App Store - page 11

TikTok has cemented itself at the top of the App Store for yet another month, showing the seemingly unassailable dominance of the video-sharing app. According to app analytics platform Sensor Tower, TikTok was the top-grossing, non-gaming app worldwide for February 2021.

For the month, it raked in more than $110 million in user spending across both iOS and Android. That’s approaching twice what it earned in revenue that month last year, although marginally down from the $128 million it pulled in back in January.

Spotify’s accusation to the European Union that Apple uses its control of the App Store to squeeze out competition reportedly will soon result in antitrust charges being filed against the iPhone-maker. This comes on the same day the UK begins an investigation of the App Store.

The two antitrust agencies could force Apple to lower the commissions it charges software developers. Or even require rival iPhone app stores.

Antitrust investigators in the Netherlands are reportedly coming to the end of a “years-long” investigation into Apple and its control of the App Store.

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has been investigating this matter since 2019. It focuses on Apple’s “payments system” in the App Store, which charges developers 15% to 30% in commission. With its impending decision, it could become the first antitrust authority to rule on this contentious issue.

Apple will highlight the contributions of women to society in many ways during Women’s History Month, including suggesting relevant outstanding books, podcasts and apps. It also plans virtual Today at Apple sessions led by female creators.

Plus, there’ll be an International Women’s Day Apple Watch Activity Challenge for March 8, and there’ll be other ways of observing this day.

Developers have updated instructions for filling out the privacy “nutrition labels” shown in the App Store. There are additions and clarifications.

Apple asks developers to submit the information for these privacy labels shown to users. There’ve been questions about how accurate the devs’ responses are — including some from a Congressional committee — and the new instructions might be part of Apple’s response.

After booming during lockdown in 2020, the App Store isn’t likely to slow down over the next five years, according to a new report.

App analytics platform Sensor Tower’s projections indicate App Store spending could hit $185 billion per year in the next half-decade. That’s compared to $72 billion in 2020.

Users who don’t get on board with WhatsApp’s terms and conditions will be unable to send or receive messages after May 15. While calls and notifications will continue to work for a short while, this will supposedly only be for a period of a “few weeks.”

WhatsApp first announced the changing privacy policies in January. The changed policy notes that, “As part of the Facebook family of companies, WhatsApp receives information from, and shares information with, this family of companies.”

Apple has reportedly began cracking down on apps that feature subscriptions Apple considers to be unreasonable, claims 9to5Mac.

The report cites a rejection email sent to one developer saying that the price of in-app purchases do not “do not reflect the value of the features and content” on offer. It also calls it a “rip-off to customers.”

Subscription apps are thriving right now, and nowhere more so than on iOS. According to a new report from app analytics platform Sensor Tower, worldwide spending on the top 100 subscription apps on the App Store generated $10.3 billion in 2020.

That’s a massive 32% increase from the $7.8 billion spent in 2019. It’s also close to four times what Android apps in the Google Play store pulled in in 2020. (They earned just $2.7 billion.)

A U.S. House of Representatives committee sent Apple CEO Tim Cook a letter with questions about the App Privacy labels displayed in the App Store. The letter was prompted by a published report that many of these privacy “nutrition labels” contain incorrect information.

Google and Facebook are rivals of Apple, but they also rely on it a whole lot — as a new report by app analytics platform Sensor Tower makes clear. It highlights how Google and Facebook were two of the top three publishers on the iOS App Store in January, with Google holding the top spot.

It’s the perfect illustration of the “coopetition” relationship that exists between the tech giants.

TikTok is off to a great start in 2021, as app analytics platform Sensor Tower notes that it was the top grossing, non-gaming app worldwide for January. In total, users spent $128 million on TikTok during the month, an increase of 3.8x in revenue from January last year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook must participate in a seven-hour deposition during his company’s upcoming legal battle with Epic Games. Epic reportedly wanted Cook for eight hours, while Apple lawyers tried to whittle it down to four hours.

Seven hours is the compromise that was ultimately ruled on by Judge Thomas S. Hixon.

