Apple will ask iPhone and iPad users for their permission to show personalized ads within its own apps in iOS and iPadOS 15.
A new popup appears when opening the App Store for the first time after installing one of Apple’s latest betas. It says personalized ads “help you discover apps, products and services that are relevant to you.”
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: It sounds like iPhone 13 will come with a secret satellite trick that will give you signal anywhere on Earth! The feature might not prove as groundbreaking as it initially seemed, but it still sounds like a lifesaver.
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 livestream, embedded below.
Apple will relax App Store rules for “reader” apps that let users access previously purchased content and subscriptions for books, magazines, music and more, the company said Wednesday.
The move closes an investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission, and will apply to all reader apps on the App Store — in all countries. The agreement with the JFTC also paves the way for users to create and manage accounts inside iOS apps.
Developers are seemingly losing interest in bringing their titles to the Mac App Store, with new submissions steadily declining since the beginning of 2021. There were fewer than 300 new releases for the first time ever in July.
And research indicates August could prove even worse for new Mac App Store submissions.
South Korea has become the first country to tell Apple that it must open up the App Store to third-party payment platforms. The same law also applies to Google, and other countries likely will implement similar rules.
The amendment to South Korea’s Telecommunications Business Act prevents large app market operators from forcing their own payment systems on users and developers. It also bans unreasonable delays in app approvals.
Apple will make several changes to its App Store policies to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by developers, the company said Thursday. Cupertino also will cough up $100 million to create a “fund” for small app-makers.
As part of the deal, Apple will allow developers to inform customers about alternative payment methods outside of their iOS apps. But they won’t be able to mention those payment methods inside the apps themselves.
Pokémon Unite, the newest mobile release from The Pokémon Company, will make its App Store debut next month. You can preorder the team-based battling game now ahead of its official debut on iPhone and iPad.
Nintendo also confirmed this week that the Pokémon Home app will pick up support for its next-generation Pokémon games — Brilliant Diamond, Shining Pearl, and Pokémon Legends: Arceus — early next year.
FlickType, maker of the accessible iPhone keyboard that has become popular among those with vision impairment, has confirmed it is discontinuing its app after years of obstacles and “abuse” from Apple’s App Store approval team.
The announcement comes after FlickType last week submitted an update to fix bugs related to iOS 15 and got “incorrectly” rejected by Apple. The team says Apple has ignored repeated requests for clarification and support.
A trio of U.S. Senators introduced a bill that would force Apple to allow sideloading of applications and alternative iOS app stores. Other modifications to Apple’s and Google’s business models would be required as well.
Whether the proposed Open App Markets Act will pass is anyone’s guess. So far, Big Tech has always talked lawmakers out of passing legislation that would put significant restrictions on it. But if this bill becomes a law, the App Store will never be the same again.
Of all the apps Apple might get upset about, one that lets you emulate classic DOS games on your iPhone doesn’t seem like it would make the top of the list.
Someone at Apple clearly disagrees, however. iDOS 2 developer Chaoji Li recently revealed that Apple rejected an update to his DOS-emulation app — on the grounds that it launches executable code. That’s despite the fact that some version of Li’s iDOS app has been in the App Store since 2010.
In July, Li posted Apple’s message warning him about pending removal from the App Store in a blog post titled “iDOS 2 will be gone soon.”
App Store users and developers are unhappy with Apple’s decision to promote a number of scam ASMR apps this week.
Some, which are clearly designed to try to fool unwitting children into handing over their parents’ cash, come with incredibly expensive weekly subscriptions that end up costing as much as AU$676 a year.
Apple this week informed developers that it is updating App Store pricing in line with foreign tax and exchange rate changes.
The adjustments will bring discounts to users in the U.K. and across Europe, while others will see price increases. The move will affect the price of apps and other digital content, but not auto-renewable subscriptions.
TikTok is big. Almost unfathomably enormous, actually. The product of Chinese parent company ByteDance, the social media video-sharing app has remained a fixture at the top of the App Store charts for more than a year now — with no sign of it losing that position any time soon.
Journalist Chris Stokel-Walker is the author of a new book, titled TikTok Boom: China’s Dynamite App and the Superpower Race for Social Media. It launches today in Europe and worldwide, with a US launch coming September 30.
Stokel-Walker spoke with Cult of Mac about what makes TikTok, well, tick, the app’s face-off with Donald Trump, and why it’s no longer exclusively an app for teens to show off their dance moves.
