It looks like Apple is getting rid of apps that haven’t been updated in a long time.
A leaked email titled “App Improvement Notice,” which Apple sent to affected developers, states that the tech giant will be removing apps from the App Store that haven’t been “updated in a significant amount of time.”
To prevent the chance of removal, app developers were given 30 days to update their apps. If the developer fails to update the said apps, they will be removed from the App Store.
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This means that new users will never have a chance to download them. However, those who have already downloaded the apps before the removal can keep them on their iPhones. Here’s to hoping they don’t uninstall them, as sideloading apps may never happen on Apple mobile devices.
The email screenshot came from Protopop Games on Twitter, the developer of a still functional game called Motivoto. Since their game is still working in great condition, the app hasn’t been updated since March 2019.
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
Moreover, the developer of an app called FlickType Apple Watch keyboard, which was made for the visually impaired, says that their app was also removed as it hasn’t been updated in two years.
What’s weird is, that the developer said that their previously popular app, Pocket God, which hasn’t received an update since 2015, is still up on the App Store.
.@apple is removing a few of my old games b/c they have “not been updated in a significant amount of time”
Games can exist as completed objects! These free projects aren’t suitable for updates or a live service model, they’re finished artworks from years ago. pic.twitter.com/iflH70j7q4
— emilia ✨ (@lazerwalker) April 23, 2022
Other developers also reported that their apps have been taken down already just before they had the time to update them.
On the Apple Store Improvement page, the company writes that “We are implementing an ongoing process of evaluating apps, removing apps that no longer function as intended, don’t follow current review guidelines, or are outdated.” Albeit, the page doesn’t come with the time it was published.
It goes without saying that this new rule is facing a lot of backlash from critics, especially indie publishers who claim that Apple doesn’t fully respect the work that goes into their games.
Critics say that mobile apps, no matter how long it was last updated, should stay in the app store, much like how users of previous consoles can still play old games.
Via: The Verge