The week in digital: rival iPhone app stores, PHP’s fix and a new online safety duty
Rival app stores for iPhones, PHP’s critical fixes, a new online safety duty, Meta’s revised terms and a $99 Amazon Prime.
This week a court cracked open the iPhone and PHP shipped the fix web hosts were waiting for. A new online safety duty also landed in Parliament. Meta tidied up its business terms after a backlash, and Amazon Prime got dearer. Here are five stories worth taking into next week.
1. Rival app stores are coming to Australian iPhones
On 22 October the Federal Court ordered Apple to let anyone with an Australian Apple Account download apps from outside the App Store. That includes rival stores and websites. Developers will be able to link to their own payment options and charge less there. Most of the orders start at noon Melbourne time on 1 March 2027, and Apple can ask to push that to 3 May 2027. Apple told Reuters it will seek a stay and appeal, 9to5Mac reports.
So what: nothing changes on your iPhone yet. If you sell digital subscriptions through an iOS app, start pricing what a cheaper web checkout could look like.
2. PHP’s critical fixes are out, and WordPress can’t install them for you
PHP released fixes on 21 October for two critical flaws that can let an attacker with no login run code on a web server. The fixed versions are 8.5.12, 8.4.27, 8.3.36 and 8.2.35. WordPress says no WordPress update is required or planned: the fix is a new version of PHP, which your host or developer installs.
So what: ask your host which PHP version your site runs and whether it has been patched. Sites on PHP 8.1 or older are in the toughest spot.
3. A new online safety duty could reach apps, games and websites
The Digital Duty of Care bill was introduced to Parliament on 15 October. It would require online services, including games, apps and AI chatbots, to take reasonable steps to keep Australian users safe. Penalties go up to $109.2 million. The September draft had no size threshold and required a written risk assessment every year, which may have changed in the introduced bill. It isn’t law yet.
So what: if your business runs a forum, app or site where people post, keep an eye on this one. Social media users over 16 would also get a choice of feed, and consultation on that closes on 5 November.
4. Meta drops “train” from its business terms, but keeps the crawling
Meta has rewritten the clause in its updated Commercial Terms that would have let it use content from businesses’ websites to train its products. Businesses still authorise Meta to crawl web pages associated with their products or services. The purpose is now its advertising and business products, plus integrity and security. The terms still take effect on 30 October 2026.
So what: if you advertise or sell with Meta, reread the clause before 30 October. If AI training is your worry, the robots.txt rule to check is the one for meta-externalagent.
5. Amazon Prime rises to $99 a year
Amazon’s Australian site now lists Prime at $99 a year or $12.99 a month after the free trial. Information Age reports the old prices were $79 and $9.99, and that existing members move to the new price from 25 November. Amazon’s terms say a rise won’t apply before your current membership period ends.
So what: paying monthly now costs $155.88 over a year. If you use Prime all year, the annual plan is the cheaper way to pay.
Read how to cancel, pause or get a reminder.
Win of the week
YouTube now automatically pauses uploads, live streams and other changes on a channel it suspects has been hacked, usually for up to a day while it checks. For anyone whose business lives on YouTube, that’s a useful brake on a hijacker. Here’s how the pause works.
Facepalm of the week
Meta’s new business terms said it could crawl business websites to “train” its products. When publishers objected, Meta called their reading false. Within days, “train” was gone from the terms. Here’s what’s left.
Dates to watch
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 30 October 2026 | Meta’s updated Commercial Terms take effect, including the website-crawling clause. |
| 5 November 2026 | Consultation on the “My Feed, My Way” social media feed rule closes at 11.59pm AEDT (8.59pm Perth). |
| 25 November 2026 | Existing Amazon Prime members start moving to the new price at renewal. |
| 31 December 2026 | PHP 8.2 stops getting security fixes. |
| 1 March 2027 | Most of the Federal Court’s App Store orders start, unless Apple gets them delayed or stayed. |
