Category: Apple Developer News

Accessibility design lab

Friday @ 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

Learn how you can make your apps accessible and simple to use for everyone. Attend an accessibility design lab to better understand how people who use Apple’s accessibility features will navigate your products. Come prepared with a working prototype, development build, or your released app. Appointments are 30 minutes long, and are limited to one per person per lab for the duration of the conference. If you do not receive an appointment, you can submit a request again on another day.

Request

Core Audio lab

Wednesday @ 10:00 – 12:00 p.m.

Request an appointment with an Apple engineer for guidance and conversation about Audio Units, Workgroups, HAL, Toolbox APIs, CoreMIDI, AVAudioEngine, AVF APIs Catalyst apps, Spatial Audio, SoundAnalysis, or AUVoiceIO.

Shared with You, Sharing, Connectivity, Messages Collaboration lab

Wednesday @ 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Request an appointment with an Apple engineer for guidance and conversation about the latest APIs, best practices, and more. Chat with Apple engineers from the Messages, Shared with You, Messages Collaboration, Share Sheet, UIActivityViewController, Watch Connectivity, and Multipeer Connectivity teams.

Plug-in and play: Add Apple frameworks to your Unity game projects

8:00 a.m.

Help make your Unity app or game an even better experience on Apple platforms. Learn how you can add Apple technologies directly to your projects with six plug-ins: Apple.Core, Game Center, Game Controller, Accessibility, Core Haptics, and PHASE. We’ll show you how you can add new gameplay mechanics, make your games more accessible, and tap into the latest Apple features and services.

Watch

Join developers worldwide from June 6 to 10 for an inspiring week of technology and community. Get a first look at Apple’s latest platforms and technologies in sessions, explore the newest tools and tips, and connect with Apple experts in labs and digital lounges. All online and at no cost.

In addition to the online conference, Apple will host a special day for developers and students at Apple Park on June 6 to watch the keynote and State of the Union videos together, along with the online community. Space is limited and details on how to apply to attend will be provided soon.

Wherever you watch from, get ready for a fantastic WWDC.

Talented students can showcase their creativity for the opportunity to receive an award in the Swift Student Challenge.

Visit the WWDC website

Last year, Apple announced an update coming to the App Store in early 2022 that would allow developers of “reader” apps to include an in-app link to their website for account creation and management purposes. Starting today, with the update of App Store Review guideline 3.1.3(a), developers of reader apps can now request access to the External Link Account Entitlement. This entitlement lets reader apps link to a website that is owned or maintained by the developer, so that users can create or manage their account outside of the app. Reader apps are apps that provide one or more of the following digital content types — magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, or video — as the primary functionality of the app.

Learn about the External Link Account Entitlement

Since February of this year, developers of dating apps on the App Store in the Netherlands have been able to use the StoreKit External Purchase Entitlement or the StoreKit External Purchase Link Entitlement to enable the capability to sell services through a payment system other than Apple’s in-app purchase system. Apple established these entitlements as part of our plan to comply with a recent Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) order. Today we’ve introduced changes to these entitlements, which include:

• Removal of the Separate Binary Requirement: Apple is eliminating the requirement that developers of dating apps in the Netherlands who choose to use the above entitlements must create and use a separate binary. This change means that developers may include either entitlement in their existing dating app, but still must limit its use to the app in the Netherlands storefront and on devices running iOS or iPadOS.
• Payment Service Provider Criteria: Apple is providing updated and more-specific criteria to evaluate non-Apple payment service providers that developers of dating apps in the Netherlands may use.
• Consumer Disclosures: Apps that use either entitlement need to include an in-app modal sheet that explains to users that they’re going to make purchases through an external payment system, and the potential impact that choice could have on the user. Apple is adjusting the language on the modal sheet and reducing the number of times the sheet must be displayed.

Developers of dating apps who want to continue using Apple’s in-app purchase system — which we believe is the safest and most secure way for users to purchase digital goods and services — may do so and no further action is needed.

