Apple details why it’s removing some apps from the App Store

To be more transparent, Apple has confirmed that it will be detailed Why do I know that some apps have been removed from the App Store? at the request of governments of different countries; something that we have been observing for several years and that primarily affects such territories as China or Russia.

The company, in particular, removes apps from the App Store for various reasons. One of them, and the most common, is when an app violates app store policy. Either for including Apple’s alternative payment method, as happened with Fortnite, or because they just haven’t been updated in a while, among other things.

Apple, however also tends to remove apps at the behest of the government. For example, apps like WhatsApp or Signal are banned in China. They, in fact, cannot be downloaded from the App Store. The problem is that Apple does not publicly disclose when it withdrew the application at the request of some governments.. As well as the number of applications it removes for this reason, for which the company is heavily criticized, according to Financial Times.

Therefore, Apple will report in its transparency report if the government has requested the removal of one or more applications. It will also tell you if you accepted this request and the number of apps you removed based on this request.. Apple, yes, will not publicly disclose why it removed the apps individually.

Apple has decided to remove over 30,000 apps from the Chinese App Store.

Image: Track Wu.

One of the best examples of apps being removed at the request of a government is when Apple removes up to 30,000 apps from Chinese App Store. According to bloomberg, most of them – about 90% – were games. They were removed due to a Chinese regulation that says developers must first get Chinese regulatory approval if they want to release a game that includes some form of payment in the country.

Moreover, these foreign developers cannot directly request a license from the country. They must work with the local company to get them to apply, and with regulators to allow—or not—approval. In 2021 Apple also removed Bible apps in China at the request of the government.as follows from the message from BBC News.