After being accused by the Chinese government of cooperating with the spread of gambling with iMessage, Apple has now been targeted by Norway this time, due to the sale of gambling apps in the country, as reported on the website CalvinAyre. Since the beginning of the month, about 38 apps have been removed from the Apple store at the request of the Norwegian gaming authority (The Norwegian Gaming and Foundation Authority or NGA). Now, as a result of these events, Apple is removing several gambling apps from the air and taking others who have nothing to do with it.
Developers from various regions including Brazilians took the indignation to social networks, where it is possible to follow reports of applications that have no connection with games of chance being removed from the App Store, for not complying with the new app review policies. In an email sent to the developers, Apple said that the new policy was created to reduce fraudulent activity on the App Store and that, therefore, gambling apps sent by individual developers, including apps that involve real money gambling, are no longer allowed. or that simulate a gaming experience.
Today Apple removed my 3 years old app for browsing and sending GIFs from the App Store. The reason? They no longer allow gambling apps submitted by individual developers 🤷‍♂️
Gambling? You could browse and send GIFs. You know, those files pronounced with a hard G. pic.twitter/rzrH5eWmyp
– Simon B. Stvring (@simonbs) August 9, 2018
Today Apple removed my 3 year old app to browse and send GIFs from the App Store. The reason? They no longer allow gambling apps sent by individual developers.
Gambling? You could browse and send GIFs. You know, those files pronounced with a hard G.
Apple just removed WatchPlay from the App Store for being a gambling app.
…? https://t.co/hL14H3oTFn
– Ziph0n (@ Ziph0n) August 8, 2018
Apple just removed WatchPlay from the App Store because it is a gambling app.
?
The Brazilian developer Jorge Flor, responsible for the app “Hashtag | Social Talk & Live Chat & Sports Fan ”, was one of those wrongly affected after the implementation of the new review guidelines; the app, removed after being considered a game of chance, allows users to track hashtags from Twitter and has only one internal purchase, for removing ads.
The reader shared with the is the email sent by Apple (free translation from us), which has yet to provide any answer as to when the application should be made available again.
Dear developer,
To reduce fraudulent activity on the App Store and comply with government requests regarding illegal online gambling activities, we no longer allow gambling apps submitted by individual developers. It includes both real money betting apps and apps that simulate a gaming experience.
As a result, this application has been removed from the App Store. While it is no longer possible to distribute gambling apps from that account, you can continue to submit and distribute other types of apps to the App Store.
As of now, only verified accounts embedded with business entities can submit gambling applications for distribution on the App Store. Visit the registration page to learn more about how to enroll an organization in the Apple Developer Program. For information on how to transfer an application to another developer account, visit the application transfer overview page on the App Store Connect developer help page.
Keep in mind that the App Store Review Guidelines state that you are responsible for ensuring that your app complies with all legal requirements wherever you make it available. Submitting applications designed to mislead or harm customers or prevent the review process may result in the termination of your Apple Developer Program account. Review the Apple Developer Program Terms and Conditions to learn more about our termination related policies.
As you can see, Apple emphasized that "only verified accounts embedded with business entities" can send gaming apps to the App Store. According to MacRumors, apps that are not related to this type of game are being removed due to the “Unrestricted web access” rating through the app. I explain: when developers send their apps, it is necessary to identify the frequency with which web content is displayed through the "Classification" field. Therefore, when an app has “Unrestricted web access”, it means that the user can access any URL from the app.
For now, Apple has not officially responded to any of the vehicles or developers that questioned the removal of apps that have nothing to do with gambling from the App Store. For those who own it, everything indicates that the solution will be to send them from business accounts. We will continue to monitor the consequences of this new Apple policy and will update this article as soon as something new appears.
Update by Eduardo Marques 08/09/2018 s 15:02
Good news. Without any explanation from Apple, the application Hashtag | Social Talk & Live Chat & Sports Fan, from developer Jorge Flor, returned to App Store.
Apparently, the company is starting to fix the mess it made.
