Developers have updated instructions for filling out the privacy “nutrition labels” shown in the App Store. There are additions and clarifications.
Apple asks developers to submit the information for these privacy labels shown to users. There’ve been questions about how accurate the devs’ responses are — including some from a Congressional committee — and the new instructions might be part of Apple’s response.
After booming during lockdown in 2020, the App Store isn’t likely to slow down over the next five years, according to a new report.
App analytics platform Sensor Tower’s projections indicate App Store spending could hit $185 billion per year in the next half-decade. That’s compared to $72 billion in 2020.
Users who don’t get on board with WhatsApp’s terms and conditions will be unable to send or receive messages after May 15. While calls and notifications will continue to work for a short while, this will supposedly only be for a period of a “few weeks.”
WhatsApp first announced the changing privacy policies in January. The changed policy notes that, “As part of the Facebook family of companies, WhatsApp receives information from, and shares information with, this family of companies.”
Apple has reportedly began cracking down on apps that feature subscriptions Apple considers to be unreasonable, claims 9to5Mac.
The report cites a rejection email sent to one developer saying that the price of in-app purchases do not “do not reflect the value of the features and content” on offer. It also calls it a “rip-off to customers.”
Subscription apps are thriving right now, and nowhere more so than on iOS. According to a new report from app analytics platform Sensor Tower, worldwide spending on the top 100 subscription apps on the App Store generated $10.3 billion in 2020.
That’s a massive 32% increase from the $7.8 billion spent in 2019. It’s also close to four times what Android apps in the Google Play store pulled in in 2020. (They earned just $2.7 billion.)
A U.S. House of Representatives committee sent Apple CEO Tim Cook a letter with questions about the App Privacy labels displayed in the App Store. The letter was prompted by a published report that many of these privacy “nutrition labels” contain incorrect information.
Google and Facebook are rivals of Apple, but they also rely on it a whole lot — as a new report by app analytics platform Sensor Tower makes clear. It highlights how Google and Facebook were two of the top three publishers on the iOS App Store in January, with Google holding the top spot.
It’s the perfect illustration of the “coopetition” relationship that exists between the tech giants.
TikTok is off to a great start in 2021, as app analytics platform Sensor Tower notes that it was the top grossing, non-gaming app worldwide for January. In total, users spent $128 million on TikTok during the month, an increase of 3.8x in revenue from January last year.
Apple CEO Tim Cook must participate in a seven-hour deposition during his company’s upcoming legal battle with Epic Games. Epic reportedly wanted Cook for eight hours, while Apple lawyers tried to whittle it down to four hours.
Seven hours is the compromise that was ultimately ruled on by Judge Thomas S. Hixon.
So-called App Store nutrition labels that detail exactly how an app handles your data sounded like such a fantastically simple idea when Apple described them last year.
Now that the feature is live, the devil is apparently in the details. As it happens, you can’t just trust all app developers to tell you exactly how much data their software hoovers up — or how they share it with potentially nefarious third parties. Apple says it’s working to police the problem, but it’s a black eye for the privacy-conscious company.
