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Published 12:48 IST, August 20th 2020

Apple removes 3000 apps in 2 days from Chinese App Store after new regulations

Apple had recently removed thousands of mobile games from the Chinese App Store. Read more to find out why was this move taken by the American tech giant.

Reported by: Yash Tripathi
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The rising unrest between the US and China has forced Apple to remove thousands of apps from the Chinese App Store. This began when China changed its regulations regarding the game applications in the country, a move that can be traced back to Trump's initial attacks on Chinese apps. Now, all app developers need to get their app approved by Chinese regulators before the apps can be uploaded to the App Store.

Apple's App Store removes thousands of Mobile Games

According to The Information, Apple removed more than 47,000 apps from the Chinese App Store. The reports reveal that Apple's move is due to China's new regulations that require game developers to gain approval from the Chinese regulators before uploading their apps in China's Apple App Store. These new regulations are affecting Apple's goal to provide its customer with a wide range of mobile games and apps in the tight market of the country.

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To operate in Chinese markets, an international company needs to partner with a China-based organisation. However, Apple was able to negotiate an exemption with the Chinese government to work independently. The exemption helped the organisation to operate in the country without meeting any such guidelines to avoid sharing the source code for iOS technology. But, after the Chinese Government released new regulations for applications in the country, Apple had to remove several apps from its store. As per reports, the American company has removed over 3000 apps in just two days.

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The technology giant is vulnerable to regulatory risk in China and now the Asian country is closing all the loopholes used by the iPhone seller because the US President, Donald Trump started attacking Chinese Apps like TikTok, WeChat and other apps in the US. This has made functioning quite hard for many China-origin apps to work in the American states. Apart from apps, the Trump administration has also tightened restrictions on Chinese phone maker Huawei. 

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What is the future of Apple in China?

It becomes quite unclear to what the future of Apple's Chinese operations is, however, the company has removed thousands of apps to avoid any actions from the Chinese government. The company in China had always been quite vulnerable despite a massive user base and a classic example can be the removal of the iBookstore and iTunes Movies in China in April 2016, just six months after Apple launched those stores in the country. 

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Updated 12:48 IST, August 20th 2020