Apple has published its first ‘2022 App Store Transparency Report’, which provides a detailed overview of how the company reviews, approves and removes apps from its App Store in 175 countries and regions. The report reveals that Apple removed a total of 1,474 apps from its App Store in 2022 as per requests from various governments for violating local laws or regulations.

The majority of the removals came from mainland China, with 1,435 apps being taken down. In contrast, only 14 apps were removed as per requests from the Indian government and 10 apps from the Pakistani government. Apple said that it only removes apps from the storefronts where the requesting entity has jurisdiction, and they remain available in other storefronts. The company also said that it notifies the affected developers of the removal requests and provides them with an opportunity to appeal.

The report also shows that Apple reviewed over 6 million app submissions in 2022 and rejected over 1.6 million for not meeting its App Store policies. The most common reasons for rejection were privacy violations, spam, copycat apps, misleading functionality and inappropriate content. Apple said that it had over 1.7 million apps on its App Store as of 2022 and over 36 million registered developers.

The company also terminated over 428,000 developer accounts for policy violations in 2022. The report is part of Apple’s $100 million settlement with App Store developers in 2021, which required the company to provide more transparency and communication about its app review process. Apple said that it is committed to providing a safe and trusted place for users to discover and download apps and for developers to create and distribute them.

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