Watch the April 20 Apple Event
April 20, 2021

Watch the replay from April 20 at apple.com.
April 20, 2021
Watch the replay from April 20 at apple.com.
April 8, 2021
It’s now simpler than ever for developers around the world to enroll in the Apple Developer Program. As of today, the Apple Developer app also supports enrollment in Canada, France, India, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, and Spain.
Developers can start and finish their membership purchase with local payment methods on iPhone or iPad. And since membership is provided as an auto-renewable subscription, keeping it active is easy.
April 5, 2021
Make sure your apps are ready for iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5, and tvOS 14.5. With the upcoming public release, all apps must use the AppTrackingTransparency framework to request the user's permission to track them or to access their device's advertising identifier. Unless you receive permission from the user to enable tracking, the device's advertising identifier value will be all zeros and you may not track them.
When submitting your app for review, any other form of tracking — for example, by name or email address — must be declared in the product page's App Store Privacy Information section and be performed only if permission is granted through AppTrackingTransparency. You'll also need to include a purpose string in the system prompt to explain why you'd like to track the user, per App Store Review Guideline 5.1.2(i). These requirements apply to all apps starting with the public release of iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5, and tvOS 14.5.
As a reminder, collecting device and usage data with the intent of deriving a unique representation of a user, or fingerprinting, continues to be a violation of the Apple Developer Program License Agreement.
March 30, 2021
The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference is coming to a screen near you, June 7 to 11. Join the worldwide developer community for an all-online program with exciting announcements, sessions, and labs at no cost. You’ll get a first look at the latest Apple platforms, tools, and technologies — so you can create your most innovative apps and games yet. Stay tuned for additional details.
Now through April 18, we invite students who love to code to submit their Swift playground to this year’s Swift Student Challenge. Winners will receive exclusive WWDC21 outerwear and a customized pin set.
March 10, 2021
If you support Family Sharing, you can now receive new App Store server notifications for real-time updates on family member statuses.
REVOKE
lets you know when to revoke a family member’s access to an auto-renewable subscription or non-consumable in-app purchase. The App Store sends this notification to your server when a purchaser disables Family Sharing for an in-app purchase, the purchaser or family member leaves the family group, or the purchaser asks for and receives a refund.
DID_FAIL_TO_RENEW
and DID_RECOVER
are now sent for each family member when a shared subscription fails to renew due to a billing issue and when it is successfully recovered.
As a reminder, the following deprecated App Store server notification and top-level objects are no longer supported in production as of today. Update your code now to continue providing a seamless user experience.
RENEWAL
latest_receipt
latest_receipt_info
latest_expired_receipt
latest_expired_receipt_info
March 4, 2021
The HTTP/2-based Apple Push Notification service (APNs) provider API lets you take advantage of great features, such as authentication with a JSON Web Token, improved error messaging, and per-notification feedback. If you still send push notifications with the legacy binary protocol, make sure to upgrade to the APNs provider API as soon as possible. APNs will no longer support the legacy binary protocol after March 31, 2021.
February 23, 2021
Additional details have been published on completing your App Store privacy labels, including more information about data types, such as email or text messages, and gameplay content. You’ll also find more information about data collected in web views and data that may be entered by users within documents or other file types.
February 23, 2021
Indoor Mapping Data Format (IMDF) lets you present your users with fully-customized indoor maps of venues around the world, such as stadiums, airports, and campuses — all under the security and privacy controls of the property owner. Developed by Apple, IMDF makes it easy for organizations to enable Apple’s indoor positioning service on iPhone and iPad inside facilities without installing additional infrastructure, like beacons. It offers a mobile-friendly, compact, human-readable, and highly extensible data model for any indoor space, providing a basis for orientation, navigation, and discovery. And now, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) membership has added IMDF 1.0.0 to the OGC Standards Baseline as a Community Standard.
February 22, 2021
You can now view important details about your App Clips, such as the number of installations, sessions, and crashes. You can also see how users found your App Clips — for example, through an App Clip Code, Maps, or an external referral. App Clip data is available only from users who have agreed to share their diagnostics and usage information with app developers.
February 22, 2021
Apple Entrepreneur Camp supports underrepresented founders and developers as they build the next generation of cutting-edge apps and helps form a global network that encourages the pipeline and longevity of these entrepreneurs in technology. Applications are open now for the next cohort for female founders and developers, which runs online from July 20 to 29, 2021. Attendees receive code-level guidance, mentorship, and inspiration with unprecedented access to Apple engineers and leaders. Applications close on March 26, 2021.
