iPhone users spent almost $25 billion in the App Store during Q1 2024, according to a market research firm. In contrast, Android uses spent only $11 billion on Google Play in the same time period.
This despite the number of downloads from Google Play more than tripling App Store downloads. Clearly, a great many Android users aren’t willing to pay for apps.
The Apple Design Awards recognized 14 “best-in-class” apps and games, the iPhone giant said Thursday. It will hand out the awards, which celebrate excellence in design and outstanding technical achievement, to winners at WWDC24 on Monday.
“It’s inspiring to see how developers are using our technology to create exceptional apps and games that enhance the lives of users,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “This year’s winners have demonstrated how apps can create powerful and moving experiences — and we’re excited to celebrate their hard work and ingenuity at WWDC this year.”
And this year the awards added a new spatial computing category.
The App Store prevented more than $7 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions over the past four years, Apple said Tuesday, when it published its fourth annual fraud prevention analysis report.
Apple responded to protests about the Core Technology Fee it charges European developers every time one of their applications is installed. It removed the requirement for apps that generate “no revenue whatsoever.”
Currently, the CTF is only charged in the EU, but it has the potential to expand globally so prudent developers should pay attention to any changes no matter where they live.
Applications that advertised the ability to use AI to turn regular images into nudes have reportedly been removed from the iPhone App Store.
Apple needed to be notified of their existence, though.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The latest rumors about the iPhone 16 Pro’s camera make it sound better than ever. That’s no surprise, considering Apple makes a big deal out of the iPhone camera every year. But we couldn’t be happier to have even finer photographic tools at our disposal.
Also on The CultCast:
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Following a request from the Chinese government, Apple has reportedly pulled WhatsApp and Threads from China’s App Store. Other Meta apps, like Facebook and Instagram, are still available for download in the country.
The Cyberspace Administration of China asked Apple to take down the two Meta apps, citing national security concerns.
The first third-party app marketplace, AltStore PAL, launched in the European Union on Wednesday. The App Store alternative comes from Riley Testut, the developer who got his Delta retro-game emulator into the iPhone App Store on the same day.
Bimmy, a NES emulator for the iPhone, joined App Store on Tuesday. It was the first retro game emulator approved by Apple and proof that the company really has removed restrictions on this type of software.
However, the developer himself quickly removed the app “out of fear.” That said, more are likely to follow, including Game Boy emulators.
A Game Boy emulator appeared in the iPhone App Store over the weekend. This might be proof that Apple really has removed restrictions blocking retro game emulators.
Trouble is, the iGBA app has already been kicked out of the software store. But it was a very dodgy app that allegedly ripped off the work of another developer. So its removal may have nothing to do with recent changes in Apple policy.
Apple is opening its walled garden to game emulators. The company has updated the App Store guidelines to reflect that developers can now list retro game emulators for download worldwide.
Additionally, the updated guidelines make it easier for music streaming apps to redirect users to an external website. However, this change is only applicable to the EU.
The European Commission opened a noncompliance investigation Monday into whether Apple is fully following the rules that went into effect with the EU’s Digital Markets Act. If not, Apple faces potentially heavy fines.
The Mac-maker isn’t being singled out. The EC also opened similar investigations into Alphabet/Google and Meta/Facebook.
The Department of Justice and 16 state attorneys general filed an blockbuster antitrust lawsuit Thursday aimed at forcing Apple to open up many aspects of its ecosystem, from the App Store to Apple Watch.
The 88-page civil suit, which accuses Apple of wielding monopoly-like power, could bring truly sweeping changes to iPhone, Mac and other Apple computers.
EU developers can forgo the App Store entirely and distribute their apps directly to iPhone users from their own websites, Apple said Tuesday. This is a significant reversal from Apple’s original rules, which required devs that wanted to skip the official App Store to place iPhone software in third-party software marketplaces.
In another major change, Apple also will allow EU developers to create app marketplaces that sell only their own software.
Apple just removed a significant barrier for opening a rival iPhone app store in the European Union. Submitting a million-euro letter of credit is no longer required. There are still plenty of other requirements, though.
