News and Updates

You can now support Apple Pay for your customers in Italy, providing an easy and secure way for them to pay within your apps and websites with a single touch.

Learn more about Apple Pay.

In addition to WWDC, a variety of other exciting developer events will take place throughout the week in San Jose — and more have just been added. You can connect with a talented, international developer community, whether you’re attending the conference or visiting San Jose to experience these incredible events. Find out how you can be a part of this inspiring week.

Learn more about the events.

App Analytics in iTunes Connect now provides insight on where customers discover your app, including App Store browsing and search, within other apps, or on the web. With key metrics based on source types, you can see your top referring apps and websites, making it easier to optimize your marketing campaigns.

Learn more about App Analytics.

This new JavaScript-based API makes it easy to embed Live Photos on your websites. In addition to enabling Live Photos on iOS and macOS, you can now let users display their Live Photos on the web.

Learn more about Live Photos.

Starting April 25, 2017 at 10 a.m. PDT, Search Ads will be available on the App Store in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, providing an efficient and easy way to promote your app at the top of relevant search results in more markets. Get started with your campaigns today.

Learn more about Search Ads.

TestFlight in iTunes Connect now provides multiple build support, enhanced group capabilities, and improved tester management—making it even easier to test your apps.

Multiple Builds
TestFlight now lets you distribute and test multiple builds at the same time, so testers can choose from a number of builds to test.

Groups
TestFlight groups have changed. You can now do more with them, like create groups of TestFlight users, and each group can test a different build. To get you started, we’ve added all of your existing external testers to the group “External Testers,” which you can edit at any time.

Tester Management
Testers can continue testing a build when it goes live on the App Store, minimizing disruptions. iTunes Connect users can also access all active builds, letting them seamlessly compare different builds and you can easily resend invitations to testers who have not yet accepted their invitation.

Learn more about TestFlight.

You can now support Apple Pay for your customers in Taiwan, providing an easy and secure way for them to pay within your apps and websites with a single touch.

Learn more about Apple Pay.

Now you can engage new and existing customers more easily with streamlined ratings and reviews capabilities.

In-App Ratings and Reviews
The new StoreKit API available on iOS 10.3 makes it easy for customers to provide App Store ratings and reviews without leaving your app. Simply choose when you’d like to prompt the user, and the system takes care of the rest.

Responding to Customers
You can now publicly respond to customer reviews of your app on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. When you respond, the customer is notified and has the option to update their feedback.

Learn more about Ratings and Reviews.

Xcode 8.3 is now available, and includes Swift 3 and SDKs that you can use to build and test apps for the latest release of macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS.

• macOS Sierra 10.12.4 (16E195)
• iOS 10.3 (14E277)
• watchOS 3.2 (14V249)
• tvOS 10.2 (14W265)
• Xcode 8.3 (8E162)

The opportunity to buy tickets to this year’s conference is offered by random selection. Register by Friday, March 31 at 10:00 a.m. PDT for your chance to join thousands of others coming together to change the world.

Learn more about WWDC 2017.

Swift Playgrounds, the revolutionary app for iPad that helps students learn to code, is now localized in Simplified Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Latin American Spanish, making it even easier for more students around the world to learn and experiment with code.

Read the full press release.

You can now support Apple Pay for your customers in Ireland, providing an easy and secure way for them to pay within your app and website with a single touch. Learn more about Apple Pay.

WWDC Scholarships reward talented students and STEM organization members with the opportunity to attend this year’s conference. Developers selected for a scholarship will receive a WWDC17 ticket and lodging free of charge.

Learn more about WWDC Scholarships.

Super Evil Megacorp, the developer behind the mobile-first multiplayer game Vainglory, shares its approach to community management, and how it evolves the game by listening to player feedback. Learn more.

On February 13, 2017, a new certificate for server-based Game Center Player ID verification will be available via the publicKeyUrl property of generateIdentityVerificationSignature, and the previous certificate will expire.

Apps that dynamically query the publicKeyUrl value will automatically use the new certificate, whereas apps that cache the certificate or hardcode the certificate URL may require an update. Learn more.

With iOS 10.3, you can use a new API to ask users to provide App Store ratings and reviews without leaving your app. You can also publicly respond to customer reviews on the App Store and Mac App Store. Learn more.

Use APIs to integrate Siri’s natural language experience into your watchOS app. SiriKit supports apps for fitness, payments, rides, and messages so users can ask Siri to start a workout, send money, book a ride, and more. Learn more about SiriKit for watchOS.

