App Store - page 16

One of the creators of newly launched email service Hey accuses Apple of behaving like gangsters by allegedly threatening to remove the app from the App Store if it did not start selling its premium subscription through Apple’s platform — thereby giving Apple a cut of the profits.

“Like any good mafioso, they paid us a visit by phone,” Basecamp CTO David Heinemeier Hansson wrote in a long Twitter thread. “…[W]ithout even as much of a curtesy euphemism, [Apple said] they’d burn down our store (remove our app!), lest we paid up.”

A Chinese video sharing app which ripped off was heavily inspired by TikTok in its design has been booted out of the App Store, shortly after it was removed from the Google Play Store due to reports of plagiarism.

Zynn not only closely resembled TikTok in its design, but also in much of its content. A previous report from Wired claimed that many popular TikTok users have had their content (and even knockoff user profiles) shared on the rival app. That didn’t go over well!

The Apple App Store ecosystem contributed over half a trillion dollars to the global economy in 2019, according to a study commissioned by Apple.

This total encompasses far more than just what iPhone or Mac users pay for software. It includes transactions done through these apps, from grocery deliveries to streaming services.

We already know that video conferencing apps like Zoom are booming as people work from home. But did you know that fitness apps are experiencing a similar golden age while people try and stay in shape (or get into shape for the first time) during lockdown while gyms are closed?

According to app analytics platform Sensor Tower, global downloads of health and fitness apps are already up a massive 47% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2020. And there’s still one month (or a third of the quarter) left on the clock.

Zoom had another stellar month in the App Store as people worked from home during the coronavirus pandemic. According to a new report by Sensor Tower, published Thursday, Zoom received 94.6 million installs on iOS and Android last month. That is up a massive 43x compared to May 2019.

Few areas are booming right now like mobile apps, which have experienced massive growth during coronavirus lockdown. According to a new report from app analytics platform Sensor Tower, data used by mobile app downloads has surged during lockdown.

In a post published Wednesday, the firm said data usage for first-time installs of the top 250 mobile apps worldwide was up 34% from the same quarter last year. Based on an average of the last three years, it is up a whopping 52% — hitting an unfathomable 391 petabytes in Q1 2020. (A petabyte equals roughly 1,000 terabytes.)

Short-form video app Quibi has had a rough start since launching in April, and co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg says there’s only one thing he blames: COVID-19.

“I attribute everything that has gone wrong to coronavirus,” Katzenberg told the New York Times in a report published late Monday. Katzenberg said that the initial app downloads have not been “close to what we wanted.” Now Quibi is going to let iPhone users watch it on their TVs to try and make up some of the lost ground.

TikTok had another massively successful month on mobile in April, a Tuesday report by leading app analytics platform Sensor Tower claims.

According to the report, users spent more than $78 million, across both iOS and Android, on TikTok last month. TikTok ranked number one on the App Store’s list of Top Grossing apps for the month, followed by YouTube, and then Tinder. This list does not include games. TikTok’s user spending is up by 10x compared to April last year.

Microsoft Outlook for iPad and iPhone now makes it easier to stop your inbox getting clogged up with massive multi-reply email threads copying in large numbers of people.

The “Ignore Conversation” feature is a handy new feature added for version 4.36.0 of the app. Here’s what you need to know.

iPad app downloads had their first positive quarterly growth in four years during the first three months of 2020, app analytics platform Sensor Tower claims.

In a new report, the firm says that quarterly downloads of apps for the iPad surpassed 1.1 billion worldwide in Q1. Meanwhile, consumer spending in iPad apps crossed $2 billion for the first time ever. Not bad for a time when the world is in the midst of coronavirus lockdown.

Social video app TikTok isn’t just a big hit on iOS. According to new data published Wednesday by app analytics platform Sensor Tower, it’s an unprecedented hit — having enjoyed the best quarter of any app ever.

The firm says that TikTok has now been downloaded more than 2 billion times globally across both the App Store and Google Play Store. This comes just five months after it passed the 1.5 billion downloads milestone.

The popular utility CleanMyMac debuted way back in 2008, but MacPaw is finally bringing it to the Mac App Store all these years later. This will make it easier to find, buy and install.

The developer admits it did only direct sales of this product for business reasons. But the App Store version will also lack some features of the version sold on the MacPaw website for technical reasons.

