iDownloadBlog.com

iOS is one of the top gaming platforms of all time

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

When Apple added the App Store to iOS, the iPhone and iPod touch became about as disruptive to the handheld video game market as the iPhone was to the smartphone industry. All of a sudden, users had easy access to thousands of low-cost video games.

But not only has Apple since sold more iOS devices than handheld systems from Nintendo and Sony put together, it's actually sold more than all major console systems. This, among other factors, makes iOS one of the most popular gaming platforms of all time...

iOS 6 Passbook shopping gets simulated in real-world

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

iOS 6 brings a new app called Passbook that Apple argues isn't a direct payment product (yet). Instead, the program lets you collect and organize discount coupons, gift cards and some such. Patents, however, reveal that Apple is actively thinking about leveraging NFC technology to turn Passbook into a comprehensive mobile shopping solution, referred to as the iWallet.

You could create fake coupons to play around with in the Passbook app, but I'd bet my shirt that you'd still be scratching your head as to how exactly Passbook is supposed to work in real-life. A nice two-minute clip embedded below will help clear up the confusion by showing some interesting possibilities for Passbook through real-life examples...

In case you were wondering, no one is working on an Apple TV 3 jailbreak

Sébastien Page ∙ August 9, 2012

A quick note for our readers that have been patiently waiting for a jailbreak for the Apple TV third generation. According to a recent tweet by my fellow countryman and iOS hacker extraordinaire Pod2g, no one is currently working on a jailbreak for the Apple TV 3.

This doesn't really come as a surprise. The Apple TV has always been the iOS device with the least amount of attention from jailbreak hackers, likely because it is much less exciting than the iPhone or iPad...

New jailbreak tweak lets you watch restricted premium videos via AirPlay

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

Doesn't it get under your skin when you try to watch a video on the big screen via AirPlay, and at the most, all you get is sound? Sometimes companies decide to restrict users from using AirPlay or HDMI output, which results in the frustrating scenario just mentioned.

This prevents certain apps like Amazon Instant Video, HBOGO, and DirectTV from being enjoyed on your television set via AirPlay using an Apple TV.

It's actually surprising that it took this long for a Cydia developer to come up with a fix for this, but it's finally here. UnrestrictPremium is a tweak that allows you to watch video via AirPlay mirroring or HDMI output, even if the developer of the app restricts users from doing so. Want to see how it works? Then step inside and watch our hands-on video walkthrough...

Official: Google to pay $22.5M fine in Safari privacy breach scandal

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 9, 2012

As hinted last month, Google has reached a deal with The United States Government and has agreed to pay a $22.5 million fine for overriding iOS Safari users’ privacy settings in order to better track their web browsing activity.

The unusually high fine is meant to set an example for other companies who may be thinking about violating users' privacy in sneaky ways...

iFixit won’t like this: iPhone 5 could sport tamper-resistant screws with asymmetric heads

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 9, 2012

The next iPhone won't just screw developers with its taller, four-inch display and an increased resolution of 640-by-1136 pixels (though both iOS 6 and the SDK have been discovered to be scalable for taller displays) and accessory makers with a redesigned dock connector (unless Apple provides a 30-pin dock adapter), it could as well screw repair shops (pun intended) with a special screw design calling for asymmetric heads.

As if sealing the battery and allegedly using a new in-cell display technology wasn't enough, now iPhone repair shops will have to obtain non-existent tools just to pry open the upcoming device...

Nokia’s inaugural Windows Phone 8 has some familiar design

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 26, 2016

One of the most common complaints I keep hearing about the yet-unreleased next iPhone is a sense of dissapointment over its overly unchanged appearance, even if from the design standpoint the iPhone 5 is much more than a rehash of the existing iPhone 4/4S design.

Is you know, Apple's upcoming device is said to sport a two-tone metal backplate (58 percent like it), a taller four-inch screen with new display technology, a relocated headphone jack and a much smaller dock connector with MagSafe-like functionality at the bottom.

But it ain't just Apple. Nokia, once a leader in cell phones and now an also-ran, figured its inaugural Windows Phone 8 handset shouldn't change the design formula established with the sleek Windows Phone 7.5-powered Lumia 710. Heck, if the above leaked photo is the real deal, Nokia may not be willing to change the overall Lumia design much with the new handset...

The iPhone remains America’s best-selling handset, but Apple must double down on prepaid

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 9, 2012

Though Android is peaking in the United States, globally Google's platform is widening its lead over the iPhone and in the second quarter of this year accounted for an IDC-estimated two-thirds of all smartphones sold, mainly thanks to Samsung whose Android handsets represented 44 percent of all Android smartphone shipments.

A new survey by NPD sheds more light on market trends. See, postpaid smartphone units remained flat in Q2 2012 compared to the year-ago quarter. All of the growth in smartphones came as a result of prepaid smartphone unit volume almost doubling on an annual basis...

The entire iPhone 5 front assembly pictured

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2017

It seems that everybody in Asia and their mother have some spare iPhone 5 parts to share with the web at large. A new report is out today with a pair of images showing the purported front assembly of the next iPhone, meticulously disassembled in a true teardown analysis manner...

Unopened first-gen iPhone appears on eBay for $10,000

Cody Lee ∙ August 9, 2012

After months of rumors and speculation, Steve Jobs unveiled the original iPhone on January 9, 2007 in front of a large Macworld audience at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

The handset would later become available for purchase on June 29 of that year, and the rest, as they say, is history. And now you can own part of that great history for a mere $10,000...

Create disposable phone numbers for your iPhone with Burner

Cody Lee ∙ August 8, 2012

This is pretty interesting. Burner is a new service that provides you with disposable phone numbers for your iPhone. It's like having a fake phone number that you can give out, except you can actually be reached at it.

Think about all of the situations in which you are asked to give out your phone number but don't really want to — whether it be to an acquaintance, or a salesmen, or signing up for a new online service. Enter Burner...

Learn to create apps with ‘Try iOS’ coding course

Cody Lee ∙ August 8, 2012

Mobile app development is quickly becoming one of the hottest industries to be in these days. Everywhere you look it seems like there are more and more developers becoming overnight millionaires.

There are a number of options available, outside of college, for folks looking to learn how to develop applications. But they can be difficult to follow, and some are expensive. Enter Try iOS...