App removed from UAE App Store for 17+ Rating and Alcohol Content

Question

Created Jan ’19

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We have an app that has been in the App Store for 2+ years now. The app's rating from the start has always been 17+. The main feature of the app is that it advertises local venues and events and allows people to redeem food offers and free drinks.

Just recently and the end of 2018, we have submitted our app and was approved. App status for the new version is Ready for Sale. However, the app has suddenly been removed in the UAE app store. After contacting Apple Support, they mentioned that the app has been removed because of local regulations that all apps rated 17+ will become unavailable now in the country.

Question is, has anybody else experience the same issue in the UAE or any other country? I will try to change our app rating to 12+ and see if it gets approved and become available again. But is there any other work around for this? Because we also see that some other apps that also advertise alcoholic content in their app is still in the App Store.

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Answer 1

KMT OP

Jan ’19

> Because we also see that some other apps that also advertise alcoholic content in their app is still in the App Store.

Keep in mind that nothing in the store is any promise of what will happen w/your app(s).

Might be they are doing a purge and got to you before someone else. Might be others going in new have been blocked and you'll never know about them. Might be someone noticed yours and put a bug in their ear...

Is what it is for you, tho, so...

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Answer 2

ilyasattar OP

Apr ’21

The App Store is a digital distribution platform, developed and maintained by Apple Inc., for mobile apps on its iOS and iPadOS operating systems. The store allows users to browse and download apps developed with Apple's iOS Software Development Kit. Apps can be downloaded on the iPhone smartphone, the iPod Touch handheld computer, or the iPad tablet computer, and some can be transferred to the Apple Watch smartwatch or 4th-generation or newer Apple TVs as extensions of iPhone apps.

The App Store was opened on July 10, 2008, with an initial 500 applications available. The number of apps peaked at around 2.2 million in 2017, but declined slightly over the next few years as Apple began a process to remove old or 32-bit apps that do not function as intended or that do not follow current app guidelines. As of 2020, the store features around 1.8 million apps.
While Apple touts the role of the App Store in creating new jobs in the "app economy" and claims to have paid over $155 billion to developers, the App Store has also attracted criticism from developers and government regulators that it operates a monopoly and that Apple's 30% cut of revenues from the store is excessive.

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