Google has copied Apple’s 15% commission level for smaller developers in the App Store, offering almost exactly the same deal in the Play Store. However, the way Google has done it is actually fairer, and is how Apple should have implemented the program in the first place … Our sister site 9to5Google has the details. There are two key differences with Google’s terms, however. The first is that developers don’t need to apply for it – enrollment is automatic for all qualifying ones....

It’s the eve of Thanksgiving in the United States and as has become tradition, Apple has shared its annual holiday ad for the year. The new ad called “Sway” features a brief appearance by the new iPhone X, but mostly revolves around AirPods and sharing an experience with music with someone special. The ad features the track “Palace” my R&B artist Sam Smith from his 2017 album The Thrill Of It All on Apple Music....

With Apple’s ongoing efforts to generate more sales of the latest iPhones, the company is now advertising another deal for users in China. According to WSJ, Apple has teamed up with Alipay, a popular mobile-payments network in China, to offer an interest-free loan for users looking to purchase an iPhone through Apple’s online store. Customers looking to upgrade to the latest iPhone will have an option to apply for an interest free loan over the course of 24 months....

Apple opened a new flagship store in downtown Chicago yesterday and it is stunning. Sitting right along the Chicago River, Apple Michigan Avenue has been moved south about 5 blocks. 14 years ago Apple opened its first flagship store here in Chicago, and now they are doubling down on their mission: stores aren’t just for making money. In an interview with CNBC, Cook explained the goals of Apple’s retail stores are much more than selling products....

Apple has debuted a new “Find My Certification Asst.” app today that is designed to let third-party companies test how their accessories will work with the Find My application. This comes after Apple announced at WWDC 2020 that it would open up the Find My network to third-party products for the first time. The new app was first spotted by TechCrunch and it hit the App Store on Sunday, April 4, but is not yet propagated to App Store categories or charts....

Apple Music has added a set of playlists from Lifted Research Group, a streetwear clothing brand. The company said it is thrilled to be a part of Apple Music as it gives them an opportunity to ‘share our diversity in music’. Apple Music selectively chooses brands to partner with to offer curated playlists. These playlists were previously accessible through the Browse tab in the Apple Music interface. However, since the rollout of the redesigned Browse tab, there is no direct way to view curated playlists....

Update: Right as this story was published, Cider says it found a new workaround to make the app work again. The developer cautions that this “may be a temporary fix until we can find something more prominent to work with.” There are a number of popular and powerful third-party apps that can enhance the Apple Music experience on many platforms. One of those apps is called Cider, which brings a number of Apple Music features to Windows as a desktop app....

Apple has updated its iCloud Status page to allow users to check if iOS Device Activation servers are active. These are the servers that allow customers to start using iOS Devices and connect them to carrier networks. We have noted activation server outages several times, and these outages could be some of the most frustrating ones for customers who purchase a new iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Additionally, Photo Journals (Apple’s iPhoto for iOS cloud photo sharing feature) has disappeared from the Status Page, but the reason is currently unclear....

Mixpanel reported that Apple had crossed the magic 50% milestone for iOS 12 at the weekend, and now Apple has released its first usage numbers which are based off visits to the App Store. Apple says 50% of all devices are running iOS 12, and 53% of devices introduced within the last four years. This four-year time span metric is new, and it means that it only counts devices launched since September 2014 (iPhone 6 and later)....

While China is expected to get Apple Pay anytime now, dozens of additional banks and credit unions across the United States have joined in supporting Apple’s mobile payment service. More than 40 new banks have joined the list of Apple Pay partners, which already totals to over 1,000 across the US and 15 across the UK. These are the latest additions: You can find Apple’s full list of bank partners here....

Update: Apple Pay is also now live in Greece and Romania. As well as: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, and Slovenia. As expected, Apple Pay is now rolling out to users in Slovakia and Portugal. This was first reported over the weekend, and the wait has been a long time coming for many users. Apple Pay is also expected to roll out to users in Greece over the coming hours....

A new Apple Podcasts BBC partnership gives Americans and Canadians access to a range of new shows previously unavailable in either country. The shows are available on the BBC Studios channel, but you’ll need a paid subscription after a seven-day free trial. Apple first introduced paid podcast channels in June after a slightly delayed rollout… The Verge reports on the partnership. Apple Podcasts Subscriptions allow creators to host bonus content and ad-free versions of their shows, in exchange for a monthly subscription […]...

Out of everything revealed in yesterday’s white iPhone 4 prototype leak, a small settings pane titled ‘Facebook’ stuck to us the most. The first thing that came to mind was that iOS 4 was supposed to include some Facebook integration. It’s known that Apple and Facebook were working together on Ping throughout 2009 and 2010 – when Apple was also developing what was then called iPhone OS 4 – and now we have heard that Facebook integration really was in the cards for iOS 4....

While not a major update in any way, Apple is today releasing iOS 11.4.1, watchOS 4.3.2, and tvOS 11.4.1 to the public. iOS 11.4.1 is mainly a bug fix release, with improved reliability of Find My AirPods, and syncing with mail, contacts, and notes with Exchange accounts. As for watchOS, Apple’s release notes are vague, noting that “this update includes improvements and bug fixes.” Apple today also released 11.4.1 for the HomePod as well....

One week after seeding watchOS 7.6 to the public, Apple is now releasing watchOS 7.6.1. With this version, the company addresses an important security fix. According to Apple’s security notes, watchOS 7.6.1 fixed an IOMobileFrameBuffer flaw that could have been actively exploited to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. Three days ago, Apple also released iOS 14.7.1 and macOS Big Sur 11.5.1. All of these versions brought ‘important security updates’....

As planned, Apple today announced its financial results for Q4 2013. This is a quarter highlighted by iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c sales and is the quarter preceding the launches of several new Macs and the new iPads: Apple reported revenues of $37.5 billion, which is slightly better than Apple’s estimates of between $34 billion and $37 billion. This number compares to $36 billion in revenue in the year-ago, Q4 2012 quarter....

Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG), a group that specializes in tracking and analyzing government-backed hacking and attacks, recently published research on “Hermit” – a spyware that can compromise Android and iOS devices. Luckily, Apple has already found a way to stop the spread of this specific spyware on its devices. As shared on TAG’s official blog (via TechCrunch), the group has confirmed the existence of the Hermit spyware, which was created by Italian software company RCS Lab to attack iOS and Android users....

Apple this evening has updated its System Status webpage to reflect that a small number of people are unable to use iCloud Backup. According to Apple, the feature has been inaccessible since early yesterday morning, though it affects a small percentage of users… Apple says that the outage affects “less than 1 percent of users,” while it doesn’t offer any information about when the issues will be resolved. The outage means that affected users are unable to restore from an iCloud backup when setting up a new iOS device and thus must restore from a local backup or set up as a new device....

Apple Maps has been down for many hours today, causing mayhem for customers seemingly worldwide. Whilst Apple’s system status reports no issues, users across Twitter and Apple Support forums are finding that is currently impossible to search for locations or get directions. The map tiles appear to be loading normally, but points of interest and critical functions of the app are simply not working. Update: Apple has now confirmed the issue on its support site, noting that ‘all users are affected’ by maps navigation and search issues....

Apple has always been strict about its products. I mean earlier it would limit its software to be used only on Apple devices. However, with the rise in demand for cross-platform support the Cupertino tech giant has made its products available for non iOS platforms. Android is one of the massively used operating systems in the world. Now, it also supports the Apple Music app. Music these days is easily available over various platforms....