Today the BBC reported that Apple have been on a rampage when it comes to shutting down gambling related apps.Norway have been pushing Apple for a while to ban all gambling apps from its store in the country. Recently, Norway succeeded in this movement. However, it seems to have affected the worldwide app market.
Accidental removal from app store
As a result, Apple have been accused of accidentally removing apps which have nothing to do with gambling and not present in Norway.Several developers are complaining that their apps have suddenly vanished despite having nothing to do with gambling. Affected include, The affected apps included a Polish magazine, a gif-sharing service and a platform for sending clips of Xbox games to friends.Below is the message which has been sent out to developers affected by recent changes.“Apple was removing gambling-related apps made by individuals in an effort to ‘reduce fraudulent activity… and comply with government requests to address illegal online gambling activity’.”Apple went on to say,“these apps contain gambling but they don’t reveal how they have detected this,” said Simon Stovring, a Copenhagen-based developer behind a gif-sharing app called Gifferent.“It seems like an unfortunate but honest mistake,” he told the BBC.Mr Stovring said about 10 fellow-developers had contacted him to say that they too had been hit by the ban. Wojtek Pietrusiewicz, co-owner of the Polish app iMagazine, said it had also been “caught in the crossfire”.
What about the apps in the UK Apple store
As it stands, Apple are rectifying the mistake and apps will reappear on the Apple store. Also gambling related apps not in Norway which were removed will be added back into the the Apple store over the upcoming days and weeks. So us in the UK, don’t worry if you’ve seen your favourite apps vanish, it will reappear. In the meantime you may have to go direct untill Apple have completed the recovery process.