app-store

Apple pauses gambling ads on App Store product pages after developer outcry • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 27, 2022Posted in app-store, Apple, Apps, GamblingNo Comments

It’s hard to imagine anyone but advertisers being happy with Apple for putting more ads on the page in App Store listings, but the way they rolled it out was especially troubling. Ads for shady gambling apps quickly pervaded the platform, appearing in the “you might also like” section of ordinary apps — including at least one for gambling addiction management. The change took place earlier this week and the problem was almost immediately discovered by developers, who naturally check their product page frequently to make sure all is well. For a brief but significant period — Tuesday night, basically — many of these newly created ad spaces were filled with “online casinos” and sports or horse betting apps. Now gambling is already a controversial topic on the App Store, as it’s hard to think of a category more predatory on users, while Apple siphons up a share of the cash being won and lost. The practice is highly regulated or completely illegal in plenty of countries or locales, so advertising it ought to be carefully monitored. So that it is being given pole position on Apple’s platform to begin with is a little unpleasant. But these are not just a way for someone to skip a trip to the bookie; many were shady shovelware and definitely not something that established developers would want to associate with at all. Yet suddenly at the bottom of their game or app’s page, there it was: “you might also like” a janky virtual casino. As a user, if I saw that, I would definitely wonder whether the app I was looking at was in the same category. The most egregious example has to be the ad for “Jackpot World,” a slots app, in the ad slot for RecoverMe, a gambling addiction support app. Imagine if you got an ad for meth when you tried to search for a rehab center! What’s this? Ads for gambling at the bottom of a listing for a gambling addiction recovery app. How could this possibly go wrong? #Apple #appstore pic.twitter.com/9MQQvDMx8r — ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Jon (@hot_doggin_jon) October 26, 2022 Fortunately, Apple was watching the conflagration on Twitter and elsewhere and yesterday it restricted gambling ads “and a few other categories” from these slots. Of course that’s not the end of the drama. An ad being inappropriate for its position is not an easy call to make, and even in the best case scenario developers feel that they are essentially being taxed, since if they don’t buy the ad on their own app, their competitor might. Apple has made it clear that it intends to bolster its advertising revenue, despite the company’s status as one of the richest and most profitable in the world. Old hands at the ad game, like Google, have weathered controversies like this one before, but Apple probably has a few more hard knocks ahead of it in its push for greater cash flow.

Apple cracks down on NFT functionality, social post boosts with App Store rules • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 25, 2022Posted in app-store, Apple, Apps, cryptocurrencies, NFTsNo Comments

Apple rolled out software updates — iOS 16.1, iPad OS 16.1, and macOS Ventura — to all users on Monday. It also introduced new App Store rules that limit features unlocked through NFTs and mandates apps to use Apple’s payment method to purchase “boosts” for posts on social media. NFTs The company said apps are allowed to list, mint, and transfer, and let users view their own NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). However, the ownership of NFTs shouldn’t unlock any more features within the app. Plus, these apps can let users browse other collections but they shouldn’t show external links, buttons, or call to action to purchase NFTs. Users can only purchase NFTs through Apple’s in-app payment system. The company is also prohibiting apps to use other mechanisms such as QR codes or cryptocurrencies to give special access to users. “Apps may not use their own mechanisms to unlock content or functionality, such as license keys, augmented reality markers, QR codes, cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency wallets, etc,” it said. Folks from the industry pointed out that these changes could have serious implications on the functionality of web3-dependant apps (including games) within the Apple ecosystem. Until now, they might be used NFTs as a way to thwart Apple’s App Store fees and simultaneously as a token or key to unlock features for users — but that won’t be allowed anymore. Notably, Meta has started rolling out features for users to show off their NFTs across both Instagram and Facebook. The company has also expressed a desire to open a marketplace for artists to sell their digital creations. But this step from Apple means it might have to pay App Store fees if the marketplace is made available on iOS. Crypto exchanges The company is also cracking down on cryptocurrency exchanges as it now mandates them to have “appropriate licensing and permissions to provide a cryptocurrency exchange” in all regions they operate in. So Apple now has the power to remove a crypto exchange from a local App Store if it deems the app to be illegal for that region. Social media boosts With new App Store rules, Apple said that marketers don’t need to use in-app purchases to manage and purchase campaigns across different media types like TV, apps, and outdoors. However, they will have to use Apple’s in-app purchase system to buy boosts for social media posts— this would only apply to apps offering in-app tools for promoting posts. That means Apple will take a cut out of those sales, which might result in platforms hiking boost fees. This could impact companies like Meta, TikTok, and Tinder, which offer in-app boosts. Resellers: Depop, etsy, poshmark (ebay?)Dating apps: hinge, tinder, bumbleInfluencers: Tik Tok, Instagram, tumblr all have very low scale quick ways to boost your posts. Tik Tok screenshot below pic.twitter.com/t0ZX6YflHd — eric xcx (@ericherber) October 24, 2022 Other changes Apple has now included concepts that gain profit from current events such as “violent conflicts, terrorist attacks, and epidemics” under the objectionable content section. Apple is also adding ‘hookup’ apps or apps “that may include pornography or be used to facilitate prostitution or human trafficking and exploitation” in the objectionable content section. The company is prohibiting apps from unauthorized usage of music from iTunes or Apple Music as a soundtrack for a game or as background music to a video or a picture collage. Smart home apps that support the Matter IoT standard must use Apple’s support framework to initiate pings. Developers must provide a full-access to App Store reviewers through an active demo account or demo mode so they can test account-based functionalities. Over the last few years, Apple has had to reduce its App Store fees and allow third-party payment systems for in-app purchases in many regions across the world. With these new rules, the company has added new possible ways to earn money using the App Store. These changes have also brought back concerns regarding Apple’s anti-competitive practices and its tight control over how apps conduct their business on the App store.

