In the midst of its legal battle with Epic Games concerning the App Store, Apple says it stopped over US$1.5 billion fraudulent transactions in 2020.
Key Takeaways for 2020
- Over 48,000 apps were rejected for containing hidden or undocumented features
- Over 150,000 apps were rejected for being spam, copycats, or misleading to users
- Over 215,000 apps were rejected for privacy violations
- Over US$1.5 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions were stopped
- Over US$3 million stolen cards were prevented from purchasing
- 1 million accounts were banned from ever transacting again
- 244 million customer accounts were deactivated
- 424 million attempted account creations were rejected
- 470,000 developer accounts were terminated
Meanwhile, nearly 1 million problematic new apps, and an additional nearly 1 million app updates, were rejected or removed for a range of reasons. Apple says: “Some developers perform a bait and switch: fundamentally changing how the app works after review to evade guidelines and commit forbidden and even criminal actions.”
More statistics can be found on Apple’s webpage.