Apple Breaks Silence On Why It Is Removing Some Old Apps But Keeping Others

Apple Inc AAPL has detailed the process behind the removal of some old apps from its online application marketplace.
What Happened: The Tim Cook-led company issued a press release on Friday saying “User trust in quality apps is the basis for all we have done in building and running the App Store.”

Apple pointed out that it had launched its App Store Improvements process back in 2016 to remove “apps that no longer function as intended, don’t follow current review guidelines or are outdated.”

See Also: How To Buy Apple (AAPL) Shares

Why It Matters: Apple said it has removed 2.8 million applications in the past six years as a part of the process. The company said in a statement that users and developers have “benefitted” from this on account of discoverability, security and privacy, and user experience.

Some developers have taken to social media and are complaining about the removal of their applications.

MotiVoto developer Protopop Games said on Twitter that they felt “sick” that the game was being removed from the App Store “because its more than 2 years old.”

“This is not cool. Console games from 2000 are still available for sale. This is an unfair barrier to indie devs,” said Protopop Games, in a tweet. 

I feel sick. Apple just sent me an email saying they're removing my free game Motivoto because its more than 2 years old.

It's part of their App improvement system.

This is not cool. Console games from 2000 are still available for sale.

This is an unfair barrier to indie devs. pic.twitter.com/7XNcLfiEcR

— Protopop Games (@protopop) April 23, 2022

A Twitter user who describes themselves as a “professional” App Store critic tweeted that some of Apple’s own apps haven’t been updated for a long time.

Meanwhile, some of Apple's own apps haven't been updated for much longer than that.

Rules for thee, but not for me! https://t.co/3azyIydty7 pic.twitter.com/XxLtdP1Ep1

— Kosta Eleftheriou (@keleftheriou) April 23, 2022

Price Action: On Friday, Apple shares closed 3.7% lower at $157.65 in the regular session and rose 0.2% in the after-hours trading.

Read Next: Apple Partner Starts Assembing Only iPhone 13 In Brazil: Is It The End Of The Line For This Budget Model?