Waze, the popular Google-owned mapping app with a focus on community-based features, is today adding a new feature called “Planned Drives” for iOS users.
TomTom used to have a handful of paid apps, each specific to a region. The app covering just the U.S., for example, was $45. But today it’s making its premium navigation services free for iPhone users everywhere for the first 50 miles or 75km of use. The new freemium model comes as the company consolidates its TomTom apps for each region under a new, redesigned app simply called TomTom Go Mobile.
Complaints that Apple’s App Store algorithms are broken, often returning nonsensical results for highlighted categories like ‘New’ and ‘Hot,’ have finally caught the company’s attention. Phil Schiller yesterday responded to tweeted complaints by Mozilla’s Lisa Brewster and Screenshot++ developer Wesley Dyson.
App Store editors, you had one job https://t.co/uLLOuXTDvb
— Lisa Brewster (@Adora) March 12, 2016
Both drew attention to the fact that highlighted app categories in Canada and other countries (though seemingly not the U.S.) were filled with a whole range of similarly-named apps, and that apps whose names put them at the top of alphanumeric sorting remain in the ‘New’ category forever …
Alphabet-owned Nest is best known for its smart thermostat, but the company works on a number of devices which, albeit being generally good at their given task, do not communicate with each other particularly well. And that’s mostly due to the fact that said devices have always had a hard time detecting whether you are actually at home or not.
With the upcoming implementation of GPS support via the Nest app, however, it looks like your house is about to become decidedly more efficient – and smart…
Somehow, it has become a part of mainstream culture for iPhone and iPad users to quit all their apps in multitasking as some kind of regular tech maintenance ritual to improve battery life or speed up the hardware. An understanding of how iOS multitasking works however, shows that this is completely unnecessary to close every app in the multitasking view frequently. A 9to5Mac reader decided to ask Tim Cook for an official stance on whether he quits all his apps and if it’s necessary. Although Cook didn’t answer, Apple iOS chief Craig Federighi did with an unambiguous answer ‘no and no’ …
Apple is adding a convenient new feature for developers today in iTunes Connect. Following a refresh to the Payments and Financial Reports pages a fortnight ago, Apple is now letting developers opt-in to a weekly summary report email of their apps. The email will summarize important business metrics for the developer’s apps, including information on App Store views, unit sales, sessions and crash rates. The email will also show the comparisons of these statistics to the previous seven-day period.
Pebble Time smartwatch users are getting a few notable updates today including a redesigned iOS app alongside the latest firmware for the watch itself that brings new features, fixes and enhancements.
Signs of change are beginning to surface on the App Store after December 17th’s notable leadership changes involving Apple’s Worldwide Marketing SVP Phil Schiller. That move happened after growing discontent from Mac App Store developers, who noted communication breakdowns and overall frustration with the direction that the Mac App Store was headed in.
Schiller is now in charge of all App Stores, taking over responsibilities from Eddy Cue, which most prominently include the iOS App Store and the Mac App Store.
It’s been less than three months since the move occurred, but we’re already beginning to see a change in the way the App Store operates. For example, we’re now seeing more regular updates of the Best New Apps section at the top of the App Store’s Featured page. In a tweet today, Schiller acknowledged the changes and indicated that more changes were on the way.
Popular productivity app Todoist is giving its six million users a huge update today with a completely rewritten app for iOS alongside a new Safari plug-in and notable updates for Apple Watch and Mac.
SoundCloud today announced that it’s launching an iPhone version of the ‘Pulse’ app for creators that it first launched back in November for Android users.
Apple has been steadily improving the tvOS App Store experience for customers and developers on the new Apple TV, and today it’s continuing by turning on support for app previews. Developers can create app previews, which are videos showing the app in action beyond just screenshots, to show customers how their apps work before they download or purchase the app.
John Gruber surprised podcast listeners today by getting Apple’s own Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi on The Talk Show to discuss a variety of topics behind Apple. Since Tim Cook took leadership at Apple, it hasn’t been unheard of for Apple execs to appear on Gruber’s show. The first occurrence was last June when Phil Schiller met John Gruber on stage during WWDC to discuss Apple’s recent announcements and decisions over the past few years. This marks the second time that Federighi has been on the The Talk Show, and Cue’s first.
