This week, Epic Games made the decision to pull all of its Infinity Blade games from Apple’s App Store. For fans of the franchise, it was a huge bummer. An even bigger bummer: if you had temporarily removed the app from your phone, now you can’t get it back from the App Store.

MacStories blogger Frederico Vitticci has created an incredibly robust iOS shortcut called Home Screen Icon Creator, which allows you to create custom buttons that look different and, if you want to get fancy, to fine-tune what happens when you open an app. It also lets you create customisable icons for iOS shortcuts and icons for calling people from your contacts.

It's not a stretch to say the App Store changed the way people purchased apps for mobile devices. Back before the iPhone, mobile devices, such as those running Windows Mobile (and its many predecessors) and Palm OS went directly to developer sites to download installers that were then used to load apps onto devices. It was a mess, updates were tricky and there was no real oversight that the apps were safe. The App Store changed that. But it's also a closed environment that Apple has fought to maintain. That control is being debated in the US Supreme Court and Apple seems to have a fight on its hands.

Trying to find the perfect iOS apps can be tough, and we’re willing to bet that your iPhone or iPad is full of pages and pages of apps. There’s just so much out there, it’s hard to come up with a short list of favourites. We understand. Allow us to help you with our freshly updated Lifehacker Pack for iOS.

Because why not, Apple has tweaked App Store product pages and made it impossible for you to see an app’s in-app purchases prior to buying it. Why does this matter? Because if you throw down $5 for an app, you’re probably expecting it to have all the features you read about in the app’s description.

You might be less interested in making that initial purchase—even a free download — if you find that you have to pay more to unlock the functionality you wanted in the first place.

There's a special corner in Tech Hell reserved for app developers who try to sucker people into paying obscene amounts of money for an underwhelming product.

Over the last ten years, cellular data availability has increased massively and the cost has plummeted. Many people don't have fixed broadband at all, preferring to work and play purely on cellular data networks. Which begs the question - why does Apple limit App Store downloads?

Subscribing for access to apps, rather than buying perpetual licenses is increasingly becoming the normal way of accessing software. While that makes sense with cloud-based applications, it's also taking hold in traditional productivity applications such as Microsoft Office and the Adobe Creative Suite. And now Apple is getting in on the act, having held a secret meeting with developers.

iOS: The words “Apple” and “free” are a bit like oil and water — just ask anyone who works at the company and doesn’t get to partake in the Silicon Valley custom of free lunches and dinners for all. However, Father Cook is feeling generous this month, and Apple is offering up the excellent Obscura 2 camera app for free. Here’s how you get it (and save $7.99).

It's hard to remember that when Apple released the first iPhone in 2007 on June 29, there was no App Store. For the best part of a year, you could only use the apps that some folks in Cupertino decided you needed. A year later, Apple opened the App Store, with just 500 apps, and opened the floodgates to developers who have created a massive range of software.

How many times do you see an app on the App Store and think, "I should buy that, but maybe later"? You can even put off downloading free apps -- something might pique your interest, but you might not feel like immediately downloading it to your iPhone or iPad for any number of reasons.

Apple has removed a number of apps from the App Store and sent a letter to developers as they clamp down on apps that collect location data. Although Apple has rules in their App Store Review Guidelines about this, they are now enforcing the rules more strictly.

Outside of ordering chicken nuggs for potential Lifehacker articles, I wasn't a big fan of McDonald's "mymacca's" app. It was clunky and constantly kicked me out - not things I was all that happy with when you're trying to order fast food. But now, Maccas has overhauled the app! So how is it?

Mac: When it comes to updating your Mac, there's never a good time. Besides the intrusive and constant annoyance that is the update reminder (which, thankfully, you can deactivate), it often feels like a slog instead of what should be a few minutes of processing and a restart. If you're sick of waiting for the App Store and its sluggish interface, here's how you can speed up the process.

Mac: Apple used to boast that its Mac computers were a virus-free utopia, but that was before hackers and criminals decided to focus their efforts on the operating system. Now, your Mac is just as vulnerable to viruses as any Windows PC, and a new report reveals that hackers can get access to your computer through an entryway that you might think would be better protected: The Mac App Store.

When something seems too good to be true, it usually is.

Mac/iOS: Bucking its minimalist trend of killing wishlists and killing desktop downloads, the iOS App Store added a feature: Developers can open up their apps for pre-orders, up to 90 days in advance. (The feature is also available on the Mac App Store.)

iOS: Apple's recent 12.7 update to its iTunes app removed support for the iOS App Store and iOS app management. After an outcry from users, however, Apple has brought app support back in iTunes 12.6.3. Even if you've already upgraded to iTunes 12.7, you can still take advantage of the app-friendly nature of iTunes 12.6.3, but if you stick with it you'll have to miss out on any future iTunes features.

Google is well known for its capacity to try new things, give them a year or two and then drop them if things don't pan out as expected or they can't turn a good idea into a revenue raising one. Which is why something in a recent MSPowerUser article piqued my interest. Google has 91 different apps in the iOS App Store. Is this a sign of great platform support or an indication that things are out of control at the Googleplex?