Apple today informed developers that it is making new App Store marketing tools available for use, providing developers with a simple way to create short links, embeddable code with app icon and product page, QR codes, and more.
Take advantage of new marketing resources to promote your apps around the world. You can now generate short links or embeddable code that lead to your App Store product page and display your app icon, a QR code, or an App Store badge. Download localized App Store badges, your app icon, and more.
Developers can enter the URL for their app on the marketing page, with Apple then providing tools to generate the aforementioned links and badges. QR codes in particular may be of interest to developers as these can be used to quickly find an app with a scan with an iPhone camera, and QR codes are also used for the App Clips feature introduced in iOS 14.
QR codes can be generated with different colors and with each app's icon for a unique, personalized look that takes seconds to create.
Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie.
"Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...
Friday February 6, 2026 3:06 pm PST by Juli Clover
In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do.
The iOS 26.4 version of Siri won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up.
Upgraded Architecture
The next-generation...
Thursday February 5, 2026 12:22 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld.
The report, citing industry sources, is available in English on Macworld.
Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, February 19 last year, so the iPhone 17e would be unveiled exactly one year later if this rumor is accurate. It is quite uncommon for Apple to unveil...
Monday February 9, 2026 6:24 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Apple Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, and then use it to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps.
The feature is currently available in 13 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, and it is expected to launch in at least seven more in the future.
To set up the...
New MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips could arrive as soon as Monday, March 2, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In today's "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that the release of new MacBook Pro models is tied to the release of macOS Tahoe 26.3. The launch is said to be slated for as early as the week of March 2. He added that the M4 Pro and M4 Max models on sale today...
Sure! At least 0.000001% of it, anyway. In any case, developers can use QR codes or not, it’s optional ?♂️
Re: the 15 or 30% revenue share, here’s a partial list of what it pays for:
a secure, customer-trusted payment system; app hosting; APIs, libraries, compilers and other development tools; testing, interface libraries; simulators; security features; developer services, including customer support; and cloud services, including 1 petabyte of CloudKit storage.
Those are some of the things Epic thinks Apple should provide for free ?
btw, it’s worth mentioning that more than 80% of all app downloads pay nothing. Not 30%, not 15%—0%. Apple gets $0.00. Not a single penny.
If everyone did what Epic did and Apple App Store revenue went to zero, Apple would replace the ~15 billion they received somewhere else. Like add another $75—the “Epic tax”—onto the price of iPhones. ($100 in a couple years, and it would keep going up every year).
But that way Epic and other devs could get 100% of the revenue instead of only 70 or 85%. Epic might reduce the price of dances and outfits, maybe not.
I’d love to see a progressive model, where for indie developers that are just getting started Apple takes a reduced cut (say 10%) until a certain paid volume is hit. IE 150 app sales or something. Gives newbs a chance to launch something and try to earn their first year Apple Developer fee back.
