Apple has quietly rolled out another batch of pre-installed apps into the App Store, including the Phone, Safari, and a few other very core apps. Apple did the same thing earlier in the month, which was immediately met with negative ratings.
Not this time.
The latest batch appeared on Monday and includes Health, Camera, Clock, Find Devices, Heart Rate, Messages, Phone, Photos, Safari, Workout, and World Clock.
Globally, the 11 apps collected 3,631 so far this week, and unlike the first batch, are all averaging more than 4 stars.
Clock and Phone have a 4.1 star average globally, which is the "lowest" rating of the bunch. Find Device and World Clock scored a 4.8 average rating, but with a much smaller number of ratings, so it'll probably go down.
One thing to keep in mind here is that unlike the apps in the first batch, which were much more likely to be deleted and then redownloaded, this batch has the very core apps. That means most users aren't likely to delete it and need to redownload it, which means they won't have the opportunity to rate it. So, they'll have fewer ratings in the short term.
Why is Apple doing this? They haven't said, but if you ask me, it's all for show. It's much harder to accuse Apple of being anti-competitive when its own apps are in the store just like everyone else. We know that this last statement isn't exactly true because when you search for these apps, they always appear first.
I've looked at enough of those to know that isn't organic. But maybe the perception Apple is creating is enough to get regulators to be quiet?
What you need to know: iPhone users can now rate more pre-installed apps. The 11 apps were rated 3.6K times this week and so far, the ratings are very positive.
The same seven apps held the same seven download spots. Revenue told a different story, and a short-drama app from Singapore crashed the top 10.
MLB app downloads jumped 43% this February while revenue climbed to $3.5M, signaling a stronger season ahead for baseball on mobile.