February 16, 2021
With the recent release of COVID-19 vaccines, we’ve seen an increase in apps that generate health passes used to enter buildings and access in-person services based on testing and vaccination records. To ensure these apps responsibly handle sensitive data and provide reliable functionality, they must be submitted by developers working with entities recognized by public health authorities, such as test kit manufacturers, laboratories, or healthcare providers. As with other apps related to COVID-19, we also accept apps submitted directly by government, medical, and other credentialed institutions.
February 12, 2021
The Apple Developer Forums are a great place to connect with fellow developers and Apple engineers as you give and receive help on development topics. And now, it’s easier to find and keep track of content you’re interested in. Take advantage of enhanced search and a new feature that monitors threads for you and sends you an email each time there’s a reply.
February 10, 2021
When taxes or foreign exchange rates change, we sometimes need to update prices on the App Store in certain regions and/or adjust your proceeds. In the next few days, your proceeds will be adjusted in the following regions and will be calculated based on the tax-exclusive price.
Cameroon: New value-added tax of 19.25%
Zimbabwe: New value-added tax of 14.5%
Prices of apps and in-app purchases (excluding auto-renewable subscriptions) on the App Store will increase in these regions.
Germany: Value-added tax rate reversion to 19% after temporary decrease to 16%. Prices on the App Store will not change.
Republic of Korea: Prices of alternative tiers for apps and in-app purchases (excluding auto-renewable subscriptions) will be adjusted to allow for additional locally relevant pricing conventions.
Once these changes go into effect, the Pricing and Availability section of My Apps will be updated. You can change the price of your apps and in-app purchases (including auto-renewable subscriptions) at any time in App Store Connect. If you offer subscriptions, you can choose to preserve prices for existing subscribers.
February 10, 2021
On March 29, 2021, token and certificate-based HTTP/2 connections to the Apple Push Notification service must incorporate the new root certificate (AAACertificateServices 5/12/2020) which replaces the old GeoTrust Global CA root certificate. To ensure a seamless transition and to avoid push notification delivery failures, verify that both the old and new root certificates for the HTTP/2 interface are included in the Trust Store of each of your notification servers before March 29.
Note that Apple Push Notification service SSL provider certificates issued to you by Apple do not need be to updated at this time.
February 3, 2021
Designing apps for Apple platforms just got easier. Now you can quickly lay out your app for macOS Big Sur or tvOS 14 using new design templates, components, guides, and more. All major macOS and tvOS components, such as buttons, segmented controls, alerts, menus, and other controls, are included. In addition, the updated iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 design resources for Sketch have been rebuilt to support color variables, and include numerous minor improvements and bug fixes.
February 1, 2021
The App Store is a safe and trusted place for customers to discover and download apps, and a great opportunity for developers. The App Store Review Guideline changes and clarifications support new features in upcoming OS releases, better protect customers, and help your apps go through the review process as smoothly as possible.
February 1, 2021
SKAdNetwork 2.2. This update supports view-through attribution for advertisement formats such as video, audio, and interactive advertisements. This allows you to display your choice of advertising formats and measure which creatives are most effective, while preserving user privacy.
Private Click Measurement. iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5 bring Private Click Measurement to apps, in addition to the web. Advertising networks can now measure the effectiveness of advertisement clicks within iOS or iPadOS apps that navigate to a website. This information can be used to understand which advertisements drive conversions (such as purchases or signups) — while maintaining user privacy.
Get started by building and testing your apps with the beta versions of Xcode 12.5, iOS 14.5, and iPadOS 14.5.
January 28, 2021
Late last year, to give you additional time to prepare, we had temporarily deferred the requirement to use AppTrackingTransparency when requesting permission to track users and access device advertising identifiers. This requirement now goes into effect starting with the upcoming beta update, and will roll out to everyone in early spring with an upcoming release of iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14. We encourage you to verify your app’s implementation of AppTrackingTransparency as soon as possible. Without the user’s permission, you will not be allowed to track them and the device’s advertising identifier value will be all zeros.
In an upcoming release of iOS and iPadOS, we will enhance SKAdNetwork and add Private Click Measurement support for apps, allowing advertising networks to better attribute advertisements that display within apps on these platforms. Private Click Measurement enables the measurement of ad campaigns that direct users to websites while preserving user privacy. Additional details are coming soon.
December 21, 2020
Online purchase flows for users in the European Economic Area may be impacted by the European Union’s upcoming Strong Customer Authentication requirements. The App Store and Apple Pay will support Strong Customer Authentication. We recommend that you verify your app’s implementation of StoreKit and Apple Pay to make sure purchases are handled correctly.
