Tech
Apple Clarifies Criteria For App Store Improvement Process
(CTN News) – Apple has sent App Store Improvement Notices to several app developers over the last week. In the notice, developers are advised that their application will be removed from the Apple App Store if they do not submit an update for review. Several developers have taken to social media platforms to complain about Apple’s inconsistency in removing apps. Developer of FlickType Apple Watch Keyboard, Kosa Eleftheriou, points out that Pocket God, an application that hasn’t been updated since 2015, is still available on the App Store, but one of hers has been removed.
An Apple press release clarifies the company’s stance on removing applications from the Apple App Store. During the App Store Improvements process, developers of apps that have not been updated within the last three years and fail to meet a minimal download threshold – meaning the app have not been downloaded at all or have been downloaded very rarely during a rolling 12-month period – get notified that their app may be removed from the App store.
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Apple takes into account the number of downloads an application receives. The App Store will keep an old application with significant downloads even if it has not been updated for some time. Nevertheless, relatively newer apps with fewer or no downloads will be removed from the App Store in the coming days, after giving the developers a notice about the app.
Apple sends App Store Improvement Notice
According to The Verge, a tweet from Potopop Games contains an “App Store Improvement Notice.” The notice is addressed to a game developer and says that “this app has not been updated in a significant amount of time and is scheduled to be removed from sale in 30 days.” It further states that “you may keep this app available for new users to discover and download from the App Store by submitting an update for review within 30 days.”
Developers do not need to take any action to keep the application available to existing users, who have already downloaded the app. Another Twitter user @nickjsheriff has pointed out that developers who have not updated their applications for the past three years are getting the notice. The same users also mention that over 70% of the applications on the Apple Play Store have not been updated in the last three to five years, which is a long time.
