Apps

4 Free-to-Play Mobile MOBAs: Which game is for you?

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There’s no way you can play PC multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video games with ease. Besides the obvious factor of portability, the amount of time it takes to play, accessibility, and barrier of entry are just a few things that make mobile MOBAs a popular alternative.

Baby steps

I never got into MOBAs, and probably won’t be as into it as other games. But aside from facets of real-time player versus player gameplay and the typical map, I’ve learned to enjoy the genre through its simplified mobile alternative.

The advantage for mobile MOBAs is that they sustain the backbone of the genre and practically test what they can strip off and alter. With mobile MOBAs, you get to experience a relatively lower barrier of entry (in comparison to PC versions), quicker plays, and quirkier characters that developers integrate.

Here are some of the best mobile MOBAs you can try out without having to sink your teeth too deep into the more technical and mechanical parts of the game:

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is, by far, the most friendly mobile MOBA I’ve encountered. With quick and easy virtual joystick controls, convenient tap-to-equip system, and automated targeting, the game pulls through with the fundamentals of the genre. A feature that makes Mobile Legends: Bang Bang distinct from the others would be its Artificial Intelligence Assists when anyone disconnects from the game. On the downside though, I still find the automated targeting annoying and skins (that are acquired through in-app purchases) boost hero performance.

Pros: Quick and easy play, AI Assists

Cons: In-app purchases affect hero performance, automated targeting

Garena AOV: Arena Of Valor

Garena AOV: Arena Of Valor is not too different from Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. With the skeletal structures of the genre down pat, Garena AOV: Arena Of Valor has thirty playable heroes, virtual joystick controls, and fun custom games. The game is simple and easy to learn; its charm comes from how it manages to patch the flaws of targeting in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. I think this follows for the games that come after this one, but automated targeting is just an irritating handicap. Unfortunately, from its early release, it does have a ton of glitches.

Pros: Quick and easy play, targeting

Cons: Early-release glitches

Heroes Evolved

Heroes Evolved features over 40 heroes, a clan system, short match options, and more. Besides the obvious basics, Heroes Evolved heroes has relatively faster cooldowns making for quicker gameplay compared to other mobile MOBAs. If there’s anything strange I found with the game, it was that it integrated a teleport ability with a cooldown instead of the regular recall and observer wards.

Pros: Quick and easy play, quick cooldown

Cons: Unfamiliar features

Vainglory

It’s one of everyone’s favorite mobile multiplayer online battle arena games. Having quickly built a community after its initial release late 2014, Vainglory manages to integrate the MOBA playing style and compact it into a snug mobile game. You can play the game on casual, quick-play, or ranked. Vainglory stands out with touch controls instead of the typical virtual joystick, as well as in-game item boosts that require you to return to base or drop by the shop.

Pros: Quick and easy play, touch targeting

Cons: Learning curve for stubby fingers, average barrier of entry

Which is your game match?

Each one has its own charm from hero variety and out-of-place characters, to the streamlined controls and designed interface. I personally played all four not just for this article, but also from genuine curiosity. If I had to pick my top two, I’d pick Vainglory and Heroes Evolved

I started playing Vainglory early this year, and it has warmed me up to other mobile MOBAs. It can be a bit tough since I’m now getting more used to the virtual joystick to move around in the games, but first loves die hard — at least in this case.

Heroes Evolved sustains the ease of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang but patches up the nasty bits of targeting and the unfair purchasing of better skins for boosted heroes, plus it adds interesting features.

If you want the quickest and lowest barrier of entry, go for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. It doesn’t pry you on customizing item boosts, targeting is automated, and it has smart AI Assistance whenever someone disconnects from the game.

[irp posts=”14611″ name=”What’s the deal with Mobile Legends?”]

SEE ALSO: 10 free-to-play mobile games for Android and iOS

Apps

foodpanda relaunches cult-favorite roast chicken brand after 8 years of persistent search queries

Heritage chain Andok’s returns to the platform, driven entirely by long-term user analytics.

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In the world of e-commerce and food delivery, platform algorithms usually dictate what consumers see. But occasionally, consumer behavior is so relentless that it shapes the platform’s strategy.

In a move driven entirely by long-term user analytics, foodpanda has officially relaunched Andok’s, one of the Philippines’ most iconic heritage rotisserie chains, back onto its platform after an eight-year absence.

The search bar as a digital wishlist

The decision to ink the partnership wasn’t just a marketing play. It was a response to an ongoing data anomaly. Despite being offline from the foodpanda platform for eight years, Andok’s consistently ranked as one of the most-searched merchants on the app.

