News On App Stores, April 2021

App Store 

Upcoming AppTrackingTransparency requirements

With the upcoming public release of iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5, and tvOS 14.5, 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.

App Store submission update

Starting April 26, 2021, all iPhone and iPad apps submitted to the App Store must be built with Xcode 12 and the iOS 14 SDK or later. The iOS SDK provides access to exciting new features like App Clips, Home screen widgets, ARKit, RealityKit, and much more.

Full content and details (external sources): Apple Developer

Apple Worldwide Developers Conference

The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference will go live from June 7 to 11. There will be exciting announcements, sessions, and labs at no cost.

Full content and details (external sources): Apple Developer

Program enrollment available in more regions in the Apple Developer app

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. 

Full content and details (external sources): Apple Developer, 9to5Mac

Google Play Store 

New Play Store navigation and settings redesign rolls out, plus more

In 2019, the Google Play Store received a Material Theme redesign that was followed by a dark mode. The next major revamp is here and sees new navigation, as well as revamped settings. Once rolled out, a blue overlay appears to highlight your profile avatar in the top-right corner. Your current account is listed at the top with others hidden until you tap expand. Below that, Google lists your Play Points status with a progress bar.

The “My apps & games” page is unchanged, but “Library” is new and links to Wishlist, Google TV/Play Movies & TV, and Play Books. “Payments & subscriptions” has been consolidated into one page, with “Play Protect” next. “Notifications & offers,” as well as “Play Pass,” have been moved down compared to previous navigation drawer placement. 

Full content and details (external sources): 9to5Google

Google readies crowdsourced ‘App install optimization’ in the Play Store

Google has been working to make Android apps smaller in size by optimizing what code and resources are downloaded to devices. The latest initiative on this front is “App install optimization” in Google Play. Once live on your device, you’ll be greeted with a “Google is optimizing app installs with your help” prompt after opening the Play Store. To turn off this default option, visit the revamped Settings page and open “General.” “App install optimization” is provided as a preference to disable/enable.

Full content and details (external sources): 9to5Google, News18

Huawei App Gallery

My Huawei app launched on AppGallery, provides multiple user based services in one place

The President of Handset Business and Huawei Consumer Business Group, Kevin Ho confirmed that My Huawei app is a collection of independent apps such as Huawei Club, Huawei Mobile Services, Gamer Center, and Member Center. Now, according to the latest news coming from a Weibo tipster, it is confirmed that the My Huawei app has long been under beta testing and now officially listed on AppGallery, which is good news for the users.

Full content and details (external sources): HuaweiCentral

Huawei's partner releases SDK to quickly port GMS apps to AppGallery

Huawei and one of its partners have developed a new tool that allows developers to port GMS-apps to AppGallery quickly and effortlessly. The Choice SDK was originally developed for Raiffeisen Bank and its mobile app, but its popularity has convinced the company to open-source it and make it available to any app publisher around the world.

Full content and details (external sources): GSMArena

Health Mate by Withings is now part of Huawei AppGallery

Huawei has announced a new partnership with Withings, bringing the app Health Mate to AppGallery. The French connected device company that was once part of Nokia now allows Huawei users to visualize their data with insights, and the app is also able to alert users for any health irregularities.

Full content and details (external sources): GSMArena