App Store

Corrupt binaries in App Store causing crashes for some

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 5, 2012

Something went amiss in Apple's application stores for iPhone and Mac apps, causing newly updated apps to crash. Users are reporting that a number of popular apps quit immediately upon loading, though this issue only seems to affect freshly updated software.

Newly updated versions of Instapaper, Readdle Scanner Pro and Angry Birds Space HD Free have all been accused of crashing upon being updated to the latest version.

Instapaper developer Marco Arment pinpoints the issue over at his blog to a likely server bug with the App Store’s content distribution network. Apple has yet to acknowledge the problem or issue a statement...

Former Apple employee sheds light on app review process

Cody Lee ∙ July 4, 2012

Apple's app review team takes a lot of heat from the iOS community. Their decisions on which apps are let into the App Store, and which ones get rejected, are often criticized for being either too strict or too lenient.

One reason why there's so much grievance is that fact that people don't quite understand the process or what it's like to be an app reviewer. So a former Apple employee decided to clear things up...

Marvel to release companion app for upcoming Avengers Blu Ray

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

The Avengers has grossed nearly $1.5 billion this year in theaters, making it 2012's biggest box office hit thus far. And this fall, Marvel Studios is hoping to equal that success in the living room.

The movie isn't slated to hit Blu Ray until September, but Marvel is planning an iOS release in the next couple of weeks. No, it's not a game. It's more of a second screen, movie companion app...

Food & Drink section coming to App Store on July 8

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 2, 2012

According to several iOS developers who've received an official word from Apple, the App Store will soon add a new section dedicated to apps related to food and drink. The change takes effect this coming Sunday, July 8, and will affect all existing apps that are food- or drink-related, including apps that manage recipes or help find restaurants....

Apple caught altering App Store algorithm again

Cody Lee ∙ June 29, 2012

Have you been having trouble finding apps in the App Store lately? Try it now. Word has it that Apple has undone whatever it did to to the Store's search algorithm last weekend.

Last Saturday, search results in the App Store appeared to all of a sudden start favoring download numbers and other factors ahead of app names and keywords. It was bad...

iOS beats Android in app retention by more than 50%

Cody Lee ∙ June 27, 2012

Now that Google and Apple have both unveiled their future plans for their respective mobile platforms, it's up to the consumers, and more importantly, the third-party app developers to make their decisions. Which OS do they make their priority?

Back in the good old days, this was an easy decision to make: go with the one that had the most users. More users typically meant more downloads (and $). But now that Android and iOS are almost even, developers have to look at other metrics...

Is Apple tweaking App Store search algorithm?

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 23, 2012

According to TechCrunch, citing several developers, Apple is possibly tweaking the search algorithm in the App Store which could affect visibility of apps. The move is meant to make it harder for apps that only count on well-chosen names to surface while giving greater relevancy to software that may have not been visible before due to awkwardly-chosen names, but is otherwise popular and well-reviewed...

Apple opens up the App Store to 32 new countries

Cody Lee ∙ June 22, 2012

During the WWDC keynote last week, Tim Cook announced that Apple was planning to open up the App Store to 32 new countries sometime this month.

Yesterday, the company made good on that promise. Apple sent out an email to developers last night announcing the following new App Store markets...

iOS 6 tidbits: Spotlight folder labels, iTunes and wallpaper previews

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

Not a day goes by without discovering subtle touches in Apple's iOS 6 software. We covered most of the big and little things already. Perhaps unsurprisingly, cool nice-to-haves still get discovered on a daily basis, proving iOS 6 is the most well-rounded release to date.

iDB told you yesterday how the virtual keyboard is now clever enough to capitalize after quotes and emojis (iOS 6 also sports a bunch of new emojis). We even proposed how Apple could make sharing between third-party apps simpler and more akin to Android's comprehensive Action Menu.

Today, I wanna talk about some noteworthy store tweaks and cosmetic changes in Spotlight and Wallpaper settings...

Cydia makes its way to the App Store, but it’s not what you think

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

The App Store hasn't had any shortage of knockoff apps since its creation a few years ago. When popular games such as Angry Birds or Cut the Rope make their way up the charts, you can expect a few unscrupulous developers to rush and try to get their copycat app approved and available in the App Store in order to make a quick buck.

Surfing on the popularity of Cydia, the App Store for jailbreak apps and tweaks, one shady developer thought that releasing an app called Cydia and making it available to over 300 million iDevices (no jailbreak required, mind you) would be a good idea...

Instacast podcast client receives major update

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 5, 2018

Instacast is by far and wide considered to be the best podcast client for iOS. It allows you to download and organize your favorite podcasts and video podcasts, without ever having to open iTunes.

Well it looks like the best just got better today. Instacast version 2.1 is out in the App Store, and the update includes a fresh coat of paint, and several other nice enhancements and bug fixes...

New in iOS 6: App Store app doesn’t close anymore when downloading an app

Guest Author ∙ June 12, 2012

One major annoyance I had with iOS so far is that anytime you download an application from the App Store, the app would close and take you back to the Home screen. If you want to download a new app, you have to launch the App Store app again, and repeat the process.

iOS 6 puts an end to this small nonsense and now lets you download as many apps as you want without closing...