Earlier this week, Apple shared an in-depth look at how the App Store helped prevent fraud and protect developers and customers alike. Now, the company has shared more details in what it’s calling the “2022 App Store Transparency Report.” This report offers granular information on app removals and appeals, developer account terminations, government requests for app takedowns, and more.
Apple is releasing this transparency report as part of its settlement with a group of developers in 2021. As part of the settlement of that class action lawsuit, Apple agreed to publish more details on App Store transparency. A group of Apple shareholders also voted for Apple to publish additional App Store data back in January.
What Apple has provided in this App Store Transparency Report appears to go above and beyond what was required as part of the agreements with shareholders and developers.
App rejections and removals
- App submissions rejected: 1,679,694
- App submission rejections by App Store Review Guidelines:
- Safety: 92,598
- Performance: 1,018,415
- Business: 152,391
- Design: 212,464
- Legal: 441,972
- Other: 79,736
- App submissions approved after rejection: 253,466
- Apps removed from the App Store: 186,195
- Apps removed from the App Store by app category
- Games: 38,883
- Utilities: 20,045
- Business: 16,997
- Education: 16,509
- Lifestyle: 15,171
- Entertainment: 11,757
- Food & Drink: 8317
- Productivity:7314
- Travel: 5510
- Shopping: 5376
- Apps removed from the App Store due to guideline or Developer Program License Agreement (DPLA) violation:
- 1. Guideline 4.0 — Design: 149,3787
- 2. DPLA 3.2(f) — Fraud: 32,009
- 3. Guideline 5.6.0 — Developer Code of Conduct: 1272
- 4. DPLA 6.3 — Intellectual Property Infringement: 920
- 5. Guideline 4.3.0 — Spam: 685
- 6. DPLA 14.8 — Export Control: 332
- 7. Guideline 4.1.0 — Copycats: 211
- 8. Guideline 5.0.0 — Legal: 196
- 9. DPLA 11.1 — Apple Developer Program Membership Expired: 185
- 10. Guideline 2.1.0 — App Completeness: 92
- Apps removed from the App Store subject to government takedown demands:
- China mainland: 1435
- India: 14
- Pakistan: 10
- Russia: 7
- Türkiye: 2
- Bulgaria: 1
- Cyprus: 1
- Hong Kong: 1
- Italy: 1
- Latvia: 1
- Nigeria: 1
- Appeals of app removals:
- China mainland: 5484
- United States: 3157
- United Kingdom: 817
- India: 709
- Hong Kong: 465
- Vietnam: 416
- Japan: 411
- Brazil: 376
- Türkiye: 368
- South Korea: 358
- Restorations after appeals of app removals:
- China mainland: 169
- United States: 129
- United Kingdom: 36
- India: 24
- Türkiye: 14
- Germany: 13
- France: 13
- Canada: 12
- Hong Kong: 12
- Brazil: 11
- Vietnam: 11
Apple’s documents offer more details on these numbers. In China, for instance, the company emphasizes that there were 1,276 game apps removed for lack of a legally required GRN license. In terms of app rejections for “Designs,” Apple says that this includes guidelines that prohibit copycat apps, apps with minimum functionality, and spam.
“Apps are removed only from storefronts in which the entity demanding removal has jurisdiction, and they remain available in all other storefronts,” Apple says regarding app removals.
Developer account data
- Total number of registered Apple developers: 36,974,015
- Terminated developer accounts: 428,487
- Terminated developer accounts by DPLA provision violated
- DPLA 3.2(f) — Fraud: 428,249
- DPLA 14.8 — Export Control: 238
- Terminated developer account appeals: 3338
- Terminated developer account restorations: 159
“Most developer account terminations that are appealed are removed from the App Store due to fraud. Consequently, most appeals from such terminations are rejected,” Apple explains. “Developers may be terminated from the Apple Developer Program for a number of reasons, the most common of which is when accounts are found to be connected with other terminated developer accounts.”
Customer account stats
- Terminated customer accounts: 282,036,628
- Value of fraudulent transactions prevented: $2,090,195,480
- Average weekly visitors to the App Store: 656,739,889
- Average weekly app downloads: 747,873,877
- Average weekly app redownloads: 1,539,274,266
- Average weekly automatic app updates: 40,876,798,492
- Average weekly manual app updates: 512,545,816
One interesting thing to keep in mind regarding terminated customer accounts is that this includes anyone with an iCloud account, regardless of whether or not the person owns an Apple product. For instance, anyone is able to visit the iCloud website and make an account.
The full data
Apple has published the full details of the App Store Transparency Report on its website, including an in-depth supplemental CSV file with specific information on every piece of data.
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