Skip to main content

Apple cracks down on apps with 'free' in the name

Apple is making more moves to clean up its App Store. 

After cracking down on outdated apps, the company is now placing restrictions on how developers describe their apps. Apple is now rejecting updated and new app submissions that have the word "free" in the name, VentureBeat reports.
"Your app’s name, icons, screenshots, or previews to be displayed on the App Store include references to your app’s price," Apple reportedly pointed out.  
"Please remove any references to your app’s price from your app’s name, including any references to your app being free or discounted."
Apple has yet to comment on the change other than to confirm its existence but the policy change is yet another sign Cupertino is looking to clean up its App Store.
The company is also cracking down on outdated apps that haven't been optimized for newer iPhones and iPads, which could include as many as 200,000 apps. That's in addition to the 47,000 apps Apple removed earlier this year. 
While the change in how developers describe their apps in the App Store seems like a more subtle shift, it fits with the company's ongoing efforts to scrub old and low-quality apps out of its store. Many developers use "free" in their app names to try and game the store's search algorithms and lure new users.

Doing so may help an app appear higher in some search results but few high-quality apps actually use the word "free" in their name (with the possible exception of apps that have both a free and paid app). Apple could now be trying to crack down on apps with spammy-sounding names to improve the overall quality of its App Store,
Or, the company could simply be trying to reduce confusion. As Apple notes in its developer guidelines, referencing a price in an app name could be confusing to people in other countries where the price may be different.
Whatever the case, we're likely hear more in at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference later this year.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New photos show Tesla's massive Nevada factory is coming along

'Guess we shouldn't be too surprised that the what's going to be world's largest factory...continues to get larger. Tesla's Gigafactory, a gleaming white structure amid the muted browns surrounding Reno, Nevada, seems to be coming along, according to photos snapped by NM Group, a company that describes itself as specializing in "surveying and mapping, asset modeling and management, and engineering." The group was recently mapping the area for potential power lines on behalf of an electricity company, according to Tim Hustwayte, a senior client manager based in the United Kingdom. The route took them close to the Gigafactory, and they got some shots that appear to show the factory having bulked up since Tesla's battery cell began rolling off production lines at the start of the year. The Gigafactory employed nearly 3,000 people at the start of the year, less than half of how many people are expected to be employed there...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Galaxy S8 has an awesome audio feature that will make iPhone owners jealousThe Galaxy S8 has an awesome audio feature that will make iPhone owners jealous

It's great to see Samsung's Galaxy S8 include a standard 3.5mm headphone jack (unlike some other phones). But the future of music listening is undoubtedly wireless, which is why it's also great the Galaxy S8 and S8+ are the first smartphones to include Bluetooth 5.0 with support for not one, but two pairs of wireless headphones or wireless speakers simultaneously. Compared to Bluetooth 4.2, Bluetooth 5.0 has four times the range, two times the speed and eight times the broadcast message capacity,  according  to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), the body that develops, licenses and helps set standards for the wireless protocol. All that increased bandwidth means more reliable and robust Bluetooth connections, because let's be real, Bluetooth connections today are still spotty. Bluetooth 5.0's potentially game-changing feature, at least as far as the Galaxy S8 is concerned, is the aforementioned support for two wireless headphone or wireless sp...
Post a Comment
Read more

iOS 10.3 is freeing up extra storage space, users say

Finally, an update that actually gives you storage space back.  Apple launched its latest software update, iOS 10.3, on Monday. The update comes with new features like "Find My AirPods," but users seem to be noticing an added bonus: It's allegedly freeing up their storage space.  Follow Atanas   @atanastsekov Wow, iOS 10.3 gave me 3 gigs of storage  # ios103 9:19 AM - 28 Mar 2017  ·  Stratford, London     157 157 Retweets     423 423 likes  Follow Jonny   @jonnymmxvi On iOS 10.2 I had 215GB and now on iOS 10.3 with APFS I have 220GB of free storage! That's amazing!!!!!! 11:00 AM - 28 Mar 2017     96 96 Retweets     272 272 likes  Follow Rei Todoroki   @ReiTodoroki Wow! iOS 10.3 decreased the amount of storage space I was taking up. 3:27 AM - 28 Mar 2017     9...
Post a Comment
Read more