Earlier in 2016, Apple promised that it will clean up the iOS App Store by getting rid of broken and outdated apps. New data showed that Apple is currently busy purging the App Store, with mobile games being on top of the removed apps list.
Apple App Store Purge: 43,000 Apps Removed
According to new data from Sensor Tower, an app intelligence firm, the App Store had a 238 percent increase in removals in October 2016. Previously, Apple warned developers to update their projects on the App Store before Sep. 7, 2016 to keep it from being removed. In October, 47,300 apps were eliminated from the App Store.
Apple regularly deletes apps, averaging 14,000 apps per month from January to September 2016, but the recent figure was 3.4 times higher than usual. This means that Apple is acting on its prior promise to clean up the App Store.
Apple App Store Purge: Mobile Games Suffered The Most Deletions
Tech Crunch wrote that mobile games had the most deletions, since these are among the largest and highly trafficked products on the App Store. About 28 percent of the 47,300 removed apps were games. Games were followed by Entertainment (8.99 percent) Books (8.96 percent), Education (7 percent) and Lifestyle (6 percent).
In another Tech Crunch report, the great App Store purge is expected to continue, since almost half of the apps on the App Store have not been updated since May 2015, while 25.6 percent have not been updated since November 2013. Apple indicated that apps that fail to meet their current review guidelines, fail to work as intended or have not been supported with computability updates for a long time, will be removed.
Apple has not provided a definition of abandoned apps, but they basically determine whether the app is outdated or broken, ultimately warranting deletion. Apple found the need to refresh the App Store, considering how it may have about 5 million apps available by the year 2020.
At present, the App Store has about 2 million apps. Every week, Apple receives about 100,000 new and updated apps. The App Store is expected to continue growing in the following years with the arrival of the iMessage App Store. More updates and details are expected soon.