Creating iOS apps is even easier with the updated Apple UI Design Resources. Use the latest Sketch and Photoshop templates and guides, color palettes, and the San Francisco typeface to quickly and accurately design iOS apps that integrate seamlessly into the overall user experience of iOS. Learn more.

The size limit of a tvOS app bundle has increased from 200 MB to 4 GB, so you can include more media in your submission and provide a complete, rich user experience upon installation. Also, tvOS apps can use On-Demand Resources to host up to 20 GB of additional content on the App Store.

Learn more about preparing apps for the App Store.

The App Store welcomed 2017 with its busiest single day ever on New Year’s Day, with customers around the world spending $240 million on apps and in-app purchases. Developers earned over $20 billion last year, and to date have earned a cumulative $60 billion from the sale of apps and games. Thank you for the many innovative apps you've created — which together with our products — help to truly enrich people’s lives. See the full press release.

As a reminder, we will not be accepting new app or app update submissions from December 23 to 27 (Pacific Time), so any releases should be submitted, approved, and scheduled in advance. Other iTunes Connect and developer account features will remain available.

Learn more about preparing apps for the App Store.

The five-person team at Originator shares its approach to building a sustainable business in the Kids category on the App Store and how it got the word out about its Endless apps. Learn more.

Congratulations to the developers featured in the App Store Best of 2016. This showcase honors the year’s most innovative apps and games on the App Store, and celebrates the amazing app experiences that developers have created for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. See all the featured apps.

You can now support Apple Pay for your customers in Spain, providing an easy and secure way for them to pay within your app and website with a single touch. Learn more about Apple Pay.

The busiest season on the App Store is almost here. Make sure your apps are up-to-date and ready for the winter holidays. New apps and app updates will not be accepted December 23 to 27 (Pacific Time), so any releases should be submitted, approved, and scheduled in advance. Other iTunes Connect and developer account features will remain available.

Learn more about preparing apps for the App Store.

As part of Computer Science Education Week, Apple will help inspire the next generation of developers with free Hour of Code workshops at your local Apple Store from December 5 to 11. Each workshop is a one-hour introduction to the basics of computer programming. To sign up for a workshop or learn how to host your own Hour of Code event, see the Apple Store website.

The Hour of Code is an initiative by Computer Science Education Week and Code.org to introduce millions of students around the world to one hour of computer science and computer programming.

U.S.-based nonprofits can now use Apple Pay to provide a simple and secure way to accept donations from within their app and website. Learn more.

Make it easier for customers to view your tvOS apps on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, and on the iTunes Store on Mac and PC with a direct link your app’s product page. Customers who have enabled their Apple TV to automatically install apps can download your app straight to Apple TV from their iOS device or computer. Simply get the link from iTunes Link Maker and use it when promoting your app.

Learn more about preparing tvOS apps for the App Store.

The Volume Purchase Program is now available in Austria, Brazil, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Poland, Portugal, and South Africa, making it easier for businesses and educational institutions in these countries to discover, purchase, and distribute your iOS apps and Mac apps in volume. Learn more.

Give press and influencers early access to your app’s in-app purchases with promo codes from iTunes Connect. You can give away up to 100 promo codes for each in-app purchase item, up to a maximum of 1,000 codes per app.

Learn more about promo codes.

You can now support Apple Pay for your customers in Japan, providing an easy and secure way for them to pay within your app and website with a single touch. Learn more about Apple Pay.

WRKSHP shares how it built an audience in the lead-up to the worldwide launch of Battle Camp, and how it attracted hundreds of thousands of players with limited marketing resources. Learn more.

Search Ads is an efficient and easy way to promote your app on the App Store for iPhone and iPad in the U.S., helping customers discover it at the very moment they are searching for apps to download. Designed to give users a safe search experience, Search Ads sets a new standard for delivering relevant ads while respecting user privacy.

Ads go live on the App Store on October 5. For a limited time, eligible developers can receive a $100 credit toward their first campaign when they sign up for Search Ads.

Images of iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and Apple Watch Series 2 are now available for you to use in marketing materials for your apps on the App Store. You can also get guidance on marketing and messaging iMessage apps, as well as showing your app’s screen content within Apple products such as Siri and Maps. Download the images and read the updated information in the App Store Marketing Guidelines.

You can now take advantage of a simpler method of authentication by using tokens instead of certificates when sending push notifications. A token is easy to generate, doesn’t expire, and can be used to send notifications to all of your apps. Learn more about push notifications.

At WWDC16 we demonstrated controlling a Sphero SPRK+ robot on stage, driven by the Swift Playgrounds app on iPad. The playground has been updated for the latest release of Swift Playgrounds on the App Store. Visit the Swift blog to download the file and run it on your iPad to see how it works, and learn to write code that lets you control the robot in additional ways.

