AppGratis, a popular app discovery app on the iPhone, has been pulled from the App Store following the recent launch of its iPad version.
TechCrunch reports that AppGratis has not spoken publicly about the issue, but other apps have been pulled from the App Store for violating a rule on displaying 'Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store'.
However, TechCrunch notes that there are other reasons why the App could have been removed from the store:
That’s why many other scenarios are still possible. Maybe AppGratis uses a private API or breaks an insignificant guideline and Apple won’t put the app back in the store until an updated version is submitted. As always, developers are at the mercy of Apple’s review team. The team often contacts developers to require some changes to an app in order to stay in the store.
Paris-based AppGratis has coincidentally raised $13.5 million in January. With 7 million users and the ability to lead to up to 500,000 downloads for a single app, the company is not a newcomer. If Apple wanted to stamp out AppGratis, it could have done it a few months ago.
Update: Apple has confirmed to All Things D that AppGratis was removed from the App Store for using push notifications to send marketing messages, and also:
But sources close to the company say it was more than a little troubled that AppGratis was pushing a business model that appeared to favor developers with the financial means to pay for exposure. "The App Store is intended as a meritocracy," a source familiar with Apple's thinking told AllThingsD.
Top Rated Comments
Should have put the word App more.
*In Samuel L Jackson voice*
Say App Again!
I'm sorry, but my inner grammar Nazi is cringing. It's 'should have' or 'should've', not 'should of'.
On topic: I stopped using AppGratis a while ago (although still have it installed) because I got bored of the seemingly dull daily offers. The vast majority of apps seemed to me as ones that were performing poorly, usually for good reason, and so opted into AppGratis to try to boost awareness.
I know that's probably the whole point of the app from a developer's perspective, but I was thoroughly unimpressed by the apps featured by it.
Apple's App Store discovery is hopeless and in need of a major overhaul. With iOS 6 we got a new layout but not really any new features or tools to facilitate app discovery.
Seemingly 90 % of the top 100 apps at any given time are freemium ones. No I'm not interested in simulated gambling.
They occasionally promote good apps in the banner ads but it's a very limited number that can get exposed that way.
So they deserve it. Too many money-sucking mediators these days.
My friend just released his next app and the first 3 emails he got were some agencies proposing him to promote his app on the App Store. One of them was asking for ridiculous $49000 or something like that.
Now he contacts popular app-review blogs to get a review and again they ask money for that. It wouldn't be a problem if they said "hey your app doesn't meet our quality standards, so we can't review it", but no, that's the business model for many of them - developers should just pay for reviews.