad with a dynamically updated Beats 1 banner along with live schedule, show details, host biographies, show artwork and other perks.

As first noted by 9to5Mac, the Beats 1 banner in the Radio section now updates automatically to show the currently-airing live radio show along with information like the show's airing location and artwork.

Little-known Mac feature lets you watch window minimizing animations in slow motion

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated April 10, 2019

Mac OS X comes with a little-known function that lets you slow down the Dock's window minimization animation just for the fun of it.

Since Apple spends a lot of time creating quality animations with sleek and buttery-smooth transitions, it's only fair that they should give users a way to enjoy them in slow motion.

In this tutorial, we'll show you how you can view your Dock's window minimization animation in slow motion.

‘Ask to Buy’ lets you control what your kids buy in iTunes, iBooks, or App Store

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated July 31, 2018

After a period of Apple being under fire because kids were running up their parents' credit card bills with App Store and in-app purchases, Apple decided to do something about it. Apple's answer was to create a parental control system for the App Store so parents could approve or deny purchases that would otherwise have an impact on their credit card.

This parental control system is known as 'Ask to Buy' and it's available on both iOS and OS X in the latest releases of the operating systems, and in this tutorial, we'll tell you a little bit about how to configure and use Ask to Buy.