Everyone who signed up for a free trial of Apple Arcade when this gaming service launched is about to be charged for their first month. The 80+ titles currently available give plenty of options, but anyone who hasn’t warmed up to it should drop out before they get their first bill.
Fortunately, iOS makes this a snap.
Apple has reportedly removed the Quartz news app from the Chinese App Store by request of the China government. According to Quartz‘ investigations editor, this is due to their, “excellent coverage of ongoing Hong Kong protests.”
The company also banned an app that let Hong Kong protesters track Hong Kong police. This came one day after Chinese state media blasted Apple for not getting rid of it.
China’s state media took a swipe at Apple for allowing an app that let Hong Kong protesters track the location of police back into the App Store. The app, called Hkmap Live, uses reports from a Telegram group to share information about things like arrests and the use of weapons such as tear gas.
Apple originally booted the app from the App Store, but apparently reversed its decision.
Apple has booted an app used by protesters in Hong Kong out of the App Store. Called Hkmap Live, the crowdsourced app uses reports from a Telegram group that tracks the whereabouts of police and protesters. It also contains information about things like arrests of people wearing protest-related paraphernalia and the use of weapons like tear gas.
“Your app contains content – or facilitates, enables, and encourages an activity – that is not legal,” Apple told the app makers. “Specifically, the app allowed users to evade law enforcement.”
iOS 13 did away with the old Updates tab in the App Store, and replaced it with Apple Arcade. That’s pretty bad news if you don’t want to use Apple Arcade. But on the plus side, you can access your app updates from the Home screen using 3D Touch. And the good news is that, in iOS 13, you can also use this trick on the iPad.
Apple will raise App Store pricing in Japan next month in line with an update to Japan Consumption Tax (JCT).
The increase will affect sales and in-app purchases, but not auto-renewable subscriptions. Only the most affordable tier priced at ¥120 will avoid the change.
In all versions of the App Store up until iOS 13, there has been an Update tab — a whole page of the store dedicated to showing you the latest updates to your installed apps. In iOS 13, that’s gone, replaced by Apple Arcade, whether you subscribe to the new gaming service or not.
So, how do you update your apps in iOS 13? And if you have auto-update switched on, then how do you even see which apps have been updated, and read their release notes? Fear not. Manual update is still there. It’s just hidden.
Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren thinks Apple exerts “too much power” through its operation of the App Store, and uses this to stifle competition.
Warren tweeted the message Tuesday, complete with the hashtag #BreakUpBigTech. That’s probably not great news for Apple!
With the looming shadow of antitrust, plenty of folks are talking about whether or not Apple is abusing its position. Specifically, they claim that Apple has a conflict of interests by running the App Store and also creating its own software tools.
Former Macintosh division boss Jean-Louis Gassée is now wading into the argument. Gassée says that people calling antitrust on Apple haven’t considered the number of jobs Apple has created through the App Store.
Apple’s recently-adjusted App Store algorithm prevents too many of its own apps from dominating search results.
The change, which followed Spotify’s complaint regarding “unfair” App Store practices several months, handicaps Apple titles and has had a huge impact since being introduced.
Movie and TV show video game tie-ins still have a pretty poor reputation dating back to the rushed-out titles that proliferated in the 1980s and 90s. Fortunately, Stranger Things hasn’t taken this as part of its meta homage to all things retro.
Instead, it’s had fun with fan service by recreating its Netflix series in the form of surprisingly good, retro-style games. Now developers BonusXP have recreated the third season of the show in a new isometric action game. Welcome to Stranger Things 3: The Game on iOS…
Motion Twin’s celebrated game Dead Cells has finally landed on the App Store. In the process, it gives iPhone and iPad gamers the chance to play one of the most fun indie releases of recent times.
For the uninitiated, Dead Cells combines Castlevania-inspired side-scrolling action with some beautiful graphics and terrific gameplay. The results are an undisputed “must download.” Check out the trailer below.
Apple is delaying a change in rules for kids apps, banning them from using external analytics software and their ability to sell ads.
While Apple still believes the decision is the right one, it is pushing back its implementation. That’s to give time to developers to make the necessary changes.
Apple will soon allow parents to block children’s access to all games that include “Frequent/Intense Simulated Gambling” no matter where they are in the world. As it stands now, not all gambling applications are currently rated as 17+. That’s apparently about to change.
Do you want a fun iPhone game that combines cats with a stealth lesson in artificial intelligence and machine learning?
Of course you do. And thanks to the oddly titled while True: learn(), you’re about to get your chance. Check out the game’s new trailer, which landed ahead of this week’s release of while True: learn() on iOS.
Apple’s impact on South Korea is much larger than most fans will have anticipated.
Cupertino directly employs 500 workers of its own, and has created hundreds of thousands of jobs on Samsung’s home turf. Local App Store developers have earned a whopping 4.7 trillion won.
You can now enjoy the App Store’s “Today” stories on the web.
They’re accessible in almost any browser on any platform — but getting to them is nowhere near as simple as it should be.
Apple is being investigated for suspected unfair competition in Russia, following a complaint from a Moscow cybersecurity company.
Kaspersky Lab says that Apple declined one of its parental control apps, prior to releasing its own Screen Time service. Russia’s anti-monopoly watchdog has now announced that it will look into Apple’s behavior.
Everyone’s favorite sarcastic AI taskmaster weather app has received a big update.
CARROT Weather 4.12 just landed in the App Store, bringing a plethora of upgrades designed around the iPad. If you’re a tablet user with an interest in a quirky, yet surprisingly deep weather app, this may be the one for you!
The Wall Street Journal claims Apple is giving its own apps preferential treatment in the iOS App Store search results. During a wide-ranging test of basic app search terms like “maps”, WSJ discovered that some of Apple’s apps show up first in the rankings 60% of the time. For other terms, the rate was even higher.
Pokémon Rumble Rush has finally landed on iOS, more than two months after making its debut on Android.
The newest game from The Pokémon Company began its App Store rollout back in May, but appeared in only two markets. You can now download it anywhere — and it’s even better than before.
Sky: Children of the Light, the gorgeous new adventure game from the makers of Journey, has finally landed on iOS.
The game hopes to deliver “a world of wonder where compassion and generosity are interwoven and integral to the story.” It’s free to download, and it is already racking up rave reviews for players.
Apple has launched a new all-Arabic App Store to developers and members of its Beta Software Program.
These users will put the new App Store through its paces before it opens more widely to customers in September with iOS 13. The new store should help Apple grow in the fast-developing Middle East market.
Google plans to make its AdSense apps on iOS and Android worse over the next few months before killing them entirely at the end of 2019.
Instead of using mobile apps, Google plans to invest more in its mobile web interface for Adsense to deliver a more uniform experience that is supported on all platforms.
Apple has restored a parental control app, called OurPact, to the App Store after originally removing it back in February.
The makers of the app had criticized Apple for getting rid of it, saying Apple was deleting services which competed with its own Screen Time offering.