Apple Store Gets Backlash For Removing Apps Over Two Years Old
Apple has been under heavy scrutiny as it seems to be going after applications on its online store that have not received updates in quite a while, taking them down from its online store.
Creators and app developers took to social media with screenshots of notices that the company had sent directly to their email accounts, by which it warned them that they had 30 days to provide an update otherwise they would be taken down.
“This app has not been updated in a significant amount of time and is scheduled to be removed from sale in 30 days,” says the email titled App Store Improvement Notice. “No action is required for the app to remain available to users who have already downloaded the app.
“You can keep this app available for new users to discover and download from the App Store by submitting an update for review within 30 days. If no update is submitted within 30 days, the app will be removed from sale.”
I feel sick. Apple just sent me an email saying they’re removing my free game Motivoto because its more than 2 years old.
It’s part of their App improvement system.
This is not cool. Console games from 2000 are still available for sale.
This is an unfair barrier to indie devs. pic.twitter.com/7XNcLfiEcR
— Protopop Games (@protopop) April 23, 2022
This bit of information was not received well by several app creators who were quick to express their feelings on social media. A good example was Protopop games developer Robert Kabwe who shared his disbelief at this change in policy by stating that “…games from 2000 are still available for sale. This is an unfair barrier for indie devs.”
Kostas Eleftheriou, who developed and published the FlickType Keyboard app for the visually impaired, added that his creation was also removed from the Apple Store because he had not updated it in over two years, adding that there are games still on the platform such as Pocket God which have not received any updates for close to seven years.
Apple also removed a version of my FlickType Keyboard that catered specifically to the visually impaired community, because I hadn’t updated it in 2 years.
Meanwhile, games like Pocket God have not been updated by the developers for 7 years now: https://t.co/3azyIydty7 pic.twitter.com/n36rvHvF4H
— Kosta Eleftheriou (@keleftheriou) April 23, 2022
This new change in policy is part of Apple’s strategy to improve its App Store, which was announced in 2016, with the US tech company pointing out: “We are implementing an ongoing process of evaluating apps, removing apps that no longer function as intended, don’t follow current review guidelines, or are outdated.”
Google have already stated that they will be following a similar approach to their Google Play Store with applications that “don’t target an API level within two years of the latest major Android release version.”
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