Apple will also block 198 million customer accounts in 2022. The company also prevents more than $2 billion worth of fraudulent transactions through the App Store.
Apple has given details of the measures to protect users of the App Store from fraud and malware. So last year were around 428,000 developer accounts and 282 million customer accounts deleted for fraud and abuse.
Compared to 2021, the number of deleted developer accounts fell by around 40 percent. Apple justifies this with new methods and protocols to prevent the creation of fraudulent accounts. As a result, Apple rejected around 105 million applications for its developer program. In addition, 198 million new customer accounts were suspended “before they could even be created” because Apple detected fraudulent or abusive activity.
400,000 apps fail due to data protection rules
How Google Apple also checks every app before it is published in its own marketplace. According to Apple, in 2022 almost 400,000 apps did not make it to the App Store due to privacy violations. Another 153,000 apps were rejected for being deemed spam or copies by Apple. Another 29,000 apps failed because they contained hidden or undocumented features.
In total, more than 6.1 million submitted apps were reviewed by Apple in 2022. Of these, almost 1.7 million apps were rejected for various reasons. According to Apple, malicious code was the reason for rejection in more than one case. Nearly 24,000 apps have been banned or removed from the App Store for being able to “morph into another app”.
$2 billion worth of fraudulent transactions
Apple also uncovered attempts at fraud in ratings. Of around one billion reviews processed in 2022, 147 million were blocked or deleted. “Inauthentic ratings and reviews from fraudulent or bot accounts can trick users into downloading an untrustworthy app that attempts to manipulate the system through misrepresentations,” Apple added.
In addition, Apple claims it may be blocking more than $2 billion worth of fraudulent transactions. Among other things, the use of 3.9 million stolen credit cards was stopped and 714,000 accounts were blocked for further transactions.