Every app goes through heavy vetting
The app review process doesn’t mess around. | Image credit – Apple
Before any app hits the App Store, it is screened by Apple’s App Review team, which checks around 150,000 submissions a week. Last year alone, they helped 220,000 developers launch their first app.
And they are not just skimming the surface – Apple reviewed over 7.7 million apps in 2024 and rejected 1.9 million that didn’t meet its standards. That includes privacy violations, hidden features, spam or attempts to copy other apps.
The review process also sniffs out more subtle tricks. Developers often try to sneak in dangerous features that only activate after approval or use bait-and-switch tactics to trick users.
Apple rejected over 43,000 apps for hidden features and 17,000 more for shady behavior like that. It also took down 37,000 fraudulent apps tied to suspicious developer networks and rejected over 320,000 apps for being spammy, deceptive or misleading.
Fake reviews and shady rankings? Apple’s watching
In 2024, Apple handled more than 1.2 billion ratings and reviews. | Image credit – Apple
Apple’s also cracking down on discovery fraud – stuff like fake downloads, paid-for five-star reviews or ranking manipulation. In 2024, the company processed over 1.2 billion ratings and reviews and removed more than 143 million that were fake or fraudulent.
It also yanked over 7,400 apps from the App Store charts and nearly 9,500 more from search results. That means legit developers get a fairer shot at being discovered.
What about payment fraud?
The numbers are huge. | Image credit – Apple
Fraudulent payments and stolen credit cards are a big threat and Apple says it stopped more than $2 billion in scam transactions in 2024 alone. Its tools, like Apple Pay and StoreKit, are designed with security at the core. Apple Pay doesn’t even share your card number with developers and everything’s encrypted end-to-end.
