News/Rumors

Apple hits 50 billion apps

On Wednesday, Apple announce the total number of downloads, which  passed 50 billion. The person who was the 50th in app downloading will receive a $10,000 App Store gift card. Moreover, the next 50 people who downloaded apps will claim a $500 gift card. The name of  the “winner” wasn’t sounded as well as the name of the downloaded app. Apple announced its plans for the contest at the beginning of the month and added counting timers in iTunes and later on its Web site. It should be noted that Apple receives 30% of the revenue from app customers, meaning the company has made around $3.86 billion from the app store.

The last big contest came in March 2012, when Chinese resident downloaded the 25 billionth app. That time, Chunli Fu was gifted a $10,000 card and a trip to one of Apple’s stores to use it. Not so far this year, Apple paid out a 10,000 Euro iTunes gift card for the 25th billion song sold on iTunes.

Meanwhile, Apple wasn’t the first to introduce an App Store-Nokia did. Currently, there are about 800,000 apps to choose from on both Apple’s and Google’s store. Variety of the sizes is an important weapon in the smartphone wars between the largest electronic companies, such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and BlackBerry. While Apple and Google compete for the largest and most profitable stores, Microsoft’s Windows Phone and BlackBerry are still in need of key apps such as the Instagram and Snapchat.

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The App Store has done much for Apple, being a huge moneymaker for the company, which receives 30 percent of the revenue from its app store, which comes to about $3.86 billion since 2008.

 

Apps Lists, News/Rumors

Apple adds age rating tags to App Store

Apple recently offered to add recommended age ratings for App Store. Now directly below the title users can easily find a small informational box with age rating.
The change, in fact, makes the age rating one of the first information features, a user faces when downloading or viewing an application.

Earlier this year, Vine app, which allows users to place very short videos, disappeared from the App Store’s front page. The fact is, that the service mistakenly featured hardcore pornographic content-an “Editor’s Pick.” Then Apple denied the status of the program, and removed it from the most expensive page.

Let us remind, that  Apple also made up a  decision to yank popular photo sharing app 500px over nude images. Both Vine and 500px now have a 17+ rating.

In a more recent development, Apple also  met the complaints of parents, stated that the purchasing on App Store is too available for children who spend large sums of money without adults’ control. They leave hundreds of dollars on Apple’s App Store to receive their favorite game.
Perhaps, these small controversies made the company to add age rating tags.

13.04.04-Age_Rating

 

Apps Lists, News/Rumors

HiddenApps could be pulled out from the App Store

In an app likely to be pulled from the App Store in the very near future, HIddenApps promises to remove stock iOS apps like Newsstand and Weather from a user’s home screen.
HiddenApps allows users to temporarily hide Apple’s stock iOS apps, disable iAds and enter a Field Test mode that displays cellular reception strength in numerical form rather than signal bars. With these feature, it’s far better to see the quality of the signal.

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When users run HiddenApps, they are met with a launch screen showing a basic list of the app’s features, including “Hide Apps,” “Disable all iAds,” “iOS Diagnostics” and “Field Test” activation. Selecting “Hide Apps” shows a number of built-in titles that can be hidden, including Calendar, Stocks, Passbook, Compass, Maps and more. The features being offered are suited for those users who are a bit space savvy with their apps.
When a user clicks on an app, like Maps, a pop-up window asks for permission to install the app “Poof.” Choosing install will result in a failure message, and changes Maps into a darkened “Poof” icon. By deleting the icon, the Maps app is effectively hidden from view. Hidden apps can be reinstated by rebooting or respringing the device.
Due to its nature, the sneaky app is likely slipped by the App Store approval process and is expected to be pulled soon. For the time being, HiddenApps is available as a free 5.4MB download from the App Store. If you would like to try this app, better download it now before Apple pulls this one out of the store.

News/Rumors

Apple adds encryption to App Store

At least six months after being alerted to a possible exploit in the way users connect to its App Store, Apple has added encryption to users’ connections, plugging the security hole. Google security researcher Elie Bursztein said on his blog that he alerted Apple of the potential for attack in July of last year, with the flaw affecting users connected to the App Store, reports CNet. The vulnerability Bursztein pointed out was made possible by Apple’s use of the non-encrypted HTTP protocol instead of HTTPS for certain parts of communication with the App Store.

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Bursztein pointed out that, in theory, a malicious network attacker could exploit the use of HTTP to steal user passwords, force users to install a specific app instead of the one they were looking for, trick users into downloading fake app upgrades, prevent application installation, or scan the apps on a user’s device.

In an Apple Web Server notifications update published on Feb. 23, Apple addressed the issue. Active content is now served over HTTPS by default. Apple acknowledged Bursztein for pointing out the issue, as well as Bernhard Brehm of Recurity Labs and Rahul Iyer of Bejoi LLC.

The App Store has periodically been the target of attacks in the past. In 2010, Apple tightened security for the online marketplace following incidences of account fraud that saw some users hit with several hundred dollars worth of erroneous charges.

