MacRumors

Elevation Lab has been working on docks for the iPhone for several years, ever since a dock Kickstarter project took off back in 2011.

All of that dock expertise has culminated in the simple, versatile CordDock, released in March. Priced at $39, the CordDock is similar in design to the ElevationDock 4, which quickly became my favorite dock after it came out last year.

The CordDock is like the ElevationDock 4, only better, and in my opinion, it's one of the best wired docks you can get for the iPhone. Much like its sister dock, the CordDock has a super small footprint -- it takes up minimal space on your desk.

The base is narrower than an iPhone, so the maximum amount of horizontal space it's going to take up is the width of your iPhone, and it's also less than two inches thick. It's tiny compared to most other iPhone stands, which is nice on a cluttered desk.

CordDock's small base might make it seem like it wouldn't be as sturdy as heavier docks, but it is thanks to a micro air-suction base that feels a little bit like magic. It's not sticky when you touch it, but when you put it on a hard surface, it adheres tightly enough to be super stable.

Micro air suction is strong enough that the CordDock stays in place even when you pick up the iPhone with a single hand, and that's not something that's true for other docks I own. I generally need to use two hands when I undock a phone -- one to hold the iPhone and one to hold the base down to detach it.

You will need to put the CordDock on a solid, smooth surface so it can get a good grip, but it's going to work well on a desk, night stand, countertop, or other location. I've tested it on wood, painted wood, metal, glass, and granite, and it's stuck to all surfaces.

It's also worth noting that it can be picked up and moved at anytime (just twist a bit as you pull). The dock's bottom suction doesn't diminish, and I haven't seen any damage from using it (or the ElevationDock 4, which I've been using for a longer period of time).

The CordDock is made from stainless steel and a reinforced polymer material, and that's perhaps the one downside -- its black exterior is not as fancy looking as some other docks that are made from materials like brushed aluminum. CordDock is small enough that it's not particularly noticeable if you're not a fan of the design, though, especially with the iPhone charging.

Elevation Lab designed the CordDock to work with a naked iPhone or an iPhone with a case, and it has two knobs at the back that let you adjust the depth of the space between the back mount and the Lightning connector.

I use a standard Apple case so I didn't have to do much adjustment, but rotating each knob will move it forward slightly for a tighter or looser fit. Elevation Lab says CordDock will work with cases up to 4mm, which covers all but the thickest cases (think Otterbox). There are also two removable magnetic pads under where the iPhone rests that can be swapped out for thicker or thinner versions, with two options available in the box.

Along with the two adjustment knobs, there's another feature that is unique to CordDock among its competitors -- the ability to pick up the iPhone from the dock with the cable still attached so you can use it while it's charging.

This works because the Lightning cable on the CordDock features two steel ball bearings built into the sides, while the head of the cable has two indents. The two ball bearings slot into the indents, allowing the cable portion to be pulled out with ease.

Pulling forward on your iPhone while it's attached to the CordDock unseats the cable and lets you pull the phone forward to use as you might use any phone attached to a charging cable. To put it back, you just need to line the Lightning connector portion of the cable up with the dock and give it a good push downwards. Elevation Lab's video demonstrates how it works:

Note that this functionality does not interfere with the one-handed iPhone removal feature. You can still disconnect the iPhone from the CordDock by pulling straight up rather than in a forward motion.

Bottom Line

As someone that owns multiple Apple devices and has used several of the popular docks on the market, the latest docks from Elevation Lab, including the CordDock, are some of my favorites.

The CordDock has a small footprint so it takes up little space on a desk, its sticky bottom means it works when you want to pick up your phone one-handed, and if you happen to need to use your iPhone when it's plugged in nearby, the clever detaching cord mechanism is handy.

If you prefer to charge wirelessly, the CordDock doesn't do that, but there are still benefits to wired charging, including much faster charging speeds that people are going to prefer over wire-free options.

At $39 the CordDock may be more expensive than some other options on the market, and it's a little less stylish than some aluminum docks, but its feature set makes it well worth the purchase price.

