The largest Apple delisting incident in 2018: more than 40,000 apps were removed from the Chinese region in a single day!

Today (June 27), the App Store showed a large-scale phenomenon of removing apps. Data showed that more than 20,000 apps have been removed from the Chinese region, and the number continues to increase. This is the first time that Apple has taken a targeted major action after the Apple Developer Conference.

Further observation shows that in addition to the Chinese region, similar delisting situations have also occurred in the United States, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, China, Japan, and South Korea. The delisting of applications should not be underestimated. The specific data are as follows:

Note: Since the same app will be launched in multiple countries or regions, it will be reflected repeatedly in the data; data extraction is until 15:00 on June 27. The latest data can be found at the end of the article or log in to the Qimai Data official website to view.

Apple Cleanup

The apps that Apple cleaned up this time were last updated between 2015 and 2017, while the apps that were cleaned up on May 6 were last updated between 2013 and 2015. This shows that this year, Apple has begun to gradually increase the frequency and intensity of cleaning.

Games are no longer popular, Apple is turning its back on business

In this delisting, the number of business apps removed from the list far exceeds that of gaming apps, which have been the most removed in the past. Business apps account for 18% of the total number of apps removed from the list; gaming apps account for 13% of the total number of apps removed from the list. This time, the cleanup of business apps mainly targets apps whose product functions do not match the selected categories. For example, apps such as maternal and child care , games, sports lottery, and travel all appear in the business category.

Cleaning is also divided into "big and small times"

This kind of cleanup behavior by Apple also happened on May 6 ( 14,000 apps were removed from the shelves, 372 apps were removed from the same developer, and Apple once again triggered a removal storm! ). In response to this issue, Qimai Research Institute has compiled a time summary of the number of apps removed from the Chinese region from January 1, 2017 to the present.

From the data, we can see that Apple's cleanup follows a regular pattern. On February 12, 2017, June 15, 2017, and February 13, 2018, more than 15,000 apps were removed from the shelves respectively. There is a major adjustment every 4-5 times, which is worthy of the attention of developers and should be considered.

Luck ≠ Escape

Apple has always maintained the principle of survival of the fittest for its products. Judging from the time interval between January 1, 2017 and the day when Apple removed more than 10,000 apps from its Chinese stores, Apple's cleanup frequency was very frequent in 2017. After October 2017, Apple stopped this action and developers began to slack off. However, since the beginning of this year, Apple has gradually resumed the cleaning frequency so that those "lucky" ones will no longer be spared.

in conclusion

• Apple's large-scale cleanup is to maintain a good App Store ecological environment;

• Apple has a regular cleanup schedule, so developers should pay attention to the size of the cleanup.

• Cleaning up abandoned applications is inevitable. Every developer must be responsible for their product and avoid taking chances.

• The latest data (as of press time):

Apps removed from the Chinese market: 20,749

Apps removed from the US market: 18,191

Apps removed from Hong Kong: 11,466

Apps removed from Taiwan: 11,528

Apps removed from Japan: 11,413

Apps removed from the Korean market: 10,855

Author: Shi Ye , authorized to publish by Qinggua Media .

Source: Qimai Research Institute (ID: Qimaiyanjiuyuan )