Apple has now activated the new iCloud Storage tiers, as announced last week at Apple’s September event. The new tiers do not bump the free tier — it remains at 5 GB. However, for $0.99 per month you now get 50 GB of storage, up from 20 GB. The 200 GB plan is now cheaper at $2.99 and the 1 TB plan is now half the price at $9.99 per month.
We have reported many times that the new Apple TV is getting an App Store. The new A8-powered box combined with a revamped software interface will enable developers to make apps and games for the new hardware, set to be announced at tomorrow’s iPhone 6S/Apple TV/iPad event. TechCrunch is reporting, via sources, that Periscope, the video live streaming app for iPhone and Android, is working with Apple in advance of the unveiling to create a custom Periscope app for the new Apple TV.
Apple has published the eighth beta version of OS X El Capitan to its registered developers. The operating system is expected to be released later this year, with an announcement coming at Apple’s September 9th event.
If you submit your brand new app to Apple and they offer to make it a featured app when it hits the the App Store, you might think you’d have to be crazy to refuse. But startup investor M.G. Siegler suggests in a Medium post that you may want to think twice.
If you’re not familiar with the name, Siegler is a guy who ought to know a thing or two about startups. He’s a general partner at Google Ventures, was a founding partner of TechCrunch and has worked with startups since 2005.
There are two problems with having your app get a lot of exposure at launch, he argues. First, if your app is free, you may get the downloads but not the revenue.
Talking to a number of early stage companies that have been featured at launch recently, they all have similar stories: a ton of downloads that resulted in very few users that actually stuck around.
Second, whether free or paid, brand new apps are rarely ready for the big time – and if you leave people disappointed with version 1.0 of your app, you may not get a second chance.
So you’re featured and get all those downloads. Lots of high fives that Thursday afternoon. Come Thursday evening, the first realization sets in: while some of those downloads are converting into initial users, they’re having all sorts of issues actually using your app. Bugs are exposed not by flashlight, but by sunbeam.
The result is that you lose most of those initial users, plus they bad-mouth you and your app.
Of course, Siegler is a guy in a position to help startups get that much-needed publicity later – whereas a lone developer who is lucky enough to catch Apple’s eye at launch may not get a second chance. But if nothing else, it does show the importance of testing your app to death before launch, and getting feedback from as many beta users as possible.
That and not spending too much money on champagne if Apple offers to feature your app, as the evidence shows that fame and fortune may not necessarily follow.
Microsoft first unveiled “Windows Bridge” a few months back, a new tool for developers that aims to make porting iOS apps to Windows 10 easier and hopefully breathe some life into the Windows Store in the process. Today the company is releasing the software, albeit an early release ahead of a final launch planned for later this year in the fall.
The bridge offers developers tools for utilizing existing code from iOS apps to build Windows apps, but Microsoft stressed that its “goal with the iOS bridge has never been simply to run iOS apps on Windows.”
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Apple is continuing to fine tune the upcoming watchOS update for Apple Watch ahead of the software update’s release this fall, and now registered developers can test their apps against the latest build as watch OS 2 beta 5 is now available.
The watchOS 2 update allows developers to build native (read faster) apps that do not rely as much on the iPhone for processing power, third-party complications or widgets for the watch face, and closer access to hardware like heart rate sensor data and more. For consumers, watchOS 2 adds new features like Nightstand Mode, using photos or albums as a watch face, and various app refinements.
The last watchOS 2 beta notably added support for colored complications including Activity with increased legibility on certain watch faces including Utility and Modular. We’ll explore the latest watchOS 2 beta to find other new changes coming this fall, and let us know if you discover any differences between the last beta as well.
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Update: iOS 9 beta 3 for public beta testers is also available.
Apple today released iOS 9 beta 5 for registered developers testing the new operating system ahead of its release this fall. The latest build comes two weeks and two days after the previous version, which included tweaked icons, the return of Home Sharing support, a new Handoff UI, a cleaner Apple Music experience, and changes to how Apple Pay can be activated on the lock screen. Headlining features in iOS 9 include an overhauled Notes app, transit directions in Maps, multitasking features on iPad, a News app, and much more. As Apple starts to fine tune these releases, changes between each build should slow down. We’ll explore the latest beta for any notable differences, and let us know if you spot any changes as well.
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Apple is now allowing developers to test more iOS 9 features with an update to its beta distribution app TestFlight. The updated version enables developers to test faster, native watchOS 2 apps for Apple Watch, including newly gained access to more sensors and custom watch face complications. The update also lets developers test some iOS 9 features like App Thinning, which allows users to download larger chunks of apps as needed to preserve local storage, for the first time.