December 14, 2020
The App Store now helps users better understand an app’s privacy practices before they download the app on any Apple platform. On each app’s product page, users can learn about some of the data types an app may collect, and whether that data is linked to them or used to track them. As a reminder, your app’s privacy information is required to submit new apps and app updates to the App Store, and some data is optional to disclose if it meets specific criteria, such as certain data from health research apps and regulated financial services. You may update your answers at any time without resubmitting your app or going through App Review.
Learn more about the details you’ll need to provide
Learn how to provide app privacy information in App Store Connect
December 14, 2020
Easily discoverable and quick to launch at the moment it’s needed, an App Clip is a small part of your app that lets users start and finish an experience in seconds. While you can offer users several ways to discover your App Clip, the best way is with an App Clip Code. Visually beautiful and distinct, each App Clip Code encodes a URL and can incorporate an NFC tag. Users can hold their iPhone near the code or scan it with the camera to open your App Clip and quickly complete a task, before downloading your app.
Codes can now be created in App Store Connect or with the new command line App Clip Code Generator, which provides the flexibility to build your own batch generation process.
December 9, 2020
As a reminder, new apps and app updates will not be accepted December 23 through 27 (Pacific Time). Please ensure time for your releases to be scheduled, submitted, and approved in advance so you’ll be ready for the busiest season on the App Store. Other App Store Connect and developer account features will remain available.
December 4, 2020
The App Store will soon help users understand an app’s privacy practices before they download the app on any Apple platform. On each app’s product page, users can learn about some of the data types the app may collect, and whether that data is linked to them or used to track them. If you haven’t already, enter your app’s privacy information in App Store Connect.
This information will be required to submit new apps and app updates to the App Store starting December 8, 2020. Existing apps will remain available for download.
Learn more about the details you’ll need to provide
Learn how to provide app privacy information in App Store Connect
December 4, 2020
You can now enable Family Sharing for auto-renewable subscriptions and non-consumable in-app purchases, allowing users to share their purchases with up to five family members. Family Sharing provides a streamlined, convenient user experience and can help you attract subscribers, encourage paid subscriptions, increase user engagement, and improve retention. Sales and Trends reports will be updated soon to help you understand the performance of family subscriptions.
December 4, 2020
Now you can better understand your subscription offer code performance with Sales and Trends dashboards and reports in App Store Connect. Offer code data appears in version 1_3 of the Subscription, Subscription Event, and Subscriber reports, and version 1_1 of the Summary Sales Report.
December 3, 2020
Enrollment is now open for the new App Store Small Business Program, designed to accelerate innovation and help propel your small business forward. Featuring a reduced commission rate of 15% on paid apps and in-app purchases, this program helps you invest more resources into your business so you can continue building great apps. The vast majority of developers on the App Store who sell digital goods and services are eligible — simply complete a short enrollment form.
December 1, 2020
Every year, the App Store celebrates exceptional apps that improve people’s lives while showcasing the highest levels of quality and impact. These award-winning apps and games, created by innovative developers, helped us connect, stay well, and find joy in 2020.
December 1, 2020
Developing for Apple platforms is now accessible with a new service that combines the performance and reliability of our world-class hardware with the scalability of Amazon Web Services (AWS). Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), a web service that provides secure, resizable compute capacity in the cloud, now includes EC2 Mac instances. For the first time, you can easily set up and deploy macOS workloads natively within AWS, and take advantage of its flexibility and scalability to add more compute capacity. EC2 Mac instances in the cloud make it easy to create more builds, run more tests, and further automate your development processes by seamlessly provisioning and accessing macOS compute environments with just a few clicks.
November 24, 2020
The App Store will soon help users understand an app’s privacy practices before they download the app on any Apple platform. On each app’s product page, users can learn about some of the data types the app may collect, and whether that data is linked to them or used to track them. If you haven’t already, enter your app’s privacy information in App Store Connect.
As a reminder, this information will be required to submit new apps and app updates to the App Store starting December 8, 2020. Existing apps will remain available for download.
Learn more about the details you’ll need to provide
Learn how to provide app privacy information in App Store Connect
November 24, 2020
The SKAdNetwork API helps advertising networks measure the success of ad campaigns for your app while maintaining user privacy. With SKAdNetwork 2.0, networks can use Source App ID to identify which app initiated a download from the App Store. And Conversion Value lets them know whether users who installed your app through a campaign performed an action in your app, such as signing up for a free trial or completing a purchase. This information is made available only if it cannot be used to identify individual users.
November 23, 2020
The busiest season on the App Store is almost here. Make sure your apps are up to date and ready for the holidays, as new apps and app updates will not be accepted December 23 through 27 (Pacific Time). Please ensure time for your releases to be scheduled, submitted, and approved in advance. Other App Store Connect and developer account features will remain available.
