May 01, 2013

iBloom App Review from Paperless Kitchen

When it comes to my iPhone, I'm not really much of a gamer, but I do appreciate having something fun to play around with when I'm waiting for an appointment or riding the subway. Recently, I heard about the game iBloom, which is touted as being green. Curious, I downloaded a copy and gave it a test run.

The Basics

- Available for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad with iOS 3.0 or later

- Free download from the App Store

- English and German language options

- Created by NBC Universal

The Features

- Game allows you to plant a seed and watch it grow. There are two modes: one where you care for your seed day by day and an accelerated mode where you actively work to grow your plant by responding to environmental conditions that continuously change

- Location feature makes it possible to plant your seed anywhere in the world

- New plants become available as you successfully grow seeds

- Green tips are displayed as the game loads and are also available to read from the home page screen

The Takeaway

For my test run, I planted a lily in Paris. I had to feed and water it in response to weather conditions and changes in temperature. The game was challenging, but in a fun way. I don’t have much of a green thumb, but fortunately, I fared better at iBloom than I do with potting soil and real seeds. For me, the day-by-day option wouldn’t be ideal, but it could be a fun activity for kids and tweens to do each day.

The green tips are a nice touch as well. All of them are factually based and give concrete suggestions that anyone can use to decrease the size of their eco-footprint. For example, I learned that just by adding awnings to windows, you can reduce the amount of sun that enters a home by 77 percent and in turn, save on air conditioning costs in the summertime.

The only thing I didn’t like about iBloom was the fact that it displays ads, but for the most part, these are unobtrusive and kept at the bottom of the screen where they don’t interfere with game play. I definitely give iBloom two thumbs up—green thumbs up, even.