Play Store

Google has booted 16 malicious "clicker" apps discovered by researchers at McAfee off the Play Store, but not before they were downloaded around 20 million times (via BleepingComputer). The apps had gone undetected until the folks over at McAfee exposed them in a recent report. Clicker apps are a nasty kind of adware that loads ads...

Brendan Carr, a commissioner at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), asked Apple and Google in a letter last week to kick TikTok off the App Store and Play Store, respectively, for accessing American users' non-public data in China — reports CNBC. Carr shared the letter via Twitter on Tuesday, saying TikTok should be removed...

According to a report from app intelligence firm Sensor Tower, apps today need 37% more daily downloads to rank number one on the U.S. App Store than they did in 2019 (via TechCrunch). Estimates suggest an iOS app now requires 156,000 downloads on any given day to take the top spot, as opposed to 114,000...

An update to Google's Developer Programme Policy is set to block third-party call recording apps from the Play Store starting May 11 — reports 9to5Google. On April 6, Google revamped its developer policy for the use of the Accessibility API, adding several new restrictions and stipulating that it "is not designed and cannot be requested for...

Back in August of last year, South Korea passed a bill — the first of its kind in the world — prohibiting app store operators like Apple and Google from forcing developers to use their own payment systems to process purchases. The move was seen as a massive blow to Apple and Google's iron grips...

Earlier today, Google announced it will let apps direct users to alternative payment systems in South Korea, in compliance with a recently passed law — reports Bloomberg. In late August, the South Korean parliament passed an amendment to the country's Telecommunications Business Act — known colloquially as the "anti-Google law" — that prevents big app...

A change to Apple's App Store policies, dated June 7, now allows legal marijuana delivery services and licensed marijuana dispensaries to have apps on the platform — reports Marijuana Moment. There's still a catch or two, though — any such apps must be geo-restricted to jurisdictions where cannabis has been legalized, and all such apps...

Revenues generated by Apple's App Store yet again nearly doubled those of Google's Play Store in the third quarter of 2020. [caption id="attachment_340655" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Sensor Tower[/caption] New data from Sensor Tower says that Apple's App Store generated around $19 billion USD in revenue in Q3 of 2020, a 31 percent increase over the same period...

Earlier in October, Google announced that the Recorder app would debut on its new Pixel 4 smartphone. This voice recorder app had a very special function that set it apart from the rest––the ability to auto-transcribe recordings on the device itself. Many were elated by the news, although at the time, Google stated that the...

After Apple removed a crowdsourced mapping app used by protestors as well as the Quartz’s news app from the App Store, it is now Google’s turn to crack down on Hong Kong-related apps, starting with a game called The Revolution of Our Times that has now been permanently pulled from the Play Store (via The Verge). A...

Apple entered into an agreement with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) earlier this year, where they promised to refund millions of parents whose children purchased in-app items accidentally. According to a report from Politico, Google is getting in trouble for allowing children to make in-app purchases without parental consent, much like Apple was doing. Bruce...