The coronavirus pandemic might have wreaked havoc on the economy, but consumer spending on tech gadgets actually seems to be up during lockdown. Like, way up.

According to NPD analyst Stephen Baker, there was a surprising 23% hike in consumer tech sales year-on-year for the week ending April 18. That compares to an overall decline of 23% across all industries the firm tracks.

There aren’t too many businesses that are thriving right now, but mobile games in the App Store certainly appear to be one of the outliers. Provided that you’re among the top titles, that is!

With many people stuck at home due to COVID-19 lockdown, a Tuesday report from GoldenCasinoNews claims that the top five games in the U.S. App Store hit $9.7 million in daily revenue in April. The leader of the pack right now is the ultra-popular Roblox Mobile, which is raking in approximately $2.7 million daily.

Apple announced Tuesday that it is launching a whole host of its services in dozens more countries around the world.

Starting today, the App Store, Apple Arcade, Apple Podcasts, and iCloud are available in 20 additional countries. Apple Music, meanwhile, has picked up an additional 52 (!) international markets.

TikTok, Zoom and Disney+ have the slightly dubious-sounding honor of being named the three most popular iOS apps in the United States during the age of coronavirus, a new report from app analytics platform Sensor Tower suggests.

The report, which covers the first three months of 2020, sheds light on the way our app habits are changing during the COVID-19 pandemic. In short? We’re downloading a whole lot more apps than usual. That makes the App Store one of the few businesses that’s actually thriving during an incredibly difficult time.

You really did need to be in a rush to play Pokémon Rumble Rush because, having only debuted in 2019, it’s blasting off again. Destination: The great gaming scrap heap in the sky.

An in-game notice for the Pokémon-battling title reveals that support for its game service will end on July 22. That will be exactly one year after it launched on Android and iOS.

Tired of chowing down on American movies and TV shows during your time in lockdown? Global Indian entertainment company Eros International announced Tuesday that its Eros Now Select service is now available via Apple TV and the App Store.

It brings to Apple users in the U.S. and elsewhere a large catalog of thousands of Bollywood movies, exclusive series, and originals — for a monthly fee of $3.49.

iOS 14 will reportedly be able to run part of third-party applications, giving users access to some of their features without them needing to install the entire app on their iPhone, according to a published report. How much of each application would be available in these “Clips” would be up to that app’s developer.

Video conferencing apps ruled the App Store in March, with Zoom benefitting particularly from the fact that most people are stuck home, figures released by leading app analytics platform Sensor Tower suggest.

Zoom was the most downloaded non-game app worldwide for March 2020. Sensor Tower told Cult of Mac that the iOS app was downloaded 27.8 million times in March 2020. That’s an astonishing 2,680% increase from the number of times it was downloaded last March.

Apple has relaxed a policy that saw it take a 30% cut of payments from competitors who use its platform to sell TV shows and movies through their own video apps, according to a published report.

One of the first companies to seize on the relaxed policy change was Amazon, which started selling and renting Prime Video movies on Apple devices Wednesday.

April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day, and Apple is marking the occasion by promoting a range of apps designed to help “autistic people … share their voices with the world.”

The apps are divided into four sections: “Communication,” “Life skills,” “Games, videos and music,” and “Great tools on Apple Watch.” Apps include the likes of communication tool Proloquo2Go, kids’ scheduling app Todo Visual Schedule, game Avokiddo Emotions, and more.

Apple’s websites for the U.K. and France were on Thursday updated to display COVID-19 advice from the government.

Large featured sections on their homepages remind visitors of the official advice related to the coronavirus pandemic. In the U.K., this includes the same National Health Service (NHS) video that can be found in the App Store.

Customer spending on mobile apps could nearly double over the next five years, according to forecasting carried out by leading app analytics platform Sensor Tower Store Intelligence.

In research published Wednesday, the firm suggests spending on the iOS App Store and Google Play store will approach $171 billion by 2024. That’s 2x the amount that was spent in 2019, meaning around 20% year-on-year growth.

Apple is jumping into the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic with a new website and app that allow visitors to screen themselves for COVID-19 symptoms.

The company partnered with the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control for the new site and app, found at Apple.com/covid19 and on the App Store. The goal is to give people resources so they can stay informed on steps they can take to protect their health during the coronavirus outbreak.