Year after year, users treated the empty search results page as an unofficial wishlist. This persistent search intent gave foodpanda a clear, data-backed signal of pent-up demand.

Prior to the official digital rollout, teaser campaigns on social media validated this demand, generating thousands of organic interactions from users anticipating the return.

Bridging heritage flavor with digital infrastructure

For foodpanda, onboarding a merchant with this level of built-in demand fits its broader strategy of marketplace optimization and hyper-local network expansion, turning a heritage brand into another data point for how legacy retail plugs into delivery infrastructure.

For Andok’s, the integration works as a fast track to digital scale. A legacy quick-service chain skips years of independent app development and reaches customers already using foodpanda’s existing logistics network, on a platform they already check daily.

Andok’s built its following on charcoal spit-roasted chicken, a slow-cooked technique that’s stayed largely unchanged since the brand’s early days, alongside seasoned grilled pork belly.

More recently, the Dokito line extended that following into crispy fried chicken and chicken burgers, broadening the brand’s appeal beyond its original rotisserie format and giving foodpanda a menu with both heritage pull and everyday fast-food convenience.

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Apps

Turn conversations into completed work: Zoom launches ZoomMate

Agentic AI work surface to help people move from conversation to execution

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Zoom has officially announced ZoomMate, an agentic AI work surface to help people move from workplace conversations to execution without losing context along the way.

It will be offered in ZoomMate Basic (free) and ZoomMate which is priced starting at US$ 16.67 per month.

Unlike AI tools that solely rely on prompts or manual context, ZoomMate understands what was discussed to generate grounded, relevant outputs directly from meeting context.

The feature connects live conversational context to agentic search, workflow execution, custom agents, and AI content creation. It helps users overcome the friction introduced by fragmented tools and incomplete workflow by surfacing information across Zoom and connected business systems.

This creates deliverables from meeting and enterprise context, like presentations, documents, and spreadsheets. It also coordinates follow-though across workflows without switching tools.

ZoomMate capabilities

ZoomMate introduces advanced agentic AI capabilities that help teams move from insight to completion.

Agentic Search

With agentic search, it brings enterprise knowledge to every conversation. ZoomMate can search across Zoom, the web, and third-party systems to find the most relevant information for a project, account, ticket, policy, or business question.

Connecting to data sources such as ServiceNow, Salesforce, and Workday, and indexing across users’ integrated enterprise systems allows for surfacing information from enterprise files.

This includes customer records, open issues, service tickets, knowledge articles, project updates, files, and other business content.

Moreover, relevant context from Zoom Meetings, Phone, Chat, and other connected platforms, including Google and Microsoft, can be directly integrated into the flow of work.

Orchestrate

The next step is ZoomMate’s agentic layer enables proactive coordination and execution across systems, combining AI workflows with intelligent agents that can act, learn, and adapt within enterprise environments.

Agents can monitor ongoing projects, identify steps from meeting context, and automatically initiate follow-up actions for continuity.

Aside from that, ZoomMate can coordinate real-time task execution and can schedule events across Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook.

Moreover, it updates records, creates follow-up tasks, drafts customer communications, and triggers onboarding or support workflows.

Complete

Lastly, ZoomMate turns meetings into finished work. It automatically creates presentations, documents, spreadsheets, reports, and project plans from meeting conversations and enterprise context so teams can move from discussion to execution faster.

It leverages Zoom’s AI Productivity Suite to update deliverables as decisions evolve, keeping plans, documents, and other outputs current in real time without manual syncing.

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GCash rolls out in-app OTPs via push notifications to fight scams

SMS-based codes will be phased out by June 22

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GCash is completely changing how users secure their accounts by rolling out in-app OTPs by June 22.

This fully replaces traditional SMS-based authentication as part of heightened cybersecurity measures against phishing scams and financial fraud.

With this security upgrade, users will no longer receive their OTPs via text messages. Instead, the codes will be sent through secure push notifications directly inside the GCash app.

This provides a much safer verification experiences. The migration to internal authentication is a direct response to a directive from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to phase out SMS-based OTPs by June 2026.

Furthermore, the shift aligns with the country’s Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA), which mandates stricter safeguards to curb digital fraud.

For years, cybercriminals have targeted SMS-based verification codes through various spoofing and phishing tactics to gain unauthorized access to accounts.

By routing OTP requests directly through the user’s authenticated GCash app, the platform ensures that only the rightful account owner can receive and use the unique codes.

Beyond security, the switch brings some much-needed convenience. The instant, one-tap authentication removes the annoying hurdle of switching between apps, copying codes, or waiting for delayed text messages to arrive in areas with poor cellular signal.

To get in-app OTPs on the GCash app, simply turn on Push Notifications on your iOS or Android device.

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