Apple’s own preinstalled apps are the ones most commonly used on iPhones, says a Facebook-commissioned study. Weather, Photos and Camera are reportedly the three most popular non-phone call apps used on iOS. The Phone app is, no shock here, the most popular.
The study says something similar holds true for Android. On that platform, Google apps (Google Play, Google Search, YouTube and Gmail) rank as most widely used.
Augmented-reality game Pokémon Go earned more than $5 billion from player spending in the five years it’s been around, says a new report from app analytics platform Sensor Tower Store Intelligence. Of this, App Store revenue from iOS users accounts for $2.4 billion — or approximately 47%.
Niantic launched Pokémon Go in July 2016. That means the game generated an average of $1 billion per year, making it by far the highest-earning geolocation AR app in the world. In the first half of 2021 alone, Pokémon Go raked in a massive $641.6 million across both Android and iOS.
Apple has thwarted an attempt by multiple Chinese tech companies to get around its App Tracking Transparency feature, the Financial Times reports Monday.
The group of tech companies includes Baidu, Tencent, and TikTok parent company ByteDance. They supposedly worked with a couple of Beijing companies to find a new way to get around Apple’s new privacy measures.
However, Apple blocked updates to several apps that included the workaround, called the Chinese Advertising ID (CAID). In doing so, it enforced its rules in a way that may have surprised the companies in question.
The app for Didi Chuxing, the popular Chinese ride-hailing service, has been removed from the App Store in China, citing privacy concerns.
This is no usual case of Apple booting an app from the App Store for failing to measure up to its standards, though. In fact, Apple CEO Tim Cook sits on Didi’s board of directors, and Apple previously invested $1 billion in the Chinese Uber rival. Instead, the ban was ordered by China’s Cyberspace Administration of China regulators — citing “serious violations [regarding] collection and usage of personal information.”
The third-party Controller for HomeKit app’s new version 5.4 update adds something users have wanted for a while. It’s a full backup and restore process that includes the HomeKit codes identifying the devices and accessories you include in your home automation.
A case brought by France’s finance ministry against Apple will have its day in court September 17. The case involves allegedly abusive contractual terms imposed by Apple for developers selling software in the App Store.
It’s a similar scenario to the complaint made by Fortnite makers Epic Games, regarding the control Apple has over developers on iOS. The lawsuit follows a three-year probe carried out by the DGCCRF consumer fraud watchdog. It’s also just the latest of many complaints made about the App Store around the world.
Apple’s none too keen on sideloading, the process of allowing apps to be installed on iPhones and iPads from outside of the App Store. While some critics take issue with this as an example of Cupertino’s uncompromising monopolistic tendencies, Apple — unsurprisingly — has a different take.
In an interview with Fast Company, timed to coincide with publication of a white paper on the subject, Apple’s head of user privacy, Erik Neuenschwander, explains the company’s take.
Spoiler alert: It’s all about security.
As governments around the world scrutinize Apple’s App Store policies, the U.S. Congress is pondering legislation that could stop the company from preinstalling default apps on iPhones.
Apple critics suggest that such a move would level the playing field and give smaller developers a chance to compete. But would it actually benefit consumers, the purported goal of such antitrust legislation?
I’m not sure it would. In fact, it might simply make owning an iPhone a lot less enjoyable.
Apple’s CEO told the audience at France’s VivaTech conference that a critical part of the European Union’s proposed Digital Markets Act isn’t in the best interests of iPhone users. The proposal would require Apple to allow users to sideload applications, something CEO Tim Cook and the company are adamantly opposed to.
The one-year free trial of Apple TV+ comes to an end later this month, which means you will be charged soon to keep your subscription going. If you don’t want to use Apple TV+ going forward, you need to cancel it.
We’ll show you how.
A bipartisan bill expected to be proposed in the U.S. congress would, if passed, have an enormous effect on Big Tech. The legislation, reportedly called the Ending Platform Monopolies Act, might force Apple to make the App Store a completely separate business not under its control.
Apple’s “walled garden” approach to the App Store improves quality control — but it doesn’t filter out all of the spammy, scammy content. According to a report by the Washington Post, scam apps represent close to 2% of the App Store’s top-grossing apps.
While that might not sound like all that much, it’s a sizable amount when you consider that the App Store hosts approximately 1.8 million apps. These scam apps reportedly have cost users in the vicinity of $48 million.