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Apple has released an updated build of iOS 8.4.1 for registered developers to test on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. iOS 8.4.1 beta 2 features build number 12H318 and comes just over two weeks after the initial beta version.
While the initial beta of iOS 8.4.1 didn’t feature any noticeable changes, the X.X.1 label suggests it is primarily an under-the-hood update to iOS 8.4 without feature or visual changes. iOS 8.4 launched in late June and introduced Apple Music with Beats 1 to the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
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iTunes Connect is down for many. Attempting to connect here, it is giving a Gateway Timeout error. It’s only a little more than a week after many developers experienced a multi-day outage.
Apple’s system status page is not showing any issues at the time of writing, but commonly remains all-green for extended periods after outages are first experienced …
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As Apple continues to develop watchOS 2.0 for Apple Watch ahead of its release this fall, the company has released watchOS 2 beta 4 to registered developers today for testing the operating system update on Apple Watch.
The upcoming OS update includes a ton of improvements to the platform including support for native apps, third-party complications, new watch faces including using your own photos, a clever Night Stand mode for using the watch as a miniature alarm clock, and several refinements to apps and features like Digital Touch and Siri.
The previous beta included improvements to battery life and Notification Center bugs that plagued earlier betas plus Apple Music support, but Apple ID setup and Apple Pay were disabled for the pre-release software betas. We’ll dig in to the latest beta version and update with notable changes discovered.
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Roughly two weeks after the previous build with Apple Music support included, Apple has released iOS 9 beta 4 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch to registered developers. iOS 9 includes new or redesigned built-in apps including the Flipboard-like News app and an overhauled Notes app, powerful iPad multitasking features, and a new system feature built around search and intelligence called Proactive. The previous beta included the first look at Apple’s News app, support for Apple Music and Beats 1, and other changes including Screenshots and Selfies albums in Photos and 4×4 app folders on the iPad. We’ll dig in to today’s release and update with changes in the latest beta.
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Linda Dong, a former Prototyping Team member at Apple, shared a fascinating blog post this week that highlights an interesting use case for developers and designers using Apple’s iAd Producer app.
Think of it as “advanced Keynote”, or “actually accessible Interface Builder”. Alas the app is meant for not-so-popular content like iAds and iBooks widgets, but it can easily be repurposed to prototype iOS and Mac apps. It handles UI elements, screen flow, and animation really well.
Writing that iAd Producer is targeted toward creating iAds and iBook widgets, which makes it a rather underrated app considering the utility it offers, she notes that iAd Producer bases projects in “HTML5, CSS3, and javascript which a lot of designers are already familiar with.”
She goes on to explain how you can remove the default iAd UI overlays when using iAd Producer for iOS and Mac app prototyping, while explaining how the drag-and-drop nature of the app makes it easy to use.
Her write-up continues by detailing how iAd Producer incorporates animations that will be familiar to Keynote users, event triggers on objects within apps, supports CSS filters, and even previewing app designs and interactions on real devices for testing.
You can read her full blog post and see some of her work here, and grab iAd Producer from Apple’s developer center if you’re a member. Have you used iAd Producer for any interesting app prototyping or other ways that vary from iAd and iBook widget creation?
A noticeably large number of users are reporting issues logging into iTunes Connect, Apple’s developer portal for managing and distributing apps and other content to the App Store and iTunes. The outage appears to only be affecting a subset of users (we’ve had success logging in, for instance), but a growing number of developers have publicly voiced complaints online. Some users report not being able to access the service for going on four days:
[tweet https://twitter.com/powerje/status/623119396412751873]
Apple currently has yet to report any issues for iTunes Connect on its System Status page that tracks and reports downtime for its developer services.
Some users have reported success logging in after tweaking VPN settings, while another user posted the following workaround fix that others have used to patch what appears to be a Javascript issue at least temporarily until Apple officially addresses it:
[tweet https://twitter.com/psyclr/status/623099998687789057]
We’ve reached out to Apple about the downtime, and we’ll update here if we hear back.
[tweet https://twitter.com/rantydave/status/623064147211632641]
[tweet https://twitter.com/umugenzi/status/623020410251034624]
[tweet https://twitter.com/telemedicalapp/status/622972407884709888]
Google today announced a new beacon technology called Eddystone along with APIs that together it hopes will make it easier for Android and iOS-powered devices and beacons in close proximity to communicate with one another. Unlike iBeacon, Apple’s take on the Bluetooth-based protocol, Eddystone is open source and designed to be easily extendable, compatible with any device which supports the use of beacons. A new API announced alongside Eddystone, compatible with iOS and Android devices and available to Android developers today (iOS support forthcoming), uses inaudible sound emitted from device speakers and heard from other devices using their microphones to determine when other smartphones and tablets are nearby so data can be transmitted between them.
