The U.S. government and several legal and business groups have submitted amicus briefs to the Supreme Court supporting Apple's bid to overturn a civil contempt ruling stemming from its App Store dispute with Epic Games. The contempt finding arose after Apple began charging a 27% commission on purchases made through external links, which Epic argued violated a prior injunction. Apple maintains the injunction's original wording never explicitly barred such a commission, and that lower courts wrongly invoked the 'spirit' of the order rather than its text.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-22
A São Paulo court has issued an emergency injunction requiring Apple to block minors from downloading Casino Roulette: Roulettist and to add age verification before users can buy virtual chips with real money. The order followed a July lawsuit from four child rights groups alleging minors could easily access the 18+ rated app and spend real money in it. Apple has five days to comply, must extend similar controls to other casino-style apps, and faces a daily fine of about $19,500 if it fails to act.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-22
Apptopia data shows Meta's new AI app Muse recorded 1.8 million iOS downloads in the U.S. and Canada during its first 12 days, versus 1.3 million for ChatGPT in the same window after its 2022 debut. Muse also topped ChatGPT in daily active users at a comparable stage, with 642,000 U.S. daily users versus ChatGPT's 231,000, and has climbed to the No. 1 spot on the U.S. App Store.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-21
Meta's Muse, an AI agent app launched earlier this month, has climbed to the top of Apple's free iPhone app rankings in the US, pushing OpenAI's ChatGPT out of first place. The surge follows Meta's expansion of Muse to Mac desktops, though that version doesn't count toward App Store rankings since it's downloaded via the web.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-18
XChat, the standalone messaging app X launched earlier this year for direct messaging between users, has disappeared from the iOS App Store. The Android version remains available on Google Play, and no reason has been given for the iOS removal.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-14
X Corp and xAI have filed to dismiss their antitrust lawsuit against Apple in a Texas federal court, with no explanation given for the move and no confirmation of a settlement. The suit had accused Apple of favoring OpenAI's ChatGPT within Apple Intelligence to the detriment of competitors like Grok. Musk's companies say their claims against OpenAI, also named in the original suit, will continue.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-14
A new essay outlines a startup evaluation heuristic focused on power rather than incremental revenue growth: asking how a company can own the customer relationship, control money flow, become a platform others build on, or create network effects. The piece argues these structural shifts can multiply a company's value far more than simple revenue optimization.
paulgraham.com
· 2026-09-13
Farwave is a new iOS app that lets users explore a 3D globe to discover and listen to radio stations from around the world, including a 'Take me anywhere' shuffle feature and listening history. Beyond radio, the app organizes podcasts and personal music imports onto separate visual 'planets,' supporting playback queues, speed control, and offline downloads.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-12
Apple has begun accepting app submissions built with the iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, tvOS 27, visionOS 27, and watchOS 27 SDKs ahead of their September 14 launch. Developers can now download the Xcode 27 Release Candidate to prepare their apps for approval before the public rollout.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-10
Meta's new agentic AI app Muse has been downloaded over 83,000 times on iOS in the US since its Tuesday launch, pushing it to the No. 2 spot on Apple's App Store charts, according to Sensor Tower data. That pace trails Meta's own past launches like Threads and the Meta AI app, as well as ChatGPT's debut week, and Muse is performing far weaker on Android, ranking only 338th in Google Play's Productivity category.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-10
A federal court rejected claims by rival startup Project Bluebird that X Corp. had abandoned the TWITTER, TWEET and Bird Logo trademarks after Elon Musk rebranded the platform. Project Bluebird had filed intent-to-use applications for TWITTER and TWEET and rebranded its own app from twitter.new to tweet.app following the ruling. The court pointed to X's Apple App Store listing, which still describes the app as 'formerly known as Twitter,' as evidence of continued bona fide trademark use.
blog.ericgoldman.org
· 2026-09-09
9to5Mac's daily podcast episode for September 8, 2026 rounds up recent reporting on rumored HomePod developments and anticipated changes to the App Store. The episode is available across major podcast platforms and is sponsored by productivity app Stuff and device-management tool iMazing.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-09
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