iPod Touch

Making your iPhone and iPad charge faster

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 22, 2019

It's somewhat depressing that Android manufacturers increasingly outfit their flagship smartphones with fast-charging capability while iPhones, and especially iPads, still take forever to charge from zero to hundred percent. And if you happen to actually use your iOS device while it's connected to power, you'll experience even slower-than-usual charging times.

But as it turns out, there's one simple trick everyone should employ every time they plug their iPhone, iPod touch or iPad into a power brick in order to make it charge faster.

Infuse 4.2 adds Library view on tvOS, trakt ratings sync, Spotlight search on iOS and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

The versatile Infuse media player for the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV by aTV Flash Black developer FireCore today got bumped to version 4.2, bringing dozens of new features, enhancements and refinements to both the iOS and tvOS edition of the software.

Infuse 4.2 now surfaces your content in Spotlight search, lets you sync ratings for rate content on trakt.tv and has new Continuous Playback options.

On the fourth-generation Apple TV, Infuse gained a new Library mode and Smart Filters, an artwork picker for your Favorites and lots of other improvements. Plus, audiophiles will be pleased to learn that Infuse for Apple TV is now capable of reproducing 7.1 content.

Yahoo Esports now has an official iPhone app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 5, 2018

Esports are the real deal, and with Yahoo's brand new Esports for iPhone app following your favorite teams, keeping track of the scores and watching online events just got easier.

Available for free on the App Store, the official app has many of the features and functionality found on the web and in its Android counterpart, which launched last month.

Readdle’s PDF Expert 5 gains Apple Pencil support and seamless Wi-Fi file transfer

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 19, 2016

Now you can take the most from your Apple Pencil and iPad Pro with a new version of Readdle's PDF Expert for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, which was pushed to the App Store this morning.

In addition to swiping with your finger and sketching with Apple Pencil, the application now permits you to transfer PDF documents from your Mac to the iPad, or vice versa, with a single tap, courtesy of Readdle's all-new Transfer technology.

Uber app now lets you track family members

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 18, 2016

Ride-sharing service Uber today announced an interesting new feature for its mobile application on the App Store, introducing a Find My Friends-like feature that permits you to track family members on the map. Called Trip Tracker, this new feature provides automatic notifications and the ability to follow along on the map whenever someone is riding under your Family Profile. Trip Tracker and Family Profile features are available worldwide starting today.

Mekorama review—guide a tiny robot through mechanical dioramas

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 18, 2016

As promised, Odd Bot Out developer Martin Magni released his eagerly anticipated 3D puzzler for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, Mekorama. Featuring M.C. Escher-style 3D architecture, Mekorama is this year’s Monument Valley.

In this addictive and remarkably well-executed game, you're tasked with guiding a charming robot as he embarks on a journey through more than fifty mechanical dioramas.

As a great bonus, Mekorama comes with a full-blown level editor that lets anyone build their own dioramas and share them online via built-in QR code scanning, no additional downloads required whatsoever.

“OK Hound, what’s this song?”

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 17, 2016

SoundHound, a Santa Clara, California headquartered audio recognition and cognition company, today pushed an interesting update to its free and paid App Store apps, which now include a brand new, pretty powerful voice-activated music assistant feature.

Responding to the 'OK Hound' keyword, the new search and assistant mode translates your spoken commands into appropriate actions, letting you identify songs, discover new music, add tracks to your Apple Music playlist and more, hands-free.

Google’s mobile app gains keyboard shortcuts, busiest hours in search results & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 17, 2016

Google's native search app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad today received a pretty significant update on the App Store, bringing the app to version 15.0.

People who use an external keyboard with their iPad can now use time-saving shortcuts within the app to search faster and navigate the app more easily.

Other improvements in this release of the Google app include busiest hours in search results and dynamic font sizing enhancements.

The Google app is available free on the App Store.

How to delete your Google account

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 17, 2016

Deleting an account on Google is a pretty complex multi-step process. You cannot just delete it on a whim before doing some housekeeping because that's where crucial records of everything you do with Google services like Gmail, Maps and YouTube are being stored.

Depending on your interactions with Google, the data associated with your account may include everything from your personal files to your vacation images to stored bookmarks, web searches, locations, purchased apps, media and much more.

Therefore, it is absolutely crucial that you download all your important data, past searches and purchased media, as well as update other services that use your Google account, before you actually delete it.

We have created this tutorial with these precautions in mind: using our cheat sheet and following detailed step-by-step instructions in this guide, you will safely dispose of your Google account in a manner that won't ruin your experience on other websites, delete your personal data without giving you a chance to download it beforehand or otherwise ruin your online life.

How to disable Safari Suggestions on iPhone, iPad, Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 3, 2026

Learn how to turn off Safari suggestions on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac that appear as content previews when typing search terms in the address bar.

Be a virtual tourist: take scripted 3D tours of world’s major metropolises on Apple Maps

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 11, 2019

You knew about three-dimensional buildings and landmarks on Apple Maps—a feature they're calling Flyover mode. But did you know that Apple's mapping service includes virtual tours of more than a hundred major metropolises worldwide? If not, that's because Apple hasn't exactly gone to great lengths to advertise it front and center in the Maps interface.

These virtual tours are basically auto-playing animations in Flyover mode, complete with three-dimensional buildings, terrain and landmarks. They're quite useful if you're visiting a city for the first time, though virtual tourists who want a quick overview of a major city will also find them fun and entertaining.

Here's how you can explore and enjoy 3D Flyover Tours on Apple Maps for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Mac.

Getting your point across, artfully, with PointOut

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 13, 2016

PointOut for iPhone, an exciting image annotation app, is celebrating its first birthday with a feature-packed update that surfaced yesterday on the App Store.

As its name hints, this app lets you point out things on your photos and iOS screenshots with pointers such as arrows, dots, circles, lifelike loupes, precision glasses, different canvas layouts, focus areas and more.

These tolls make it super easy to highlight or enlarge specific details on your photos in a manner that'll make an impact on your audience.

In its latest update, PointOut has gained some new pointers with draggable text labels for making even greater impact, a flat magnifying glass for those who couldn't stand the skeuomorphic ones, full support for non-standard iOS keyboards and more.

Having been using this app for months, I've grown to like it quite a lot. This quick review should give you an idea why I deem PointOut a unique iOS annotation app.