App Store

By MacRumors Staff
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The App Store is Apple's digital software distribution platform for iOS devices. First introduced in 2008, the App Store allows software developers to distribute content that has been created specifically for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Apps are also available on the Apple Watch through the iOS App Store.

There are well over a million apps in the App Store, and customers have downloaded more than 100 billion apps since the App Store debuted. App Store apps are available with three pricing options: free (and usually supported by ads), free with in-app purchases, or a set cost starting at $0.99 in the US.

In 2010, Apple introduced the Mac App Store for distributing content on Macs, and in 2015, Apple introduced the tvOS App Store, an app store for to the fourth-generation Apple TV.

App Store How Tos

How to Download Large Apps Over Cellular on iPhone and iPad

Monday February 3, 2020 11:56 am PST by
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...
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How to Add Funds to Your Apple ID on iPhone and iPad

Monday November 11, 2019 9:38 am PST by
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...
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How to Update Apps in iOS 13

Monday September 16, 2019 5:13 pm PDT by
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...
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How to Cancel App Store Subscriptions

Wednesday April 4, 2018 1:50 am PDT by
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,...
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App Store Articles

fortnite apple featured

Apple Says Fortnite for iOS Isn't Blocked Worldwide, Just the U.S.

Friday May 16, 2025 9:58 am PDT by
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 ...
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app store external payments warning

Apple Slaps Warnings on Apps Using External Purchases in the EU [Updated]

Thursday May 15, 2025 4:22 am PDT by
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,...
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Epic Games Submits Fortnite to U.S. App Store

Friday May 9, 2025 9:57 am PDT by
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...
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iOS App Store General Feature Dock 2

Apple Seeks to Pause 'Extraordinary' App Store Ruling in Epic Games Battle

Thursday May 8, 2025 2:04 am PDT by
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...
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Apple Faces Developer Lawsuit After Defying App Store Injunction

Monday May 5, 2025 3:55 pm PDT by
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. ‌...
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Apple Banned Epic Games' Developer Account, So How Is Fortnite Coming Back to the U.S. App Store?

Monday May 5, 2025 1:45 pm PDT by
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...
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iOS App Store General Feature Desaturated

Apple Appeals Court-Mandated App Store Payment Rule Changes

Monday May 5, 2025 11:17 am PDT by
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 ...
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Spotify Premiumer Feature

Spotify Updates iPhone App With Out-of-App Payment Options in U.S.

Friday May 2, 2025 7:57 am PDT by
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...
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iOS App Store General Feature Sqaure Complement

Apple Updates U.S. App Review Guidelines Following Epic Games Ruling

Thursday May 1, 2025 8:08 pm PDT by
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...
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Epic Games Setting Up Webshops for iOS Developers to Offer Users Out-of-App Purchases

Thursday May 1, 2025 9:29 am PDT by
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...
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Facebook Feature

Mark Zuckerberg Reflects on How Apple's Strict Rules Hurt Facebook

Thursday May 1, 2025 7:18 am PDT by
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...
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Apple to Comply With New Court Ordered App Store Rules, But Will Appeal

Wednesday April 30, 2025 6:52 pm PDT by
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...
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app store review summaries

Apple Explains How AI-Generated App Store Review Summaries Work in iOS 18.4

Thursday April 24, 2025 12:54 pm PDT by
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...
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iOS App Store General Feature JoeBlue

Utah Passes Child Safety Law Requiring Apple to Verify User Age

Wednesday March 26, 2025 3:38 pm PDT by
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 ...
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app store ai reviews summary

iOS 18.4 to Include AI-Generated Review Summaries in App Store

Thursday March 6, 2025 4:38 am PST by
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...
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Apple Overhauls Child Account Setup and Adds New Age Assurance Features

Thursday February 27, 2025 9:00 am PST by
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...
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app store blue banner epic 1

Apple's Phil Schiller Initially Opposed 27% App Store Fee on External Purchases

Tuesday February 25, 2025 2:43 am PST by
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...
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app store trader requirement dsa

Apps That Didn't Add 'Trader' Contact Info in the EU Removed From App Store

Tuesday February 18, 2025 9:47 am PST by
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...
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TikTok Returns to Apple's App Store

Thursday February 13, 2025 3:31 pm PST by
TikTok is once again available for download from the App Store, 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, just ahead...
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final fantasy crystal chronicles

Final Fantasy iOS Game Shuts Down Due to Curious In-App Purchase Bug

Thursday February 13, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
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...
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