Apple gives developers ‘outdated’ apps more time to make updates

Apple will give developers more time if necessary to update ‘outdated’ apps. The company has a policy on its App Store that apps that “no longer function as intended, do not follow current guidelines or are outdated” must be removed from the platform.

If an application is at risk of being removed for these reasons, the developer was initially given 30 days to update the app. That rule has been in effect on the Apple platform since 2016, but recent criticism of the system seems to indicate that the iPhone maker has recently become more active in enforcing the rule. That led to attention on various news websites a week ago, including The Verge.

Affected developers, like the man behind Protopop Games, called the measures ‘unfair to independent developers’. Several small developers gathered under his tweet who had received the same message from Apple and were critical of it. Many believe that their app does not need an update and that it is too much to ask for things to be updated within 30 days. An update means new targets to be met, which may be set at a faster pace than an indie developer can keep up.

Apparently in reaction Apple is now creating the opportunity for a little more leniency. “Developers, including those who have recently received a message, will be given more time if needed: up to 90 days.” Reasons for developers to receive the message are a lack of updates for three years and “failing to reach a minimum download threshold in the previous twelve months.”

Google has introduced similar rules at its Play Store, but the consequences are milder: if an app is outdated in the eyes of Google, it will be less easy to find on the platform, but there is no question of removing it.