Apple has faced App Store antitrust investigations around the world, from the US to Japan – and the UK is the latest to put the company’s control of iOS apps under scrutiny. The European Union currently has three open antitrust investigations into the App Store, but the UK leaving the EU means that it is no longer party to these.
The UK’s competition watchdog today announced plans to determine whether the App Store restricts competition …
Apple has always discouraged users from jailbreaking their iPhones, but that doesn’t mean that Apple engineers don’t have jailbroken iPhones for testing purposes. In a new Vice interview, Pandora executives revealed that none other than Scott Forstall suggested that they should use jailbroken iPhones to develop an iOS app before the App Store and an official iPhone SDK.
The Arizona House of Representatives has narrowly advanced a bill that could require Apple to allow alternative payment methods in the App Store. Apple had been lobbying against this bill, but it passed in a 31-29 vote on Wednesday, and it could have major consequences for iOS and the App Store.
Amazon is expanding its platform for sharing mobile gaming clips, GameOn, to the iPhone and iPad. If you ever want to record short clips from your gameplay, Amazon’s GameOn app makes it easy.
After a failed bill was proposed in North Dakota earlier this month that would have forced Apple to allow developers to sideload apps and use alternate in-app payments, a similar bill has been officially introduced in Minnesota.
The first antitrust ruling on the legality of Apple’s App Store arrangements could be close. Dutch competition watchdogs have told developers they can expect a decision soon.
The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) is considering two issues…
Following the launch of the new App Store privacy labels in December last year, Apple today published additional guidance for developers to better understand the information required for App Store privacy labels.
The vaccination against COVID-19 has started in several countries around the world, and we have already seen some apps that let users prove that they have taken the vaccine with just their iPhones. Now Apple is tightening the App Store rules to ensure that apps offering proof of vaccination are only submitted by health authorities.
Last week we heard Apple’s take on a new North Dakota Senate bill that would have forced the company to allow iPhone owners to sideload apps and use alternative in-app payment options. Just today, the state’s senate has voted down the proposal but similar legislation is under consideration in Arizona and Georgia. It’s also come to light where the North Dakota bill draft legislation came from – a Coalition for App Fairness lobbyist.
Over the last few weeks, developer Kosta Eleftheriou has been sharing details on how scam apps game Apple’s App Store, sometimes raking in millions of dollars and lasting for months or in some cases years. Apple has this month taken down some of the scams that have been brought to light. However, today Kosta shared his existing deep concerns about the state of App Store ratings and how they’re abused by scams.
The Shadow cloud gaming service saw its app removed from the App Store in March 2020, before access was restored in May. Apple has now again removed the app.
The reason for the latest removal isn’t yet known…
A new analytics report has revealed the highest-grossing subscription apps on iOS for 2020. YouTube Premium heads the list, which allows subscribers to watch videos without ads, download them for offline viewing, and also includes access to YouTube Music Premium.
The top 10 list unsurprisingly features four other streaming video services …
Over the last several weeks, developer Kosta Eleftheriou has been highlighting many apparent scam applications on the App Store. The formula for each scam application is virtually identical, and it centers on fake reviews and ratings paired with a deceptive weekly subscription.
Update February 11, 2021: Apple has given the following statement to The Verge regarding scam apps on the App Store.
We take feedback regarding fraudulent activity seriously, and investigate and take action on each report. The App Store is designed to be a safe and trusted place for users to get apps, and a great opportunity for developers to be successful.We do not tolerate fraudulent activity on the App Store, and have stringent rules against apps and developers who attempt to cheat the system. In 2020 alone, we terminated over half a million developer accounts for fraud, and removed over 60 million user reviews that were considered spam. As part of our ongoing efforts to maintain the integrity of our platform, our Discovery Fraud team actively works to remove these kinds of violations, and is constantly improving their process along the way.
A new bill in the North Dakota Senate could force Apple to allow iPhone owners to sideload applications and use alternative payment systems in-app. The wide-reaching bill would bar companies like Apple and Google from mandating that developers only use their app stores and payments systems.
Apple shared an update today on its Developer site with the latest tax and price changes for the App Store coming to four countries including Germany and South Korea. There’s also an update coming for the Apple Push Notification service server certificate.
As part of the iOS 14.5 beta, it appears Apple is testing new ways to monetize the App Store. Building on the existing App Store Search Ads program, users are now seeing a new sponsored ad slot appearing on the Search tab as a “suggested” item.
Previously, Apple only showed ads in the App Store when users searched for an app with advertisers bidding on keywords, similar to Google Search ads. This new ad type is naturally more prominent as it displays to the user before they search anything at all.
Apple today updated its App Store Review Guidelines with some changes that will impact app developers. The company has clarified more details about the game streaming platforms, besides the use of the “Rosetta” brand in the description of the apps and the prohibition of apps that promote illicit substances.
If you’ve happened to scroll through Twitter, Reddit… or nearly any news feed in recent days, you’ve probably seen a lot of mentions of stocks. More specifically stocks with keywords like Gamestop, AMC, r/wallstreetbets, and Robinhood. We will spare you the backstory and what a “short squeeze” is, but all of this controversy surrounding the stock market and the Robinhood App in particular has gotten many people intrigued. You yourself may have recently pondered the thought of purchasing some stock of your own. Either way, here are five stock trading apps currently available for iPhone to help get your portfolio rollin’.
The ongoing trading freeze related to Robinhood and stocks such as GameStop and AMC continues to extend to Apple’s App Store today. As we reported earlier this morning, Robinhood made the controversial decision to ban trades of GME, KOSS, and other Reddit-backed stocks.
Now, affected Robinhood users are calling on Apple to remove Robinhood from the App Store — and accusing the company of censoring negative Robinhood reviews on the App Store.
In honor of Data Privacy Day on January 28, Apple has announced that its App Tracking Transparency feature will launch to users “in early spring.” The company has also launched a new easy-to-understand report dubbed “A Day in the Life of Your Data,” which illustrates “how companies track user data across websites and apps.”
