The App Store ecosystem generated more than $1.4 trillion in developer billings and sales during 2025, Apple said Thursday. The figure nearly triples what the platform posted in 2019 and underscores how central the App Store has become to digital earnings. And artificial intelligence-boosted apps played a huge role.
Fortnite returned to the App Store in almost all regions, ending its years-long absence that began when Epic Games sued Apple over in-app purchases.
The battle royale’s comeback is real, but Epic Games’ claim that it has already won isn’t completely true. Epic Games brought back Fortnite to the App Store on Tuesday, following the game’s U.S. return last year. But there’s an exception — Australia — and the legal fight that made this possible is nowhere near finished.
Apple stopped more than $2.2 billion in potentially fraudulent App Store transactions last year and rejected over 2 million problematic app submissions, the company reported Wednesday. It’s all part of what it said is a sustained, multilayered effort to keep the App Store safe for both users and developers.
Apple’s bid to freeze court-ordered App Store changes while it pursues U.S. Supreme Court review got rejected Tuesday as the latest decision in the iPhone giant’s long-running legal fight with Fortnite maker Epic Games. So the clock is now ticking on compliance pending another decision over what Apple can charge in fees.
Apple now allows developers to offer monthly subscriptions with a 12-month commitment. This means instead of paying the annual subscription fee upfront, users can pay it monthly.
This change makes it easier for users to subscribe to apps with high annual fees, lowering the barrier to entry.
Apple rolled out version 1.8 of its Apple Invites app Thursday, bringing seven new features that make planning and sharing events easier than ever. The update, available on the App Store, is the second recent upgrade for the iCloud+-exclusive digital invitation service.
April 23, 2009: Less than a year after opening its virtual doors, the App Store reaches 1 billion downloads.
Peer-to-peer file sharing app Bump becomes the 1 billionth app to be downloaded. As a result of his purchase, 13-year-old Connor Mulcahey of Weston, Connecticut, wins Apple’s “1 Billion App Countdown” promotion.
He takes home an assortment of Apple products valued at more than $13,000, including a $10,000 iTunes gift card, a 32GB iPod touch, an Apple Time Capsule wireless router and a 17-inch MacBook Pro.
Apple briefly removed the popular calorie-counting app Cal AI from the App Store last week. The episode offers a clear message to developers everywhere, according to a new report: The company is still very much in charge of how apps handle payments — even in the wake of a landmark court ruling that loosened some of its long-standing rules.
March 6, 2008: Apple releases the iPhone software development kit, finally allowing coders to start creating native mobile apps for the new smartphone. The iPhone SDK gives developers the tools they need to unlock the new smartphone’s potential.
When the App Store eventually opens a few months later, a new industry springs up overnight. Third-party devs rush to take advantage of Apple’s lucrative app distribution network.
March 5, 2012: Apple reaches a staggering milestone, with 25 billion apps downloaded from the iOS App Store. The company celebrates with a giveaway titled the “25 Billion App Countdown.”
The lucky 25 billionth app downloader wins an iTunes gift card worth $10,000.
A year ago, I had no clue how to write an iPhone app. Now I’ve shipped a fully-fledged strength training app, built with AI coding tools, or “vibe coding” as it’s become known.
A lot of people get vibe coding wrong. They think it’s just for prototypes and messing around. It’s not. Used properly, it’s a skill you can learn and master. And with modern AI tools like Cursor, and the new Coding Assistant in Xcode, it’s now more accessible than ever.
So, if you’re curious about vibe coding and keen to give it a go, here are ten lessons I learned the hard way.
Update: Apple Arcade subscribers can now get access to one of gaming’s most legendary franchises — Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Arcade Edition, arriving on the service Thursday. It’s a first for Apple Arcade, though it joins some other civ- and sim- game options on the App Store.
And other new titles join it at the same time on Apple Arcade: the Retrocade collection of classic arcade games, the whimsical adventure Felicity’s Door and the I Love Hue Too+ puzzle game.
With the launch of Apple Creator Studio Wednesday, Apple also updated its suite of productivity apps otherwise known as iWork. That’s Keynote, Pages and Numbers, which were always free and are now “freemium.” Some features will only work for Creator Studio subscribers, but others work for anyone using free versions of the productivity apps.
Apple Music and Apple TV just had their biggest month ever. That strong streaming performance added to a banner year for the collection of products that go under the heading of Apple services.
“2025 was a record-breaking year for Apple Services, marked by remarkable growth, global expansion, and continuous innovation,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, in a press release Monday.
December 31, 2012: App piracy hub Hackulous shuts down, bringing an end to two of its most popular pieces of software, Installous and AppSync.
Before the shutdown, iPhone jailbreak tool Installous allowed users to install “cracked” or pirated apps on their iOS devices, thereby avoiding paying Apple and developers. AppSync let users sync their cracked apps with iTunes.
The shuttering of Hackulous is a clear sign that the iPhone jailbreaking era is coming to an end — and that the App Store’s revolutionary business model is sound.
Apple’s App Store will introduce additional ad placements in search results beginning in 2026, Apple said Wednesday. The move represents a significant shift in how users will encounter sponsored content while browsing for new applications. And the iPhone giant took pains to explain why it’s making the move.
Apple rolled out updated App Review Guidelines Thursday that require developers to explicitly disclose when they’re sharing your personal information with third-party artificial intelligence services — and get your permission first.
The iPhone App Store is now accessible on a Mac. And iPad users can research what macOS applications are available. Anyone can see what Apple Watch apps are available. All of these are possible now that Apple finally put the App Store on the web Monday.
It’s long overdue, and still missing a feature many users would like.
Apple is making two developer-focused changes to the App Store. Developers can now upload additional documentation and assets while their app is under review.
Secondly, developers can create up to 70 custom pages — double the previous limit.
October 22, 2008: During a conference call, Apple CEO Steve Jobs reveals that a user downloaded the 200 millionth app from the App Store that very day.
The news comes less than five months after the launch of the App Store, and only a month after Apple surpassed 100 million app downloads.
August 30, 2010: Just two years after opening its virtual doors, the iOS App Store passes a key milestone: one-quarter of a million apps for sale.
It’s a massive demonstration of success for a service Apple CEO Steve Jobs didn’t even initially want to offer.
August 10, 2008: The developer of I Am Rich, a pointless iPhone app that sold for a whopping $999.99, defends his notorious creation as “art.”
After Apple removed I Am Rich from the App Store in the wake of controversy over the app’s outrageous price and total lack of usefulness, its creator, German developer Armin Heinrich, says he made it as a sort of joke.
Apple users in the UK could see significant changes to how they download apps, browse the web and make payments on their devices following new regulatory proposals announced Wednesday by Britain’s competition watchdog.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) proposed designating both Apple and Google with “strategic market status” under new digital competition laws. That gives regulators unprecedented power to force changes to how the tech giants operate their mobile platforms.
“The targeted and proportionate actions we have set out today would enable UK app developers to remain at the forefront of global innovation while ensuring UK consumers receive a world-class experience,” CMA head Sarah Cardell said.
Apple appears set to dodge potentially devastating daily fines from European Union regulators, according to a new report Tuesday. Sources indicate the company’s revised App Store policies will likely receive approval in the coming weeks.
July 20, 2007: Just a month after the original iPhone goes on sale, the first third-party app gets compiled and launched for the new platform. The Hello World app serves more as a proof of concept than a serious tool. However, it clearly demonstrates that third-party apps will become a cornerstone of the new iPhone economy.
It’s a shame Apple doesn’t get the memo.