App Store: Apple fights Fraudulent Apps On The Store

Apple continues to make progress in the fight against rogue apps. The company has announced that nearly $1.5 billion in potentially illegal transactions will have been prevented by 2021. More than 800,000 apps were affected. The updated fraud prevention analysis highlights Apple’s efforts to make the App Store a “safe and trusted place.” Despite significantly stricter guidelines for adding and updating apps for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple TV compared to the Google Play Store, the company isn’t likely to get all the black sheep on the net here either.

The research of 2021 revealed that fraudulent transactions worth $1.5 billion have been prevented, Apple said. These assumed more than 1.6 million risky apps and app updates that the company’s own App Review team prevented from being listed in the App Store last year. More than 340,000 apps were allegedly rejected, with the aim of requesting too much user data or “mishandling” the data already collected.

Millions of users and developers banned

Statistics from the App Review process, which combines computer automation with manual review by Apple employees, also revealed more than 34,000 apps attempting to infiltrate the App Store with hidden features. More than 157,000 programs were illegally cloned or spam apps. In connection with this, more than 170 million users and more than 800,000 developer accounts were blocked in 2021.

Finally, the company responds to fraudulent ratings and reviews. Of the more than one billion submissions, more than 94 million reviews and more than 170 million reviews were discovered and removed “because they didn’t meet the standards”, according to Apple. In addition, there are more than 600,000 reviews that have been manually removed by support staff following customer reports.