Apple is in the midst of removing outdated games and apps from the App Store

Heads up, devs: Apple is currently in the process of removing outdated, abandoned, and non-functional apps from the iOS App Store. The process got started in early September and is still going strong nearly three months later. 

The App Store has had a longstanding problem with abandoned, nonfunctional, or misleading applications crowding the pages of the digital storefront, and this mass removal has no-doubt helped to alleviate that issue but the process hasn’t been painless.

Game makers should pay attention because some developers have noticed their older -- but still functional -- iOS games are being flagged for removal under the deletion criteria put forth by Apple. 

The App Store’s games category has been hit the hardest by this policy. According to data gathered by TechCrunch, 28 percent of the overall 47,300 apps removed in October were iOS games. The next category down the list, entertainment, only made up 8.99 percent of the deletions.

The company originally announced plans to declutter the App Store at the beginning of September. An email shared by TechCrunch explained that Apple is flagging apps that no longer work, don’t follow current review guidelines, or haven’t been updated in “a long time” for deletion.

After being contacted by Apple, developers have 30 days to fix the reported issue with their app or it’ll be removed from the digital storefront. Apple’s FAQ has more information on the process itself.