Rival app marketplaces are coming to the European Union — and nowhere else — because of landmark legislation that forced Apple to broaden the options for installing iPhone apps.
The European Commission fined Apple more than 1.8 billion euros Monday for “abusing its dominant position on the market for the distribution of music streaming apps.”
The ruling follows complaints by music streaming service Spotify. In a lengthy response to the fine, Apple said Spotify pays absolutely nothing for the array of services Cupertino provides. Apple also said it will appeal the EC’s decision.
The best Vision Pro apps, games, demos and experiences showcase the AR capabilities of Apple’s headset.
If you own a Vision Pro and don’t know where to start, I put together a list of apps and games to try out first. Alternatively, if you can’t afford a headset (or if you live outside the United States), you can live vicariously through me as I show you all of the most interesting Vision Pro apps I’ve found.
I highly recommend you check out the companion video to this article to see these apps in action. Alternatively, you can continue reading below.
A day ahead of Vision Pro’s release, Apple put a spotlight on more than 600 new “spatial” apps and games made specifically for the headset. They join more than a million Vision Pro-compatible apps Friday in the App Store.
“Apple Vision Pro is unlocking the imaginations of our worldwide developer community, and we’re inspired by the range of spatial experiences they’ve created for this exciting new platform,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of worldwide developer relations.
iOS developer Riley Testut, the brains behind AltStore (the original alternative App Store), has a great take on Apple’s plans to open up the App Store in the European Union
This is “everything I’ve been wanting for the past few years,” he said after Apple laid out its plans last week. “Even reading the announcement I was tearing up.”
Testut, who lives in Texas, has a vested interest in Apple loosening its grip on the App Store to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act. He’s the co-creator of AltStore, a hacky skunkworks project that enables sideloading of iPhone and iPad apps. Now he’s working to transition AltStore into an officially sanctioned app marketplace that complies with Apple’s new rules.
In an exclusive interview with Cult of Mac, Testut talks about the hidden upside for iPhone owners around the world; the downsides of Apple’s strict new framework and fees; and the joys of making AltStore one of the first legit third-party app marketplaces in the EU.
Testut’s take on Apple’s plans for opening up iOS is perhaps the best to date, and well worth a read.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Vision Pro preorders didn’t exactly go smoothly last week. In our post-mortem, we discuss what went right, what went wrong, and why we can’t wait to finally get our hands on Apple’s headset.
Also on The CultCast:
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
Apple is bringing sideloading and alternate app stores to the iPhone — but with significant restrictions.
Apple gave EU developers guidelines and access to the tools needed for sideloading — installing applications that don’t go through the App Store. But the new rules require these apps to be approved by Apple before they can be installed by iPhone users. And they need to be in alternative marketplaces, not directly available for download.
In other words, sideloading won’t be the free-for-all some people had hoped.
This is part of sweeping changes to iOS, Safari and the App Store required by the European Union’s Digital Markets Act. And Apple’s announcement of these changes in Thursday is loaded with warning about how sideloading brings risks for users.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Apple Vision Pro preorder week brings interesting new details about the mixed-reality headset. Will it be a sellout success? An amazing entertainment device? A $3,499 pain in the neck?
Maybe all of the above! We go over the last-minute pros and cons.
Also on The CultCast:
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
Following the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear appeals in the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit, Apple is making significant changes to its U.S. App Store guidelines.
Developers can now link to an external in-app payment method. However, they still will need to pay Apple a commission of 12% to 27% on these transactions. And the mechanism for allowing such external payments might prove so onerous that developers take a pass.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney called it a “bad-faith ‘compliance’ plan” Tuesday — and vowed that his company will contest Apple’s plan in District Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court effectively upheld a lower court’s ruling that Apple must allow third-party iPhone app developers to point customers to their websites when making purchases. This means the company is forced to drop its “anti-steering” rule for such applications — a major change.
It’s the primary result of Apple’s long-running legal battle with Epic Games.
Apple listed App Store’s most-popular free and paid apps and games of 2023, citing year-end charts in more than 35 countries and regions.
App Store’s Today hub lists all those popular choices (also below) as well as the 2023 App Store Award Winners.