App Store

Meet the girl who downloaded the 25 billionth iOS app

Earlier this month, Apple's 25 billion app countdown contest came to an end. The winner, a Ms. Fu Chunli, was awarded a $10,000 iTunes gift card for downloading the 25 billionth app from the App Store — Where's My Water.

Up until now, not much was known about the China native. But that quickly changed this morning with a report from M.I.C. Gadget, which gives an in-depth look at the contest winner and how her life has changed in the last 20 days...

‘AppUpdateNotifier’ keeps you informed about App Store updates

First there was CydiaBulletin, and then there was the dead on arrival Aptdate. These jailbreak tweaks were conceptualized and/or created to provide notifications whenever an app or tweak had a pending updated waiting in Cydia.

Due to traffic concerns, it's unlikely that either of these tweaks will ever see the light of day. That's unfortunate, but it's the reality of the situation unless the developers can come up with a way that won't put too much stress on the repo servers.

But what about the App Store? This sort of functionality would be useful for pending App Store updates as well, would it not? Thankfully, someone was listening.

Check out our video walkthrough of AppUpdateNotifier, a jailbreak tweak that provides banner notifications when updates are waiting in the App Store...

Apple confirms Apple TV-related iTunes issues

Have you recently been having problems with your Apple TV not downloading iTunes content? Well if so, you're not alone. TheNextWeb is reporting that Apple has just confirmed that it is experiencing some issues with its iTunes service.

The problem is accompanied by an error message that reads "this item cannot be downloaded on this network, you must be connected to a Wi-Fi network," and is preventing folks from downloading or streaming content to their Apple TVs...

iPad event demo game Sky Gamblers now available

As noted by MacRumors, the simulator known as Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy has just gone live in the App Store. You might recognize the game from Apple's iPad event last week, as it was one of the titles demonstrated on stage.

So what's so special about Sky Gamblers? Well besides being one of the first apps to take advantage of the iPad's new features, its developers are saying that the game delivers "console quality single and multiplayer experiences."

See it in action after the break...

Popular game Draw Something already downloaded 20 million times

There always seems to be one game that really stands out on the App Store, like Angry Birds or Stick Wars. However, the game that's all the rage these days is five week old Draw Something. The game has seen phenomenal growth, and it seems like everyone is playing it these days.

The developers behind the app, OMGPop, have released the latest numbers for Draw Something. The game has already been downloaded 20 million times and is generating a whopping six-figures a day in revenue...

NCAA March Madness app now available for iOS

It's that time of year again. The top college basketball teams from around the country are about to square off in a grueling two week, 67-game tournament to determine who is the best of the best.

Still trying to figure out how to follow the action when you're away from your TV set? Look no further than the official NCAA March Madness Live application for iOS...

Apple upgrades OTA download limit to 50MB

Although the App Store and all of its wonderful applications are accessible over a 3G network, there's a bit of a caveat. Apple prevents you from downloading larger applications when using anything but a Wi-Fi connection.

That limitation used to be a measly 25MB, meaning anything over that would prompt a pop up that would tell you to connect to a Wi-Fi network to download. But it looks like today, Apple has bumped that limit up to 50MB...

Apple introduces new ‘Catalogs’ category to App Store

Apple has just introduced a new category labeled 'Catalogs' to the App Store this evening. The new introduction is ahead of Apple's media event tomorrow, where the Cupertino-based company is rumored to announce the iPad 3 and third-generation Apple TV.

The new category has yet to fully roll out to the App Store. Currently, it has apps like Catalog Spree, MTG Merchant, and SkyMall listed under it, but shows no results when viewing the category page. Catalogs may or may not have have some role in Apple's media event taking place tomorrow...

iPad App Store gets a small design change before iPad 3 launch

Ahead of the iPad 3 (or iPad HD) announcement tomorrow, AppleBitch is reporting that Apple has rolled out a new App Store update for the iPad. The new update offers a few design and speed enhancements that makes viewing the App Store on the iPad much more pleasing. What perfect timing.

Specifically in the way of UI enhancements, Apple has updated the way top paid and free iPad apps are shown. They are now displayed horizontally instead of vertically...

Senator asks FTC to investigate Apple over privacy concerns

Apple has recently come under heavy fire over its privacy policies. Earlier this year it was discovered that third-party iOS apps could access a user's address book without their consent. And recent reports that photo albums are subject to similar unauthorized access have added fuel to the flames.

Now it looks likes folks are so worried about the problem, that they've asked the Federal Trade Commission to get involved. ArsTechnica is reporting that New York Senator Charles Schumer is urging the FTC to look into Apple's widely-documented user privacy concerns...

App Store 25 billionth app download winner announced

Where's My Water? How about "where's my $10,000 iTunes Gift Card?" That's likely what a fortunate person from Qingdao, China is thinking after being revealed as the winner of Apple's App Store Countdown to 25 Billion Apps.

Winner Chunli Fu's perfect timing when downloading Where's My Water? Free yielded a virtual goldmine by App Store standards. Something tells me they'll have no problem purchasing the $0.99 version of Where's My Water? now...

dealBoard for iPhone puts all of your deal services in one place

Here at iDB, we love a good deal on well, pretty much anything. Who doesn't? The problem is that finding deals on the stuff we actually want to buy is pretty tough — even with services like Groupon or LivingSocial.

That's why we were excited when we came across the new dealBoard for iPhone app. The software searches over a dozen services, including the aforementioned Groupon and LivingSocial, to bring you deals on stuff you like...