App Store

Apple used to limit the size of App Store downloads over cellular to 150MBs to prevent iPhone users from accidentally downloading a large app over 3G or 4G networks and using up all their data allowance or running up data charges. In May 2019, Apple upped the limit of over-the-air downloads to 200MB, but offered no way to opt out of the limit at the time, leaving users with unlimited data...

It used to be the case that adding funds to your Apple ID required redeeming an iTunes Gift Card bought from a store, but Apple now lets you use a debit or credit card right on your iPhone or iPad to do the same thing. Adding funds to your Apple ID allows you to make purchases from the iTunes Store, iBooks Store, and App Store on any of your Apple devices. It's easy to add funds to your...

If you recently updated your iPhone to iOS 13 or your iPad to iPadOS 13 and you can't work out how to manually update your installed apps, then you've come to the right place. Apple has changed the way you update apps in iOS. In earlier versions of its mobile operating system, app updates lived in their own tab in the App Store app, but that has since had to make way for a new Apple Arcade...

Several TV and music services and other apps offer free trials through the App Store that automatically renew to become paid subscriptions after the trial period ends. If you want to prevent an App Store subscription from running beyond the trial period or cancel a subscription you're currently paying for, then read on. This article explains how to cancel any App Store subscription on iOS,...

Apple today clarified that it has not blocked Epic Games from updating the iOS Fortnite app in the European Union, but it is not planning to allow ‌Epic Games‌ to offer Fortnite in the United States App Store at the current time. In a statement to Bloomberg, Apple said that ‌Epic Games‌ tied its U.S. ‌App Store‌ submission to the update that was also being submitted to the ‌Epic Games‌ Store ...

Update: According to Apple, the user-disclosure screens have been live on the EU App Store since the beginning of Apple’s DMA Compliance Plan back in March 2024. The screen is not new. Original story follows. Apple has begun placing prominent warning labels on EU App Store listings that use alternative payment methods. The warning symbols appear as a red exclamation mark in a triangle,...

As promised, Epic Games today submitted Fortnite to the U.S. App Store, and if approved by Apple, it will mark the first time that the Fortnite app has been available in the United States since 2020. Fortnite will include options to purchase in-app currency from the web rather than through in-app purchase, which is what got the game banned to begin with. This time, though, Apple has been...

Apple has filed an emergency motion asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to pause key parts of a recent ruling that dramatically changes how the App Store operates, following a contempt finding in its long-running legal battle with Fortnite maker Epic Games. In court documents filed Wednesday, Apple called the district court's order "extraordinary" and argued it unlawfully forces the...

Apple is being sued by developers unhappy with the company's "willful violation" of the anti-steering injunction the court ordered as part of its legal battle with Epic Games. A company called Pure Sweat Basketball has teamed up with law firm Hagens Berman to file a class-action lawsuit against Apple in an attempt to win some money for developers. The lawsuit focuses on the recent Apple vs. ‌...

In the early days of the Apple vs. Epic Games legal battle, Apple banned the Epic Games developer account and all of Epic's titles, like Fortnite, disappeared from the App Store. ‌Epic Games‌' U.S. developer account has been banned for almost five years now, so when Epic said last week that it would bring Fortnite back to the ‌App Store‌ in the U.S., it wasn't clear how that would work. ‌Epic...

As promised, Apple is appealing the contempt of court decision it was hit with last week in its ongoing legal fight with Epic Games. Apple today filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. District Court in Northern California, in the hopes that the Cupertino company might be able to walk back changes that have required it to allow developers to add links to external payment methods to apps. Last ...

As planned, Spotify has updated its iPhone app in the U.S. with out-of-app pricing and subscription options for its Premium plans. The latest version of the app is now available in the App Store, and the added pricing information is rolling out. Spotify users in the U.S. can now view pricing information for its Individual, Duo, Family, and Student plans directly in the iPhone app, and there...

In the wake of yesterday's court ruling in the dispute between Apple and Epic Games over Apple's policies restricting developers' ability to inform users about alternatives to making purchases through Apple's in-app purchasing system, Apple has updated its App Review Guidelines to comply with the ruling. Apple summarized the changes in an email to developers today:3.1.1: Apps on the United...

Epic Games today announced plans for ‌Epic Games‌ Store Webshops, a feature that will allow developers to launch digital storefronts that are hosted by the ‌Epic Games‌ Store. With Apple's mandated App Store rule changes in the United States, developers will soon be able to direct customers to web shops to make out-of-app purchases, bypassing the in-app purchase flow. The ‌Epic Games‌ Store...

In the late 2000s, Facebook was a booming desktop web platform with a growing selection of third-party games and apps, including the viral sensation FarmVille. However, once the iPhone and other mobile devices became more popular, this started to change. In particular, Apple's closed-off App Store rules impacted the social network. In a recent interview with Stratechery's Ben Thompson, Meta...

Apple plans to change its U.S. App Store rules in accordance with a ruling from the U.S Northern District of California, Apple said in a statement to MacRumors. The company does plan to appeal the decision, though. "We strongly disagree with the decision. We will comply with the court's order and we will appeal," reads Apple's statement. Apple was found to be in violation of a 2021...

With the launch of iOS 18.4, Apple introduced a new App Store feature that summarizes multiple user reviews to provide an at-a-glance summary of what people think of an app or a game. In a new blog post on its Machine Learning Research blog, Apple provides some detail on how ‌App Store‌ review summaries work. Apple is using a multi-step large language model (LLM) system to generate the...

Utah today passed the App Store Accountability Act, a law that requires mobile app stores from Apple and Google to verify the age of users rather than having individual apps do age verification. According to CNBC, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed the bill this afternoon. It is the first law related to mobile app store age verification that has passed in the U.S., and it will require Apple to ...

Apple has begun rolling out AI-generated summaries of App Store reviews in the latest iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 beta releases. The feature uses large language models to analyze user reviews and condense common themes into a short paragraph. First spotted by Macworld, the AI summaries appear just above the user reviews section on app listings. As part of a phased rollout, Apple says the...

Apple today said that it is implementing new features that are designed to make children safer online, including an updated age rating system, a simpler way for parents to set up child accounts, changes to what kids see on the App Store, and a new API that will let developers confirm age range to deliver age appropriate experiences to kids. The changes are outlined in a new Helping Protect...

Apple Fellow Phil Schiller testified in court on Monday that he initially opposed the 27% commission Apple now charges on purchases made outside the App Store, citing compliance risks and potential developer backlash (via AP News). Schiller, who oversees the App Store, said he had concerns that the fee would create an "antagonistic relationship" between Apple and developers, and worried...

Apps that have not complied with the trader requirement in the European Union have been removed from the App Store, Apple informed developers today. The apps that have been removed will not be allowed back in the ‌App Store‌ until trader status is provided and verified by Apple. Disclosing trader status is a requirement of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in the EU. Developers who distribute...

TikTok is once again available for download from the App Store in the U.S., which means it can be installed on iPhones and will be able to receive updates. Apple's decision to start distributing TikTok again comes after a letter sent from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, according to Bloomberg, but the letter has not been shared. Apple removed TikTok from the U.S. App Store on January 18,...

Square Enix today announced that iOS game Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is shutting down immediately, due to some kind of in-app purchase bug. Apparently customers have been unable to access content purchased in the iOS app for the last several weeks, which Square Enix says is "due to changes made to the in-app purchases model." Apple hasn't made any known changes to in-app purchases in...