As we have previously said, we disagree with the ACM’s original order and are appealing it. In the meantime, the changes we’ve made today demonstrate Apple’s ongoing commitment to fulfill its legal obligations in the Netherlands.

Learn more

You’ve made a great app and published it on the App Store. Now, it’s time to help people find out about it. We’ll review how you can use the App Store’s existing tools, promotional offers, and more to drive downloads, in-app purchases, and subscriptions for your app. Check out these five tips for promoting your apps and introducing new people to your ideas.

Highlight specific content with custom product pages

Custom product pages allow you to share additional versions of your product page on the App Store to highlight different features or content within your app. These are discoverable through unique URLs that you share and can have different screenshots, app previews, and promotional text — and they’re fully localizable, too. You can design custom product pages that focus on a particular sport, spotlight a specific character or show from your app’s content library, point to specific and unique gameplay features, and more. And you can publish up to 35 custom product pages per app, giving you the flexibility and freedom to market your app to multiple audiences.

Get started with custom product pages

Custom Product Pages Overview

Boost your content with custom assets and links

Help people download your app with the App Store Marketing Tools. Use the site to generate a content link, short link, or QR code that takes people directly to your product page on the App Store. You can also generate “Download on the App Store” badges — including localized versions of these assets — and embed them in your marketing communications to promote downloads of your app. You can even customize your marketing with banners and images and add preset messages in multiple languages to promote your apps in your advertising efforts.

To get started, simply find your app, then copy and embed the URL and add it on your website or other promotional efforts. Be sure to review the App Store Marketing and Identity Guidelines for information on proper badge use and graphic standards.

App Store Marketing Tools

Create Smart App Banners to promote your app from a website

Make it easy for people to download or open your app from your website on iOS and iPadOS. With Safari’s Smart App Banners, you can display an unobtrusive banner that provides a direct link to your app on the App Store or directly opens the app if it’s already installed.

Promoting Apps with Smart App Banners

Generate promo codes to raise awareness of your app

Give people, press, and influencers early access to your app or its in-app purchases with promo codes. These codes are configured in App Store Connect and can be created, distributed, and redeemed even before your app is live on the App Store. You can give away up to 100 promo codes per version of your app, per platform — and up to 100 promo codes per in-app purchase.

Manage promo codes

Submit your app for feature consideration on the App Store

The App Store editorial team helps shine a spotlight on App Store developers doing incredible work as well as the apps that impact the lives of people around the world. If your app, game, or development team has a unique story, the App Store’s editors would love to hear about it.

For best results, submit your story to the App Store editorial team at least six to eight weeks in advance of your launch or update.

Tell us about your app or game

Getting Featured on the App Store

Resources

Creating Your Product Page

Discovery on the App Store and Mac App Store

Optimizing for App Store search

March 15, 2022

There’s still time to connect with Apple experts through online sessions where you can learn about the latest App Store features and get your questions answered. Find out how to create product pages that resonate best with the people you’d like to reach, provide great subscription experiences, distribute custom offer codes, and promote your in-app events. Register today if you’re a member of the Apple Developer Program.

View schedule

Starting April 25, 2022, iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS apps submitted to the App Store must be built with Xcode 13, which includes the SDKs for iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and watchOS 8.

Make the most of the exciting features in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and watchOS 8 to offer even more intuitive and valuable user experiences. Improve your app’s performance by refactoring your code to take advantage of asynchronous functions in Swift. And with the latest updates to SwiftUI, you can enhance your apps with new features, such as improved list views, better search experiences, and support for control focus areas.

iPhone and iPad apps. iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 let you take advantage of Safari web extensions, SharePlay and the Group Activities API, Focus, ShazamKit, Create ML, and more. You can also publish custom product pages and in-app events, and run product page optimization tests on the App Store on these platforms.

Learn more

Apple Watch apps. New watchOS 8 features include the Always-On Retina Display so your apps always stay visible, Bluetooth connections from complications, region-based user notifications, and more.

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