November 23, 2020
As the world fights COVID-19, we recognize that adapting experiences from in-person to digital continues to be a top priority. Although apps are required to offer any paid online group event experiences (one-to-few and one-to-many realtime experiences) through in-app purchase in accordance with App Store Review guideline 3.1.1, we temporarily deferred this requirement with an original deadline of December 2020. To allow additional time for developing in-app purchase solutions, this deadline has been extended to June 30, 2021.
Please note that guideline 3.1.3(d) allows apps offering realtime person-to-person experiences between two individuals (for example, tutoring students, medical consultations, real estate tours, or fitness training) to use purchase methods other than in-app purchase.
November 18, 2020
We believe that small businesses are the backbone of our global economy and the beating heart of innovation and opportunity in communities around the world. Launching January 1, 2021, the industry-leading new App Store Small Business Program is designed to accelerate innovation and help propel your small business forward. The program has a reduced commission rate of 15% on paid apps and in-app purchases, so you can invest more resources into your business and continue building the kind of quality apps your customers love.
The vast majority of developers on the App Store who sell digital goods and services will qualify for the Small Business Program.
Stay tuned for additional details in early December.
November 17, 2020
You can now create subscription offer codes to acquire, retain, and win back subscribers. Offer codes are unique, alphanumeric codes that provide auto-renewable subscriptions at a discounted price or for free for a specific duration. Provide your one-time use codes digitally or offline at physical events, alongside products, and more. Users on iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 and later can redeem offer codes on the App Store through a one-time code redemption URL, or within your app if you’ve implemented the presentCodeRedemptionSheet
API. Sales and Trends reports will be updated later this year to include information on the performance of your subscription offer codes.
November 16, 2020
You can now use Transporter for Mac to upload metadata, view a history of delivered builds for each app version, and filter that history by time period. This latest version also includes support for 29 additional languages.
November 11, 2020
As announced at WWDC20, we’re excited to bring iPhone and iPad apps to the Mac App Store on Apple silicon Macs — so your apps can reach even more users worldwide. By default, your apps will be published automatically on the Mac App Store. To make sure that Mac users have a great experience, confirm that your apps work well on this platform and don’t rely on iPhone or iPad features not available on Mac. If needed, update their availability on Mac in App Store Connect.
November 10, 2020
Submit your apps built for macOS Big Sur today. You can submit Universal apps built with Xcode 12.2 that take full advantage of Apple silicon Macs. Your apps will look better than ever on macOS Big Sur, thanks to an all-new interface that’s been finely tuned for the powerful features that make a Mac a Mac. New widget features and the new widget gallery can make your app visible at a glance. And much more. Build your apps with Xcode 12.2 Release Candidate, update your product pages, and submit your apps for review today.
November 10, 2020
Custom apps let you meet the unique needs of organizations and schools. And now, you can distribute custom Mac apps. Provide a tailored look and feel, security features for sensitive data, special functionality for workflows, and much more, then distribute privately on Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager.
November 5, 2020
Later this year, the App Store will help users understand an app’s privacy practices before they download the app on any Apple platform. On each app’s product page, users can learn about some of the data types the app may collect, and whether that data is linked to them or used to track them. You can now enter your app’s privacy information in App Store Connect. This information will be required to submit new apps and app updates to the App Store starting December 8, 2020.
Learn more about the details you’ll need to provide
Learn how to provide app privacy information in App Store Connect
November 4, 2020
Please join us a for a special Apple Event broadcasting from Apple Park on November 10 at 10:00 a.m. PST. Watch the show online at apple.com.
October 29, 2020
App Store server notifications provide real-time updates on a subscriber’s status, so you can create customized user experiences. The following new notifications are now available in production:
DID_RENEW
lets you know when a subscriber successfully auto-renews.PRICE_INCREASE_CONSENT
lets you know when the App Store starts asking users to agree to your subscription’s new price, so you can remind them of your service’s value as encouragement to stay subscribed.In addition, the following will be deprecated in production in March 2021: RENEWAL
notifications and these top-level objects: latest_receipt
, latest_receipt_info
, latest_expired_receipt
, and latest_expired_receipt_info
. Update your code to continue providing a seamless user experience.
October 26, 2020
When taxes or foreign exchange rates change, we sometimes need to update prices on the App Store. In the next few days, prices of apps and in-app purchases (excluding auto-renewable subscriptions) on the App Store will increase in Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Russia, and South Africa. These increases also reflect the following tax changes:
Prices of apps and in-app purchases (excluding auto-renewable subscriptions) will also be adjusted in Iceland and Albania to align with pricing used in other markets selling in U.S. dollars with value-added tax.
