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2,195 'App Store' stories December 2010 - November 2015
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Apple announces Apple TV-focused Tech Talks for developers across 10 cities around the world

Avatar for Zac Hall Nov 10 2015 - 11:13 am PT
2 Comments

Apple typically holds a single developer event each year, WWDC in San Francisco around June, but sometimes uses Tech Talks to bring developer events around the world at other parts of the year. With Apple TV’s App Store launching several months after WWDC 2015 and long before WWDC 2016, Apple has announced that it will host 11 Tech Talk sessions across 10 different cities around the world. Apple describes the sessions as a way to “Get in-depth guidance from Apple experts on developing and designing for tvOS, in a city near you.”
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Apple releases tvOS 9.1 beta 2 for Apple TV to developers

Avatar for Zac Hall Nov 10 2015 - 10:33 am PT
5 Comments

One week after the first tvOS 9.1 beta for Apple TV, developers now have access to an updated build of the software update to test. While the initial tvOS 9.1 beta contained no visual changes for users yet, Siri has since been enabled to work with Apple Music on the beta version of the software. Non-developer Apple TV users also recently saw the very first software update for Apple TV yesterday with the release of tvOS 9.0.1, which likely focused on stability and bug fixes as no visual changes were discovered. tvOS 9.1 beta 2 for developers and available to download from Apple’s developer center.
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Adobe creative professionals offer first hands-on impressions using iPad Pro [Video]

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Nov 9 2015 - 9:41 am PT
5 Comments

Adobe is one company patiently waiting for the launch of the new iPad Pro as the firm in recent months has prepared for what it expects to be a big user base of professionals interested in its various creative mobile apps on the device. Sharing in the excitement for the launch scheduled for later this week, Adobe just released the video above showing off some of the possibilities of its apps on the new iPad and giving us one our first looks at hands-on impressions with the iPad ahead of product reviews going live.

In addition to offering some previews of upcoming mobile app improvements at its Max conference earlier this year, the company has worked hard to optimize several of its apps that are bound to be popular on the new larger iPad. Apps ready to go for the launch include Photoshop Fix, Photoshop Sketch, Photoshop Mix and Comp CC.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TVywEv2-0E]

Apple confirmed earlier today that the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro will go on sale Wednesday, November 11th in 40 countries, while the device will hit Apple retail stores sometime later this week. In Apple’s press release, Adobe’s vice president of Products Scott Belsky called the company’s work on software for the device an “industry-advancing collaboration that millions of Adobe and Apple customers will benefit from.”

“iPad Pro enables new forms of mobile creativity that will help transform how creatives work,” said Scott Belsky, vice president of Products at Adobe. “With the larger iPad Pro screen and lightning-fast performance, creatives will be able to take full advantage of Adobe’s family of Creative Cloud mobile apps. For example, the ability to manipulate a 50-megapixel image right on iPad Pro in Photoshop Fix and then send that image to Photoshop CC on a desktop, for further refinement, is the kind of industry-advancing collaboration that millions of Adobe and Apple customers will benefit from.”

While there haven’t been many hands-on videos since Apple first unveiled the device at its press event in September, we did get a look at Disney and Pixar animators playing with the device and offering their first impressions last month.

Roundup: The best apps and games for the new Apple TV

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Nov 6 2015 - 9:27 am PT
29 Comments

The Apple TV has been available for a week now and the tvOS App Store is estimated to include over 1,000 apps, with more coming online every day. There’s a pretty good selection of titles, with a heavy focus on gaming. Developers are still figuring out how to use the touchpad Siri Remote in interesting and new ways but the initial launch is promising for sure. We’ve rounded up our favourite apps and games for the new Apple TV so far …


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Google Drive for iOS gets improved sharing experience w/ notifications & more

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Nov 4 2015 - 12:00 pm PT
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Google Drive updates arriving today include new features for the service’s iOS app including sharing notifications and what Google promises will be a ‘consistent sharing experience across platforms.”

As part of its Drive mobile app updates today, both users of the iOS and Android apps can now enable notifications for when files are shared with them. Not only is it a notification, but it also acts as a quick link to jump right into the file or folder. And in addition, Google notes that “If a file/folder owner has notifications turned on and someone requests access to their content, the owner will be notified of the request instantly on their mobile device so they can quickly grant access.”