You can now get more data about your auto-renewable subscriptions in iTunes Connect. The new Subscriptions page in Sales and Trends makes it easy to view key metrics and two new reports provide details into subscriber activity. Learn more.

You can now submit your apps that take advantage of exciting new features available in the next release of macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. And with the new App Store for iMessage, users will be able to download your iMessage apps and sticker packs directly within Messages.

Build your apps using Xcode 8 GM seed, test with the GM seeds of macOS Sierra, iOS 10, watchOS 3, tvOS 10, and submit them for review. To learn more about preparing your submissions for the App Store, see Submitting Your Apps.

The App Store Review Guidelines have been updated to include information on subscriptions, SiriKit, and iMessage. As you plan and develop your apps for the upcoming releases of iOS 10, macOS Sierra, watchOS, and tvOS, make sure to read these updated guidelines.

See the App Store Review Guidelines.

We love helping customers discover innovative, useful, and exciting apps on the App Store. With more than 2 million apps available and around 100,000 new and updated apps submitted each week, there’s something for everyone. To make it easier for customers to find great apps that fit their needs, we’re implementing two suggestions from the developer community starting September 7, 2016.

Create Safari Extensions that give users access to your app’s best features as they browse the web. Xcode makes it simple to add Safari Extensions to your existing app by using an App Extensions template. Easily develop your extensions using powerful, native APIs and web technologies. And coming this fall with macOS Sierra, you can sell and distribute apps with Safari Extensions on the Mac App Store. Learn more about Safari Extensions.

Take advantage of the new Messages framework in iOS 10 to create an app extension that lets people interact with your iOS app directly within Messages. Users can easily create and share content, add stickers, make payments, and more, without leaving their conversations. And coming this fall, you can make iMessage apps available for download directly on the App Store for iMessage. Learn more about iMessage apps.

Now it’s easier than ever to deliver your screenshots and app preview using iTunes Connect. Submit just one set of screenshots and one optional app preview per device family, and they will be used across device sizes and localizations.

If your app’s UI or behavior changes based on device size, or if you would like to include localized screenshots, you can use the new Media Manager to add custom screenshots. Learn more by watching What's New in iTunes Connect from WWDC16.

Houzz shares its unique approach to e‑commerce, and how the experience evolved from a side project to a multi-platform app with tens of millions of users monthly. Learn more.

You can now support Apple Pay for your customers in France and Hong Kong, providing an easy and secure way for them to pay for physical goods and services within your app with a single touch. Learn more about Apple Pay.

Take advantage of transcripts to quickly discover and share information presented in WWDC16 videos. You can search by keyword, see all instances where the keyword is mentioned in the video, go straight to the time it was mentioned, and even share a link to that specific time. Watch session videos.

You can now support Apple Pay for your customers in Switzerland, providing an easy and secure way for them to pay for physical goods and services within your app with a single touch. Learn more about Apple Pay.

Find out why 3 Minute Games chose the paid business model for their Lifeline apps, and how the studio keeps users engaged between releases. Learn more.

We’ve added new features and resources to help you test, optimize, and analyze your apps.

TestFlight Updates
TestFlight now supports apps built for the new beta of iOS, watchOS, and tvOS, which means that you can get feedback from testers on features like SiriKit, Push Notifications for tvOS, new iOS Extension APIs, and more. Read the TestFlight release notes.

App Store Optimization
Search queries account for over 65% of downloads from the App Store. Learn how you can impact where your app ranks in search results to help users more easily find your app. Read Optimizing for App Store Search.

App Analytics Impressions
App Analytics now has data on App Store Impressions, which means you can see how many times your app’s icon has been viewed on the App Store in search results, Featured, Top Charts, and your App Store product page. With App Store Impressions, you can calculate how often users download your app after viewing it anywhere on the App Store. Learn more about App Analytics.

Read about these talented developers and their apps, which reflect the best in design, innovation, and technology on Apple platforms. See the winners.

We’ve rewritten the App Review Guidelines to be more helpful, provide more context, and incorporate the guidelines for Mac apps. We hope these updates will help your app sail through App Review. While the guidelines themselves haven’t changed, the previous App Store and Mac App Store Review Guidelines will remain available for apps currently in the review process. View the new App Store Review Guidelines.

See the latest advancements in macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS with over 100 sessions presented by Apple engineers at this year’s conference. We’re live streaming all sessions daily and posting videos and related sample code throughout the week.
Watch WWDC session videos.