App Store - page 7

Pokémon Unite brings online team battles to mobile next month

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Pokémon Unite
Preorder today to get "special rewards."
Photo: The Pokémon Company

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 gives up on accessible iPhone keyboard after ‘abuse’ from Apple

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FlickType gives up on iPhone keyboard
That's the end of FlickType as we know it.
Photo: FlickType

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.

Proposed law would force profound changes on Apple App Store

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Proposed law would force profound changes on Apple App Store
Lawmakers might require Apple to completely change the App Store.
Photo: Thuan Vo/Pexels

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.

C:\>BANNED! Apple gives DOS game emulator for iOS the heave-ho [Updated]

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iDOS 2
Go back to the future with DOS emulation. Well, until Apple pulls the app that is.
Photo: iDOS

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.”

Devs unhappy with App Store promos for scam slime apps costing $676 a year

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App Store scam slime apps
Don't be fooled by these pricey slime simulators.
Photo: App Store

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.

App Store price adjustments mean discounts for UK and Europe

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App-Store-UK-coronavirus
Hold off on purchasing premium apps and games for now.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

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 Boom tells how video-sharing app blew up the App Store [Q&A]

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TikTok continues to dominate the App Store in 2020.
TikTok has dominated the App Store for over a year.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

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 preinstalled apps prove most popular on iPhone, report claims

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Top apps on iOS and Android
Turns out preinstalled apps are the most widely used. Whodda thunkit?
Photo: Comscore/Facebook

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.

Pokémon Go turns 5, rakes in $5 billion in player spending

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birthday
The world's most popular AR geolocation game turns five!
Photo: Niantic

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 fends off Chinese attempt to get around App Tracking Transparency

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App Tracking Transparency will be part of iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5 and tvOS 14.5. It’s already showing up in betas.
App Tracking Transparency stops developers tracking users without their permission.
Graphic: Cult of Mac

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.

China orders Apple-backed ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing booted from App Store

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tim cook in a car
Tim Cook catches a cab with Didi Chuxing's Chuxing's Jean Liu.
Photo: Tim Cook/Twitter

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.”

Updates to Controller for HomeKit app enhance your home automation

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Controller for HomeKit 5.4 lets you back up your database, store codes and more.
Controller for HomeKit 5.4 lets you back up your database, store codes and more.
Photo: Controller for HomeKit

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.

France will hear case regarding unfair App Store terms in September

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App Store
Apple is currently fending off App Store complaints around the world.
Photo: James Yarema/Unsplash CC

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 says allowing sideloading iPhone apps would ‘actually eliminate choice’

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App Store
Stick to the App Store, Apple says.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

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.

Stopping Apple from preinstalling apps might sound fair, but it’s a bad idea

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choice apples
It's all about the paradox of choice.
Photo: Raquel Martínez/Unsplash CC

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.

EU regulation would ‘destroy the security of the iPhone,’ Tim Cook warns

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Tim Cook at WWDC 2021
Tim Cook (shown here at WWDC 2021) is not a fan of sideloading iPhone apps.
Screenshot: Apple

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.

Proposed legislation might force Apple to sell App Store

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App Store
The App Store might have to become a separate company from Apple.
Photo: James Yarema/Unsplash CC

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.

App Store scams continue to rake in millions

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TikTok continues to dominate the App Store in 2020.
Lots of apps. More than a few scams.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

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.

TikTok comes out on top for yet another month in the App Store

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U.S. investigations of TikTok gather steam.
TikTok was the top, most downloaded, non-gaming app in the App Store last month.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

TikTok has completed yet another victory lap as the most downloaded, non-gaming title in the App Store, this time for the month of May. According to app analytics platform Sensor Tower, TikTok enjoyed more than 80 million monthly installs across both iOS and Android that month. This time, Brazil was the no. 1 market for TikTok, followed by China, where the app is called Douyin.

On iOS, TikTok was followed by YouTube in second place, then Instagram, then video editing app CapCut, then WhatsApp, Facebook, Zoom, Messenger, Google Maps, and Gmail rounding out the rest of the top 10.

Keyboard app’s meteoric rise shows the power of TikTok

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All hail Techin Park, developer of Paste Keyboard and new king of the App Store.
All hail Techin Park, developer of Paste Keyboard and new king of the App Store.
Photo: Techin Park

A simple copy-and-paste app called Paste Keyboard shot to the top of the App Store charts this week after languishing in obscurity for years.

Made by 28-year-old South Korean developer Techin Park, the keyboard app hitched a ride on TikTok’s massive success — and then dethroned it as the most popular app in the United States.

“Everyone is curious how such [a] simple idea, copy and paste, has trumped the almighty TikTok in app rank,” Park told Cult of Mac. “Copy and paste is a feature we all use at least once daily. Not many think it’s special. But in reality, increasing efficiency [when it comes to] how we copy and paste can save a lot more of our time than we possibly think.”

And, apparently, score you crazy numbers of downloads, too.

Steve Jobs considered supersizing the original MacBook Air

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Cheap refurbished MacBook Air
A 15-inch MacBook Air was on the cards for Apple in 2008. It never shipped.
Photo: Markus Spiske temporausch.com from Pexels

As CEOs of Apple, both Tim Cook and his predecessor Steve Jobs pride or, in Jobs’ case, prided themselves on the ability to say “no” to ideas. For obvious reasons, most of the time the world never gets to hear what those shot-down ideas actually were.

However, emails disclosed as part of the discovery for the Epic vs. Apple trial, now adjourned, shows one of the ideas that was talked about internally — but ultimately abandoned. That ideas was for a 15-inch MacBook Air, discussed as far back as 2007, the year before Apple debuted its ultra-thin notebook.

App Store ecosystem grows 24% during pandemic to hit $643 billion

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App Store
The App Store contributes far more to the global economy than just software sales.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The App Store ecosystem enabled $643 billion in billings and sales during 2020. That’s up 24% over the previous year, with much of the increase related to people taking more of their lives online during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study that examines how the App Store helps small businesses.

Apple touted these numbers as it waits for a federal judge to decide whether to order significant changes to the App Store.

Apple software chief admits there’s too much Mac malware

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Craig-Federighi-iPad-Pro
Craig Federighi says iPhone does a better job of protecting customers than macOS.
Photo: Apple

Craig Federighi, Apple’s SVP of software engineering, told a court on Wednesday that there’s more Mac malware available than Apple’s executive team is comfortable with. And he says iPhones do a much better job of protecting users.

Federighi was testifying at the Epic Games v. Apple trial explaining why he thinks the iPhone-maker’s tight control of the iOS App Store is necessary.