Apple Inc. has said many times that the Apple store is an inseparable part of Apple. In a statement made this Tuesday, Apple said that it had successfully rejected over 1 Million new apps submitted to release on App Store in 2020. Apple, for years, has maintained such a strict stature by efficiently controlling what and what not is to released on their App Store. Apple justifies its actions against such actions by arguing that taking such steps helps prevent and detect malware, fraudulent, and malicious apps and their developers.
This announcement has come into the light as a response to the allegations made by Epic Games, including a lawsuit and regulatory attention from Lawmakers. This announcement and revelation have made it clear that Apple, in recent years, has become more transparent and careful about how it approves and rejects apps. This statement by Apple has also given its customers and users insight and an understanding of how their App Store process works.
Apple calls its App review team the “Essential line of defense.” Apple said that it constantly changes and evolves its App Store guidelines following the changing threats and challenges they face. Apple claims that by approving each of the 1.8 million applications on the App Store, as well as their updates, and comparing them to a long list of App Store guidelines, it will protect iPhone users from scams, malware, and poor-quality user experiences.
Apple also explained that the company’s goal was “always to get new apps on the App Store.” And Apple also gave the statistics about the rejected apps and their process in 2020. Out of all the one million rejected apps, Apple found 48,000 apps using hidden or undocumented features not supported by their OS (often software tools that Apple uses internally for their apps) and removed them. Apple rejected over 150,000 apps that had spam features, copies of existing apps and were designed to bait or mislead users into making in-app purchases. More than 95,000 apps were rejected for fraud; these apps used modifications and changed themselves entirely to become a different app only after getting reviewed and accepted by App Store; such apps usually promote “real money gambling, pornography, or predatory loans”- Apple said. Over 215,000 apps were rejected for collecting unnecessary user data and mishandling them, violating privacy norms. In addition, Apple also rejected over 1 Million app updates and booted over 470,000 developer accounts due to fraud.
Apple also said that its App Store rejected more than 3,200,000 after finding out they misused an enterprise certificate; it is a method to evade the App Store using a tool that big companies use to install personalized internal apps on company iPhones.
App developers can challenge the actions of Apple regarding their rejected apps, but very few do so since most of the rejected developers already know that they are in the wrong.
In the legal battle ongoing between Apple and Epic Games, Epic has said that Apple’s process is not the most efficient and that it allows harmful, malicious software to enter its store, also claiming that their “process is not good enough to prevent fraud.”
Apple, during the trial, presented a slide deck stating that it has over 500 human reviewers and automated tests and checks to filter out and review more than 5 million apps per year between 2017–19 with a rejection rate of around 33% to 36%. Epic’s attorneys claim that Apple’s App Store is a “walled garden” that stifles competition and that Apple’s policies are applied inconsistently to various developers.
Apple has backed its justifications regarding App Store, saying that “it is the only way an Apple user can install applications on an Apple device.”
In the antitrust trial last week, an Apple lawyer said that allowing Apple users to download apps from an app market other than App Store would create security risks and that “Apple does not want to be Android” since Epic is seeking to launch its App Store for iPhones forcing Apple to do so to bypass Apple’s 30% few in the in-app purchases. Apple justifies its 30% cut by saying that they have full rights to implant such purchase fees since they are the ones who birthed App Store in the first place.
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Apple rejected over a million apps from its App Store submissions, saving its users $1.5 billion in what could’ve been fraudulent or theft transactions.
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