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Apple Pulls App Discovery App 'AppGratis' From App Store [Updated]

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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appgratis.jpg
AppGratis, a popular app discovery app on the iPhone, has been pulled from the App Store following the recent launch of its iPad version.

TechCrunch reports that AppGratis has not spoken publicly about the issue, but other apps have been pulled from the App Store for violating a rule on displaying 'Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store'.

However, TechCrunch notes that there are other reasons why the App could have been removed from the store:
That's why many other scenarios are still possible. Maybe AppGratis uses a private API or breaks an insignificant guideline and Apple won't put the app back in the store until an updated version is submitted. As always, developers are at the mercy of Apple's review team. The team often contacts developers to require some changes to an app in order to stay in the store.

Paris-based AppGratis has coincidentally raised $13.5 million in January. With 7 million users and the ability to lead to up to 500,000 downloads for a single app, the company is not a newcomer. If Apple wanted to stamp out AppGratis, it could have done it a few months ago.
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Update: Apple has confirmed to All Things D that AppGratis was removed from the App Store for using push notifications to send marketing messages, and also:
But sources close to the company say it was more than a little troubled that AppGratis was pushing a business model that appeared to favor developers with the financial means to pay for exposure. "The App Store is intended as a meritocracy," a source familiar with Apple's thinking told AllThingsD.
Click to expand...

Article Link: Apple Pulls App Discovery App 'AppGratis' From App Store [Updated]
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/04/08/apple-pulls-app-discovery-app-appgratis-from-app-store/
Xenomorph

Xenomorph

macrumors 65816
Aug 6, 2008
1,397
829
St. Louis
I don't see how these are confusing.

It doesn't matter if a user is confused into thinking this is an "app store", tapping any link opens *Apple's* App Store!
 
AQUADock

AQUADock

macrumors 65816
Mar 20, 2011
1,049
37
"Apple Pulls App Discovery App 'AppGratis' From App Store"

Should have put the word App more.
 
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simonmet

simonmet

Cancelled
Sep 9, 2012
2,666
3,663
Sydney
Well, thanks to the publicity I'll be sure to check it out when it comes back.

Apple's App Store discovery is hopeless and in need of a major overhaul. With iOS 6 we got a new layout but not really any new features or tools to facilitate app discovery.

Seemingly 90 % of the top 100 apps at any given time are freemium ones. No I'm not interested in simulated gambling.

They occasionally promote good apps in the banner ads but it's a very limited number that can get exposed that way.
 
204353

204353

Cancelled
Jul 13, 2008
955
117
AQUADock said:
"Apple Pulls App Discovery App 'AppGratis' From App Store"

Should of put the word App more.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but my inner grammar Nazi is cringing. It's 'should have' or 'should've', not 'should of'.

On topic: I stopped using AppGratis a while ago (although still have it installed) because I got bored of the seemingly dull daily offers. The vast majority of apps seemed to me as ones that were performing poorly, usually for good reason, and so opted into AppGratis to try to boost awareness.

I know that's probably the whole point of the app from a developer's perspective, but I was thoroughly unimpressed by the apps featured by it.
 
Romf

Romf

macrumors 6502
Jun 11, 2011
264
70
Paris, France
MarcBook said:
I'm sorry, but my inner grammar Nazi is cringing. It's 'should have' or 'should've', not 'should of'.

On topic: I stopped using AppGratis a while ago (although still have it installed) because I got bored of the seemingly dull daily offers. The vast majority of apps seemed to me as ones that were performing poorly, usually for good reason, and so opted into AppGratis to try to boost awareness.

I know that's probably the whole point of the app from a developer's perspective, but I was thoroughly unimpressed by the apps featured by it.
Click to expand...

I can quote that I've seen some very great apps like whatsapp or citymaps2go on this. Of course there are some useless stuff but for me it's an app worth a daily check :)
 
S

SirYossi

macrumors regular
Jan 4, 2012
117
1
Penfield
Kabeyun said:
Beat me to it. If the promotion rule is the reason, AppShopper's next.
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But AppShopper has a dedicated web sight that is used for both Mac Apps (how i find most of my price drop deals) and apps for iOS. I do not use the iOS app as it sucks really bad - tend to use the web sight as it will link to itunes or the app store. Apple can pull the AppShopper app but it does not effect the web sight does it?
 
TouchMint.com

TouchMint.com

macrumors 68000
May 25, 2012
1,625
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Phoenix
If its true that the app was pulled because:

But sources close to the company say it was more than a little troubled that AppGratis was pushing a business model that appeared to favor developers with the financial means to pay for exposure.



I am glad Apple is finally doing something about this. Models like this are very hard on indie devs that dont have the money to "buy" their way to the top. This model also screws over the customer because a lot of the time this helps crappy apps move to the top when way better apps are not recognized.
 
