Late last month, Apple launched a new "Free App of the Week" promotion on the App Store, featuring a single app on each of the iPhone and iPad platforms and offering the normally-paid titles for free. Apple's digital content stores have of course offered free apps for years, but the new promotion seeks to bring greater visibility to content being temporarily discounted from paid to free.
In another sign that Apple may be looking to increase exposure for free content, the company earlier this week registered two new domains: freeonappstore.com and freeonibookstore.com. There is currently no content located at either of the sites, but it seems that Apple may be interested in either creating specific websites featuring free content or using them as redirects to point to existing features.
The two domains were registered the day after Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, but they do not appear to have any direct relationship to announcements made during the event. Consequently, Apple's intentions for the domains remains unknown.
Outside of the digital stores themselves, Apple has a number of other venues for promoting free and discounted content, including a partnership with Starbucks for free "Pick of the Week" offerings such as apps and book samples. The current Free App of the Week promotion also began as a Facebook promotion on Apple's App Store page, but has since migrated directly into the App Store.
Wednesday February 5, 2025 7:15 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 18.3 was released last month, so the first iOS 18.4 beta should be coming soon. iOS 18.4 is expected to be a more substantial update for the iPhone, with several new features and changes related to Apple Intelligence and beyond.
Apple's website suggests that iOS 18.4 will be released in April, following beta testing. Below, we outline what to expect from the update so far.
Apple...
Tuesday February 4, 2025 8:00 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today announced the launch of a new app called "Invites," which is designed to allow users to plan events like birthday parties, graduations, vacations, baby showers, and more.
"With Apple Invites, an event comes to life from the moment the invitation is created, and users can share lasting memories even after they get together," said Brent Chiu-Watson, Apple's senior director of...
Monday February 3, 2025 1:15 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple does not approve of the "Hot Tub" pornography app that was released for the iPhone in the EU using alternative app distribution, Apple said in a statement to MacRumors. Further, Apple is concerned about the potential user safety risks with a pornography app, and says that it undermines consumer trust in the Apple ecosystem.
We are deeply concerned about the safety risks that hardcore...
Wednesday February 5, 2025 10:17 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple hasn't refreshed the Apple TV since 2022, but rumors suggest that we're finally going to get an update in 2025. We don't have a full picture of what to expect yet, but we have some hints on what's coming.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Updated A-Series Chip
The current Apple TV 4K uses the A15 Bionic chip that was in the iPhone 13 lineup, and it's time for...
Thursday February 6, 2025 3:30 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple's next-generation iPhone SE could debut as soon as next week with a launch to follow later in February, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple isn't expected to hold an event for the iPhone SE 4, and will instead unveil the device through a press release.
The iPhone SE 4 is expected to have an iPhone 14-style design, with Apple eliminating the thick bezels and Touch ID Home button of...
Tuesday February 4, 2025 9:35 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple this week increased the prices for its monthly AppleCare+ subscription prices for the iPhone, raising the cost by 50 cents for all models in the United States.
Standard AppleCare+ for the iPhone 16 models is now priced at $10.49 per month, for example, up from the prior $9.99 per month price. The 50 cent price increase applies to all available AppleCare+ plans for Apple's current...
Thursday February 6, 2025 7:31 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple is internally testing iOS 18.3.1 for iPhones, according to our website's analytics logs, which have been a consistently reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. The software update should be released within the next few weeks.
iOS 18.3.1 should be a minor update that addresses software bugs and/or security vulnerabilities. Apple Intelligence notification summaries for news and...
Thursday February 6, 2025 11:21 am PST by Joe Rossignol
If you pay for iCloud storage on your iPhone, Apple has a new perk for you, at no additional cost.
iCloud+ is the official name for Apple's paid iCloud storage plans, which range from 50GB for $0.99 per month to 12TB for $59.99 per month in the United States. iCloud+ plans already come with multiple perks for free, such as Hide My Email and HomeKit Secure Video, and now there is another one...
Promoting paid apps that are temporarily free helps devalue the paid apps. Such promotions are a large part of the reason for the move towards freemium and ad-supported models.
I would rather Apple promotes normally free games, and choses games that have quality, but are unknown, rather than games that are already successful.
A problem for developers is that the downloads are concentrated onto a few massive hits, while other great apps go unnoticed. Apple promotions should be widening the circle of success, not narrowing it.
They should have free trials that last for 10 full hours of usage. there is no way I would download a $10 or $20 app without trying it out first... They would sell a lot more paid apps ( to me at least:)).
I would like to add that I also hate with a passion Freemium apps.
Never heard that term before I like it.
There should be 3 types of apps.
1: Paid for apps
2: Free apps that only give you say a few levels/and or require payment to advance or do much with the product
3: Free apps
Jeez, we are even getting full paid for apps now that try and get you to buy things in-game.
It's a nasty trend that's growing and I've never experienced it before I bought an iPad.
Hope they limit it to truly free aps. i.e. no freemiums. Nothing more annoying than seeing a "free" app only to discover it's freemium.
Freemium is applied in many different ways, not all bad. I have played Jetpack Joyride for many hours, yet never felt pressurised to use in-app purchases. While some others are in your face as soon as you launch the app and have little value before paying out.
Freemium is not inherently bad, but it is applied badly far too often, giving it a bad name. Don't write off the potential because of some applications of it.
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Does anyone know what fraction of the original price (0-100%) apple pays the developers for the downloaded free copies?
Considering the developers have to pay to be on some other free app promotions (I know, it sounds daft to pay to give stuff way for free), I suspect Apple won't have to pay anything.