App Store 2021 the first four months of the number of list clearance increased significantly compared to last year, 2020 daily list clearance number basically remained below 20, while this year the number of daily list clearance is basically above 20. So it seems that Apple has increased its strength in the list clearance.

List clearance refers to the removal of an app's ranking in each chart. Usually, after an app got cleared, you can still find the app through "Search", and normal download and update operations will not be affected.

However, for apps with front ranking, the traffic loss is huge once they got cleared.

Update every 3 hours, the 100th-300th app was deleted at a high rate

After ASO World collected the data of App Store clearance list from Jan. 1, 2021 to April 30, 2021, we found that after clearance the list, there were 3840 products restored to the ranking, accounting for 95%, and only 214 products were actually been cleared.

List update frequency

The list update time is generally at 2:40, 5:40, 8:40, 11:40, 14:40, 17:40, 20:40, 23:40, also every 3 hours, and is very close to the list clearance time, so Apple is likely to clear the list after the list update.

Among the 4054 products cleared, 2127 were games and 1927 were apps, with little difference in quantity and a basically equal proportion.

List clearance time

In terms of list clearance time, the clearance is concentrated at 3:00, 6:00, 9:00, 12:00, 15:00, 18:00, 21:00 and 24:00.

App ranking before clearance of the list

From the ranking data of the list, the ranking of products before clearance the list is generally concentrated in the range of 100-200 and 200-300, with 1482 and 2191 respectively, while the number of products in other ranges is relatively small.

Role-playing and action games are more likely to be deleted

Among the top games, the number of free games is 1263, accounting for 59.38%, and the number of paid games is 864, accounting for 40.62%, with a difference of nearly 20%, which is quite obvious.

Role-playing games, action games, casual games, adventure games and strategy games are the categories with more than 200+ games, while the number of speed games, sports and casino games are relatively small, all below 30.

Paid and free apps are similar in proportion, tools are the most dangerous category

The number of free products is 1029, accounting for 53.40%, and the number of paid products is 898, accounting for 46.6%, almost the same.

Tools, photography and video, and education are the categories with more than 200+ clear listings.

Data of list clearance

For games, role-playing, action, casual, adventure, and strategy categories are more likely to encounter clear lists.

For apps, the Tools, Photography & Video, and Education categories are more likely to experience clearance.

Products ranking between 100-200 and 200-300 are more likely to be cleared.

 

The frequency of clearance the list is generally once every 3 hours, and the time points are generally at 3:00, 6:00, 9:00, 12:00, 15:00, 18:00, 21:00 and 24:00, and the clearance is stronger from 12:00.

The list clearance is usually synchronized with the list updating.

The number of misunderstood products is large, but according to the recovery speed in recent month, it can be recovered in 2-3 hours, so developers don't need to worry too much.

Reasons for clearance the list, you can prevent the problem before it happens

Reviews are an important factor that affects the conversion rate of App Store traffic, and the details of reviews are likely to directly affect users' downloading decisions, so many products have review anomalies, which are manifested as too many positive reviews and abnormal review content.

It is recommended that developers should not click farm reviews or induce users to make positive comments, as it is not worthwhile to lose once the list is cleared by Apple.

The product is found by Apple to have irregularities such as click farming of the list or inducing comments

It is recommended that developers should not click farm reviews or induce users to make positive comments, as it is not worthwhile to lose once the list is cleared by Apple.

App has not been updated for a long time

When an app has not been updated for a long time, apple will consider it "abandoned" by default, so it will be cleaned up.

Developers should optimize and iterate their products from time to time to keep them running properly and provide users with a better experience while avoiding being taken down by Apple as "abandoned apps".

Accidentally attacked by Apple

If there is suddenly a large number of downloads over a period of time, resulting in a surge in the ranking of the list, even if it is a real user brought in through massive advertising, it may cause Apple to suspect and lead to being cleared from the list.

What should developers do in this situation?

If such situation happened to your app, developers are advised to report to Apple in advance when the product will be promoted through channels, activities and other means, and the download level will rise massively, in order to avoid being misunderstood by Apple.

The notification email should reflect the reasons for the increase in the download level and the importance of Apple's regulations.

If you have already been wronged, you can contact Apple to file a complaint. When filing a complaint, you should explain to Apple that the recent additions to your product are all regular customer acquisition, and you can provide screenshots of the promotion channels, screenshots of the effect settlement, and the active, retention and other behavioral data of the recently added users.

According to the data in the past month, the list can be restored to normal after 2-3 hours, so developers just need to wait patiently and don't worry too much.