In between a fashion show and album debut at his super confusing Madison Square Garden event yesterday, Kanye West also found some time to take the wraps off his upcoming video game dubbed “Only One”.
Data from App Annie suggests that global mobile app revenue will hit $50B this year, and $101B by 2020. Total annual downloads will rise from 111B last year to 284B by 2020.
Apple’s iOS is set to retain its store leadership by gross revenue over the five-year period, while Google Play and third-party Android stores will expand their lead measured in downloads due to wider proliferation of devices.
The forecast was made a month after Apple announced a new record for App Store sales, hitting over $1.1B revenue in just two weeks of the holiday season.
App Annie suggests that China will overtake the U.S. in app revenue in the first half of this year, and cites good evidence for this …
iDevices, a company that makes many popular iPhone connected household products, today announced that it’s selling its iGrill and Kitchen Thermometer brands to Weber, a longtime leader manufacturing grills and grilling accessories. The two product lines include Bluetooth, smartphone-controlled thermometer, grilling, and cooking accessories and companion apps.
In what Bloomberg describes as ‘a 90-minute interview peppered with expletives,’ Russia’s new Internet advisor has said that he wants to force Apple and Google to pay more taxes.
German Klimenko is pushing to raise taxes on U.S. companies to help level the playing field for Russian competitors such as Yandex and Mail.ru […]
Bloomberg says that he has an interesting ally in this aim …
A list of App Store and iTunes services are currently down preventing users from processing downloads, making purchases or in some cases even streaming their music from iTunes in the Cloud. Apple’s system status currently (as of 10:52AM EST) lists App Store, Apple TV, iBooks Store, iTunes in the Cloud, iTunes Match, iTunes Store, Mac App Store, and the Volume Purchase Program as potentially being unavailable for some users.
When Nintendo first announced that it would finally be launching an iPhone game, it’s safe to say, many of we children of the 90’s got a little excited. Sadly, excitement turned to bemusement once the company revealed it would be launching a weird game called Miitomo, which wasn’t exactly a game, but rather a social network.
Following its disappointing Q4 results, Nintendo has confirmed that its second title would include a “very familiar character”, and won’t be another social network attempt. It did, however, stop short of confirming exactly which character we’re going to see.
Michael Sayman, known for creating the iOS game 4 Snaps, shared a story today on what it was like growing up in the world of iOS development at such a young age. After his first app’s major success at the age of 13, an app based on his Club Penguin blog, Sayman soon gained to media attention and began to travel the world sharing his story. In the profile, he delves into the irony of being paid to travel and tell this personal story on success, all the while his parents were struggling financially at home.
Sayamn also explains how he became the primary bill-payer for the household and what that was like for a teen in school.
Google has finally launched a full-fledged iOS app for users of its AdWords advertising service. The AdWords app arrives today as the first official iOS app for the service and it’s available for both iPhone and iPad users now.
Apple today announced on its Developer Portal that its making two new lower price tiers available for developers in Canada and New Zealand. Developers in those countries can now offer paid apps and in-app purchases at $0.99 CAD and $0.99 NZD. These new options will allow for developers to offer more affordable apps and in-app purchases to users in these countries.
Delveries by Junecloud has received major updates today for both their iOS and Mac applications. For the unitiated, Deliveries is an all-in-one package tracker for both iOS and Mac. Allowing the user to track multiple packages from various couriers, the app is perfect for anyone who doesn’t want to have to jump between different delivery company sites.
According to a new report out of app analytics company App Annie, Apple’s trend of bringing in more revenue via its App Store than Google does via the Play Store continued in 2015. Google, however, continued to see far more app downloads than Apple…
Apple today released a brand new app for iOS devices called Music Memos that allows songwriters to quickly and easily record audio and develop song ideas.
Apple’s press release for the new app notes that Music Memos was inspired by the fact that many musicians have long used the iOS Voice Memos app as a way of quickly capturing ideas in audio on their iPhones and iPads:
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