Apple purged 47,300 broken & outdated App Store titles in October

Apple began its promised purge of the iOS App Store in October, pulling some 47,300 titles, according to third-party research data published on Tuesday.

App removals jumped 238 percent last month, according to intelligence firm Sensor Tower, quoted by TechCrunch. Figures were also about 3.4 times higher than the monthly average between January and September.

About 28 percent of the deleted apps were games, far higher than the next two categories — Entertainment and Books — which accounted for just 8.99 and 8.96 percent, respectively. Education came in fourth at 7 percent, while Lifestyle apps represented just 6 percent.

Apple announced plans to start reviewing old apps in early September, "removing apps that no longer function as intended, don't follow current review guidelines, or are outdated." This included deleting "abandoned" titles which hadn't been given compatibility updates "for a long time."

While Apple said that it would immediately remove apps that crash on launch, it added that it would otherwise send out notifications asking developers to update within 30 days if they wanted to keep their apps available.

Purges are likely ongoing, as prior to October, it was estimated that nearly half of iOS apps hadn't been updated since May 2015. Over a quarter hadn't been updated since Nov. 2013.

15 Comments

blastdoor 3562 comments · 15 Years

About 7 years ago

It's kinda weird that in a curated store these apps are there at all, but I guess it's good that Apple is now cleaning house.

SpamSandwich 32917 comments · 19 Years

And where can we actually find a searchable list of affected apps? Just guessing that information is completely unavailable.

sflocal 6132 comments · 16 Years

All the fart apps cry out, then silence.

cali 3494 comments · 10 Years

There's So many apps that we didn't even notice this last month.

mpantone 2218 comments · 18 Years

blastdoor said:

It's kinda weird that in a curated store these apps are there at all, but I guess it's good that Apple is now cleaning house.

When a developer submits an app to Apple for approval, Apple has no way of knowing if the developer will be vigilant in keeping it updated with the latest iOS and iDevice hardware. They can't predict abandonware in advance. And as time progresses, Apple's idea of what is a useful app changes as it should, reflecting changes to the app marketplace, what's available and how people use their devices. The first five flashlight apps? Great. The next five? Well okay. Now today if there are 300 flashlight apps and two-thirds are them are not being maintained, a good culling is deserved to maintain the App Store's quality level. That's the whole point about periodic maintenance, whether it's brushing your teeth, changing the oil in your car, or raking the leaves. If your regular regimen of periodic maintenance is not enough, sometimes you might have to do a little extra. That's what Apple is doing right now.