Another feature in the update for the Google Drive iOS app is what Google describes as a new consistent sharing experience, which essentially means the iOS app sharing experience is now on par with the Drive app on other platforms. You’ll notice the addition of an option to add a custom message when sharing:

We’re implementing a more consistent sharing experience in Drive (and the Docs editor apps too!) across platforms, including the ability for people using the Drive iOS app to add custom messages to recipients directly from the app when sharing a file.

The updated Google Drive app for iPhone and iPad is available now.

Feature Request: Airbnb’s Apple TV app is perfect for a concierge-style experience for guests

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Nov 4 2015 - 11:04 am PT
1 Comment

Feature Request is a new regular 9to5Mac series where authors offer their opinion on how to improve popular hardware or software products.

A lot of the apps on the new Apple TV bring similar experiences as on iOS to the big screen, but we’re bound to see some unique apps designed specifically for the living room that perhaps didn’t make a lot of sense on smaller or mobile devices. One example of this and my first Feature Request: Airbnb should add a concierge-style experience for guests through its new Apple TV app.
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Early tvOS App Store sales charts show popularity of games, app prices substantially higher than iOS

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Nov 2 2015 - 2:59 am PT
21 Comments

The new Apple TV has been available for three days now, with response to the product generally strong with seemingly good sales, based off some talks with Apple Store employees. A big part of the appeal of Apple TV is the tvOS App Store. What you see above is Apple’s press image for the store: in reality the Top Charts and Categories are currently unaccessible. Developer Steve Troughton-Smith has worked around this by accessing the web chart data directly, by spoofing the Apple TV headers when making the request. He has posted the Apple TV US Top Paid, Top Free and Top Grossing charts as of yesterday. There’s some interesting trends in the data ….


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Introducing the 9to5Mac app for iPhone and iPad

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Oct 28 2015 - 2:29 pm PT
75 Comments

Earlier in the year, we released a major redesign for all of the 9to5 sites and we continue to roll out improvements to this design. However, we’ve also been working on something else for 9to5Mac … today we are releasing the 9to5Mac app for iPhone and iPad. As a complement to the website, you can now read our latest stories directly from your Home screen.

Download the app from the App Store for free right now. The app runs on iPhone and iPad with custom layouts for the respective screen sizes. It’s the essence of our website, the news stories, reflowed into a format that’s optimized for iOS.

We love the website, but the app allows us to offer you many additional features to further the 9to5Mac experience for our readers. You can subscribe to breaking news notifications, jump into Dark Mode for late night reading and add our latest headlines to the Today view with the included widget. More details after the break …


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App Store ‘temporarily unavailable’ error preventing downloads and updates for some [U: Resolved]

Avatar for Zac Hall Oct 28 2015 - 1:17 pm PT
27 Comments

[Update 5:30 PM ET: Apple has acknowledged a 4+ hour issue on its system status dashboard with “slower than usual performance when using iCloud Drive, Photos, and Backup” but not App Store issues although the outage appears to be resolved.]

The App Store on both iOS and the Mac appears to currently be experiencing issues with downloading new and previously purchased apps as well as app updates for some but not all users. Apple’s system status board for Apple Services, Stores, and iCloud doesn’t mention the service interruption in the detailed timeline section at the time of writing, but several readers have pointed out the issue with the App Store on iPhone and iPad and within iTunes on the desktop.

The service interruption comes as Apple prepares to launch a new App Store on tvOS with the new Apple TV launching on Friday, which could explain the issues many are experiencing on the backend. Some users have reported seeing the issues only intermittently but the problems appear to be widespread and consistent for many. We’ll monitor the issue and update if Apple addresses the issue or it appears resolved.