You can download the updated price tier charts now. Once these changes go into effect, the Pricing and Availability section of My Apps will be updated, and your proceeds will be adjusted accordingly and calculated based on the tax-exclusive price. You can change the price of your apps and in-app purchases (including auto-renewable subscriptions) at any time in App Store Connect. If you offer subscriptions, you can choose to preserve prices for existing subscribers.
October 19, 2020
Apple Entrepreneur Camp supports underrepresented founders and developers as they build the next generation of cutting-edge apps and helps form a global network that encourages the pipeline and longevity of these entrepreneurs in technology. Applications are now open for the first cohort for Black founders and developers, which runs online from February 16 to 25, 2021. Attendees receive code-level guidance, mentorship, and inspiration with unprecedented access to Apple engineers and leaders. Applications close on November 20, 2020.
October 15, 2020
Now you can let customers pre-order your app up to 180 days before it’s released for download on the App Store. Take advantage of this longer lead time to build more excitement for your app’s features, services, and content, and to encourage more pre-orders. Once your app is released, customers will be notified and it will automatically download to their device within 24 hours.
October 9, 2020
The HTTP/2-based Apple Push Notification service (APNs) provider API lets you take advantage of great features, such as authentication with a JSON Web Token, improved error messaging, and per-notification feedback. If you send push notifications with the legacy binary protocol, we strongly recommend upgrading to the APNs provider API.
To give you additional time to prepare, the deadline to upgrade to the APNs provider API has been extended to March 31, 2021. APNs will no longer support the legacy binary protocol after this date.
October 8, 2020
Now it’s simpler than ever for developers based in the United Kingdom and Ireland to enroll in the Apple Developer Program. The Apple Developer app now supports enrollment in these regions, allowing developers to start and finish their membership purchase with local payment methods on iPhone or iPad. And since membership is provided as an auto-renewable subscription, keeping it active is easy.
October 8, 2020
App Store server notifications provide real-time updates on a subscriber’s status, so you can create customized user experiences. The following new notifications are now available in the App Store sandbox environment and you can use them in production later this year:
DID_RENEW
lets you know when a subscriber successfully auto-renews.PRICE_INCREASE_CONSENT
lets you know when the App Store starts asking users to agree to your subscription’s new price, so you can remind them of your service’s value as encouragement to stay subscribed.In addition, the following will be deprecated in the App Store sandbox environment in November 2020: RENEWAL
notifications and these top-level objects: latest_receipt
, latest_receipt_info
, latest_expired_receipt
, and latest_expired_receipt_info
. Update your code to continue providing a seamless user experience.
October 8, 2020
Apple designed WKWebView in 2014 to ensure that you can integrate web content into your app quickly, securely, and consistently across iOS and macOS. Since then, we’ve recommended that you adopt WKWebView instead of UIWebView and WebView — both of which were formally deprecated. New apps containing these frameworks are no longer accepted by the App Store. And last year, we announced that the App Store will no longer accept app updates containing UIWebView as of December 2020.
However, to provide additional time for you to adopt WKWebView and to ensure that it supports the features most often requested by developers, this deadline for app updates has been extended beyond the end of 2020. We’ll let you know when a new deadline is confirmed.
September 29, 2020
Take advantage of new marketing resources to promote your apps around the world. You can now generate short links or embeddable code that lead to your App Store product page and display your app icon, a QR code, or an App Store badge. Download localized App Store badges, your app icon, and more.
September 23, 2020
The latest version of Schoolwork, the powerful iPad app for teachers and students that helps them keep track of assignments and student progress, is now available. Make sure your app takes advantage of the latest ClassKit features to provide a great user experience. With the new ClassKit Catalog API, you can declare contexts ahead of time instead of at runtime, include keywords, and support a large number of assignable activities. Teachers can browse your app’s activities in Schoolwork before running your app for the first time on their device. Available in beta, this REST API can be tested with Schoolwork 2.1. And on iPadOS 14, ClassKit supports rich new metadata properties to make your content more discoverable by teachers in Schoolwork.
September 15, 2020
Make sure your apps are ready when iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 become available to customers worldwide. Give users a quick way to engage with a part of your app at the right moment with App Clips. Let users experience your app right on their iPhone home screen with new widgets. Bring your ideas to life with new features and more realistic augmented reality experiences using ARKit and RealityKit. And much more.
