App Store

A new report from App Annie today highlights some of the mobile app trends of 2020. TikTok has booted Facebook from its reign as the most-downloaded app while iOS and Android downloads are expected to hit 130 billion with global spending forecasted to hit $112 billion this year.

The Tripadvisor app has been pulled from Apple’s App Store, along with 104 other apps. The Chinese government said that this was part of a ‘clean up’ of the Internet – though it has likely been done for political reasons.

Apple has also sent an email to Chinese games developers who have not yet provided proof of approval from the government, warning them that their apps will be removed on January 1 …

Widgets have become a mainstream hit and are only limited by the imagination of those developing them (okay and a few rules from Apple). Now a new app from Aaron Pearce called Barter brings some great functionality to the developer community to easily keep track of metrics with App Store sales widgets on iPhone and iPad.

Apple this week officially announced its 2020 App Store Best award winners, recognizing outstanding apps and games for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Mac. This year, Apple also the winners with a physical award. Here’s what it looks like in the real world.

Apple will begin requiring developers to provide more privacy details about their apps starting December 8, as we reported here last month. While this feature is not yet available to users, developers can already submit their privacy reports to the App Store.

Earlier this year at WWDC 2020, Apple announced a major change to its in-app purchases system that would let users share in-app paid content with the family. This option is now officially available for developers and users running iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur.

Apple today announced the winners of the 2020 App Store Best award, which recognizes outstanding apps and games for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Mac. The company also shared its traditional list of the most popular apps of 2020.

Just before Thanksgiving, Apple made the big move to cut its App Store commission for all developers earning under $1 million annually from 30% to 15%. We expected that would account for the vast majority of devs and now a new report says that is indeed the case with just 2% of Apple developers allegedly earning more than seven figures a year. Another interesting finding is that most of the developers earning more than $1 million earn less than $2.5 million. Read on for the full report.

Microsoft’s exec VP of gaming has argued that the Xbox games commission – the slice it takes of games sold through its own platform – isn’t comparable to Apple’s App Store commission.

Prior to Apple’s partial U-turn in halving the commission it charges most developers, the iPhone maker had pointed to games consoles as evidence that 30% was a standard industry commission. But Microsoft’s Phil Spencer rejects the comparison, for two reasons …

As we covered here earlier this month, Apple will now require developers to provide more privacy details about their apps available on the App Store. The company reminded developers today that all apps must have the new privacy labels as of December 8.

Back in September Apple decided to stop charging its 30% commission for in-app purchases for certain online events. That was set to end at the end of December this year. Now Apple is extending it until June of 2021 to help developers and businesses amid the pandemic.

Update: Responses from Epic and Spotify added below.

Apple’s App Store commission cut is a very clever way to reduce the antitrust pressure on the company, but it’s not a magic bullet. Early responses suggest that both complaints and investigations will continue.

Apple has reduced its commission from 30% to 15% for the overwhelming majority of developers – all those earning less than a million dollars a year in net revenue …

Apple’s new Small Business Program represents a massive U-turn by the company, disguised as something far smaller.

The company has been coming under antitrust fire around the world, with most of the attention focused on the 30% commission it charges to developers. Apple has previously dismissed any suggestion that it should reduce this rate …

Apple has announced a notable change to its App Store commission structure today. The company is launching the App Store Small Business Program, which will lower the App Store commission to 15% for developers who earned up to $1 million in proceeds during the previous calendar year.

As Apple has already confirmed and we have detailed here, the new Macs with the M1 chip will run iOS apps natively. And to push this feature forward, Apple will add nearly all iOS apps to the Mac App Store. However, there are some apps that will not be available to Mac users — either by developer choice or compatibility issues.

Apple has announced today that developers will be required to provide new privacy details to users in the App Store starting December 8. These privacy “nutrition labels” were first introduced at WWDC over the summer, with Apple saying the goal is to better inform consumers of the privacy practices of individual applications.

Apple announced today that the App Store prices in Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Russia, and South Africa will be increased in the next days. Price changes affect the apps and in-app purchases available, but Apple doesn’t say if services like Apple Music and iCloud subscription will also have the price readjusted.

Epic Games has stepped up its rhetoric against Apple, claiming that the App Store contract is illegal and that Apple’s view of what is reasonable is “crazy and misguided.”

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney yesterday tweeted his view on the dispute …

Back in 2016, Apple let Nintendo offer Super Mario Run for pre-order via the App Store as the app was featured during the iPhone 7 keynote. Then, in 2017, the company made this feature available to all developers. As of today, developers can offer apps for pre-order on the App Store up to 180 days before the release date.