App Store

Earlier this week, Apple shared an in-depth look at how the App Store helped prevent fraud and protect developers and customers alike. Now, the company has shared more details in what it’s calling the “2022 App Store Transparency Report.” This report offers granular information on app removals and appeals, developer account terminations, government requests for app takedowns, and more.

Apple is out with a new press release today touting the success of the App Store’s ability to prevent fraud. According to the company, the App Store prevented more than $2 billion in “potentially fraudulent transactions” in 2022, terminated 428,000 developer accounts for fraud, and more.

A UK antitrust case against Apple has once again been thrown out, after an appeal tribunal ruled that the original decision was correct – that the UK’s competition watchdog had missed a legal deadline.

The ruling stands despite the fact that two Apple App Store policies were found to be anticompetitive, and even though the tribunal appeared to agree that its own decision was likely to have “undesirable or unfortunate results” …

Both Spotify and Elon Musk have previously spoken out against Apple’s App Store guidelines in the past. In a new exchange on Twitter this weekend, Musk and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek again questioned Apple’s guidelines, with Ek referring to them as “absurd” and Musk saying they present a “serious scaling problem.”

Susan Prescott became known for her role as vice president of developer relations at Apple. Over the past few years, she has appeared during some of the company’s keynotes. In an interview with The Independent, Prescott discussed the importance of the App Store and even teased “new ways to connect with Apple” coming at WWDC 2023.

In order to comply with the European Digital Services Act, Apple has been forced to reveal the number of monthly active users for the App Store in Europe, across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS.

The company said the iOS App Store has 101 million users in Europe, whereas iPadOS has 23 million. The Mac App Store has 6 million, the tvOS App Store has 1 million, and the watchOS App Store has under 1 million. The disclosure was first spotted by iGeneration.

The European Union has now confirmed that Apple is one of 19 tech giants to be subject to the Digital Services Act. Specifically, the online safety and transparency legislation will apply to the App Store.

Apple has four months to comply, which will likely require changes to App Store recommendations and ads – though it looks like pre-installed iPhone apps won’t be affected …

You can use an iPhone or iPad almost anywhere in the world, but some iOS features are only available in specific places. In some cases, these restrictions are related to local regulations (such as FaceTime not being available in the UAE). 9to5Mac has now learned that Apple has been testing a new, more modern system hidden in iOS 16 to restrict features based on the user’s location.

Tech giants including Amazon, Google, and Apple face new legal requirements in the UK, under new legislation being introduced today.

While the penalties for breaching the planned law are severe – up to 10% of global turnover – Apple will likely find it relatively easy to comply …

Apple is making a notable change to in-app subscriptions on iPhone and iPad. Starting this summer, you’ll be able to resolve billing issues directly in-app if a subscription renewal fails. Previously, you had to manage subscription payment failures via your Apple ID settings.

Over the last several months, Apple has been slowly adding a handful of unlisted apps to the App Store, covering things like CarKey, GymKit, and more. Now, Apple has launched the “Accessory Developer Assistant” app as its latest unlisted offering on the App Store.

Apple last year announced a major change for developers working with the App Store, who can now choose from 900 different price points ranging from $0.29 to $10,000. However, while the new price points were exclusive to subscriptions. Now developers can set the new price points for all types of purchases.

As European Union officials work on the implementation of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that formally went into effect last fall, a stakeholder workshop was held today by the European Commission to get input on “app store related provisions.” Spotify was one of the panelists and it shared three changes it feels Apple must be forced to make in the EU.

BlueMail cofounder Ben Volach says that Apple blocked a ChatGPT-powered feature included in an update to the iOS app.

He said that the company told him the inclusion of AI-generated content required the use of a 17+ age restriction, to guard against minors being exposed to inappropriate content…

Update: Apple comment added at end

Some four years after the Apple/Spotify battle began back in 2019, we may have the first indication of how the European Union will resolve the antitrust dispute.

Reading between the lines of a brief report today, it appears that the European Commission may be heading toward a compromise ruling, which would mirror that made in the Apple vs. Epic Games case in the US …

As part of privacy concerns over TikTok, Florida’s Attorney General is pushing Apple and Google to warn customers when they are about to download an app that is “foreign developed and owned.” In a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Attorney General Ashely Moore said Apple needs to take “take immediate action” on this matter.

Starting this month and throughout the weeks ahead, Apple is hosting a new round of free sessions with experts to help creators who are working on apps and podcasts. Registration is open now for support with discovery and marketing, optimizing subscriptions, and more.

The Japanese antitrust regulator has completed its study of the mobile app market, and concluded that it is dominated by an Apple and Google duopoly.

It says that while it hopes the two companies will make changes voluntarily, and that existing antitrust regulation can be used to apply pressure, new legislation would be the most reliable way of ensuring fairness …

President Biden’s second State of the Union address called on Congress to pass bipartisan legislation on both antitrust and data privacy issues.

His comments on the antitrust issue specifically referenced the need to prevent tech companies favoring their own products, an accusation frequently levelled at Apple …

Apple pulled Damus from the App Store yesterday, with the developers being informed that the Nostr app “includes content that is illegal in China.”

Apple had previously rejected the app from all its App Stores, and for the same nonsensical reason …