Parasprite

Parasprite

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2013
1,698
144
Apple97 said:
Gratis actually is the Norwegian word for Free.
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As well as Spanish, Italian, and English...and Afrikaans... and Haitian Creole, Dutch, Catalan, Croatian, Romanian, and, of course, Latin.

ORIGIN late Middle English: from Latin, contraction of gratiis ‘as a kindness,’ from gratia ‘grace, kindness.’
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V

vmistery

macrumors 6502a
Apr 6, 2010
942
688
UK
Also a shame that 99.9% of what it promoted was trash anyway. I would love an app which suggested quality apps.
 
M

Mactendo

macrumors 68000
Oct 3, 2012
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that AppGratis was pushing a business model that appeared to favor developers with the financial means to pay for exposure
Click to expand...

So they deserve it. Too many money-sucking mediators these days.
My friend just released his next app and the first 3 emails he got were some agencies proposing him to promote his app on the App Store. One of them was asking for ridiculous $49000 or something like that.
Now he contacts popular app-review blogs to get a review and again they ask money for that. It wouldn't be a problem if they said "hey your app doesn't meet our quality standards, so we can't review it", but no, that's the business model for many of them - developers should just pay for reviews.
 
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M

Mr.damien

Guest
""The App Store is intended as a meritocracy," a source familiar with Apple's thinking told AllThingsD."

Better latter than never. Happy to see those go away.

Always pushing crap apps on top of the App Store ...
 
Reason077

Reason077

macrumors 68040
Aug 14, 2007
3,605
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MacRumors said:
Apple has confirmed to All Things D that AppGratis was removed from the App Store for using push notifications to send marketing messages
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Ridiculous reason. They had better ban Groupon and a few thousand other apps if Apps are now not allowed to send "marketing messages" via push notification.

This is, after all, why there is a user setting to block push notifications for each app. Surely users know what they're getting when they install an app like this, and can easily delete the app or block push if they get annoying.
 
tatonka

tatonka

macrumors 6502
Aug 25, 2009
495
40
Mactendo said:
So they deserve it. Too many money-sucking mediators these days.
My friend just released his next app and the first 3 emails he got were some agencies proposing him to promote his app on the App Store. One of them was asking for ridiculous $49000 or something like that.
Now he contacts popular blogs to get a review and again they ask money for that. It wouldn't be a problem if they said "hey your app doesn't meet our quality standards, so we can't review it", but no, that's the business model for many of them - developers should just pay for reviews.
Click to expand...

What are you guys expecting? That like saying WalMart should not be allowed to hand out commercial magazines or Apple shouldn't be allowed to run Super Bowl ads because there are better Indie phones that are not getting the proper exposure. That is how the world works. You pay for advertisement room and exposure. If you have a really genius idea it will maybe picked up nonetheless, but chances are slim.
 
somethingelsefl

somethingelsefl

macrumors 6502
Dec 22, 2008
461
204
Tampa, FL
I really wish AppShopper was still available in the App Store, I honestly didn't see the harm. It certainly helped me find more apps (and spend more moey in the App Store).
 
Jessica Lares

Jessica Lares

macrumors G3
Oct 31, 2009
9,612
1,056
Near Dallas, Texas, USA
Mactendo said:
So they deserve it. Too many money-sucking mediators these days.
My friend just released his next app and the first 3 emails he got were some agencies proposing him to promote his app on the App Store. One of them was asking for ridiculous $49000 or something like that.
Now he contacts popular blogs to get a review and again they ask money for that. It wouldn't be a problem if they said "hey your app doesn't meet our quality standards, so we can't review it", but no, that's the business model for many of them - developers should just pay for reviews.
Click to expand...

Websites need to survive somehow. Most people block advertising these days, so there goes that option.

I wouldn't charge for a review myself, just ask for a promo code to get the app for free to review. Some developers have even seen me reviewing their apps on places like here, and they do offer me some of their other stuff as a thank you.

But a lot of sites need that money to survive, and obviously to make money, you need money. If you don't get that concept, you probably won't get very far that quickly with most things, including apps.
 
somethingelsefl

somethingelsefl

macrumors 6502
Dec 22, 2008
461
204
Tampa, FL
MacRumors said:
but other apps have been pulled from the App Store for violating a rule on displaying 'Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store'.
Click to expand...

tobefirst said:
I would have expected some mention of how this affects or relates to AppShopper, MacRumor's sister site.
Click to expand...


Read the article and click the links...they linked the AppShopper website in this posting. AppShopper was already pulled from the store a while back. MacRumors even posted a story about it. Even the TechCrunch story that was linked in the article contains information about how it relates to AppShopper.

Take. The. Time. To. Read.
 
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