The Lightning cable attached to the CordDock is covered in an attractive braided chevron fabric, and at six feet long, it's a good length for allowing you to use the detachable feature of the dock. There's an included velcro cable wrap if you don't need the entire length of the cable.

How to Buy

The CordDock can be purchased from the Elevation Lab website or from Amazon.com for $39.

Note: Elevation Lab provided MacRumors with a CordDock for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

Following the release of iOS 11.3 last week, Apple has stopped signing iOS 11.2.6, the previous version of iOS that was available to consumers.

iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch owners who have upgraded to iOS 11.2.6 will no longer be able to downgrade to earlier versions of iOS.

Apple routinely stops signing older versions of software updates after new releases come out in order to encourage customers to keep their operating systems up to date.

iOS 11.3 is now the only version of iOS 11 that can be installed on iOS devices by the general public, but developers and public beta testers can download iOS 11.4, an update that is currently being beta tested.

To go along with the AirPods and the HomePod, Apple is rumored to be working on a set of high-end over-ear headphones that, like its other two products, will be Apple branded rather than Beats branded.

The rumor originated in a February report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who often accurately predicts Apple's plans. Kuo says Apple is planning to launch high-end over-ear headphones that marries the convenience of AirPods with better sound quality.

Designers over at Curved.de have taken these rumors and created renderings imagining what Apple-branded over-ear headphones could look like.

The headphones take design elements from the HomePod, such as the acoustic fabric covering and the touch panel that includes a visible Siri waveform, and existing Beats headphones like the Solo3.

On headphones, of course, you wouldn't see the waveform while wearing them so this may not be an entirely realistic concept, but it's interesting to see the HomePod design distilled down into headphones.

Curved.de has imagined the headphones in both black and white, with the touch panel also able to display other graphics like a rainbow Apple logo, and there's a simple wireless charging stand included in the concept.

Ming-Chi Kuo believes Apple could release the headphones as soon as the fourth quarter of 2018, which is fairly late in the year, so we could see them delayed until 2019. Kuo's rumor has been corroborated by Bloomberg, with the site adding that noise-canceling features could be included.

Is this what you think Apple-branded headphones might look like? Let us know in the comments.

For this week's giveaway, we've once again teamed up with ROLI, this time to give away one of the company's LightPad Block M music making devices.

For those unfamiliar with ROLI, it's a company that makes a fun, modular music creation system called Blocks, designed for everyone from beginners to professionals.

The Lightpad M, priced at $200, is a key component in the ROLI system. Lightpad M supports pressure-based multi-touch gestures on its light-up grid surface to make music. The Lightpad M can recreate the sounds of cellos, flutes, drums, violins, and hundreds of other instruments with simple, intuitive touch gestures.

It also supports beats, chords, melodies, and more, and it ships with more than 200 sounds, with options to add more through an accompanying suite of apps that work with the Lightpad M.

Gestures include a strike for sounding a note, a side to side glide to change pitch, an up and down slide to modulate sound, a press for a deeper sound, and lift to change resonance.

There's a soft, silicone top layer on the Lightpad M for precise control, and the top of the square-shaped accessory lights up in hundreds of colors when touched. Microkeywaves on the silicone surface of the Lightpad M offer pleasing tactile feedback, and it's sensitive enough that even a light touch makes music.

You can fit the Lightpad M in the palm of your hand, so it's small enough to go anywhere, and it offers a wireless connection.

The Lightpad M is designed to connect to and work with the rest of the ROLI Blocks system, including the Seaboard Block, Live Block, Loop Block, and Touch Block.

We have a ROLI LightPad Block M to give away to a MacRumors reader. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach winners and send prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

The contest will run from today (April 6) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on April 13. The winner will be chosen randomly on April 13 and will be contacted by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before a new winner is chosen.

Twitter is making changes to its API on June 19, and third-party Twitter clients are worried about the impact and Twitter's lack of communication about the issue.

