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| Apple boosts its Files app against competitors' apps |
Apple admitted that when users searched for competitor Dropbox for nearly 11 months, their app file ratings were manually increased.
The confirmation is based on a series of emails received from Apple and Epic Games during the trial period.
The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times conducted a massive survey in 2019, and the results showed that Apple's App Store ranks its apps clearly and consistently ahead of the competition.
Apple said at the time that it had done nothing wrong, and executives insisted that a secret algorithm containing 42 different variables was working as intended and that Apple had not manually modified search results.
After the CEO of Epic Games discussed that searching for Dropbox would bring up Apple's Files app first, the company said, "We're removing manual boosts and now the search results should be more relevant."
"You can't even see Dropbox on the first page of search results," the Epic Games CEO wrote.
Apple enriches its applications:
Based on the data, the company stated that during the last WWDC, the Files app was intentionally advertised in those search results.
The thread clearly referred to the company's vice president of the company's App Store, who initially rejected the idea.
He said: Who ordered the Files app to be placed in organic search results via Dropbox? I don't know we did that. I think we shouldn't do that.
"I hope there will be similar requests for review and approval in the future, showing that extreme manual operations are not ruled out," he added.
In addition, Apple said what we saw in the email was incorrect.
Although the company doesn't question the idea that its app ranks files against Dropbox. However, she said the reality was just a mistake.
She added: The Files app integrates Dropbox. So we're adding Dropbox to the app's metadata. Therefore, it will automatically rank higher in Dropbox search.