This startup is building a web3-friendly app store for developers • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 11, 2022Posted in app-store, blockchain, Crypto, crypto.comNo Comments

Apple’s 30% tech tax on developers has not just antagonized consumer tech giants like Epic Games and Spotify but is also turning web3 startups against it. Major NFT marketplaces OpenSea and Magic Eden noticeably only let users browse listings on their iPhone apps without enabling trading to avoid the steep fees. But doing so bars the one billion iPhone users from easily accessing a new breed of decentralized apps, while web3’s current challenge is to drive mass adoption. A nascent startup hopes to solve the app store problem for web3. Founded last year, Magic Square is building an app store that lets developers list projects that are vetted by the community. And its initial traction — 250,000 have signed up to test its upcoming beta version — has helped it attract investor attention. Magic Square’s valuation jumped to $75 million after recently raising an additional $1 million, up from the $30 million price tag of its $3 million seed round led by Binance and Republic that was closed in July. The startup is now seeking to raise $4.4 million at a $120 million valuation, CEO Andrey Nayman told ZebethMedia. Crypto.com Capital, the VC arm of the namesake crypto exchange, has joined as a strategic investor and will leverage the large pool of projects listed on the exchange to help Magic Square onboard more developers. The startup wants to make marketing cheaper for crypto startups, which are currently throwing tens of thousands of dollars at influencer endorsement without knowing for sure that will lead to new users, or they launch an airdrop but end up attracting speculators rather than real users. As such, Magic Square has designed a marketplace for affiliate marketing — a concept that has existed since the dawn of the internet — where developers set the price of how much they pay for each user acquired. In turn, marketers claim the tasks and work on helping these apps drive users. That’s also how the startup generates revenues. Instead of a tax on in-app purchases, it takes a 10% cut from the developers’ campaign budget. Buoyed with fresh proceeds, Magic Square plans to add headcount to its team of 40 employees spread across the world and focus on product development for its affiliate marketing program. User protection With the explosion of blockchain apps and crypto scams, having some kind of gatekeeper could offer a layer of protection to consumers. Despite the heavy tax they charge, Apple and Google at least work to root out illegal or suspicious apps — even though the mission sometimes falls short. “There are currently around 10,000 dApps out there, but if I talk about production-ready applications, it’s like 2,150 apps,” says Nayman, who was previously an investor at a major Israeli hedge fund. “If you are a crypto-savvy user, you know where to look. You know to check the white paper, the audit reports, the LinkedIn of the founders — the nuances that need to be checked in order to decide whether this is a project that you want to be involved or not with. But if you are not, you have no idea where to start.” There’s a seeming paradox in building a user-friendly decentralized product because accessibility and speed often rely on centralized data centers. But as some web3 experts increasingly argue, it’s the degree and type of decentralization that matters. In Magic Square’s case, decision-making for app publishing is kept in the decentralized realm. Its store depends on a group of validators to screen apps, a process that happens through a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, with an incentive mechanism to keep participants accountable and active. The app store is in the process of transitioning from Solana to Binance Chain. Validators are the ones who eventually decide what gets to be on Magic Square, and they do so by vetting projects by three criteria — content, security and user experience — not unlike traditional app store inspection. Each app goes through 250 randomly picked, independent validators, including 50 “qualified” ones who are technically advanced and 200 “standard” ones who can be anyone from the community. Validators are doing it for financial returns. Whether their app ends up passing the test, developers need to pay validators in Magic Square’s tokens to audit their apps. The store also encourages app users to leave reviews by rewarding them with points that can be converted into tokens, a structure that Neyman compares to the vastly popular — though sometimes fraught — play-to-earn business model used in GameFi. “Instead of playing, they just can use the same application that they’re using in their daily lives,” says the CEO.