Apple’s App Store is reportedly removing ‘outdated’ apps; game developers cry foul

Apple will removee apps that haven’t received updates in a while from the App Store, according to a screenshot shared an indie game developer on Twitter. In the email, the company warns the developer that their app is scheduled for removal in 30 days since the app “has not been updated in a significant amount of time”
“You can keep this app available for new users to discover and download from the App Store submitting an update for review within 30 days. If no update is submitted within 30 days, the app will be removed from sale,” said the mail.
According to Protopop games developer Robert Kabwe, who shared the screenshot on Twitter, Apple is threatening to remove his game Motivoto even though it’s fully functional because it hasn’t been updated since March 2019.

Correction – my last update for Motivoto was March 2019, so more than three years ago, not two.
My concerns are the same though – that a fully functioning indie app can be removed from the store with relatively little warning, and for no solid reason.
— Protopop Games (@protopop) April 23, 2022
Kosta Eleftheriou, a developer known for being a vocal App Store critic, pointed out how Apple seems to be making arbitrary decisions when it comes to deciding what apps must be removed.

“Apple also removed a version of my FlickType Keyboard that catered specifically to the visually impaired community, because I hadn’t updated it in 2 years. Meanwhile, games like Pocket God have not been updated the developers for 7 years now,” tweeted Eleftheriou, in reply to the tweet Kabwe.

Apple also removed a version of my FlickType Keyboard that catered specifically to the visually impaired community, because I hadn’t updated it in 2 years.
Meanwhile, games like Pocket God have not been updated the developers for 7 years now: https://t.co/3azyIydty7 pic.twitter.com/n36rvHvF4H
— Kosta Eleftheriou (@keleftheriou) April 23, 2022
The developer also shared screencaps of Pocket God, the game in question, which showed that it hadn’t been updated for close to seven years. It isn’t yet confirmed whether the developers behind the app have received a similar warning from Apple or not.
A page titled “App Store Improvements” on Apple’s site says that the company is “implementing an ongoing process of evaluating apps, removing apps that no longer function as intended, don’t follow current review guidelines, or are outdated.”
The page also says that developers will be asked to submit an update within 30 days to keep their app on the App store. However, it is not clear when the page was last updated and whether this is process is a new announcement.

To spill more ink:
* It isn’t viable for me to spend multiple days updating each of a few free small games I built in ~2014.
* MS puts in technical effort to let you run 30-yr-old Win95 apps on ARM Windows devices. This is a platform policy decision, not a technical one.
— emilia ✨ (@lazerwalker) April 23, 2022
Critics of this policy like Kabwe and Eleftheriou argue that it should not apply to mobile games no matter what their age, comparing them to older console games that can still be played on compatible platforms.