iOS 18.4 launched earlier this week with a ton of new features and changes, including two App Store additions that should make downloading apps and updates just a little bit nicer of an experience than before.
Expand Expanding Close
At least five VPN apps in the App Store were found to have links to the Chinese military, according to a new report today. Three of them have racked up more than a million downloads.
A subsidiary of one of the Chinese companies behind the apps is currently hiring for a role in “monitoring and analysing platform data,” with a familiarity with American culture listed as a job requirement …
Expand Expanding Close
Apple and Google will become legally responsible for age verification of app store users in Utah, after the App Store Accountability Act was signed into law. It takes effect on May 7, giving the tech giants a little time to implement it.
Both companies have opposed the legislation, but similar laws look set to follow in at least eight more US states …
Expand Expanding Close
Apple has been facing scrutiny in Brazil over the App Store. Earlier this month, a Brazilian court ruled that Apple would have 90 days to allow sideloading on iOS for iPhone users in Brazil – but things are about to change. That’s because another judge has now ruled that Apple won’t have to implement the requested changes, at least for now.
Expand Expanding Close
Apple has been facing increased antitrust scrutiny in Germany since a new law came into effect, and the company has now lost its latest appeal.
The Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office) had argued that it should have the right to directly order Apple to make changes to the way that it runs the App Store, and a court has now granted it this right …
Expand Expanding Close
After the EU forced Apple to implement major changes to how iOS and the App Store work for European users, other countries have also conducted their own antitrust investigations against the company. Now the Brazilian court has ruled that Apple has 90 days to allow sideloading on iOS for iPhone users in Brazil.
Expand Expanding Close
In late 2022, initial payments for the Small Developer Assistance Fund started going out, with each eligible US developer receiving at least $1000 – up to 4x the projected minimum payout. A second round of payouts begun toward the end of 2023, and now the third and final round of payments started going out this week.
Expand Expanding Close
At least nine US states are considering legislation that would make app store owners like Apple and Google responsible for age verification before giving access to apps with minimum age requirements. Currently the legal responsibility lies with developers.
The issue is most applicable to social media apps, which typically have a minimum age of 13, and is an approach advocated by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg …
Expand Expanding Close
Apple last year announced an important change coming to the App Store in the EU that would force developers to share their contact information with customers in some cases. Now that the deadline has arrived, Apple is removing apps from developers who haven’t shared their ‘trader’ contact information from the EU App Store.
Expand Expanding Close
The Brazilian antitrust regulator has been investigating Apple for imposing anti-competitive terms and conditions on the App Store. Although the company was given more time to make its case after a judge overturned an injunction against the App Store last year, Apple will now have to face a public hearing in Brazil on the case.
Expand Expanding Close
Game makers Square Enix today announced that the iOS version of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles has reached its sudden end. The reason is a strange one: an unfixable bug that Square Enix says is related to recent In-App Purchase “model” changes.
Expand Expanding Close
Apple on Tuesday announced a quiet but important update when it comes to the Apple Account. As of today, the company now allows users to migrate their purchases between different Apple Accounts so that people who have two accounts can consolidate them.
Expand Expanding Close
Both Apple and Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney have provided responses below…
Apple has been legally required to approve a pornography app for iPhone users in EU markets due to regulatory actions put in place by Europe’s Digital Markets Act. Since launching the App Store in 2008, Apple’s policy has been to prevent apps explicitly for distributing pornography from being listed in the App Store.
Expand Expanding Close
DeepSeek privacy concerns have led to investigations being opened in both the US and Europe, and seen the app removed from the App Store in Italy. It seems likely the same will happen in other countries.
Italian’s privacy regulator questioned whether the app complied with GDPR, a tough privacy law that applies across 30 different countries …
Expand Expanding Close
Apple’s developer site has shared news of a new API coming for apps that will offer expanded options for managing In-App Purchases. It’s called the Advanced Commerce API, and here’s what we know so far.
Expand Expanding Close
India remains Apple’s largest market opportunity after China. Growing the business in India, however, has always required a bit of compromise with the local government. In 2019, it was a small investment of $1 billion that helped unlock iPhone exports from India. More recently, India has pressured Apple to put its government-backed app store on the iPhone.
Expand Expanding Close
The UK government today announced that the Competition and Markets Authority has launched strategic market status investigations into mobile ecosystems, specifically the App Store models of iPhone and Android.
The report says it will assess Apple’s market power, and potential exploitative conduct. This includes options for app distribution to customers, and the terms app developers must agree to to be listed in the App Store in the first place.
Expand Expanding Close
TikTok’s deactivation for US users may have been short-lived, but the app is still missing from the iPhone’s App Store. Here’s why one lawyer says Apple can’t bring it back yet.
Expand Expanding Close
The TikTok ban which came into effect on Sunday has been suspended for 75 days by an executive order signed by President Trump on his inauguration day. He has also said that US companies who provide services to TikTok during this time will not be prosecuted.
However, legal scholars note that Trump’s order does not appear to comply with the law, and say that companies who make TikTok available remain liable for hundreds of billions of dollars of fines, so Apple is unlikely to return the app to the App Store …
Expand Expanding Close
It’s been a tumultuous several days for TikTok in the United States. The app went offline on Saturday night and was removed from the App Store by Apple. On Sunday afternoon, however, TikTok restored service in the United States thanks to “necessary clarity” provided by President Trump.
Despite TikTok being online once again in the United States, however, the app remains unavailable from the App Store. Here’s what you need to know about that ever-evolving situation.
Expand Expanding Close
Apple’s incoming CFO didn’t get much time to settle in before he found himself in court defending the company against a class action lawsuit. Kevan Parekh yesterday claimed that the company that it has no clue about its App Store profit margin.
This is a stance the company has taken before. Indeed, Apple Fellow Phil Schiller even went as far as to claim he didn’t even know whether the App Store made a profit at all …
Expand Expanding Close
TikTok risks being banned from the US in the coming days as a bill signed by President Biden requires its parent company ByteDance to divest from the app. Amid the risk of a potential ban, users are already looking for alternatives – and another Chinese social network has just topped the US App Store rankings.
Expand Expanding Close
Apple was already facing a $1B lawsuit on behalf of British developers, but is now up against an even larger one on behalf of app buyers in the UK.
Both antitrust lawsuits have the same basis – that Apple is abusing its monopolistic control over the sale of iPhone apps to charge excessive commissions …
Expand Expanding Close
Apple occasionally updates the App Store’s layout to make it easier to navigate, or emphasize one content section or another. But new changes recently rolled out that are especially prominent, and make new app discovery easier than ever on iPhone and more.
Expand Expanding Close