Build your apps using Xcode 12 GM seed, test them on devices running iOS 14 and iPadOS GM seed, and submit them for review. Starting April 2021, all iOS and iPadOS apps submitted to the App Store must be built with Xcode 12 and the iOS 14 SDK.
September 15, 2020
Deliver even more powerful and personal apps for Apple Watch with the new capabilities of watchOS 7. Brand new APIs and tools, like multiple complications APIs, SwiftUI Complications, and Xcode Previews, make it easier than ever to create unique complications, so users can enjoy your app right on their watch face. And with Face Sharing, people can share their favorite customized faces via Messages, the web, and more.
Build your apps using Xcode 12 GM seed, test them on devices running watchOS 7 GM seed, and submit them for review. Starting April 2021, all watchOS apps submitted to the App Store must be built with Xcode 12 and the watchOS 7 SDK.
September 15, 2020
With the tvOS 14 SDK, games now have multiuser support and you can offer gamers a wider range of controller and input device options than ever before. You can augment custom video players with Picture in Picture and system-provided controls. And take advantage of new APIs to enhance search features in your apps.
Build your tvOS apps using Xcode 12 GM seed, test them on Apple TV running tvOS 14 GM seed, and submit them for review.
September 11, 2020
The App Store is a safe and trusted place for customers to discover and download apps, and a great opportunity for developers. These guideline changes and clarifications support new features in upcoming OS releases, better protect customers, and help your apps go through the review process as smoothly as possible.
September 9, 2020
The Apple sandbox environment lets you test in-app purchases on devices using product information set up in App Store Connect. You can now test upgrades, downgrades, and cancellations for subscriptions, as well as reset the introductory offer eligibility for a test account from Settings on devices running iOS 14 or later. You can also test your app’s response to interrupted purchases on devices running iOS 14 or later. And App Store Connect users with the Developer role can now create and manage sandbox tester accounts.
September 3, 2020
At Apple, we believe that privacy is a fundamental human right. As announced at WWDC20, App Store product pages will feature a new privacy information section to help users understand an app’s privacy practices. Today we are publishing more details for developers on what will be covered in this new privacy section. By the end of next month, you will be able to submit your information via App Store Connect to prepare for this feature rolling out to users by the end of the year.
Learn more about providing app privacy information
In addition, on iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14, apps will be required to receive user permission to track users across apps or websites owned by other companies, or to access the device’s advertising identifier. We are committed to ensuring users can choose whether or not they allow an app to track them. To give developers time to make necessary changes, apps will be required to obtain permission to track users starting early next year. More information, including an update to the App Store Review Guidelines, will follow this fall.
September 2, 2020
Later this year, you’ll be able to acquire, retain, and win back subscribers with subscription offer codes: unique, alphanumeric codes that provide free or discounted prices for auto-renewable subscriptions. Provide your one-time use codes digitally or offline at physical events, alongside products, and more. Customers on iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 and later can redeem offer codes on the App Store, through a one-time code redemption URL, or within your app if you’ve implemented the presentCodeRedemptionSheet
API.
September 1, 2020
When taxes or foreign exchange rates change, we sometimes need to update prices on the App Store. In the next few days, prices of apps and in-app purchases (excluding auto-renewable subscriptions) on the App Store will increase in response to tax changes in Chile, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. Your proceeds will be adjusted accordingly and will be calculated based on the tax-exclusive price.
In addition, your proceeds will also be adjusted in Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom, and will be calculated based on the tax-exclusive price. However, prices on the App Store will not change.
Note that Apple will automatically issue refunds on a monthly basis to customers in Germany (effective July 2020) with auto-renewable subscriptions to account for the tax reduction. These refunds will not affect your proceeds.
You can download the updated price tier charts now. Once these changes go into effect, the Pricing and Availability section of My Apps will be updated. You can change the price of your apps and in-app purchases (including auto-renewable subscriptions) at any time in App Store Connect. If you offer subscriptions, you can choose to preserve prices for existing subscribers.
August 31, 2020
You can now watch the Special Event Keynote, Platforms State of the Union, and over 200 sessions from this year’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference with Japanese and Simplified Chinese subtitles. Available on the web, iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV.
August 31, 2020
The App Store is dedicated to providing a great experience for everyone. To continue offering a safe place for users to download apps and helping you successfully develop apps that are secure, high-quality, reliable, and respectful of user privacy, we’ve updated the app review process as announced at WWDC20. For apps that are already on the App Store, bug fixes will no longer be delayed over guideline violations except for those related to legal issues. You’ll instead be able to address guideline violations in your next submission. And now, in addition to appealing decisions about whether an app violates guidelines, you can suggest changes to the guidelines. We also encourage you to submit your App Store and Apple development platform suggestions so we can continue to improve experiences for the developer community.
