App Store Stories Yesterday
With an enormous amount of apps on the App Store, it’s sometimes hard to decide which ones are worth downloading. I’ve been a college student off-and-on for some time now, and I’ve come to realize that certain apps can really make your life easier.
As a current graduate student, here are the top free apps I use the most for school. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who uses a mixture of both Apple and non-Apple devices.
A campaign group has criticized Apple’s twice-yearly transparency reports, saying that in one very important respect they are not very transparent.
One section of the report covers App Store Takedown Requests, and Apple is accused of deliberately concealing information about the apps it removes …
App Store Stories April 14
Apple has called out Meta for its hypocrisy in taking close to a 50% cut from metaverse content providers despite having criticized Apple for its own 30% cut of App Store sales.
Meta has often commented disparagingly about Apple’s ‘fees and taxes’ on app sales …
App Store Stories April 13
Apps whose business model is based on subscriptions and in-app-purchases are becoming increasingly popular, and even Apple supports this practice on the App Store. However, some developers have been abusing this system to trick users into paying upfront for macOS apps that are allegedly free.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is taking a cut of up to 47.5% on digital assets sold within its virtual reality platform, Horizon Worlds. Horizon Worlds is a free VR game that lets users build and explore virtual worlds. While it’s all part of Meta’s plan for creating its virtual “metaverse,” it comes at a cost to creators.
App Store Stories April 8
NFT apps have been on Apple’s App Store for a while. Those that remained only allowed the browsing of NFTs – not selling them. While there’s no official guidelines surrounding NFTs on iOS, it is difficult for app developers to know what they can and cannot do.
App Store Stories April 7
On Thursday, Apple released a press release and report conducted by the Analysis Group on the success of third-party apps on its App Store. Scrolling through the report, you may see some apps that look familiar and some that may not. Just what exactly are these apps? Also, why would anyone use them over one of Apple’s apps? Why are they popular?
Let’s take a closer look at some of these popular third-party apps used on iPhones within the United States.
Apple has defied Russian threats and restored to the App Store the Smart Voting app it removed in September. The app was created by jailed opposition leader and anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, in order to help strategic voting against Putin.
In September of last year, Russian agents had threatened to imprison both Apple and Google staff unless the app was removed within 24 hours – including a particularly chilling threat against Google’s top exec in Moscow …
App Store Stories April 6
Apple was recently required to let developers redirect users to third-party payment platforms instead of using the App Store’s in-app purchases system. Now 9to5Mac has discovered that the iOS 15.5 beta adds support for apps with external purchases following the announcement of a new entitlement option for “reader apps.”
App Store Stories March 30
After first announcing the news last fall, Apple has started accepting requests from developers of reader apps to allow the use of external links for customers to sign up and manage their accounts outside the App Store. Meanwhile, Apple has also changed its policy on dating apps in the Netherlands after coming under fire by Dutch regulators.
Apple has already been fined $55M by Dutch antitrust regulators, but a new Dutch class action lawsuit is going after the Cupertino company for billions rather than millions.
The lawsuit alleges that the 15% or 30% commission Apple charges makes app prices higher than they should be, and that the total cost to consumers is almost €5B ($5.5B) …
App Store Stories March 22
This week has seen Apple fined for the ninth time as it again failed to satisfy the Dutch antitrust regulator ACM that it was complying with the law in respect of the App Store.
Fines now total €45M ($49.7M), and if a tenth one is issued, that will hit the legal cap of €50M ($55M) – but that won’t be the end of it …
App Store Stories March 21
FedEx is working on new iOS app feature called ‘Crosstrack’ to compete with Shopify
An article from TechCrunch shows how FedEx is working on a new feature called ‘Crosstrack’ for its mobile app. The shipping and receiving giant is testing the option to track deliveries from other services so users can do it all in one app.
The Apple TV app on both Android TV and Google TV no longer offers the option to buy or rent movies, while Apple TV+ subscriptions can still be purchased.
It’s being suggested that the change may have been made to avoid Google’s 30% commission on sales through its platforms …
App Store Stories March 17
Although the Mac has its own App Store, it’s not exactly as popular as the iOS App Store since Mac users can install apps from third-party sources. And while some developers trust their apps to the App Store, Apple’s platform lets them down in some ways. This time, developers of the Kaleidoscope app wrote a letter complaining about App Store bundles and the lack of paid app upgrades.
App Store Stories March 9
Today, Substack has launched its first-ever iOS app for readers and writers. The app makes content more accessible to readers and aims to further direct the relationship between readers and authors. As users increasingly consume content on mobile devices, this app sounds like the perfect way to do just that.
App Store Stories February 28
Many iOS apps sell your location data to data brokers, despite Apple’s privacy policies and clampdowns, says a new report today.
It says that while both Apple and Google have cracked down on one sneaky approach used by companies that buy and sell user data, a simple workaround is in widespread use …
Apple has written a letter arguing that the change it has offered in the Dutch App Store complies with the law, despite that fact that the antitrust regulator has rejected the proposal as ‘not serious.’
The latest development follows the European Union suggesting that Apple was happy to pay fines rather than properly comply with antitrust rules …
App Store Stories February 25
Apple in 2020 announced a new App Store Small Business Program, which allows developers to qualify for a commission rate of 15% if they earn up to $1 million. However, Apple had been rejecting developers who transferred apps from one account to another – which is fortunately no longer the case.
App Store Stories February 24
Worldwide consumer spending in mobile apps reached an all-time high in 2021. Data from Sensor Tower shows that App Store users spent more than double the amount of money on subscription services that Google Play users did.
App Store Stories February 23
Brazil’s Carnival starts this Saturday. Although the traditional parties in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are not expected until April, due to COVID-19 cases rising, Apple is celebrating this holiday by promoting Apple Music playlists and games available on the App Store.
Apple doesn’t care about the fact that it is regularly being fined €5M ($5.7M) by Dutch antitrust regulators, and would rather pay the fines than comply with the law, it is claimed.
The accusation was leveled by the European Union’s competition regulator Margrethe Vestager, after Apple was fined for the fifth time …
App Store Stories February 22
After Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled in the Epic v. Apple case that the Cupertino company must allow App Store devs to redirect users to other payment systems last year, Paddle announced what it called the industry’s “first alternative in-App Purchasing system for iOS.”
Even though Apple hasn’t changed App Store policies in these past five months, Paddle’s CEO is now saying the company signed up 1,500 developers with over $1 billion in volume for his rival payment system.
App Store Stories February 21
Apple has been fined for the fifth time over the App Store regulation controversy in the Netherlands. The country’s antitrust watchdog is charging the Cupertino company over $5.7 million again – for the fifth week in a row – over the lack of third-party payment options for dating apps subscriptions.
