According to the sources, Apple removed over 540,000 apps from the App Store in the most recent quarter alone. This step is taken to get rid of outdated applications and those that violated the company’s criteria. The App Store had this many apps in the 3rd quarter of 2015. Apps disappearing from the Apple’s Store is nothing new, but the recent surge in disappearances is striking. Apple announced earlier this year that it would remove any app that had not been updated within 30 days. Apple was apparently aware that there were too many unused apps available for download. “Previously, Apple had not set any timeline for removing apps, but the recent update stressed that cleaning the App Store is an ongoing process and will evaluate apps, removing apps that no longer function as planned, don’t adhere to reviewed guidelines, or need to be updated”, Finbold notes. Apple’s removal of older apps has been criticized for a number of reasons. It includes the fact that once an app is taken from the App Store, it cannot be reinstalled. That’s a sad loss from a historical perspective. While the number of apps in the Apple’s Store is at a seven year low, consumers still have a wide variety of options when purchasing a new iPhone 14, for example. When they do that, kids won’t be able to download any of their old favourites like games and apps.
