Security News > 2021 > May > Apple rejected over 215,000 apps in 2020 for privacy violations
Apple says that more than 215,000 iOS apps were blocked by its App Store's App Review team for privacy violations in 2020, while another 150,00 were rejected because they were spamming or misleading iOS users.
Ninety-five thousand additional apps were also removed from the App Store for using bait-and-switch tactics where new features and capabilities were added to fundamentally change their functionality after being approved.
In total, during 2020, almost 1 million problematic new apps and nearly 1 million app updates were removed or rejected by the App Review team - described as "An essential line of defense" - for various reasons and blocked from landing on the App Store.
"In just the last few months, for example, Apple has rejected or removed apps that switched functionality after initial review to become real-money gambling apps, predatory loan issuers, and pornography hubs; used in-game signals to facilitate drug purchasing; and rewarded users for broadcasting illicit and pornographic content via video chat," the company said earlier this week.
"Financial information and transactions are some of the most sensitive data that users share online. Apple has invested significant resources in building more secure payment technologies like Apple Pay and StoreKit, which are used by more than 900,000 apps to sell goods and services on the App Store," Apple added.
The lawsuit was sparked by Apple removing Fortnite from the App Store in August 2020 after it was 'upgraded' with its own in-app payment system, designed to circumvent Apple's standard 30% fee of all App Store transactions.