[tweet https://twitter.com/cue/status/659244692479963136 align=’center’]

Apple rolling out iTunes & App Store carrier billing with O2 in Germany

Avatar for Zac Hall Oct 27 2015 - 7:11 am PT
1 Comment

Although carriers have created workarounds in the past, Apple has been slow to support carrier billing for iTunes and App Store purchases so far. That appears to be changing, in Germany at least, as TechCrunch reports Telefonica-owned carrier O2 is officially supported as a payment option within iTunes. O2 customers are said to be able to provide a phone number rather than a credit card to allow billing to be handled through O2 rather than directly with a credit or debit card or other options.

iTunes and App Store payments are then handled through the carrier with the phone bill monthly rather than immediately. This allows subscription services like Apple Music and Netflix to also be handled through carrier billing.
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Glu’s ‘Sniper X’ first-person shooter stars Jason Statham for its latest celebrity tie-in

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Oct 22 2015 - 11:29 am PT
0 Comments

App publisher Glu today announced its latest game, which is also its latest celebrity partnership with actor Jason Statham starring as the game’s main playable character. The free game is a first-person shooter that some players will notice bears a similarity and seems to borrow from some of Glu’s past FPS games including the Contract Killer series.

“As Glu’s first male celebrity partner, Jason Statham’s over 55 million social followers add a new demographic to the company’s celebrity gaming platform,” said Niccolo de Masi, Glu Chairman and CEO. “Mr. Statham’s creative input throughout the game’s development has ensured a unique and authentic action-adventure experience his fans will enjoy worldwide.”

As part of Statham’s elite paramilitary team SPEAR, players work side-by-side to dismantle terrorists and rogue states that conventional forces can’t touch. Enemies of freedom can run, but they can’t hide from Sniper X!

The celebrity tie-in, featuring Statham’s name, likeness, and voice, follows Glu’s successful “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood” game that reports last year said was on pace to take in around $200 million.

Sniper X with Jason Statham is available on the App Store now for iPhone and iPad. The game is free to download but includes in-app purchases for in-game items, which is also the approach Glu took for the successful Kim Kardashian game.

Official trailer from Glu below:

[youtube=https://youtu.be/AYkwjYuly2U]

Instagram takes on Apple’s Live Photos with new 1-second video loop app, Boomerang

Avatar for Cam Bunton Oct 22 2015 - 7:43 am PT
2 Comments

Instagram is expanding its range of apps further today by introducing a new video-looping service to rival the likes of HTC Zoe and the iPhone’s baked-in Live Photos. Boomerang takes a quick burst of photos in-app, and then turns them in to a moving photo, or video, that loops forward and backward. Don’t call it a GIF though, it’s a Boomerang…
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iOS 9 now installed on over 60% of devices, according to latest Apple App Store data

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Oct 22 2015 - 2:42 am PT
25 Comments

Apple has once again updated its App Store data chart with the latest statistics on iOS 9 adoption. iOS 9 came out of the gate with a ridiculously-high >50% adoption rate just a few days after it launched. This pace has definitely slowed following the initial rush of users upgrading, but achieving 61% penetration of iOS devices is still a strong result. This appears to be keeping up with Phil Schiller’s prediction that iOS 9 will be “downloaded by more users than any other software release in Apple’s history.” Remember, iOS 9 can be installed on any iPhone, iPad or iPod touch that runs iOS 8.


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Apple asking developers to submit their tvOS apps ahead of Apple TV launch next week

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Oct 22 2015 - 2:23 am PT
3 Comments

A couple of hours ago, Apple sent out emails asking registered Apple developers to submit their tvOS apps for the Apple TV, using the GM seeds of tvOS and Xcode 7.1.

Although several thousand developer kits are out in the wild, the App Store app is yet to appear for these users. It may come online over-the-air and just ‘appear’ like Apple TV channels do, or there may be a small software update in the next few days to add the application.


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Apple TV 3 adds CBS, NBC + M2M channels ahead of new Apple TV release on Monday

Avatar for Zac Hall Oct 20 2015 - 10:38 am PT
8 Comments

Current Apple TV customers are getting at least one more new wave of channel additions before the focus completely means to the new App Store-based Apple TV on Monday. New channels from CBS, NBC, and the fashion-focused M2M arrived on current Apple TV home screens today, bringing CBS’s subscription service, full episodes of NBC shows, and exclusive fashion videos to the streaming box.
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Apple removing hundreds of App Store apps as advertising SDK found to collect sensitive user data via private APIs

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Oct 19 2015 - 6:40 am PT
10 Comments

Code analytics platform SourceDNA has found hundreds of apps on the App Store that used private APIs to collect private user data, like email addresses and device identifiers, slipping under Apple’s radar in the approval process. The code got into these apps through the inclusion of a mischievous third-party advertising SDK, which secretly stored this data and sent it off to its own servers.