To learn more, read the full post over at 9to5Google.
Apple has just published two new software betas for developers on its Developer Center. The new betas cover both OS X Yosemite and iOS 8, with what appear to be bug fix releases on each platform. You can find the change logs below. We’ll also include a running list of changes.
Apple recently distributed iOS 9 beta 3 to developers and beta testers, and OS X 10.10.4 to the general public. iOS 8.4 was released around the same time to introduce Apple Music support on mobile devices.
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Apple alerted developers to some App Store price adjustments earlier in the week and the alternative price tier details have now been posted. Apple has added other alternative price tiers in the past, but what’s interesting with these changes in particular is is that they are specifically targeted at offering really low price options for apps in a select few countries.
The new tiers enable developers to set prices for their apps way below the usual $0.99 price floor in India, Russia, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey. (Special pricing for China has existed for some time.)
For example, using the ‘Alternative Price Tier A’ means that apps are priced at 10 Indian Rupees. This is equivalent to about 16 cents in USD. Before the addition, the lowest price developers could charge in India was 60 rupees, which is about 96 cents.
Apple directors have been somewhat talkative over the weekend about the imminent release of Apple Music. Former Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers, who now works as a Senior Director of Apple Music, blogged about the product’s launch. He reminisces on the history of digital music and radio saying that seeing Apple Music on stage at WWDC ‘it was hard not to feel like the last 20+ years was leading to this day’.
Interestingly, Apple will be releasing iOS 8.4 at 8 AM on June 30th which includes the newly revamped Music app to support Apple Music. This is slightly earlier than the usual 10 AM release window. The change in scheduling seems to be in service of Beats 1, Apple’s worldwide radio station, which will start streaming from 9 AM on the same day.
Meanwhile, Eddy Cue has also been leaking some tidbits about Apple Music on Twitter …
In an interview with the Chinese language edition of Bloomberg Businessweek, Tim Cook noted that developers are showing more interest in the Apple Watch than they had in the iPhone and iPad at a similar early stage.
Developers are working on more than 3,500 apps for the gadgets, he said. That’s well ahead of the 500 apps available for the 2008 edition of the iPhone and the 1,000 for the first iPad in 2010, he added.
Cook also confirmed what most had assumed: the gold color introduced for the iPhone, iPad and now MacBook (and presumably real gold for the Watch) was “in part” driven by the popularity of the color in China. Greater China now accounts for a whopping 29% of Apple’s revenue …
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Update: The problem should now be resolved. Watch apps should upload as normal once again.
Developers are flocking to Apple’s developer forums today as the iTunes Connect submissions process is currently experiencing a glitch which makes it impossible for developers to submit apps that include Apple Watch extensions.
Rather than continuing submission process as normal, the system is incorrectly flagging up misuse of an Apple private framework called SockPuppetGizmo. Naturally, this is causing frustration in the developer community at the moment because it prevents apps from being submitted to the App Store.
This video is so well done, it is almost like Apple made/coordinated it themselves.
Apple is introducing full support for audio plug-ins in iOS 9, allowing developers to sell plug-ins like effects and virtual instruments on the App Store that can be used within audio editing apps like Apple’s own GarageBand.
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Apple is rolling out improvements to its iTunes Connect portal that developers use to submit and manage their apps on the App Store. In addition to some welcomed UI tweaks, Apple is introducing a few notable improvements for developers. The big ones include increased limits for testing apps in TestFlight, the ability to manage multiple accounts/apps from a single username, and new user roles to allow a team of developers varying access to iTunes Connect features.
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Well-known developers Steve Troughton-Smith, Saurik and Adam Bell have managed to hack the Apple Watch on watchOS 2 to run truly native apps on the device. Although Apple is advertising native apps with watchOS 2, it isn’t as ‘native’ as some developers wanted or expected. The logic code now runs on the watch, but raw access to the user interface is still not allowed on watchOS 2.
This means frameworks like UIKit cannot be used to draw truly custom UI. Instead developers must rely on the same techniques employed with current WatchKit apps that revolve around image sequences to create more interesting effects.
In the demo, video embedded below, the team managed to get a fully interactive 3D object running on the Apple Watch powered by Apple’s SceneKit framework.