O'Grady's PowerPage

Category: News

  • Fortnite to return to iOS/iPadOS platform through EU alternative-app storefront

    Fortnite to return to iOS/iPadOS platform through EU alternative-app storefront

    If you’re a European fan of Fortnite, Epic Games’ best-selling title is planning to relaunch on its own iPhone app store.

    Epic posted to X stating that it has now submitted both the Epic Games Store and the updated Fortnite app to Apple for its required notarization process. The move follows a years-long legal battle between Apple and Epic Games as to how Apple’s App Store is run, percentages paid to Apple, and Apple’s procedures for setting up alternative app stores and submitting apps.

    Epic was banned from selling its products and services in the Apple App Store, and briefly lost its developer license after deliberately breaking Apple’s rules. The company has since had its developer status restored after the European Union passed its Digital Markets Act (DMA) rules.

    The DMA decision forced Apple to open up its platforms to third-party developers with minimal restrictions. Apple still reserves the right to check third-party apps and app stores for adherence to Apple’s security and user privacy policies.

    This is part of its requirement that apps be “notarized” as valid and compliant before being offered outside of the official Apple App Store.

    It has also recently dinged Apple for its anti-steering rules. Apple has already made some changes to the policy in response, but Epic has challenged those rules in court.

    For developers selling through other app stores, the Core Technology Fee (CTF) is a royalty paid to Apple after the first million installs of a given app. The fee is currently set at 0.5 Euro (about 54 cents US) per install.

    There is no required Core Technology Fee for apps that are offered free of any charge.

    In addition, any third-party app store must also pay the Core Technology Fee for each new download. For the alternative stores, there is no exception for the first million units.

    Apple has defended the fee as being a charge for leveraging Apple’s technology and notarization services. These services ensure that developers and other app stores sell items that work on Apple’s platforms.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via AppleInsider and @EpicNewsroom

  • Apple adds iPhone X, first-generation HomePod, and first-generation AirPods to vintage products list

    Apple adds iPhone X, first-generation HomePod, and first-generation AirPods to vintage products list

    Time moves on and your cool Apple products eventually become reclassified as “vintage” products.

    This occurred for the iPhone X, the first-generation HomePod, and the first-generation AirPods on Monday.

    The products appeared on Apple’s vintage and obsolete products list earlier today. Products are considered vintage when Apple stopped distributing them for sale more than five and less than seven years ago. Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers continue to offer repairs for vintage products for up to two more years, subject to parts availability.

    Sometime after being classified as “vintage,” an Apple product will eventually be reclassified as “obsolete,” wherein Apple states that once seven years have passed since the company last distributed it, Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers no longer offer repairs or other hardware service for it.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors and support.apple.com

  • Robokiller: Spam Call Blocker subscription price to jump 225 percent on July 20

    Robokiller: Spam Call Blocker subscription price to jump 225 percent on July 20

    Sometimes the subscription price for an app you love with all your heart goes through the roof.

    Per Reddit, Apple has sent out a warning that the subscription price for Robokiller: Spam Call Blocker is about to jump from $39.99 per year to $89.99 per year with next to no warning. The price hike will take effect on July 20 with the app’s automatic renewal, and users have until July 20 to cancel their subscriptions to avoid the price increase.

    Robokiller: Spam Call Blocker is developed by TelTech Systems, which somehow thought this would be a great idea, and requires iOS 15.0 or later to install and run.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via Reddit and the App Store

  • Apple Diagnostics for Self Service Repair program expands, now reaches 32 European countries; will reach Canada in 2025

    Apple Diagnostics for Self Service Repair program expands, now reaches 32 European countries; will reach Canada in 2025

    If you’re living in Europe and wish to repair your own Apple hardare, you’re going to like this.

    Apple on Tuesday announced that the Apple Diagnostics for Self Service Repair are now available in 32 European countries.

    When you take a faulty device to an Apple Store, or an Apple authorized service provider, they are able to use diagnostics software capable of identifying issues with every aspect of your device: battery, radio chip, cameras, sensors, eSIM, Face ID, and just about every other hardware aspect of the device. Access to the software simplifies the process by determining exactly what work needs to be done.

    Previously, there was no way for a customer or unofficial repair shop to get access to this tool, but that changed in the US some six months ago.

    As such, Apple offered the following announcement on Tuesday:

    “Apple Diagnostics for Self Service Repair — a software tool that enables users to troubleshoot issues — is now available in 32 European countries, including the U.K., France, Germany, and the Netherlands […]”

    The diagnostics kit offers users the same capability as Apple Authorized Service Providers and Independent Repair Providers to test products for optimal parts functionality and performance, and it helps identify which parts may need repair. Following the expansion, Apple Diagnostics for Self Service Repair now supports iPhone, Mac, and Studio Display models in 33 countries and 24 languages. The tool currently supports 42 Apple products, including the M3 MacBook Air models.

    Apple has stated that the tool will be made available in Canada “next year,” but hasn’t given a more precise date than this.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via 9to5Mac

  • iOS 18, macOS Sequoia betas point towards iCloud Drive’s “Keep Downloaded” feature for large file downloads

    iOS 18, macOS Sequoia betas point towards iCloud Drive’s “Keep Downloaded” feature for large file downloads

    While iCloud Drive is a handy way to manage files and store data, it looks like Apple’s upcomig iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia operating systems will allow you to keep large downloads directly on your device.

    Per MacRumors and Macworld, Apple is adding a “Keep Downloaded” option that prevents the file from being moved to iCloud and keeps the file on the device. While iCloud for Windows lets you keep files downloaded on your PC, in macOS Sonoma and earlier, files are regularly uploaded to iCloud and need to be re-downloaded before they are accessed.

    Under the current iOS beta, when using the Files app to navigate iCloud Drive, you can tap and hold a file and choose “Keep Downloaded” from the options menu that appears. The same thing can be achieved in the macOS Sequoia beta, wherein you can control-click a file in the iCloud folder to pull up the “Keep Downloaded” option. When this is selected in either OS, the file remains in the iCloud folder–it doesn’t move to On My iPhone, Documents, or some other location.

    It’s unknown as to how this feature works when a user has modified the file, and if the changes are synced back to the iCloud version. It’s also unknown as to what happens to the file when it’s accessed by another device.

    Still, this could definitely be a handy feature after a large download has been performed.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via Macworld and MacRumors