So-called App Store nutrition labels that detail exactly how an app handles your data sounded like such a fantastically simple idea when Apple described them last year.

Now that the feature is live, the devil is apparently in the details. As it happens, you can’t just trust all app developers to tell you exactly how much data their software hoovers up — or how they share it with potentially nefarious third parties. Apple says it’s working to police the problem, but it’s a black eye for the privacy-conscious company.

Apple’s new privacy “nutrition labels” in the App Store might not be as useful as hoped. Spot checks by a Washington Post writer turned up applications with incorrect information.

The basic problem? Apple asked developers to describe their own privacy practices. And some of them were less than honest.

Brawl Stars, the multiplayer arena battle game, is the latest mobile game to pull in more than $1 billion in gross lifetime revenue, app analytics platform Sensor Tower reports.

This means that the title, made by Finnish developers Supercell, is now part of an exclusive club of Supercell titles that includes Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, and Hay Day.

Is Apple helping facilitate an illegal gambling den by running the App Store? That’s the accusation made by a new lawsuit, claiming that freemium casino apps are running wild in the App Store — and Apple’s taking a piece of the action.

The plaintiffs in the case are two social casino app users. Each has spent upward of $15,000 on casino app in-app purchases.

When Florian Mueller submitted his latest game to the App Store, he didn’t think it would end with him filing a complaint against Apple with the European Union, the U.S. Department of Justice and other antitrust authorities around the world.

But that’s exactly what happened after Apple rejected his Corona Control Game due to its COVID-19 theme. Google, which barred Mueller’s game from the Google Play store, is also named in his complaints.

Germany-based Mueller, who has another career as a blogger on legal issues, is not happy with how Apple and Google handled his game submission.

“When [Apple and Google] rejected the game at the beta-testing stage, I was indeed surprised that they took issue with it in such a fundamental way they wouldn’t even let us distribute it to testers,” Mueller, 51, told Cult of Mac.

December was a good month for Call of Duty: Mobile, which topped the iOS App Store list of most-downloaded games, according to a new report from app analytics platform Sensor Tower.

The Coalition for a Safer Web, a Washington DC-based nonprofit, is suing Apple for not removing messaging app Telegram from the App Store.

In a lawsuit filed Sunday, Marc Ginsberg, a former U.S. ambassador to Morroco, and the coalition say the app remains in the App Store “despite Apple’s knowledge that Telegram is being used to intimidate, threaten, and coerce members of the public.”

Social media app Parler will be restored to the App Store if it complies with Apple’s terms of service, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Wednesday.

In a CBS interview, Cook said the app “has some issues with moderation.” However, he said Apple’s “hope is that they do that and get back on the store.”

The App Store grossed upward of $64 billion in 2020, according to a CNBC report.

Provided that number is correct, it’s a big jump from the relatively stable $48.5 billion and $50 billion respectively the App Store grossed in 2018 and 2019. It shows how, in contrast to many other businesses, the digital app economy boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Apple customers spent a record $540 million-plus in a single day on digital goods and services on New Year’s Day, Apple said Wednesday.

This followed a monster holiday season in which App Store customers splurged $1.8 billion in the App Store between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Users spent much of this astonishing amount of money on games.

One of the big new features of iOS 14 is a privacy focused one that lets users know which apps are tracking them. But while it’s starting to roll out to beta users, developers are trying to find ways to continue tracking users without them necessarily being clued in.

According to a Wednesday report for the Financial Times, some devs are so concerned about the possible financial impact of Apple’s new feature that they will try and find ways around restrictions — even though being caught could result in them being booted off the App Store.

What pandemic? According to a new report from app analytics firm Sensor Tower, global spending on mobile apps across both iOS and Android hit an astonishing $111 billion in 2020. That’s a massive 30% growth from 2019.

The overwhelming spend — $72.3 billion — was on iOS, despite the larger number of Android devices. Google Play revenue, meanwhile, came in at $38.6 billion. Both app stores showed approximately the same level of growth over the year.