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Fake Alexa setup app is topping Apple's App Store charts
If you received a new Alexa device over the holidays and are working on setting it up, be warned that a fake Alexa setup app has been making its way up Apple's App Store charts. The app is called "Setup for Amazon Alexa" and it's from a company called One World Software that, as 9to5Mac points out, has two other shady apps in the App Store as well. As of writing, the app was ranked at #75 in the "Top Free" apps list and #6 in the list of top utilities apps.
Apple's new rules can make gifts out of in-app purchases
It looks like Apple will soon allow users to gift in-app purchases to friends and family thanks to a recent change to the company's App Store Guidelines. First spotted by MacRumors, the updated text shows developers can allow people to buy in-app purchases for one another. That includes everything from ongoing subscriptions to one-off boosts. Apple's policy previously barred such gifts.
Tumblr is back on the App Store ahead of 'adult content' ban
Tumblr is back in the App Store. Apple pulled the app from iTunes in November, and it was reportedly due to the presence child exploitation photos on the platform. Tumblr said it found those photos during a routine check and that they slipped through its filters, because they haven't been added to the database of known child sexual abuse material yet. Since then, the website has been flagging adult content on the platform more aggressively, until it finally announced that it will no longer allow any adult content starting on December 17th.
App Store scammers are using Touch ID tricks to steal money
Reddit users are exposing shady iOS fitness apps that use the Touch ID feature on iPhones and iPads to scam people out of cash. Both "Fitness Balance app" and "Calories Tracker app" were active on the App Store until recently, though Apple appears to have now removed them.
Supreme Court hears arguments in Apple App Store price fixing suit
Apple now has its last chance to fend off a lawsuit accusing it of price fixing on the App Store. The US Supreme Court is hearing arguments from Apple on November 26th as the company rejects claims that it uses its absolute control of iOS app downloads to keep prices high and take a 30 percent cut of each sale. In a filing, Apple portrayed itself as just a "sales and distribution agent" and said that developers were ultimately the ones who set the final price. It also said that objections to the 30 percent cut should come from developers, since they're the ones who pay directly rather than users.
Tumblr for iOS disappears from the App Store
You won't want to rush to get Tumblr's iOS app at the moment... because you can't. Users have noticed that the social network (part of Engadget's parent company Verizon) has been unavailable on the App Store. It's not certain what prompted the disappearance or who was responsible, but the outfit has talked about addressing an "issue" with the iOS release since November 16th. We've asked the company for comment.
Christianity and conservationism collide in 'Pangolin's Puzzle'
Pangolin's Puzzle is a new mobile game that offers a refreshing approach to the puzzle genre -- instead of relying solely on spatial manipulation or number-based solves, it serves up written logic problems. Players manipulate patches of the environment on a grid, building landscapes according to descriptions of how each feature relates to one another. It's tricky, thoughtful and addictive, especially when you add in the adorable main character, an anteater-like animal called a pangolin.
Stolen Apple IDs reportedly used for mobile payment theft in China
Users of two major mobile payment services in China -- Alipay and WeChat Pay -- have reported unauthorized Apple App Store spending in recent days, with some losing nearly $300 through fraudulent transactions. The companies say that stolen Apple IDs are to blame, the Wall Street Journal reports, and Alipay has asked Apple to investigate. In the meantime, Alipay is telling its customers to minimize potential losses by reducing how much money can be used from their accounts without a password.
'Professor Layton and the Curious Village' is coming to iOS
More than 11 years after its Japan debut on the Nintendo DS, the game that started the Professor Layton franchise is heading to iOS. Apple tweeted that Professor Layton and the Curious Village is "coming soon" to the App Store, with no word on a release date or gameplay details (in their place was a tophat emoji). It follows a Japanese HD port for iPhones and Android in June.
Apple yanks Alex Jones' InfoWars app
After Alex Jones and InfoWars drew bans from Facebook, YouTube and Apple Podcasts over repeated violations of their conduct policies, fans of the network downloaded its apps to continue accessing the same content. Tonight Apple confirmed to BuzzFeed News that it has permanently banned InfoWars from the iOS App Store. Apple was not specific about what caused the move, simply referring to its guidelines about objectionable content in the store. Before Twitter finally banned Jones and his site yesterday, we listed a series of posts that violated its policies and had somehow not resulted in the accounts being removed. Despite whatever reason the app had avoided removal until now despite engaging in the kind of defamatory and discriminatory language explicitly banned, Jones' move to confront reporters and even Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey around the Senate building on Wednesday while livestreaming and posting appears to have been the beginning of the end. As of this writing, the InfoWars app is still available on Android via Google Play.
