The European Commission has fined Apple about $2 billion for preventing app developers from telling iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription options outside their apps. Apple is appealing.
Apple is making major changes to how it distributes iOS apps in the EU due to the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act, but the company is making it clear that it’s only doing so under duress.
The Epic vs. Apple antitrust lawsuit is finally over. Although Apple won on most counts, the judge ruled it had to allow developers to link to external payment systems rather than using in-app purchases. That may start happening soon.
It pays to speak up. After being introduced to the ckbk cookbook service, Adam Engst expressed his disappointment in the app asking to track and was rewarded a few weeks later with an update that resolved the issue.
You can look forward to App Store prices containing different numbers now that Apple has introduced 700 more price points—from $0.29 to $10,000—from which developers can select.
Apple’s App Store helped make iPads and iPhones the most secure consumer-focused computers ever created. But Apple’s opaque policy enforcement and payment restrictions are now motivating regulators and courts to get involved, which will likely force changes that will damage consumer safety.
In Epic Games v. Apple, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has come down strongly in favor of Apple, rejecting nearly all of Epic’s claims and fining the company millions of dollars. But Apple suffered a blow too, with the judge determining that Apple’s in-app purchasing policies are anticompetitive.
Apple has dug in its heels against the clamor for changes to its App Store rules, but a couple of recent settlements show that the company is susceptible to pressure.
A new law in South Korea will force Apple and Google to let developers offer alternative payment methods in their apps.
Apple says that the dangers of allowing customers to load arbitrary apps are too severe and that the iOS App Store is a bulwark against ransomware, device hijacking, the invasion of children’s privacy, and other problems common on Android.
We don’t know how the legal fight between Epic Games and Apple over App Store policies will end, but it has made public reams of formerly classified internal documents from both companies. The Verge highlighted some of the most interesting bits.
Apple has mandated App Store privacy labels for all apps, but the company is going a step further with its own apps by publishing the complete collection of those labels on the Web to make them easy to scan.
Facebook is unhappy with the enhanced privacy requirements that Apple recently unveiled. Apple will soon require that apps ask for and get explicit consent from their users in order to track them across apps and sites—and that’s a good thing. Apple has already added detailed privacy disclosure requirements. Let’s dig into how Apple’s new rules will enhance your privacy.
Josh Centers chronicles the latest battles revolving around the App Store, including Facebook joining Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple, a group of big-name publishers signing on to the Coalition for App Fairness to pressure Apple and Google, and Apple making the Brave browser put its crypto wallet away.
macOS Big Sur has been out for only a short time, but Apple is already pushing it on users by badging the System Preferences Dock icon and displaying a Big Sur-only update to GarageBand. Adam Engst shares a few workarounds that can reduce the annoyance.