In the past, Apple has always required streaming platforms available on the App Store to provide a way for users to subscribe directly through the app using in-app purchases. However, as this is no longer a requirement, many platforms have been ditching Apple’s in-app purchases, and Disney has just done so.
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A new survey reveals that almost half of Americans have forgotten to cancel a trial subscription. It also corroborates earlier findings that we’re now spending around $1,000 a year on subscription services.
The survey comes as the FCC announced new rules ensuring that companies can’t use deceptive practices to hook us into taking out subscriptions, nor make it hard to cancel them …
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As we reported in August, a change coming to the App Store in the European Union would force developers to provide a public address and phone number that would become visible to customers in the region. As of today, the change has come into effect and developers are required to provide this data to Apple.
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Apple’s App Store practices have been under widespread assault in recent years, both in the US and especially abroad. But a new US law has just validated at least one aspect of Apple’s approach with the App Store: its easy subscription management.
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Apple isn’t having the best 24 hours for its online services. Last night, we reported that App Store Connect, AppleCare, and other services were experiencing an outage. Now today, many users have reported that the App Store itself is down.
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The legal status of the free music streaming app Musi has long been unclear – but the matter may now be settled, thanks to a lawsuit the developer has filed against Apple.
Musi sourced its music from YouTube using a method it claims was perfectly legal, while parent company Google disagreed. When the two sides were unable to reach agreement, Apple pulled Musi from its App Store – a move the developer says lacked good cause …
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I’m in the midst of traveling to Ukraine this week for OFTWv2.0, and I can’t help but think about the comments on last week’s edition of Security Bite defending the VPN apps that still exist on the App Store in Russia. While almost every app from legitimate providers in the country has been removed, Russian users can still find a surplus of VPN options claiming to offer secure encryption and private browsing. The only question being–really?
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Apple Search Ads is continuing its expansion into new geographic segments, following a successful rollout to Brazil earlier this year.
Apple announced today that developers will soon be able to start buying Apple Search Ads for placement in Turkey and 20 additional countries.
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The Apple versus Epic Games case rumbles on despite the rejection of attempts to appeal by both companies.
Yesterday one of the judges in the case effectively accused Apple of lying, and now the Cupertino company is attempting a new tactic in a bid to have the ruling either thrown out altogether or narrowed so that only Epic Games benefits …
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9to5Mac Security Bite is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Making Apple devices work-ready and enterprise-safe is all we do. Our unique integrated approach to management and security combines state-of-the-art Apple-specific security solutions for fully automated Hardening & Compliance, Next Generation EDR, AI-powered Zero Trust, and exclusive Privilege Management with the most powerful and modern Apple MDM on the market. The result is a totally automated Apple Unified Platform currently trusted by over 45,000 organizations to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.
Since Russia’s full-scale assault on Ukraine, Apple has significantly scaled back its operations in the country. It has since suspended all product sales and limited certain services, such as Apple Pay. Despite this, Apple continues to operate a full-fledged App Store in Russia. However, it’s now facing worthy criticism for complying with Russian government requests to remove VPN apps to adhere to local regulations–censorship.
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Update: Halide’s Sebastiaan de Wish says the company received a call from Apple informing them that this was a mistake. Halide can now resubmit to the App Store “without any changes required.”
Halide may have been featured during the iPhone 16 keynote, but it seems that wasn’t enough to protect it from an over-zealous App Store reviewer. Lux co-founder Ben Sandofsky shared that the latest version of Halide was rejected from App Store …
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Apple has created a new way for developers to entice users back to their apps. Soon, you may start seeing special offers from subscription apps whose plans you’ve canceled.
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As the official launch of iOS 18 approaches, Apple is now inviting developers to submit their new apps or updates ready for the next versions of the company’s systems. This also includes watchOS 11 and macOS Sequoia, which are coming next week.
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Apple has its share of frenemies, and Meta is certainly one of them. Though the two companies have a mutually beneficial relationship, they have often found themselves in deep points of conflict. The latest drama? Per The Wall Street Journal, Meta lobbied to make Apple a responsible party in a child safety bill, but Apple’s own lobbying got it off the hook.
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Apple’s App Store vice president is leaving the company in October, according to a new report from Bloomberg.
The structure of the App Store team is also being split into two teams, a change implemented by Phil Schiller in response to the ever-changing App Store policy worldwide.
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The Epic Games Store is now available for iPhone users in the European Union, after Apple was forced to allow third-party app marketplaces as part of compliance with the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
Most notably, this means Fortnite is now once again available to download on the iPhone … if you are in the European Union. You can get the Epic Games Store by visiting this page on your device. Beyond its own store, Epic is also releasing Fortnite on AltStore PAL.
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Apple on Thursday began reminding developers of another change coming to the App Store in the European Union. This one, however, has been considered quite controversial. As of October, developers considered “traders” will have to provide updated address and phone number data, which will now appear to everyone in the EU App Store.
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Apple is pushing Tencent and ByteDance to “close loopholes” that currently allow their apps to skirt the App Store’s in-app purchase system, according to a new report from Bloomberg. In new quotes this week, Tencent acknowledged its talks with Apple for the first time, saying it wants terms that it thinks are “economically sustainable” and “fair.”
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Apple is coming under fire for its decision to charge a 30% commission on Patreon subscriptions, which will either see creators receive less or supporters charged more.
John Gruber said that Apple was degrading its brand, while Macworld accuses the company of charging for providing negative value …
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For years, Apple has prevented developers from distributing any kind of emulators for iOS on the App Store. However, as the company faces pressure from the European Union with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) antitrust legislation, iPhone and iPad emulators are now allowed. Thanks to this, iDOS 3 is now available on the App Store.
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For years, Patreon has been exempt from Apple’s 30% App Store cut for reasons that weren’t entirely clear. But that era is about to end. The popular crowdfunding platform has announced to creators that supporters will need to start using Apple’s in-app payment system soon.
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Following the EU ruling in June that said Apple’s App Store anti-steering policies are officially in breach of the Digital Markets Act, Apple is announcing changes. Specifically, these changes address the rules around app developers linking out to the web to inform users about alternative payment methods.
The new rules remove many of the restrictions Apple previously imposed about how developers were allowed to link out. At the same time, it introduces yet another fee structure, specifically for App Store Link Out uses cases.
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We recently reported on how multiple pirate streaming apps for iOS managed to get approved on the App Store by tricking the review process. Although we briefly mentioned some of the techniques used by these developers, 9to5Mac has now taken a deep dive into how these apps are engineered to trick Apple.
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A few weeks ago, 9to5Mac reported on a pirate streaming app that tricked the App Store Review into getting approved by Apple. Following the publication of our article, Apple removed the app. However, it seems that the developers have once again tricked the company into approving not just one, but multiple pirate streaming apps on the App Store.
Update: An Apple spokesperson told 9to5Mac that the apps have been removed from the App Store, but no details have been provided about the company’s measures to prevent other apps like this from getting approved again.
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