App Store

Over the past few weeks, I’ve watched two long-standing apps release new versions with business decisions that led to an outcry from many users. Pocket Casts went free but introduced Pocket Casts Pro as an optional subscription that included Desktop applications access to the web player. Customers who had previously paid $9 to unlock the web player were frustrated because they were awarded three years of Pocket Casts Pro but would need to subscribe after that to keep access to the web player. Weather Line 2 was also recently released with a new optional subscription to unlock new features. Users who choose not to subscribe will now have ads inside the app. Some customers were frustrated that an app that previously didn’t have ads now required a subscription to avoid them. Are app subscriptions fair to customers?
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Apple has made a second U-turn on a Hong Kong protest app. The company initially banned it from the App Store, then changed its mind and allowed it, and has now reversed course again, banning it once more.

We yesterday reported that Apple has also removed the Quartz news app, which has been reporting extensively on the protests. Quartz says Apple took this action at the request of the government.

Both moves follow vague threats about “consequences” from Chinese state media…

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Chinese state media has warned Apple about the “consequences” of allowing a Hong Kong protest app into the App Store after earlier banning it.

The controversy surrounds the HKmap Live app, which was initially banned from the local App Store, a decision Apple reversed the following day…

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There is controversy today after Apple removed a Hong Kong protest app from the App Store. The developers claim that the app helps people avoid trouble spots and comply with the law, while Apple says that it’s intended to circumvent the law.

It’s currently unclear whether Apple made its own decision to remove the HKmap Live app, or whether it acted at the request of the Chinese government…

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Apple has introduced a new “billing grace period” feature that it hopes will improve the customer experience for subscriptions in the App Store. Announced on the Apple Developer website, the feature aims to help users affected by unsuccessful auto-renewals of subscriptions.

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In an interview with the New York Times, Apple executives Phil Schiller and Eddy Cue revealed that Apple has adjusted the App Store algorithm to ‘handicap’ its own apps from appearing too much in search results.

Following press attention from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, Apple found that the App Store was deciding to show a lot of Apple apps for common search terms. For instance, a search for ‘music’ would show not only Apple Music but up to seven other first-party apps in the first ten spots.

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Apple has shifted its focus to Services as part of its efforts to combat slowing iPhone sales. In a new investor note, Morgan Stanley now says the App Store could show better-than-expected revenue growth for the month of August, citing new data from app analytics platform Sensor Tower.

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For the last several months, Apple has been cracking down on third-party kids apps, specifically in regards to analytics and advertising. A new report from The Washington Post today dives deeper into Apple’s policy change, and notes that the company plans to delay the change.

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Apple has recently updated its App Store Preview pages for stories to allow users to view the full content of stories from inside their desktop web browser. App Store stories have always been shareable as links, but the web version was just a title and a navigation link to ‘open this story in the App Store’.

Between August 9th and August 11th, Apple has upgraded the experience and now includes full imagery, app lists and paragraphs copy in the web version. This means you can access the same content online as you would be ale to find in the native App Store experience.

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A scam heart rate app that tried to con iPhone users out of $89/year is now back in the App Store under a new name, some eight months after Apple removed the original version.

The app specifically targets people who own iPhones with Touch ID…

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There has been disagreement among analysts and experts as to how worried Apple and Google ought to be about the tech giant antitrust probe being carried out by the Justice Department.

We’ve so far seen everything from warnings to avoid investing in the stocks through to the view that nothing much is likely to change. Now investment bank Macquarie has put some numbers on one possible outcome …

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According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, Apple consistently ranks its own applications above competitors in App Store search results. Apple, however, says it tested the same queries in response to the report’s findings, but yielded different results.

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In a surprise move, Apple has revived its Texas Hold’em game for iOS today. The update to the original game comes in celebration of the 10-year anniversary of the App Store and has been redesigned to include new characters, improved graphics, more challenging gameplay, and much more.

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A new report today from CNBC takes a thorough look at the app review process at Apple, it’s growing workload and team, the executive review board led by Phil Schiller that calls the big shots, the most common reasons for apps being rejected, and much more. Read on for an in-depth look at the app review process at Apple.

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