Apple’s Cloud services aren’t the best. They have a tendency to go out ever now and then. On Wednesday the iOS App Store has taken a toll as the store has gone down.
Without any warning, Apple’s App Store has become unavailable, giving a “App Store not available” message. On the flip side, the Mac App Store is still running fine and dandy.
According to the companies iCloud System Status page, Apple is not aware of the issue.
Apps over the years have changed in terms of pricing. It used to be the case where you had a free “lite” version of a game, and a pro version. In-app purchases were to remove ads and enhance the experience. Now, almost no apps have a lite version, and the majority of in-app purchases are used to actually play the game.
Apple has begun highlighting non-freemium games in a new section of the App Store the companies calls, “Pay Once & Play”. The company describes the section as “great games with no in-app purchases”. First spotted by MacStories, the section is divided into three categories: Recent Releases, Blockbuster Games and App Store Originals. Some of the popular titles include: Minecraft, Thomas Was Alone and Threes!.
Here are a few more games listed in Pay Once & Play:
The section was first spotted in the UK, and has since spread all across the world to places like Europe, the United States, and various other countries.
Apple announced Thursday afternoon that it has increased its app package size limit to 4GB when submitting applications through iTunes connect. That’s double the previous size limit of 2GB, which has been the same since the App Store was originally introduced in 2008.
App developers and game-makers should be happier, as they struggle to make games under 2GB with the multitude of screen sizes and resolutions.
The size limit of an app package submitted through iTunes Connect has increased from 2 GB to 4 GB, so you can include more media in your submission and provide a more complete, rich user experience upon installation. Please keep in mind that this change does not affect the cellular network delivery size limit of 100 MB.
Although Apple may be increasing app size limits, they are still enforcing the 100 megabyte cellular download limit.
If you haven’t noticed already, smartphone users are interacting with numerous mobile applications continuously on a daily basis. Currently app usage accounts for nearly 86 percent of the average U.S. mobile consumers time. With that in mind, more and more applications are requiring passwords to protect your personal information. Entering usernames and passwords is time consuming, which results in some smartphone users repeating the same passwords across numerous accounts. In today’s age, this is an unsafe practice in protecting the security of your accounts, personal information, and identity. Keeper Security wants you to continue to enjoy your favorite applications, except now with the safety, security, and convenience of a brand new feature called FastFill. Craig Lurey, CTO & Co-Founder of Keeper, states, “Logging in and out of apps was a major pain point for consumers and professionals until now. FastFill solves this problem – it’s easy to use, fast and secure.” Currently FastFill is only available for Android, but iOS users will see FastFill later this year on their iOS devices.
So how does fast fill work? Once you open an application you have the option to allow Keeper Security to FastFill the saved login and password information from your password vault. FastFill allows you to safely and securely enjoy signing into all of your favorite applications this way. Also, let’s say you download and start using a brand new app and it requires creating a username and password. Keeper Security can assign a discrete and secure password that will then be saved in your password vault and synced across all your devices. It’s amazing and it’s really that simple.
Keeper didn’t stop with just FastFill. Within Keeper Security you can click on the link you’ve saved in your password vault and Keeper will open the browser, navigate to, for example, your banks website and Keeper will FastFill your username and password. This allows you to quickly start transferring money, paying bills, or trading stocks in no time at all. Best part of all, your credentials are still protected behind Keeper’s military grade security! Convenience and security are brought together in one happy, healthy, and secure marriage. FastFill is an added feature that’s included across all price points for Keeper Security.
Just when you thought Keeper Security was done being awesome, they’ve introduced a new feature called Secure File Storage too. This new feature gives users the ability to upload confidential files and share them vault-to-vault. This feature is completely different than email-to-email since sharing files through Keeper are done behind higher levels of security than just email accounts. With the digital age we live in, there are a thousands of precious and confidential files stored on our computers nowadays that we want store and share safely and securely. Keeper wants to make sure your precious and confidential files are kept safe behind their military level encryption whether you decide to simply store them for you and your family or share them with others.
If you’re wondering what precious and confidential files Keeper is talking about, they’re referring to your financial statements, private photos or videos, yearly tax documents, paycheck stubs, just to name a few.
Recently I spoke with Darren Guccione, CEO and co-founder of Keeper, and he mentioned how cumbersome it is to finance or even refinance a home because of all the documentation required. Having gone through this numerous times before, I knew exactly what he was referring to. With Secure File Storage, users can create a secure digital file with all the documentation they need to provide a mortgage agent. Simply share the file with them and viola, they’re able to access all the information in that particular shared file. If you’re missing a document, simply add it to the file, notify the person you’re sharing the file with of the updates and they can access it when they securely login to their Keeper account. Just like FastFill, it’s really that simple. Unlike FastFill though, Secure File Storage does require an additional charge for service.
Secure File Storage Prices:
Keeper Security is an industry leader when it comes to mobile security. With the addition of FastFill and Secure File Storage, Keeper is stepping up their game with these two new features. FastFill allows users to enjoy their favorite applications quickly and securely, while Secure File Storage gives us a great way to backup, protect, and safely share our most precious files for literally pennies a day. If you’d like to hear more about these features, check out the video below with Darren Guccione recently at Tech Week Chicago as he explains Keeper Security and these awesome new features.
Jeremy “the Critic” writes for and owns iOS Etc. He’s a United States Air Force veteran, an air traffic controller, and an Apple fanboy. One day he hopes to expose the world to a groundbreaking iOS application from an unknown independent developer. In his mind, it’s important we share someones hard work with the world if it deserves the recognition. You can follow iOS Etc on Twitter as well asFacebook and read more about him here. Want to connect with Jeremy? Feel free to send him an e-mailor add him on LinkedIn.
In a press release issued by Apple, the iOS App Store has passed 15 billion downloads with over 425,000 apps available for download. If you do the math, ever owner of the 200 million iOS devices out there has downloaded 75 apps a piece which is quite impressive any way you look at it. Here’s the full press release below.
CUPERTINO, California—July 7, 2011—Apple® today announced that over 15 billion apps have been downloaded from its revolutionary App Store™ by the more than 200 million iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch® users worldwide. The App Store offers more than 425,000 apps and developers have created an incredible array of over 100,000 native iPad apps.
“In just three years, the revolutionary App Store has grown to become the most exciting and successful software marketplace the world has ever seen,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Thank you to all of our amazing developers who have filled it with over 425,000 of the coolest apps and to our over 200 million iOS users for surpassing 15 billion downloads.”
“We sparked musical magic when iPhone users experienced Ocarina three years ago,” said Dr. Ge Wang, a Smule co-founder and assistant professor at Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. “And now with iPad, we’ve created the Magic Piano and Magic Fiddle apps. Who could’ve dreamt an iPad would make its way into the San Francisco Symphony?”
“iPad provides us with an unparalleled mobile device for creating gorgeous, immersive games,” said Mark Rein, vice president and co-founder of Epic Games. “Infinity Blade has been a runaway hit with customers around the world and we couldn’t be more excited about our success on iOS devices.”
“We’re bringing Martha Stewart, Angelina Ballerina, Sesame Street and many more of the world’s most popular books and magazines to iPad,” said Nicholas Callaway, CEO of Callaway Digital Arts. “We knew the iPad was going to be a revolutionary storytelling device, but never could have anticipated it would become so popular, so quickly.”
More than 15 billion apps have been downloaded from the revolutionary App Store and more than 425,000 apps are available, including more than 100,000 native iPad apps, to consumers in 90 countries. Users of the more than 200 million iOS devices around the world can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, education, sports, health, reference and travel. Apple has paid developers over $2.5 billion to date.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.