August 27, 2020
Safari Web Extensions can add custom functionality to Safari 14 beta using the same WebExtensions API used in other browsers, such as Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. And with a new conversion tool in Xcode 12 beta, you can quickly bring your existing extensions to Safari and make them available on the Mac App Store this fall.
August 3, 2020
Part of the DeviceCheck services, the new App Attest API helps protect against security threats to your apps on iOS 14 or later, reducing fraudulent use of your services. With App Attest, you can generate a special cryptographic key on a device and use it to validate the integrity of your app before your server provides access to sensitive data.
July 16, 2020
At Apple, we’re working to remove and replace non-inclusive language across our developer ecosystem, including within Xcode, platform APIs, documentation, and open source projects. These changes began on June 22 with the beta software and developer documentation released at WWDC20 moving to terms such as allow list and deny list, and main as the default SCM branch in Xcode 12. An updated Apple Style Guide reflects these and other changes.
Developer APIs with exclusionary terms will be deprecated as we introduce replacements across internal codebases, public APIs, and open source projects, such as WebKit and Swift. We encourage you to closely monitor deprecation warnings across your codebases and to proactively move to the latest APIs available in the platform SDKs.
July 6, 2020
The App Store Connect API now offers greater flexibility to automate and customize workflows for your app. With these new capabilities, you can:
Build and maintain your App Store product page by uploading and managing assets like screenshots, app previews, app description, and more.
Create new versions of your app, set up pre-orders, manage phased releases for version updates, and submit your app to App Review.
Monitor app performance indicators by downloading power and performance metrics and diagnostics logs.
Manage additional resources associated with your developer account, such as unified software signing certificates, multiplatform App IDs, and capabilities.
June 24, 2020
New tools in Core ML enable secure, cloud-based model deployment and model encryption, Create ML offers new templates and training capabilities, and new APIs for Vision and Natural Language give your apps more power. You can also work with third-party training libraries more easily with updated model converters and accelerated training support on Mac.
June 24, 2020
ARKit 4 introduces brand-new features that make the AR experiences in your apps even more lifelike. You can now access even more precise distance information gathered by the LiDAR Scanner on iPad Pro using Depth API, place AR experiences at a specific point in the world with Location Anchors, and more.
June 24, 2020
Now games with Game Center capabilities display a beautifully redesigned in-game dashboard on iOS, tvOS, and macOS. Users can see their achievements, leaderboards, and Game Center profiles directly in your game when you implement the new Access Point. Game Center also now supports recurring leaderboards that keep rankings current, as well as leaderboards for daily, weekly, and monthly competitions. You can set up recurring leaderboards, add achievements, and opt in to the challenges feature in App Store Connect.
June 24, 2020
App Store server notifications now include refund notifications for all types of in-app purchases, including consumables, non-consumables, and non-renewing subscriptions. You can use this information to take action in response, let the user know of any benefit changes, and tell them how to resubscribe.
June 24, 2020
You can now view and respond to feedback filed by your team members if you’re part of an organization in the Apple Developer Program, the Apple Developer Enterprise Program, Apple School Manager, or Apple Business Manager. And you’ll still have a personal inbox for separate submissions, with the choice to move feedback to your team inbox at any time.
June 23, 2020
You can now connect with over 1,000 Apple engineers on the all-new Apple Developer Forums through WWDC20 tags specific to sessions and topics.
June 22, 2020
Create seamless, intelligent, and engaging experiences with the latest exciting advancements in iOS 14, iPadOS 14, watchOS 7, tvOS 14, and macOS Big Sur. Get the Xcode 12 beta, which includes the SDKs for Apple platforms.
June 22, 2020
Easily discoverable and quick to launch at the moment it’s needed, an App Clip is a small part of your app that lets users start and finish an experience in seconds. And after you’ve demonstrated the value of your app with your App Clip, you can provide the opportunity to download your full app from the App Store.
June 22, 2020
Widgets deliver a small amount of timely, useful information or app-specific functionality. And now, they’re even easier to build and make available across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS with the new WidgetKit framework, widget API for SwiftUI, widget gallery, and Smart Stacks.
June 22, 2020
With an all-new design that looks great on macOS Big Sur, Xcode 12 has customizable font sizes for the navigator, streamlined code completion, new document tabs, and more. And it builds Universal apps by default to support Apple Silicon Macs, without changing a single line of code.
