Apple pulled a record 439K apps in Q2, including abandonware

Apple and Google delisted almost 600,000 apps combined from their respective app stores, amidst a wide crackdown by Apple on abandoned applications.

According to a new report from fraud protection firm Pixalate, Apple and Google delisted 592,000 apps from the App Store and Google Play, respectively, in Q2 2022. That's a major increase from the 220,000 apps the two firms delisted in the first quarter.

Apple removed 439,000 apps in the second quarter, an 8,652% increase from Q1 2022. Combined, the Apple App Store apps had nearly 40 million user ratings.

The main reason Apple delisted apps during the second quarter appeared to be a lack of updates for years. Among the apps that Apple delisted, 64% had not received a software update for at least two years or more.

There was also a 100-fold increase in the removal of "Health & Fitness" apps by Apple in the second quarter, including at least 178 family planning apps.

According to Pixalate, 31% of delisted apps on Apple's App Store had no stated privacy policy. At least 19 apps delisted in the second quarter on the App Store were linked to Sberbank, a Russian-owned business.

Although delisting an app removes its product page from the App Store, users who have already downloaded the app will still have it on their devices. As such, they may still pose a safety or privacy risk.

8 Comments

sflocal 6135 comments · 16 Years

About 2 years ago

Good. I wish Apple was more aggressive with these even more.

narwhal 126 comments · 6 Years

I don’t mind Apple removing old apps from the store. But as a developer, I really wish they would fix a related bug. Apps that have been pulled from the store don’t work with TestFlight. TestFlight has become an essential tool for developers, and blocking access to it for apps we are trying to update is annoying.

Anilu_777 577 comments · 8 Years

I have a few apps that I really like but they haven’t been updated in 3 years. So I know when I get a new phone they won’t download. I wish developers would give yearly updates to make sure apps work with the new OS.

mpantone 2245 comments · 18 Years

Anilu_777 said:

I have a few apps that I really like but they haven’t been updated in 3 years. So I know when I get a new phone they won’t download. I wish developers would give yearly updates to make sure apps work with the new OS.

That's not Apple's fault. Often it's not just downloading the newest version of Xcode and pressing the "compile" button.

It's up to the developer to commit to regular refreshes which might require rewriting portions of the code, sometimes extensive amounts.

humbug1873 170 comments · 2 Years

sflocal said:

Good. I wish Apple was more aggressive with these even more.

Pulling apps from the store has an inherent danger to Apple's position as the sole provider for apps for iPad/iPhone. They're already suffering from being considered a monopoly all across the globe. That's on disadvantage of that.
I would rather see the Apple Appstore becoming the 'premium' App provider that adds a true quality control, while leaving the garbage to some 3rd party provider. Right now the Apple Appstore is a cesspool of all kind of apps that sometimes even trick people out of their money for essentially nothing, just because they don't want to suffer lawsuits for being too restrictive. This hurts Apple's image significantly. But the Chief Excel Operator is obviously more interested in profit margins than the Apple brand right now.