The developers behind popular third-party Twitter apps that include Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Talon, and Tweetings today teamed up to warn users about the upcoming changes and to hopefully spur Twitter to action.

On June 19, Twitter plans to remove several streaming service APIs that are used by third-party apps. Disabling these APIs will prevent third-party Twitter apps from sending push notifications and refreshing Twitter timelines automatically.

If you use an app like Talon, Tweetbot, Tweetings, or Twitterrific, there is no way for its developer to fix these issues.

We are incredibly eager to update our apps. However, despite many requests for clarification and guidance, Twitter has not provided a way for us to recreate the lost functionality. We've been waiting for more than a year.

Twitter is replacing its current streaming APIs with a new Account Activity API, which is in beta testing, but third-party developers have not been given access. With access to the Account Activity APIs, third-party Twitter clients say they might be able to enable some push notifications, but Twitter has also provided no detail on pricing. Automatic refresh of the timeline is set to be disabled entirely.

Automatic refresh of your timeline just won't work: there is no web server on your mobile device or desktop computer that Twitter can contact with updates. Since updating your timeline with other methods is rate-limited by Twitter, you will see delays in real-time updates during sporting events and breaking news.

The developers behind Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Talon, and Tweetings are asking customers to contact the @TwitterDev account to correct the situation and to use the #BreakingMyTwitter hashtag to spread awareness.

Update: Twitter has responded to customers unhappy with the changes coming to third-party apps. Twitter plans to delay the scheduled June 19th date for the deprecation of the existing APIs, and it says developers will have at least 90 days before the APIs are retired after being provided with access to the Account Activity API.

Russia appears to be following through on its threat last year to block access to the Telegram encrypted messaging platform.

The BBC reports today that the Roskomnadzor media regulator has begun legal proceedings to block the app in the country, after Dubai-based Telegram refused to comply with requests that it hand over the encryption keys.

Telegram was given a deadline of 4 April to hand over the keys, but the company has refused, explaining that the way the service is built means it has no access to them.

Russia's main security agency, the FSB, wants the keys so it can read messages and prevent future terror attacks in the country. In its court filing, Roskomnadzor said the legal action was related to the FSB request and Telegram's non-compliance with its legal requirements as a "distributor of information".

Telegram's lawyer, Pavel Chikov, called the Russian attempt to block the app "groundless" and said the FSB's demand to access users' chat logs was "unconstitutional, baseless, which cannot be fulfilled technically and legally".

Telegram had a legal challenge to the demand dismissed in a Moscow court in March, but the platform creator Pavel Durov has said Telegram, which is widely used in Russia, will not "give up" the private data of its users.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

While last month's version 5.0 update to the official Apple Store iOS app introduced several significant changes to the user experience, one thing Apple has retained is its tradition of occasionally offering select paid apps for free through the app for a limited time.

Right now, users who scroll down the Discover tab should find an option to download monochromatic platform puzzler Starman: Tale of Light for free, rather than paying $3.99 to download it from the App Store.

Originally released in 2017, this serene title uses a level design reminiscent of Monument Valley, with the player encountering a series of easy to moderately difficult puzzles as they progress through each scene. Optimized for iPhone X displays, Starman currently has an average 4.8 star rating out of 769 App Store reviews, and is described in the official Apple Store app as follows:

In this visually stunning game with breathtaking architectural scenery, you guide Starman through delicate atmospheres and solve elaborate puzzles. No two puzzles are ever the same, so the challenges are always new. Soothing music and haptic feedback enhance the immersive experience further.

To download the app for free, tap on the featured app in the Discover section of the Apple Store app, tap Download now for free, and you will be redirected to the App Store's Redeem code screen. Your free redeem code should already be entered – all you need to do is tap Redeem in the upper right corner to begin downloading the game.

The offer to download Starman for free through the Apple Store iOS app expires on July 15, 2018. Note that free app offers sometimes vary from region to region.

(Thanks, Sergio!)