app developers

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on app developers:

Why developers choose the IPWhoIs.io geolocation API

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A good geolocation API can help help you serve users -- and your own bottom line -- better.
A good geolocation API can help help you serve users -- and your own bottom line -- better.
Photo: Monstera@Pexels.com

If you want to give visitors to your website or app a personalized experience and also boost your bottom line, it pays to use a fast and versatile geolocation application programming interface (API) like IPWhoIs.io.

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This post is brought to you by IPWhoIs.io.

We’ll get into the benefits of geolocation services via IPWhoIs.io below. And it even has a free version that suits many users, or a flexible choice of inexpensive plans.

Ask Apple promises one-on-one coding help for developers

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Ask Apple promises one-on-one coding help for developers
Ask Apple is a new series of interactive Q&As and one-on-one consultations for developers.
Photo: Apple

Ask Apple is a new way for iPhone and Mac developers to get support and feedback. It will include interactive question-and-answer sessions and one-on-one consultations.

“If you’re a developer, you don’t want to miss out on Ask Apple,” says Greg Joswiak the company’s global head of marketing.

Today in Apple history: App Store developers earn $10 billion and counting

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In its first five years, the App Store becomes an unstoppable money machine, paying out $10 billion to app developers.
In its first five years, the App Store becomes an unstoppable money machine.
Photo: Apple

June 10 Today in Apple history: App Store developers earn $10 billion and counting June 10, 2013: Apple passes a major milestone in iOS history, as payments to app developers top $10 billion on the App Store’s fifth birthday.

Speaking at WWDC 2013, Apple CEO Tim Cook reveals that the company paid out half of this money in the previous year. He also notes that this outrageous total is three times more than all other app store platforms combined. With 575 million user accounts registered, Apple has more credit cards on file than any other company on the internet.

People have downloaded 50 billion apps in total out of a collection of 900,000 available, Cook says, with 93% of the apps downloaded at least once every month.

Macs get their own version of Apple Developer app the week before WWDC

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Apple Developer for Mac is finally here.
A Mac version of Apple Developer is finally out. Just in time for WWDC.
Photo: Apple

WWDC 2020 The Apple Developer app is the one-stop-shop for all the information devs need, but until now there’ve only been versions for iPhone and iPad. On Monday, the company finally brought out a version for Mac. This guide to the 2020 Worldwide Developers Conference comes a week before WWDC kicks off.

And while this event will be entirely online, Apple is sending out press invites anyway.

Apple details exactly how WWDC 2020 will go down

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Apple WWDC 2020 lineup revealed
Apple's first online-only WWDC will be open to all.
Image: Apple

WWDC 2020 Apple laid out its plans for “the biggest WWDC to date” in a press release Wednesday, detailing exactly how the first online-only developers conference will go down.

With live streams available on Apple’s website, YouTube and other platforms, everyone can watch the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on June 22. During the highly anticipated event, Cupertino’s execs will showcase what the future holds for iPhone, Mac and other Apple devices.

Transporter app simplifies submitting software, music, video to Apple

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Transporter app in the Mac App Store
Apple’s Transporter app is designed to make uploading apps to Apple Store Connect a breeze.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

Apple posted a Transporter application to the Mac App Store to make it easier for creators to send content to the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Books or the iTunes Store.

Previously, this was a Java-based command-line tool, so an app should be much more user friendly.

WWDC 2019 is probably set for June 3-7

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WWDC 2019
Apple CEO Tim Cook on stage for WWDC 2018.
Photo: Apple

Apple has likely booked the San Jose McEnery Convention Center to host WWDC 2019 from June 3 to June 7.

The tech giant typically waits until March to announce the dates for its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. However, a city events calendar lists June 6 for the conference’s big party for attendees, the WWDC Bash.

iOS devs rake in $120 billion and just keep going

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iPhone app development can be very profitable, and Apple has a new program to help more women get in the business.
iPhone app development can be very profitable, and Apple has a new program to help more women get in the business.
Photo: Apple

Since the iOS App Store launched in 2008, Apple has paid developers $120 billion. And more than a quarter of that came in the past year alone, according to the iPhone maker.