In April of 2012, Apple again updated its security protocols, adding a measure requiring users to fill out security questions to be associated with their accounts. In the event that a user signs on from a new device, iTunes and the App Store now requires them to answer the questions in order to verify their identity.

iOS

App Store Search Layout redesigned in iOS 6

With iOS 6, both the iPhone and iPad will receive a new search result interface for App Store. The redesigned search layout was released last night and adds a cards-style interface instead of the old list format.

Overall, the new App Store layout has a more appealing aspect. Besides displaying the application icon, the price and rating, it now displays also an application screenshot, turning the interface more detailed. Yet, the redesigned interface may make it easier for you to find the perfect app but will require some extra fingers activity.

Also, an additional section that has no title and that may very well be a bug, includes a medley of different apps, such as Starbucks, Yelp, Instagram, Tweetbot, and Pandora.

Read more details on Cult of Mac.

 

iOS, News/Rumors

App Store Does Not Require Password to Download Free Apps in iOS 6

iOS 6 beta 1 that debuted in June after the World Wide Developers’ Conference has provided the possibility of downloading updates and previous purchase from App Store without the need of entering the iTunes password.

It seems that iOS 6 beta 3 offers new appealing features, namely downloading free apps from App Store without having to enter the Password. So even if you have owned the app before or not, there will be no more Apple ID Password required. You’ll only need to enter your Password when downloading paid apps.

Apple ID Password required only for Paid Apps

Although the new feature comes in handy, it also allows everyone that has access to your Apple device to download free apps and afterwards delete then without even noticing. Is the new feature that appealing?

News/Rumors

Professor Pym and the Secret of Steam, an adventurous game for iOS coming to App Store

Gain as much coins as possible while saving the citizens life.

Professor Pym and the Secret of Steam (Naoplay) highlights man attempt to save his life from world that has lost its normal dimensions and seeks to make everyone vanish. Professor Pym struggles to escape from the foul toxic fog for eventually helping the locals. The user has to deal with 50 challenging levels for saving the day.

At each and every single level, you’ll have to move fast because time is ticking and the toxic fogs is gaining ground quite fast. When the player is in the fog zone he needs to escape as soon as possible because it’s deadly. It even comes with Tutorials for showing every step how it’s supposed to be played, not to mention the relaxing melodies that are played while reading the detailed Tutorial.

The adventurous game captures your whole attention, especially when the professor jumps from one wheel to another to gain as much coins as possible and unlock a host of in-game bonuses. The game is going to hit App Store on July, 12 being available for various Apple devices like iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

News/Rumors

App Store opened in brand new 32 countries

As announced at WWDC 2012 by the current Apple CEO Tim Cook, the Apple Store has been made available in 32 new countries like Albania, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Fiji, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Federated States of Micronesia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Palau, Papua New Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Zimbabwe.

As a short introduction at the big event from San Francisco, Apple’s CEO highlighted the news that even more countries are going to take advantage of App Store’s unlimited possibilities of entertainment. At that moment, the store had 400 million accounts containing more than 650.000 apps. Statistics show that over 30 billion apps were downloaded from App Store and $5 billion were paid to developers.

It’s expected that with the rise of people having access to the store, developers would sell even more apps. The total number of countries supported by App Store has managed to gather 155 countries. Unfortunately, due to international licensing constraints, certain apps are available only in some countries. There are so many apps that resemble that users would definitely find apps that cope with their countries.

iPad, iPhone, Tips

How to restore accidentally deleted apps on your iPhone and iPad gadget

It may happen to accidentally delete apps while doing the daily stuff on your Apple device so rest assured that data can be restored. All the user needs to do is follow the procedures:

  • Open Apple Store and click on Purchased at the bottom of the screen. When working with an iPhone or an iPod touch, you need to click Updates and then the Purchased button appears at the top
  • Afterwards click on Not On This iPad/iPhone tab at top
  • Last but not least, look for the deleted apps and tap the cloud arrow for redownloading the app. Sign in with the Apple ID Password when required.

Source: OS X Daily

iPad, iPhone, Tips

How to use App Store in all countries without having a Credit Card?

Remember the moment when you tried to sign up on Apple Store and you needed a Credit Card? We provided a couple of tips for succeeding in browsing on Apple Store and downloading apps and updates without the need of a  credit card on your iOS and Mac. For adding gift certificates and redeem codes through the account, one does not necessarily need a credit card attached to the Apple ID.

Tips and Tricks for using the Apple Store with no Credit Cards:

  • First of all, one must open the iOS Apple Store or Mac App Store and click on Install App at the app that one wants
  • Click on Create Apple ID or if already logged, sign out from Apple Account
  • Confirm your Country or Region
  • In order to follow the procedure, agreeing with Terms and Conditions is a must and also filling out the Apple ID and Password creation page, setting this up for a new email address.
  • Select None at Provide a payment  and finish the settings

So feel free in downloading  free apps or updates to your favorite apps.