June 22, 2020
Create even more powerful Mac versions of your iPad apps. Apps built with Mac Catalyst now take on the new look of macOS Big Sur and help you better define the look and behavior of your apps. Provide full control of your app using just the keyboard, take advantage of the updated Photos picker, access more iOS frameworks, and more. There’s never been a better time to turn your iPad app into a powerful Mac app.
June 22, 2020
Get your apps ready for Apple Silicon Macs. Create next-generation Universal apps that take full advantage of the capabilities the new architecture has to offer. As a Universal App Quick Start Program member, you can access all the tools, resources, and support you need.
June 19, 2020
The Apple Developer Forums have been completely redesigned, so they’re more engaging to use, automatically surface the most relevant content, offer simpler navigation, and make it easier to categorize and search for content. Connect with fellow developers and Apple engineers as you give and receive help on a wide variety of development topics, from implementing new technologies to established best practices. And during WWDC20, the forums will be a central place to engage with the community and over 1,000 Apple engineers, discuss new technologies, and get your questions answered.
June 16, 2020
The WWDC20 Swift Student Challenge gave students around the world the opportunity to showcase their love of coding by creating an incredible Swift playground. Starting today, developers who submitted their applications can find out their status by signing in to the Challenge website with the Apple ID they used to submit their application. Winners will receive an exclusive WWDC20 jacket and pin set, be able to request WWDC20 lab appointments, and be able to post about WWDC20 content on the all-new Apple Developer Forums.
With so many incredible applications this year, focussing on everything from productivity to the environment and social action, we want to congratulate all 350 winners from 41 countries.
June 15, 2020
It’s almost time for an all-new WWDC experience — starting with the Special Event Keynote from Apple Park on June 22 at 10 a.m. PDT. Get all the latest details for 1-on-1 developer labs, the all-new forums, and the Apple Design Awards. Update to the latest version of the Apple Developer app for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Mac, now available on the App Store.
June 11, 2020
WWDC20 will bring together millions of Apple developers around the world to gain early access to the future of Apple platforms and engage with Apple engineers, from June 22 to 26. Learn about the Special Event Keynote, Platforms State of the Union, over 100 engineering sessions, one-on-one developer labs, and more.
June 5, 2020
Apple has created a new open source project to help developers of password managers collaborate to create strong passwords that are compatible with popular websites. The Password Manager Resources open source project allows you to integrate website-specific requirements used by the iCloud Keychain password manager to generate strong, unique passwords. The project also contains collections of websites known to share a sign-in system, links to websites’ pages where users change passwords, and more.
May 5, 2020
On June 22, WWDC20 takes off. Get ready for the first global, all-online WWDC by downloading the Apple Developer app to stay notified on all the latest news, with updates for events and sessions. More announcements to come in early June.
And now through May 17, student developers from around the world can showcase their love of coding by submitting their own Swift playground to the Swift Student Challenge. Winners will receive an exclusive WWDC20 jacket and pin set.
May 4, 2020
The Sales and Trends section of App Store Connect now provides details about the number of subscribers in Billing Grace Period — a feature that lets subscribers with unsuccessful auto-renewals continue accessing your app’s paid content while Apple attempts to collect payment, allowing them time to fix the issue. New subscription events in Sales and Trends indicate the number of renewals and cancelations during Billing Grace Period, and the Subscription Report includes a new column with the total number of subscriptions in Billing Grace Period.
April 27, 2020
Promote your apps to customers on the App Store in Russia with Apple Search Ads — an efficient and easy way for people to discover your app the very moment they’re searching for apps like yours. If you sign up for a new Apple Search Ads account, you can take advantage of a 100 USD credit to reach customers in 60 countries and regions.
April 21, 2020
You can now distribute your apps in 175 countries and regions on the App Store, allowing you to increase your impact and grow your business. As you deliver great experiences to an even more diverse audience, learn how you can localize your apps, product pages, and marketing materials to better connect with customers in different locations.
As a reminder, to allow your app to appear in these new countries, your membership Account Holder first needs to accept the updated Program License Agreement by signing in to their account on the Apple Developer website. If you have a Paid Applications Agreement, the Account Holder will also need to accept this updated agreement in App Store Connect. To make your app automatically available in all new countries, select the “New Countries or Regions” checkbox.
April 20, 2020
HealthKit allows your app to provide valuable health-related insights to users by working with the Apple Health app. The updated HealthKit Human Interface Guidelines include guidance on using the Apple Health icon in your app, enhanced editorial guidance on using Apple Health-related terms, and clarified privacy and data-usage guidelines.
View Human Interface Guidelines
Works with Apple Health badge now available. You can also now use the Works with Apple Health badge to promote your HealthKit-enabled apps. Download the badge and review the guidelines for using the badge on marketing communications.