Top-grossing Mac App Store app steals users’ browser histories
Adware Doctor is a top app in Apple's Mac App Store, sitting at number five in the list of top paid apps and leading the list of top utilities apps, as of writing. It says it's meant to prevent "malware and malicious files from infecting your Mac" and claims to be one of the best apps to do so, but unbeknownst to its users, it's also stealing their browser history and downloading it to servers in China.
Facebook pulls iOS VPN app following Apple's privacy objections
Apple's increasingly tougher stance on app privacy has led Facebook to pull one of its iOS apps. The Wall Street Journal has learned that Facebook is removing its VPN-based Onavo Protect program from the App Store after Apple warned the social network that it violated stricter policies (enacted in June) that limit how and why software collects data. Onavo Protect's collection and analysis of user activity beyond the app reportedly violated the new data collection limits, a source said. It also broke a clause in the developer agreement forbidding apps from using that data for either unrelated purposes or advertising.
Netflix tries bypassing Apple's App Store for payments
Netflix is bypassing App Store for its recurring subscription fees. Currently, Netflix pays a 30 percent cut of first-year subscription fees to Apple and 15 percent for each recurring year. But now in 33 countries, TechCrunch reports that new or lapsed customers in places including Canada, Germany, Mexico and Poland will be asked to pay via mobile web rather than in-app. The streaming service did something similar on Android earlier this year.
Apple pulls 25,000 gambling apps from China's App Store after pressure
Apple is once again removing apps in response to Chinese government pressure, although under somewhat different circumstances this time around. State media reports that Apple pulled 25,000 gambling apps from China's App Store after a bevy of media outlets (again government-backed) criticized it for inadequate filtering that let through the titles, which have long been illegal in the country. Some of them had slipped into the store by posing as lottery apps.
InfoWars fans flock to apps following recent bans
While a number of tech companies have purged their sites of Alex Jones podcasts and accounts over the last couple of days, not all InfoWars-related content has been taken down. And what's still available continues to attract interest. CNBC reports today that the InfoWars app, which is still available through the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, is being downloaded quite a bit, taking the fourth spot in Apple's chart of top free news-related apps. As of writing, the app was number 12 in Google's chart of top free news and magazine apps.
Apple to stop people earning money from affiliate app sales
Starting on October 1st, apps won't be part of Apple's affiliate program anymore. Cupertino has announced that partners will no longer be getting commissions for iOS and Mac apps as well as in-app content after the next couple of months. The tech giant cited the launch of the new App Store and the fact that it was designed to be much better for app discovery as the reason behind its decision. Partners can only continue earning affiliate money if they recommend the other types of content Apple sells: music, movies, books and TV.
A prescient Steve Jobs predicted our obsession with mobile apps
As the App Store turns 10 this month, it's fascinating to see how it all began. While it may seem obvious that most people have a small rectangle of glass and metal that they spend a ton of time staring at now, it wasn't always a foregone conclusion. Back in 2008, a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, now a senior editor at The Information, interviewed Steve Jobs at the App Store's one-month mark. The Apple co-founder and CEO was clearly impressed by the performance of his company's new service.
Mobile-gaming titans keep ripping off indies
The word "casual" has long been flung out as an insult on video-game forums and social media. It's deployed to belittle the interests of people who enjoy more relaxing experiences than gritty shooters, strategy-rich online games or time-sucking RPGs. Unsurprisingly, it's most often hurled at anyone who says they like mobile games. For Voodoo, "casual" isn't an insult. It's a cash cow.
Apple’s iOS App Store changed the way we think about software
Ten years ago today, Apple officially launched the iOS App Store and -- for better or worse -- it helped rewrite the rules of society. The iPhone, which debuted about a year prior, came with just north of 12 built-in apps to start. But with the coming of iOS 2.0 and the App Store, the sort of functionality you could squeeze out of Apple's smartphone was only constrained by a developer's imagination ... and how much storage you had left.
Supreme Court will hear Apple's bid to stop price fixing suit
Apple will have one more shot at avoiding a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing it of price fixing with the App Store. The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear Apple's appeal of a ruling that would resurrect the antitrust case, which asserted that the company was abusing its App Store-only requirement to keep prices higher and take a 30 percent cut. It's not yet clear when the court will handle the challenge.
