Apple has shared today that App Store prices in four countries will rise. The new prices will take effect in the coming days and are due to tax rate increases ranging from 7.5-19% in the affected countries.
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Apple is experiencing some issues with its developer services this afternoon including App Store Connect and TestFlight.
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Joining a wider industry shift, Apple announced that it is working to replace exclusionary language in its developer documentation and APIs with alternative terminology.
Renaming things takes time and effort as large parts of infrastructure have to migrate in response. For third-party developers in the App Store, Apple will be changing the names of APIs used in their code where appropriate, which will also necessitate engineering work to migrate.
Apple developers have started receiving their Developer Transition Kit hardware, which Apple is distributing to developers to help them get their apps ready for the upcoming range of Apple Silicon Macs, which will replace Intel CPUs with Apple-designed ARM CPUs.
Despite the confidentiality clauses in the developer agreement, benchmarks for the Developer Transition Kit have already surfaced on Geekbench. Note that these tests are running under virtualization, using Apple’s Rosetta technology, as the Geekbench testing software has not yet been optimised for Apple Silicon.
Following the Platforms State of the Union address this afternoon at WWDC20 Apple has shared some highlights on its new developer tech and tools to “foster the next generation of apps.” These include Xcode 12, new features in SwiftUI, App Clips and Widgets in iOS and iPadOS 14, improved access to Apple’s platforms like Find My and HomePod, as well as a new App Store Review process that gives developers a way to “challenge” guidelines.
Apple today updated its App Store review guidelines regarding some of the features introduced with iOS 13, besides the compatibility of apps with the latest iPhone and iPad models, and more.
Right about a year ago, Apple began enforcing its enterprise certificate policy for developers more strictly. It all started with Facebook who was abusing its certificate but it didn’t end there. Google’s account was pulled temporarily among a wave of others. Now another developer who was found to be abusing Apple’s policies has seen its account disabled.
The largest public iOS developer community survey wrapped up last month and the results are now live. Among the findings, the survey of over 2,000 Apple devs highlights how Swift is doing, how much interest there for each of Apple’s platforms, what revenue models are most popular, and much more.
After Apple launched updated buttons, icons, and more for Sign In with Apple, Apple Health, and Apple Pay for developers last week, the Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) have seen another update with some big changes to the Siri resources of the Developer HIG.
Apple has released an update for its Human Interface Guidelines resources for developers. The changes bring a new logo and buttons for Sign In with Apple, icon for Apple Health, Apple Pay templates, and more.
Apple has expanded the ability for eligible organizations to apply for developer account fee waivers today to eight more countries, bringing the total to 13 that have the opportunity to get free developer memberships.
Developers who make apps for Apple’s platforms are used to opening App Store Connect in a browser to manage their apps in the App Store. This portal provides access to edit an app’s description, screenshots, keywords, and also follow sales reports, analytics, and customer reviews. There’s also an official iOS app from Apple available in the App Store that gives access to some limited functionality.
During this year’s WWDC, Apple announced the launch of an official API for App Store Connect, to let developers create their own tools using an officially supported API rather than the hacks that were previously required. Indie developer Vadim Shpakovski announced NativeConnect, a native Mac app to access the same features offered by the web version of the portal. Today, NativeConnect is available on its website.
Apple has updated its server-to-server notifications today with the ability for developers to get alerts when a renewal fails or when a billing issue is resolved.
Apple has today made transcripts of its WWDC 2019 videos available. This makes it easy for developers to search through videos and sessions for specific information without having to watch the entire session.
If you’ve ever dreamed of becoming an app developer, the Apple Developer Academy is now open for applications. You could be one of 400 lucky students to win a year’s free training in Naples, Italy, completely free of charge.
You’ll also get a free iPhone and Mac …
Alongside iOS 11, Apple introduced the ability for developers to release app updates in phases. Now, Apple has expanded that feature to the Mac App Store, announcing in a blog post today that developers can release updates over a 7-day period.
iOS 12.2 beta 3 just dropped and contains a few user-facing tweaks as we reported here. For developers, there are new discount options for auto-renewing subscriptions.
Apple has also released a set of design resources for Siri Shortcuts, for iOS and watchOS. The company also released the SF Compact Rounded font to developers, which is used in several places inside watchOS.
The French government is taking both Apple and Google to court, accusing the companies of ‘abusive trade practices’ in the way that they treat developers.
Reporting on the case is light on detail, but France appears to have three objections to the way the relationship works between app stores and developers …
Apple announced last month that it would be waiving the $99/year App Store developer fee for governments and nonprofits, and eligible organizations can now apply. However, there are a number of conditions …
Apple is introducing a new App Store pricing feature for developers starting with iOS 11.2. Apps that use auto-renewable subscription pricing will soon be able to offer special introductory pricing for new customers.
Apple has today announced that it is removing the Catalogs category, as well as the Educational and Dice subcategory (under Games) from the App Store.
Apple has sent out emails to developers who are affected by this change, those that have apps currently listed under the Catalogs category or Dice subcategory.
Earlier today, Ben Lovejoy noted the difficulty in finding positive reactions to the iPhone X’s “notch”. Many 9to5Mac readers have shared the same sentiment over the past few days. While the notch can introduce some annoyances in viewing video or photo content for consumers, it also presents challenges to iOS app developers.
Apple VP Lisa Jackson has tweeted a photo of the first graduating class from the Apple Developer Academy in Naples …
The App Review guidelines were updated this week to accommodate App Store policy changes and new rules for usage of frameworks introduced in iOS 11, like MusicKit.
One change is the addition of section 1.1.7. This new paragraph requires developers to use the official in-app rating UI added in iOS 10.3 and states that they ‘will disallow custom review prompts’ going forward …