A new estimate from app intelligence firm Sensor Tower predicts that nearly 3,000 semi-active apps, if not more, could be downloaded from the App Store in the latest sweep designed to remove apps that are no longer updated by their developers.
The news that Apple is in the process of yet another cleanup of its App Store surfaced over the weekend, shortly after Google’s latest announcement that its Play Store will start blocking downloads for outdated apps.
Over the past few days, several iOS developers have been using social media to report receiving notifications from Apple that their older apps would be removed from sale within 30 days if no updates were submitted.
After Sensor Tower’s analysis of apps that had at least 10,000 installations by 2022, it found that about 2,966 apps and games could be removed during Apple’s latest cleanup, as they were last updated before or during 2018. But based on anecdotal developer reports, some had said their apps were updated recently, but they had still received a warning from Apple. This indicates that the true number of affected apps may be even higher.
Unfortunately, Apple has not been precise in its communication with developers. It only informed them that if their apps had not been updated in “significant time”, they would be removed. Apple did not respond to requests for comment in the case.
Apple has a history of cleaning up its App Store on a regular basis.
Typically, these App Store sweeps are designed with the needs of consumers in mind, not necessarily those of developers. When consumers seek out apps and games to download, they want to make sure they install something that actually works, optimized to fit their device’s screen, and updated with all the latest security enhancements. Many apps in the App Store do not meet these requirements after developers leave them. These apps can also be targeted at outdated APIs, which can make them non-functional. It’s a bad end-user experience, and ultimately one Apple wants to avoid.
However, the complaints from the affected developers indicate that the functionality of an app is not always an issue.
Instead, they see their app as one finished project that does not necessarily need to be updated regularly, just like a work of art. And some of the apps and games that get caught in the purge are still usable and playable, they claim.
According to a developer, Simon Barker, his app Tap Timer, now ready for deletion, gets no crash reports and still sees downloads. He admits that the app does not “set the world on fire”, but it works and differs from other timer apps on the market. The app would require recoding to meet Apple’s requirements, and Barker admits he has not kept up with Swift. Meanwhile, he points out that another of his app has multiple downloads, but that he did not get a similar warning. He says this kind of anti-developer policies is the reason he has stopped developing for the App Store.
Another developer, Simen Gjermundsenreflected this complaint on Twitter, and also noted that his children’s game, Motivoto, is still “fully functional” and calls the policy an “unfair barrier for indie developers.”
iOS developer and App Store critic Kosta Eleftheriou also suggested that the policy may be applied unevenly.
He said a version of its keyboard app designed for visually impaired users was removed from the App Store for being outdated, but the game Pocket God remains online even though it has not been updated in seven years. (However, it is not clear that Pocket God would be immune to a sweep – its Twitter account is no longer active and its website is closed. It is possible that the developers have also received a warning. We should know about about … 30 days.)
While enforcement may be uneven or sporadic, it should not be a total surprise. Apple informs developers in advance that consistent app updates are part of the App Store’s deal. In Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines (section 2.5.1), the company tells developers that apps may only use public APIs and that developers must keep “apps up-to-date”. More specifically, the guidelines instruct developers to “be sure to phase out any obsolete features, frameworks, or technologies that will no longer be supported in future versions of an OS.”
While Apple may not enforce this guideline for a long time, it has still done so with a semi-regular cadence over the years – including with major past “sweeps”.
Several years ago, Apple phased out e.g. support for 32-bit apps and then removed those apps from App Store searches. In 2016, it also targeted outdated apps in a similar App Store cleanup. After a significant suppression of outdated apps, spam and clone apps in 2017, Apple’s App Store even shrank for the first time. And after a ban on apps designed using templates and app generation services, Apple was called out for the potential harm to small businesses and nonprofits that did not have the in-house expertise or funds to build custom apps from scratch. Apple later adapted this policy as a result of backlash from developers – and a request from Congress.
In previous years, Apple had informed developers exactly when a cleanup would begin, as this cached support page from the 2016 sweep indicates. Today, the same website exists to simply inform developers what to do when they receive an email – an indication that App Store sweeps are now a more routine feature of the App Store.
If anything has changed, it may not be the App Store policy itself, but rather the fact that developers feel empowered to comment on the aspects of the App Store operation they dislike – especially now that Apple’s inattention to developer complaints can inspire new regulations.
Apple itself has fought particularly hard against several proposed new laws that would force it to allow alternative app stores on iOS, as it does on the Mac, and says it risks users’ privacy and security. But if such a claim actually goes through, it opens up the possibility for developers to host a kind of “archive” app store with their best work from previous years – but which Apple had started from its own app marketplace. Such a store could give the developers’ work an extended lifespan, even after the technologies have advanced and the screen sizes have changed.