Developers

App Store search results are now smarter and more relevant

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Apple has been working hard in recent weeks to make App Store search results smarter and more relevant, reports TechCrunch. The outlet points to comments from high profile app developers, who began noticing changes to the search results earlier this month and a major algorithm update on November 12.

"I just searched Twitter on the App Store and Instagram is gone," Contrast's David Barnard pointed out on Twitter. "Tweetbot is #4, Twitterrific #5, and more relevant results overall." Tapbots developer Paul Haddad also spotted the change, noting that the change has had a significant impact on his app searches.

Apple now lets developers invite 2,000 people to beta test apps via TestFlight

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Apple today announced on its portal for developers that it is doubling the previous limitation of up to 1,000 beta users in TestFlight to 2,000 external testers who can beta test an iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or Apple TV app.

In addition, the company is extending beta periods on a per-app basis to sixty days, a twofold increase over the previous beta expiration limit of 30 days.

Apple announces Tech Talks tour for Apple TV developers

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Following the posting of a new tvOS beta, Apple on Tuesday announced that it is taking to the road next month to help developers take full advantage of the new Apple TV. Beginning December 7, the company plans to hold TV Tech Talks in 10 cites around the globe.

During these events, developers will get in-depth technical information on building and designing for tvOS, learn refined coding techniques, and obtain valuable instruction from experts. Seating is limited, so those interested will have to register for a chance to attend.

Apple seeds OS X 10.11.2 beta 3 to developers

Cody Lee ∙ November 10, 2015

In addition to beta 3 of iOS 9.2, Apple also released the third beta of OS X 10.11.2 on Tuesday. The update is labeled build 15c40a, and is available to registered developers via the Updates section of the Mac App Store or through Apple’s Developer Center.

Today's release comes just one week after Apple pushed out beta 2 of OS X 10.11.2 to developers and public testers, suggesting the firmware is nearing completion. It has been 3 weeks since the last public update to OS X (10.11.1), which added 150 new emoji.

How to install a web browser on Apple TV

Jeff Benjamin ∙ November 6, 2015

Sideloading the tvOSBrowser that we reported on earlier is easy, it just takes a bit of massaging to make it all work. You'll need to be familiar with our standard sideloading tutorial for sideloading apps, but there's one additional step that you'll have to take before it all comes together. In this tutorial, we'll show you all that's involved in a hands-on step-by-step video.

Apple opens cryptographic libraries used to protect iOS and OS X to app makers

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 30, 2015

Apple yesterday announced it's opened up its cryptographic libraries, the same ones used to protect iOS and OS X, to third-party developers. As reported by VentureBeat, the move is significant in that developers can now implement advanced security features into their apps, for free.

In addition to open-sourcing the cryptographic libraries, Apple back in the summer promised to open source its Swift programming language by the end of the year.

Apple releases OS X 10.11.1 beta 4 to developers and public testers

Cody Lee ∙ October 14, 2015

Apple on Wednesday seeded the fourth beta of OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 to developers and public testers. The new build is available to registered developers via the Updates section of the Mac App Store or through Apple’s Developer Center. Public testers can also find it in the Updates section of the MAS, or via the public beta portal.

Apple seeds iOS 9.1 beta 5 to developers

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 12, 2015

Less than a week following iOS 9.1 beta 4, Apple on Monday issued a brand new, fifth beta of what would become iOS 9's first major software update.

iOS 9.1 beta 5 (build 13B137) for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad is available to both members of the Apple Developer Program and public beta testers.

In addition, the software is available as a standalone download through Apple's portal for developers.

Apple seeds iOS 9.1 beta 4 to developers

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Apple on Tuesday seeded the fourth beta version of iOS 9.1 to developers. The software is available to registered developers either over-the-air, for those running the latest iOS 9.1 beta, or via Apple’s developer website.

Today’s release comes less than one week after beta 3 was made available to developers, and a month after iOS 9.1 was first introduced during Apple’s iPhone 6s event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.

Apple lists top 25 apps infected by XcodeGhost

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 18, 2017

Apple today refreshed its official XcodeGhost FAQ webpage, listing the top 25 iPhone and iPad apps on the App Store that contain the widely reported though mostly harmless XcodeGhost malware.

In addition to WeChat, one of the top messaging apps in the world, Rovio's Angry Birds 2 and China Unicom’s Customer Service app, most of the listed apps are distributed on the Chinese App Store only.

“If users have one of these apps, they should update the affected app which will fix the issue on the user’s device,” writes the company. “If the app is available on App Store, it has been updated, if it isn’t available it should be updated very soon.”

Apple has pulled many of the infected apps and said it's working closely with developers to get impacted apps back on the App Store.

Apple to offer local Xcode downloads in China, posts official XcodeGhost malware FAQ

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 23, 2015

The XcodeGhost malware couldn't have arrived at worst time for Apple as the company prepares to launch its iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus tomorrow. The company has already removed the App Store apps infected by the malware, which has been found to inject its payload into apps compiled with compromised copies of Xcode that were distributed on non-Apple servers in China.

Wednesday, the Cupertino firm has confirmed plans to mitigate the threat by hosting local Xcode downloads within China. In addition, Apple has posted an XcodeGhost FAQ webpage on its Chinese website detailing the XcodeGhost malware and how customers might be affected by it.

Apple educates developers on validating Xcode downloads following XcodeGhost malware attack

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 22, 2015

A new type of attack called XcodeGhost is wreaking something of a mini-havoc in the App Store, injecting its malware payload into popular iPhone and iPad apps and prompting Apple to pull the infected apps.

The malware itself is pretty harmful—it collects and sends information about your device—but the method of spreading is cunning. Rather than target the App Store itself, attackers have distributed hacked versions of Xcode, Apple's tool required for iOS and OS X development.

As Xcode is a multi-gigabyte download, developers in countries like China where Internet speeds are slow have downloaded these modified Xcode builds from non-Apple sources without realizing a hacked Xcode injects malware when compiling apps.

This morning, Apple issued an email to developers providing an update on the XcodeGhost situation while laying out easy-to-follow instructions for checking if their Xcode copy has been tampered with.