To increase diversity in software developers making all that money, Apple today opened the first of what will be quarterly Entrepreneur Camps for female-founded app development companies.

How Apple Watch apps’ death spiral nearly killed my iPhone app

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Developing watch apps ain't easy
Developing watch apps ain't easy
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

Two years ago, my partner and I launched an Apple Watch app to complement our iPhone fitness app. Little did we know that our embrace of Apple’s smartwatch would threaten the very existence of the gym app we’d been developing since 2012.

Each year since we launched Reps & Sets, we updated it to keep up-to-speed with all the cool new features Apple rolled out at its Worldwide Developers Conference. That all changed last year, though. That’s when we discovered that, by adding support for Apple Watch, we had inadvertently taken a poison pill that could effectively kill our iPhone app.

It doesn’t have to be this way. With a few key changes, Apple could turns things around and reinvigorate the Apple Watch app ecosystem.

Signups open for free Apple Developer Academy

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Apple Developer Academy
A student at the Apple Developer Academy describes it as both challenging and creative.
Photo: Apple Developer Academy

Apply now for the 2018 class of the Apple Developer Academy to learn to create iOS apps. And did we mention you get to live in Naples? And it’s free?

This isn’t a basic bootcamp. In addition to learning Swift programming and user interface design, students are taught how to be an entrepreneur.

Apple blocks bogus ‘What’s New’ messages from App Store

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The App Store rules for What’s New change
There’s a change in the App Store‘s policy about “What’s New” messages.
Graphic: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Developers soon will need to get approval from Apple for the descriptions of software updates posted in the App Store. The goal seems to be to prevent unscrupulous devs from using this high-profile messaging area for nefarious purposes.

The arms race to protect apps from cracking

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Protect apps from crackers
Protecting apps from crackers can be a daunting task for developers.
Image: MacPaw

Our new App Business section is brought to you by MacPaw, maker of proven Mac apps.

App developers put a lot of time and effort into preventing their apps from being cracked or pirated. But for every coder taking a step toward making an app more secure, there’s someone on the march to crack it. The integrity of any app is subject to an ongoing arms race.

The most popular and useful apps are the most likely to release the cracken (I’m so sorry), so finding out that a bunch of people have downloaded your app illegally can be worn as something of a badge of pride. But that’s cold comfort when you’re losing customers, so let’s take a look at a couple of the most likely app-cracking approaches developers should protect against.

Poor security leaves popular Mac apps open to attack

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MacBook Pro
Protect your Mac.
Photo: Apple

When it comes to your Mac apps, there’s reason to fear a so-called man in the middle.

A security engineer is reporting several apps vulnerable to malicious coding through Sparkle, the third-party software framework apps use to receive updates. Some of the apps identified include versions of Camtasia, VLC, uTorrent, Sketch and DuetDisplay.

Young app developer has caught the eye of Apple

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Connor Chung
Connor Chung, 14, of Bethlehem, NY, at the WWDC 2015.
Photo: Connor Chung

Few things could excuse a kid from skipping his middle school graduation. Connor Chung had a note from Apple.

It explained he would be needed in San Francisco for the WWDC. Once there, he would meet important people like Tim Cook, take part in brainstorming sessions with developers and engineers and lay the groundwork for an Apple Watch app that would be among the first in iTunes on the day OS 2 launched.

App Camp for Girls raises $100K with two days left

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Making tech careers for girls attainable.
Making tech careers for girls attainable.
Photo: App Camp for Girls

Head to any technology conference and you’ll wonder where all the women are. We live in an age where women are routinely underrepresented at best, harassed and threatened at worst.

Technology classes in schools are just as bad, with less opportunity for girls to explore potential careers in high-tech fields.