Apple has now verified the SourceDNA report and is removing all of the apps that included the advertising SDK from the store, as using private API calls is a breach of App Review Guidelines. Apple has also patched its approval processes to prevent any more apps that use this technique to make it onto the App Store.


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Yahoo releases redesigned Mail app for iOS w/ Outlook, Hotmail, AOL Mail integration

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Oct 15 2015 - 7:54 am PT
3 Comments

Yahoo is rolling out an update to its Mail app for iPhone and iPad that introduces a refreshed design, as well as new features including smarter search, contacts management and rich compose. Alongside the updated app, Yahoo Mail is for the first time introducing account integration for third-party email services including Outlook.com, Hotmail, and AOL Mail.
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Turn your Live Photos into GIFs with new Live GIF app

Avatar for Cam Bunton Oct 15 2015 - 2:34 am PT
9 Comments

Live Photos is one of the stand-out new features on the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. It captures a short video while you’re taking pictures, which you can then watch back, and interact with using 3D Touch on your Lock Screen. Today, a company named Priime launched a new app which makes them easily shareable and viewable with anyone, regardless of device or platform.

Live GIF is the first app of its kind and lets any iPhone 6s or 6s Plus user turn their Live Photos in to GIFs which can then be shared by MMS, email, or shared on social media. The best part is, it doesn’t really require much setting up. Launch the app and it automatically detects any Live Photos on your phone, displays them in a grid (as shown below). Once you’ve picked one to share, you can choose either to ‘share as GIF’ or ‘share as video’, then select which service you want to share them on, and you’re done.

 

As you’d expect, Live GIF also supports 3D Touch. On the home screen, this lets you quickly open the last Live Photo and turn it in to a GIF immediately.

Live GIF is available to download from the App Store from today, and costs just $1.99. The app is compatible with any device running iOS 9.0 or later including iPhone 5s, 6, 6 Plus and the new 6s and 6s Plus as well as several iPad models.

Bell faces $1.25M fine for posting fake reviews of its app in the App Store

Avatar for Chance Miller Oct 14 2015 - 3:45 pm PT
4 Comments

Canadian telecommunications company Bell has been fined by Canada’s Competition Bureau today for posting deceptive reviews online. Bell has agreed to pay $1.25 million in fines to the organization. The investigation originally began when Bell acknowledged that its employees were “overzealous” in their reviews for the MyBell Mobile app on the App Store.


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Emerging markets see Android pushing further ahead in app downloads, but iOS increases revenue lead

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Oct 14 2015 - 6:03 am PT
5 Comments

The latest data from App Annie shows that Android has pushed further ahead in the number of apps downloaded worldwide, but iOS has increased its lead in app revenue.

Downloads in India and Southeast Asia in particular saw Android opening up its download lead from 85% in Q2 to 90% in Q3 2015, but that boost in low-cost handsets did nothing for app revenues. iOS apps increased their revenue lead from 70% to 80% in the last quarter … 
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Apple confirms the iTunes Store is currently down for some users

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Oct 13 2015 - 12:51 pm PT
8 Comments

Update (15/10/2015): Apple services again experiencing outages across App Store, iTunes Store and more services as reported by their system status page. Not a good week for Apple’s cloud uptime.

Following a similar outage yesterday, some iTunes users are continuing to experience service disruptions as Apple confirms the downtime. Apple recently updated its system status page tracking issues with its services, stores and iCloud to note the ongoing problem with the iTunes store for some users:

“Users are experiencing a problem with the service listed above. We are investigating and will update the status as more information becomes available.”

The outage has been affecting some users since around 12pm ET, according to Apple, and is yet to be resolved.

Yesterday a number of users reported experiencing issues with Apple’s online services but Apple didn’t detail the problems on its status page.

We’ll update here if Apple confirms the problem as resolved.

Apple removing ad blockers that install root certificates from the App Store

Avatar for Chance Miller Oct 8 2015 - 8:44 pm PT
9 Comments

Apple this evening has removed a handful of apps from the App Store that install root certificates of their own. By installing their own root certificate, the app developers could theoretically gain access to encrypted traffic from users. Among some of the apps being removed are a select number of ad blockers. The ad blockers that have been removed are ones that block content both in Safari and in other apps.


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