This Week's Sponsor:

Kolide

Ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta.


App Store Updates Are Back, Camera+ Sells Over 78,000 Copies On Christmas Day

In case you missed it, iTunes Connect is back online. The web interface that allows developers to submit apps, updates and price changes went down on December 23 for the so-called “holiday shutdown” which didn’t freeze the App Store charts as many believed, but still made it impossible for developers to submit apps and users to find updates in iTunes. iTunes Connect went back online a few hours ago, and app updates are now showing up in iTunes and propagating through the App Store.

Together with iTunes Connect, the “Sales & Trends” section went back online, too, offering developers the possibility to check on sales for the shutdown period, which included Christmas day – usually a good day for sales as millions of users worldwide likely get a new iOS device. The Camera+ developers, tap tap tap, provided MacRumors a copy of the iTunes Connect sales report for Camera+ (the app was released right ahead of the iTunes Connect shutdown) and the results are, quite frankly, impressive.

Camera+ 2.0 sold over 78,000 copies on Christmas day alone, ranking #6 on that day:

Camera+ reached an impressive 78,995 downloads on Christmas Day alone, which represents $54,743 for the developer after Apple’s 30% cut. While the sales graph seems to suggest that the sales have returned to pre-Christmas levels, the graph is somewhat misleading, as Camera+ had been ranked as high as #2 in Top Paid Apps before Christmas but today holds a rank of #13. Therefore, it seems that there has been a sustained boost in overall App Store sales since Christmas Day.

As MacRumors also notes, last year’s #3 ranked app reached 79,000 downloads and Camera+ got to a similar figure this year while ranking #6 in Top Paid Apps. Thus, the apps ahead of Camera+ in this year’s charts likely sold more than 100,000 copies on Christmas day alone, with most of those apps being discounted games by Electronic Arts.

Unlock More with Club MacStories

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for over six years.

In that time, members have enjoyed nearly 400 weekly and monthly newsletters packed with more of your favorite MacStories writing as well as Club-only podcasts, eBooks, discounts on apps, icons, and services. Join today, and you’ll get everything new that we publish every week, plus access to our entire archive of back issues and downloadable perks.

The Club expanded in 2021 with Club MacStories+ and Club Premier. Club MacStories+ members enjoy even more exclusive stories, a vibrant Discord community, a rotating roster of app discounts, and more. And, with Club Premier, you get everything we offer at every Club level plus an extended, ad-free version of our podcast AppStories that is delivered early each week in high-bitrate audio.

Choose the Club plan that’s right for you:

  • Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with app collections, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, a Club-only podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
  • Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus exclusive content like Federico’s Automation Academy and John’s Macintosh Desktop Experience, a powerful web app for searching and exploring over 6 years of content and creating custom RSS feeds of Club content, an active Discord community, and a rotating collection of discounts, and more;
  • Club Premier: Everything in from our other plans and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.