App Store

Call of Duty Elite For iOS Now Available for Download

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated February 21, 2018

If you're a Call of Duty Elite subscriber and happen to have an iPhone, then today is a big day for you, because Activision's accompanying iPhone app has now made its way to the App Store.

Call of Duty fans will be able to check their career stats, formulate strategies, and change weapon loudouts on the fly, all from the comfort of their iPhone.

The free Call of Duty Elite app allows gamers to make alterations that can be pushed straight into the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 game, meaning players are always ready for action.

Amazon Skirts the App Store by Launching Kindle Store Web App For the iPad

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

Amazon has launched a new web interface for its Kindle store, completely bypassing Apple's in-app purchasing system for items that are bought through App Store apps.

The original Kindle app for iOS included links to its own Kindle web store. Apple took offence to this move by Amazon, leading to Amazon removing the links for fear of having the entire app pulled from the App Store for violating Apple's guidelines. From that point on, anyone wanting to buy Kindle books on an iOS device had to reach the store manually, with no mention of it inside the Kindle app.

Netflix Goes Live in the UK App Store

Oliver Haslam ∙ January 9, 2012

The revolution has begun, and this time it will be televised. Well, more streamed than anything, but why let accuracy get in the way of a good opening line?

Netflix today launched its video on-demand service in the United Kingdom, which in turn means that Brits can now watch movies and TV shows via the service on their iPads, iPhones, iPod touches and Apple TVs, along with the myriad other solutions that US users have been enjoying for years.

UK customers can receive a free trial for one month, and then they are expected to stump up £5.99 ($9.30) per month after that, which compares favorably with the $9.99 fee for Americans...

iPad Users Have Downloaded 3 Billions Apps Since 2010

Oliver Haslam ∙ January 5, 2012

Apple keeps hitting new app download milestones, with the latest number being all about the iPad and its huge popularity since its initial introduction in early 2010.

Since Apple made the iPad available to purchase, a massive 3 billion apps have been downloaded from Apple's App Store for the tablet. To put that into some kind of perspective, it took the equally-as-popular iPhone a whole six months longer to reach the same milestone after the App Store's opening in 2008.

The news comes as rumors begin to circulate about what Apple could be working on for the next-generation iPad...

Will Apple Kill App Store Apps by Stealing Their Ideas?

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

Steve Jobs famously said that great artists steal, and the company has often taken that mantra to the extreme over the years. Some would say that much of Apple's current software bears more than a passing resemblance to some of its competitors' products.

Take iOS 5's Notification Center, for example. You'd need to be blind to say that it does not look eerily similar to the same notification system that Android has packed since day one. Some would argue that there are only so many ways you can handle something like a pull-down notification window. Some would call it stealing.

Apple has even taken some cues from its own App Store. Mobile Safari now sports a "Reading List" feature that offers a similar service to that of Instapaper, the famous web app that also has a popular iOS app in the App Store. Instapaper's developer, Marco Arment, doesn't seem too concerned, but others were not so happy...

What Twitter Got Right and Wrong With Its New iPhone App

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated February 21, 2018

Twitter is the social network of choice for many an iPhone user, and it is particularly near and dear to our hearts here at iDownloadBlog. The popularity Twitter has in the world of iOS is perhaps the main reason that the latest update to the company's app has been so controversial.

Some users of the official Twitter app for the iPhone and iPod touch (the iPad app has not been redesigned just yet) clearly appreciate the changes that Twitter has made to the interface, while others hate it so much that they have sought out other, 3rd-party apps.

Three weeks after Twitter made these big changes to its flagship iOS app, how is one of iDB's biggest Twitter users, namely moi, finding life with the much-changed, much-maligned Twitter 4.0? That's a very, very good question...

Apple TV Now Running iOS Apps in Fullscreen 720p Resolution

Oliver Haslam ∙ January 1, 2012

As if there was ever any doubt that clever people do clever things, Steve Troughton-Smith and fellow coder TheMudKip have taken things one step further than making iOS apps run on an Apple TV.

Because simply making the apps run on the Apple TV wasn't awesome enough, the pair has now found a way to make iOS applications run at the full 720p resolution of the Apple TV. The original news was that the Apple TV was being forced to run iOS apps in windows, which was great in itself. Making apps run fullscreen is the next logical step, and it seems that it has already been taken.

The images shared by 9to5Mac show iPad apps running at 720p, which makes a great deal of sense considering the iPad's own resolution of 1024x768...

Steve Jobs Tribute Calendar Rejected by Apple’s App Store Police

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated March 18, 2019

When Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs passed away in October, people around the world felt like they had lost someone they knew, if only through the devices they own that bear the Apple brand. Many took to Apple Stores as a way of paying their respects, leaving messages and Apple products when they left.

One iOS app developer decided that the best way to honor Jobs was to release a free calendar app on Apple's App Store honoring the late industry titan, but according to MacNN, Apple was not so keen on the idea. Apple's App Store review team decided to reject the app, meaning we will never get to see the tribute ourselves...

This App Adds Weather Conditions to Your Lock Screen Without Jailbreaking

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

If you're the kind of person that likes to keep an eye on the weather forecast without having to load the Weather app or look out of a window, then you are going to love this!

Unfortunately, Apple does not allow the Notification Center weather widget to show up in the iOS lock screen, but there are plenty of jailbreak tweaks and apps that will do just that. What if you don't want to jailbreak, though? Now there is a solution, and it's made its way through Apple's App Store, too.

Unimaginatively named "Lock Screen Weather App," this app will do just what many have been crying out for – display weather information on an iPhone's lock screen without the need to jailbreak anything...

Cat Playing Fruit Ninja is Super Awesome

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated May 30, 2017

We've conducted extensive tests here at iDB, and we have come to the cat-egorical (see what we did there?) conclusion that there is nothing more awesome on this planet than cats. Ceiling cat, keyboard cat, the list goes on.

Now we can add Fruit Ninja cat to the growing list of fantastic felines, after a video surfaced of one such feline showing that fruit just who the boss really is.

Just watch this video, we dare, nay double-dare you to not raise a smile. Perhaps even giggle a tad...

60beat’s $50 iOS GamePad Controller Brings the Console Experience to Mobile

Oliver Haslam ∙ December 29, 2011

iOS is growing to be a major player in the gaming space. When you are selling as many iPhones and iPads as Apple is, not to mention iPod touches, then it is almost an inevitability that your own App Store is going to become a mecca for all manner of games.

With its touch-based interface and huge screen, the iPad in particular has become something of a giant in the mobile gaming world, but the same touch screen that is is biggest strength can also be its biggest weakness. That's why this new accessory really caught our eye.

Coming from accessory company 60beat, this new controller gives gamers a more familiar way of controlling their games. If iOS gaming is to truly take over, then there needs to be a natural way to play traditional games, and that natural way involves a couple of thumbsticks and some hardware buttons.