Apple’s App Store purge removed almost 50k iOS apps in October, a 238% increase

After announcing in September that it would begin “removing problematic and abandoned apps” in an effort to clean up the App Store, new data shows Apple is now fulfilling that promise with removals dramatically increasing around 238 percent last month.

The data below from research firm Sensor Tower (via TechCrunch) shows around 47,300 apps were removed in October, around 3.4 times more than the average month for the App Store prior to the new purging initiative.

Most of the app removals were games— around 28 percent— according to the report, but there is no indication of what percentage of apps were considered abandoned versus apps that didn’t meet guidelines. While Apple first announced the new App Store purge back in September, it gave developers warnings and a 30-day grace period to submit updates to old apps in order to avoid removal.

It’s unclear what Apple is considering an “abandoned” app, but it’s likely apps that don’t support the latest iOS releases and iPhone hardware will be targets for Apple. The latest guidelines for the App Store recommends developers remove apps that they are no longer updating. 

The effort is ultimately to help users avoid potentially running into apps that break Apple’s guidelines or out-of-date apps that might not offer an ideal experience. It shouldn’t make much of a difference in terms of the amount of apps available on the App Store, as even at close to 50,000 app removals in October, Apple continues to get 100,000 submissions a week and maintains at over 2 million apps available.