Developers

Apple posts iOS 7 Tech Talks schedule, agenda

Back in April, Apple announced it will be holding a series of Tech Talks focused on iOS 7 some time this Fall. With the software now out in the wild and the iPhone 5s/5c officially released, the company today moved to announce a tour schedule for a bunch of technical sessions which are set to take place across major cities the world over.

It's a unique opportunity for developers to convene with Apple engineers and evangelists outside the jam-packed WWDC and discuss developing for iOS 7 in a more personal setting and with hands-on labs targeting both iOS 7 app and game developers...

App Store ‘Kids’ category launches

Following a storm of criticism by disgruntled parents and after being forced to refund tens of thousands of dollars in individual cases of kids inadverntendly ratcheting up their parents’ iTunes bill with in-app purchases (here's how to turn these off), Apple finally caved in.

Thursday morning, the company has unveiled a new 'Kids' category on the App Store. Designed to give parents a piece of mind, the new sections hosts a selection of carefully curated apps for children. Apps are sorted thematically in sub-sections such as 'Create & Play' and 'Shapes & Colors' and shortcuts to apps that are 'Best for Ages 5 & Under', 'Best for Ages 6-8' and 'Best for Ages 9-11'...

Apple now lets devs manage availability of apps’ previous versions

Yesterday, we told you about an unexpected improvement of the App Store backend which results in customers being able to grab older versions of apps. This is especially useful to those who may be browsing the App Store using an older device with one of the older iOS versions.

For those people, attempting to download, say, the latest version of an app would produce a prompt offering the last compatible version available for their legacy hardware, provided the app at some point supported their hardware.

Thursday, we received a word that Apple now allows developers to use the iTunes Connect portal to specify which apps and what versions should be made available to owners of legacy software through the App Store...

App Store now lets you grab the last compatible app version on legacy devices

Apple has updated the App Store backend to allow for legacy app downloads, per tips we received this morning and this Reddit thread.

Starting today, trying to grab an app on the App Store from one of the unsupported iOS devices now presents users with a prompt offering to download the last compatible version available for their legacy hardware.

Previously, a developer posting a new app build would render older versions unavailable on the App Store. This improvement should be especially useful after iOS 7 arrives on Wednesday as owners of unsupported devices are now permitted to access the last compatible build on their outdated device...

Apple to devs: we want your 64-bit apps ASAP

With its new flagship iPhone 5s, Apple is ushering in an era of 64-bit computing on smartphones, an unexpected move which has left rivals such as Samsung scrambling to release mobile devices running 64-bit processors at some point in 2014 - with absolutely no clear idea of how the hardware and software will work together to improve their apps.

In the meantime, Apple is now asking its registered iOS developers to optimize and submit their warez for the device's 64-bit A7 chip...

Apple seeds iOS 7 GM to developers: this is what’s new

In a not-so-surprising move, Apple has released iOS 7 GM to developers this afternoon. The release follows Apple's big iPhone event this morning, where it went over major features from the software and unveiled two new handsets.

The GM, or Golden Master, release should be the final one before the update is rolled out to the public next week. And it's available now to all registered app developers through Apple's dev center—no sign of over-the-air just yet...

Apple invites developers to submit their iOS 7 apps

With the recent release of iOS 7 GM to developers, it is not surprising that Apple has now been sending emails inviting them to submit their iOS 7 apps. With an official public release set for September 18, developers can finally submit their updated apps.

Along with the usual "improvements and bug fixes," many apps updated for iOS 7 will probably take into account the radical design change introduced by Apple's latest mobile Operating System.

Here is Apple's email to developers:

Apple seeds OS X Mavericks Developer Preview 7

Apple has seeded the seventh developer preview of OS X Mavericks this afternoon. The download comes nearly two weeks after Developer Preview 6 was released, which didn't carry any significant new features.

The newest Mavericks preview is now available for download in either the Mac App Store, as a software update, or through Apple’s Mac Dev Center, to all registered developers. More details after the fold...

Apple revamps its bug-reporting tool Radar

Apple's Bug Report is among more than a dozen services that were disrupted during a ten-day Dev Center outage earlier this month. The web-based tool, also known under the 'Radar' moniker, gives Apple's registered iOS and OS X developers the official venue to file all sorts of bug reports.

The improved version of Bug Reporter went live after this year's WWDC, but soon got pulled because- oh, the irony - it was riddled with bugs. The old, pre-WWDC Bug Report had long been a running joke.

Seriously, it was so bad that a few hundred developers signed a 'Fix Radar or GTFO' petition demanding that Apple squash pesky bugs and rethink the tool with a more intuitive approach. The redesigned version has now gone live for all developers with an Apple Developer Account, featuring improved searching, attachments and other improvements...

Ahead of September’s reveal, Apple now asking devs to submit app icons at new iOS 7 sizes

With less than two weeks left until the looming iPhone 5S/5C event, Apple is now reportedly asking developers to submit larger app icons optimized for the new iOS 7 resolutions. Because Apple has slightly enlarged app icons in iOS 7, third-party applications which support only iOS 6 icon sizes appear with a small white border on the iOS 7 Home screen.

The company wants to avoid this so it's now demanding that developers submit app icons in the new iOS 7 120-by-120 pixel resolution for the iPhone and 152-by-152 pixels for the iPad...

iOS remains developers’ first choice, report shows

Despite all the chatter about Android and other smartphone platforms trying to entice developer, when it comes to picking their first choice, developers opt for iOS. In addition, 27 percent of developers chose the iPad as their second priority compared to a fifth for Android tablets. The survey by researcher Forrester shows that while Android has the numerical lead, when it comes to developer unveiling a mobile product, iOS is considered first...

Apple seeds OS X Mavericks developer preview 6

Apple has seeded the 6th developer preview of OS X Mavericks this afternoon. The download comes exactly two weeks after developer preview 5 dropped, which added both the Mac iBooks app and a new version of iPhoto beta.

The newest Mavericks preview comes alongside the final build of OS X 10.8.5, and is now available for download in either the Mac App Store, as a software update, or through Apple's Mac Dev Center, to all registered developers...