Over the last month, there’s been some controversy between Apple and iOS developers who make parental control apps that use mobile device management (MDM). Most recently, Apple said it was only going to allow parental control apps that didn’t use MDM, but now “in limited cases” it will let developers use the solution.
The Apple system status page is showing major outages for the App Store, Mac App Store, Apple Music and Radio.
While the key merely says ‘outage’ for the red triangles, this symbol is almost never seen on the page …
On the heels of a report from the WSJ last week about Apple planning to roll out more protections for kids’ apps on iOS, the company has detailed its latest steps to increase privacy and security for young users.
The European Commission is still waiting for Apple to formally respond to the Spotify complaint of anti-competitive actions, says Europe’s competition commissioner.
Margrethe Vestager said that the commission was officially investigating the claim, but hasn’t yet had a response from Apple …
Apple has used the home page of the App Store today to celebrate the WWDC scholarship winners and share their apps and games.
This week, Apple has upped the cellular download limit for iPhone and iPad that prevents users from downloading large files from Apple’s stores, including apps, games, video podcasts, iTunes Store films and more.
The cellular download limit has been increased from 150 MB to 200 MB. This means more apps and games are now allowed to be downloaded over cellular networks.
After the US Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for an antitrust case against Apple in regard to its App Store practices, Apple responded with a brief statement. It has now expanded on that with a new webpage entitled App Store Principles and Practices.
The company takes a pretty strong line, stating that while it welcomes competition, it also needs to protect its customers.
It’s our store. And we take responsibility for it …
A new interview with Apple’s former head of App Store approvals published today by Bloomberg takes an in-depth look at the app review process over the last decade and the team behind it. The wide-ranging conversation covers the early days from 2009, the growing pains of manually approving apps, why apps are rejected, Apple Watch apps being an “embarrassment” for Apple, and much more.
Short video sharing app TikTok was the most downloaded iOS app for the fifth consecutive quarter, according to analytics company Sensor Tower. Video and messaging apps dominated the top 5 …
The Supreme Court this week ruled in the Apple App Store antitrust case, and Apple lost. The court ruled that the lawsuit could proceed in a lower court.
The decision, however, was just a technical one. It didn’t address the merits of the antitrust lawsuit itself, but merely rejected Apple’s argument that the issue had nothing to do with consumers. The real battle comes when the lawsuit itself goes to court …
Earlier today, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a major lawsuit against Apple and the App Store will be allowed to move forward. Now, Apple has responded to that Supreme Court decision, saying that it is confident it will prevail in court.
A major lawsuit against Apple and its App Store will be allowed to move forward, the United States Supreme Court has decided, affirming the Ninth Circuit’s ruling. The lawsuit relates to Apple’s requirement that apps distributed on the iPhone go through the App Store which is controlled by the iPhone.
Apple has removed three dating apps from the App Store after they were found to allow kids under the age of 13 to sign up. All three of the apps were operated by a Ukraine-based company called Wildec.
Apple has released an official company statement in response to the recent controversy surrounding Apple’s decision to remove apps that relied on MDM systems to provide features similar to those introduced by Apple in iOS 12 as Screen Time.
Echoing comments made in an email from Phil Schiller, the statement directly refutes the claims made by The New York Times this week: ‘Contrary to what The New York Times reported over the weekend, this isn’t a matter of competition. It’s a matter of security’.
Some sizeable number of people are experiencing an issue with the App Store at the moment. On an affected account, when attempting to download a pending app update or a whole new app, users are presented with a dialog to accept new Apple Media Services Terms & Conditions.
The problem is that if you press accept, the same legal screen appears again asking to approve or reject the new terms and conditions. This process repeats indefinitely and the download completely stalls.
[Update: Quartz India now reports that Apple has removed TikTok from the App Store in India.]
Viral short-form video application TikTok is facing backlash from the government in India. Regulators are said to be concerned with some of the content found within TikTok, and the effects that content could have on children.
Seemingly in an effort to combat the ongoing problem of accidental App Store subscriptions, Apple has added an extra step to the subscription process in the App Store. Apple will now present users with a “Confirm Subscription” popup before finalizing the details.
Apple today has made a notable change to the App Store experience for users in Israel. Apple today has started the process of localizing the App Store to Hebrew, including featured stories in the Today tab and more.
Apple is facing a Dutch antitrust investigation into whether it favors its own apps over those of rival developers. It looks likely to have an initial focus on Apple Music and Apple News, but will probably extend to other app categories, and may also include Google’s Play store.
Spotify has already filed a complaint with the European Commission, alleging that Apple Music has an unfair advantage over Spotify, and today’s report references that and says that ‘apps for news media’ is another focus …
App Store analytics suggest that Elon Musk may be right in his contention that the big problems have already been solved. While we once had an appetite for new apps, that’s no longer the case: we’re increasingly downloading the more established ones.
The founding CTO of Hulu points to a stark difference in the app charts between 2014 and today …
The UK wants to get tough on ‘harmful content’ within apps, on social networks and on websites – and is consulting on new legislation which could see companies like Apple, Google, Facebook and Twitter fined up to 4% of their worldwide turnover if they don’t act quickly to remove it.
Government minister Jeremy Wright said that “the era of self-regulation for online companies is over” …
Ahead of Apple’s earnings call at the end of the month, new data from Morgan Stanley (via Kif Leswing) today reports that App Store downloads have seen a year-over-year quarterly decline for the first time since 2015. However, the firm does note that App Store revenue has still increased.
Consumer spending in the App Store is expected to continue increasing at a brisk pace. new data from Sensor Tower today suggests that Apple Store spending will more than double between now and 2023.
A developer who worked at Apple for seven years has accused the Cupertino company of violating its own App Store guidelines. Dave DeLong says that the Apple News+ sign-up screen is in clear violation of three requirements, with The Verge pointing to another major no-no …