Developers

Apple seeds first iOS 8.4 beta to developers with all-new Music app

Apple seeded the first beta of iOS 8.4 to developers on Monday, less than a week after releasing iOS 8.3 to the public. Today's beta includes an all-new stock Music application, which Apple says will make exploring your music collection "easier and more fun."

The app features a beautiful, more-simplified design, with quick access to things like recently-added music and your custom playlists. It also offers a more streamlined iTunes Radio experience, a new Global Search option, Up Next queuing and much more.

Apple reminds developers of upcoming 64-bit requirement for app updates

As a reminder to developer, Apple published on its developer portal today that starting June 1, 2015, all app updates submitted to the App Store will have to include 64-bit support and be built with the iOS 8 SDK. While the move probably won't affect active developers who are already in compliance, smaller developer who haven't updated their apps for iOS 8 or 64-bit devices yet will have some catching up to do, and it's only good for us users.

Apple opens up early Watch access to more developers ahead of launch

Apple has opened up early Apple Watch access to more developers ahead of its April 24 launch, reports the Financial Times. The company had previously allowed select, high profile developers to visit its Cupertino campus and use working versions of the device, but within the last two weeks it has expanded the offer to ~20 devs per day.

The program is huge for developers, allowing them to test their apps on a working device, rather than the Mac-based simulator Apple released last year. It's also very secretive, as entrants are asked to sign strict non-disclosure agreements, and forced to work in conference rooms draped with curtains and guarded by Apple security.

Apple seeds OS X 10.10.3 beta 6 to developers, public testers

Apple seeded another beta of OS X 10.10.3 on Monday for both members of the Mac Developer Center and public beta testers. The new build, available to download through the Mac App Store's Software Update mechanism, carries the build number 14D127 - compared to the previous build number of 14D113 that was released one week ago.

Swifty helps you learn to code in Swift directly from your iPhone

Want to learn to code in Apple's new programming language, Swift? There's now an app for that, too! Swifty for the iPhone and iPad may be the best introduction to programming you've ever used.

Created by develop Johannes Berger, not only is the iOS app a great insight into Apple's new programming language for third-party iOS and OS X development, but a comprehensive guide which will tech you Swift basics and coding with more than two-hundred interactive lectures.

Apple seeds new OS X 10.10.3 beta to developers, public testers

Apple seeded a new beta of its upcoming OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 update this morning. The software, labeled build 14D105g, is available through the Update tab in the Mac App Store for public testers, as well as the online Dev Center for all Mac developers.

The release comes less than a week after the previous OS X 10.10.3 beta, and it appears that it is nearly identically to its predecessor, save for a fix for a problem that prevented beta 3 from working with the 2015 Retina MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.

Apple seeds iOS 8.3 beta 3 to developers

Following the public release of iOS 8.2 earlier this week with Apple Watch support, Apple is continuing development of iOS 8.3 by seeding the third beta on Thursday.

Developers registered with Apple can download the beta over-the-air on their iPhone or iPad or from the Developer Center. Apple says the update "contains bug fixes and improvements," but there's also new features. 

Android devs earned $7 billion in past 12 months, paid search ads coming to Play store

Google's Play store has paid about seven billion dollars in revenue to Android app makers over the past 12 months, the company said Thursday. By comparison, Apple paid out ten billion dollars in 2014 App Store revenue to iPhone and iPad devs.

With more than 100 billion searches every month on Google.com, the company has now kicked off a pilot program designed to inject sponsored search results into the Play store apps.

Apple asks devs to blur out guns and nudity on App Store screenshots and promotional footage

Apple is determined to make the App Store a safe playground for children and has begun enforcing its own long-standing which requires that app icons, screenshots and video previews adhere to the 4+ age rating, PocketGamer reports.

Developers who do not censor the App Store marketing material will see their apps rejected from the store. A few devs corroborated Apple's intent to make the App Store family-friendly and inoffensive.

Some of the developers who voiced their concern include Tempo developer Splash Damage, creators of Gang Nations and Bullet Rush and many others.

Apple increases size limit of app packages from 2GB to 4GB

Apple announced this afternoon that it has increased the size limit of an app package submitted through iTunes Connect to 4GB. That's double the previous size limit of 2GB, which had been in place since the App Store launched in 2008.

The move should appease both developers and game-makers, who have been struggling to keep their app sizes under 2GB despite the multiple increases in display resolutions of Apple's various mobile devices over the past several years.