To combat this, a group of women in Portland started App Camp for Girls in 2013, and they’ve now expanded to camps in Seattle and Vancouver.

“Apps are rapidly becoming an important part the world’s economy and culture,” writes the team on their website. “If women are left on the sidelines of this phenomenon, everyone suffers.”

They’ve also just raised their goal of $100,000 with two days left in their IndieGoGo campaign.

10 rules for classy apps – a developer manifesto

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Apps that do no evil
Apps that do no evil
Photo: Graham Bower / Cult of Mac

If you ever dig into the privacy policies of app developers, be prepared for a shock. This is where they confess their sins: invading your privacy, selling your data, and pestering you with popups and unwanted ads.

As the App Store becomes increasingly crowded and competitive, many developers struggle to make a profit. Some turn their attention to alternative sources of revenue, and the quality of their apps suffer as a result.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Here are the 10 rules for developers to keep things “classy.”

How to turn great iOS app ideas into something real

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Time to find a great programmer.
Time to find a great programmer.
Photo: Graham Bower

My friends, family and even complete strangers are constantly asking me how to get their million-dollar app idea in the App Store.

This is always a shocker for me because, after countless hours of hard work over the past two years, my app is barely breaking even.

But I can offer one solid piece of advice for anybody hoping to turn a clever idea into a world-beating app: Find yourself an amazing developer and hold on tight.

How App Store reviews can help indie developers

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The NASAViz Universal app. Photo: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Flicker CC
Five-star reviews are great, but there's another type of App Store review that's truly stellar. Photo: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Flicker CC

Customer reviews on the App Store are good for business. It’s not just that good reviews can improve your app’s ranking. Reviews have also helped me build a better app.

But with all the fake reviews and haters out there, it’s sometimes hard to see the wood from the trees. The trick is to know exactly which reviews to pay attention to — and the secret is all in your stars.

For young app makers, winning a WWDC Student Scholarship is a dream come true

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Some of last year's WWDC scholarship winners. (photo credit: Apple)
Some of last year's WWDC scholarship winners. (photo credit: Apple)

For any Apple coder, attending the annual Worldwide Developers Conference is a coveted opportunity. But for the young recipients of WWDC 2014 Student Scholarships, a free ticket to the event means more than an adventure in geekery; it’s the crowning achievement of their blossoming careers.

Take Shaan Singh, a 14-year-old developer and designer whose iPhone finance app Budgetize helped him bag a scholarship to WWDC, a prize that’s something like winning a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

“It’s a big honor for me to be selected because I made an app that I feel was creative and smart, and Apple thinks so too,” he told Cult of Mac. “I’ve always admired Apple’s design, and I’m excited that they like mine too.”

NASA Wants iPad App Developers To Help Them Track Astronauts’ Diets

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There’s a lot of things you have to keep track of in outer space. How much oxygen you have. Whether cosmic rays are irradiating your fellow crewmen. Which of your fellow astronauts are possible Russian saboteurs. How much murderous sentience your onboard space computer is exhibiting. And, of course, whether or not you are maintaining a balanced diet.

Right now, there’s not an app for that, believe it or not… but NASA and TopCoder, a program competition company, are working on that. And they need your help.

Developers Are Flocking To Leap Motion To Revolutionize The Way We Interact With Our Macs

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Leap Motion

Leap Motion‘s worldwide call for developers “to imagine and create the future” has resulted in a virtual stampede of interested parties applying for the Leap SDK, which will allow them to make apps using Leap Motion’s revolutionary 3D motion tracking technology.

Leap Motion is a San Francisco company developing the world’s most powerful and sensitive 3D motion-control and motion-sensing technology. Leap Motion’s first product, the Leap — featured with an exclusive hands-on video demonstration on Cult of Mac last month — will be available in early 2013. The Leap is the first product to let users navigate and interact with computer applications using natural hand and finger movements. Founded in 2010 by Michael Buckwald and David Holz (pictured), the company aims to revolutionize the way we interact with our computers.