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Apple Removed 47,300 Outdated iOS Apps From App Store in October of 2016
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Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
All our apps are still in the store because they all still work.
So I'm not really bothered by them removing apps that no longer work.
But Apple is still way off base with the App Store. The lack of offering paid upgrades kills small developers.
Now If I can just take my 2002 G4 Powerbook to an Apple store and get a free upgrade to a new MacBook Pro!
So I'm not really bothered by them removing apps that no longer work.
But Apple is still way off base with the App Store. The lack of offering paid upgrades kills small developers.
Now If I can just take my 2002 G4 Powerbook to an Apple store and get a free upgrade to a new MacBook Pro!
Be careful what you wish for ...
In a couple of years Apple might sell the whole Mac line to DELL (like IBM did with their ThinkPads)
At least we'd get updates...Be careful what you wish for ...
In a couple of years Apple might sell the whole Mac line to DELL (like IBM did with their ThinkPads)
But in all seriousness, I wonder if they really will do that one day. Yea they want full control in their "walled garden," but at the same time I could see them licensing MacOS to other OEMs.
Make sure you had a local copy somewhere; I have several that aren't on the App Store anymore and if I do a restore from iCloud, they don't come back. If I do a restore from iTunes (ie, did a complete local backup), iTunes will put them back on my device.
On multiple occasions I've had to do paid upgrades when the new version is submitted as a different app instead of an update. So unless Apple now blocks that method, it doesn't seem lacking at all.
Judging by some the geniuses on here lately, right-click might be too complicated for some MacRumors forum commenters.
My impression is that Gross Profit Margin is what drives Apple these days. It reached a peak of 47% in 2012, and now is down to 38%. Entry models like the MacMini or the Macbook Air might have a lower mark-up, and hence from the GPM perspective are the goods Apple does not want to sell in high numbers.
This is completely unnecessary (overhead) if they just allowed paid upgrades. Apple will block developers from doing this if the original app is still in the store with mostly duplicate functionality.
People need to remember that Apple is a hardware company (but they won't just upgrade my 2002 G4 PB to a 2016 MBP for free - will they?). Apple has never made a single dollar of profit selling software (think about that for a minute) yet now they totally dictate how software developers sell software. And force monetization terms, like family share, and remove discoverability features from the store at whim.. "Very Unfair" (hearing that a lot lately from someone
and waiting for some payback)
I think this is a very good thing. Although Apple should only do this very, very carefully. An algorithmic purge using the words flappy, fart, and flashlight would drop the App Store volume from 2 million apps to approximately 183.... with 176 still falling under flappy, fart, and flashlight.
Keep in mind that over 60% of apps in the AppStore have never been downloaded. Not even once.
These aren't the apps you use every day. These are ones that were junk from day 1 and no one has touched. If the apps you've used have been updated in the past year, you should be just fine.
These aren't the apps you use every day. These are ones that were junk from day 1 and no one has touched. If the apps you've used have been updated in the past year, you should be just fine.
Wow, really? Mind if I ask where you got that stat from? I'm genuinely curious.
I think this is a very good thing. Although Apple should only do this very, very carefully. An algorithmic purge using the words flappy, fart, and flashlight would drop the App Store volume from 2 million apps to approximately 183.... with 176 still falling under flappy, fart, and flashlight.
Actually their developer terms specifically say we don't need any more fart apps.
https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/
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The stat is old, from 2012. The AppStore was launched in 2008. Between 2012 and now the number of apps has climbed like crazy but the fact that only a small number of the very top apps get downloaded still remains true.
Most search just the top apps and might have a couple niche apps along with a few that they need for IoT devices or something.
Even if you have 200 apps on your phone, most smartphone users use just 6-10 apps a week. Many download apps weekly but just about 25% are left on their phone after even 1 day after downloading.
With 2 million apps in the AppStore, it's easy to see that even if we have a bunch of apps on our phones, most of them are likely to be the same few (few hundred of the total across the majority of users). That leaves hundreds of thousands of apps out there that no one touches.
http://www.phonearena.com/news/4000...ave-never-been-downloaded-says-report_id32943
^^This comment would have been so much better with a touch of humor... or snark... or... anything other than dry quotations from the developer site. I just clubbed a baby seal with a baby koala so I feel better now. Just kidding.
autrefois
macrumors 65816
I'm sure this means that all of those apps are complete junk and deserve to be deleted from the store right away, and absolutely nothing to do with the fact that app discovery is near impossible when there's already a popular app or two in a given category...
All ITunes users need to back up and store every purchase locally onto a hard drive. I have over 60 dollars worth of Sutro apps that I was not able to redone load once the logic board on my phone died. Five Detectives a six episode series was removed from ITunes and I am also no longer so that was another 18 dollars flushed down the toilet.
Help us to force users of older iPhones and iPads buy new models, or your app will be eliminated. How different from the Apple I knew, when Macs would last for years and years and Apple was built respecting the user freedom to maintain and care their older products.
Who was accused of monopoly for bundling a web browser with the OS? That was a childish joke compared to Apple practices nowadays!! They have your data on their servers, they choose when you update, and they choose what devices can be supported by third party developers. What does the user choose? I choose to leave, of course!!