What About the Penalties for Non-compliance in Apple Store?

We have already shared the operation skills in the entire ASO optimization process with you in detail. However, in the process of product update and operation, there are many developers who are pursuing temporary interests, or many novice friends, because they are not familiar with the rules, they are punished by Apple.

As we all know, in order to maintain the fairness of the App Store internal environment, Apple has always imposed very severe penalties for violations. In addition to adopting methods such as adjusting algorithms, changing ranking rules, and locking lists from time to time, Apple also introduced a series of punishment measures such as clearing lists. So what trigger methods does Apple have for violating apps?

Caveat

The warning is the lightest of all Apple penalties. Normally, when Apple finds that certain circumstances are not particularly serious and are suspected of using illegal means to manipulate rankings, users and comments will first use the form of written warnings, which are also given to developers. An opportunity for reform.

Therefore, after receiving such emails, please remember to reply in a timely manner with a reasonable explanation, and have a correct attitude towards admitting mistakes and correcting them in time. Then Apple will open the Internet and temporarily stop the investigation.

Don't ignore the punishment just because you think the punishment is the lightest, and continue the previous violations, otherwise the consequences will become very serious!

Power Down

In addition to the above penalties, when it is found that unconventional behavior is found to operate the rankings, Apple will also use a method-power down, which is actually very understandable, how do you use artificial means to get the ranking violations, Apple will use The way of human beings also governs the human body, artificially lowering the ranking of those applications involving violations on the list or on a certain search result.

Search Block

If the plot is worse, Apple will take search blocking measures.

The "blocking" mentioned here mainly refers to the blocking of search results. Once subjected to such penalties, even if the application itself covers a certain high-traffic keyword through illegal means, the user will not appear when searching for the keyword. As we all know, the current search results have become the number one entrance to get traffic in the app store, so if applications (especially those that are not competitive on the list rankings and mainly rely on search results to get traffic) are blocked, the loss is definitely considerable Disastrous.

Ranking List be Cleared

When a developer commits serious violations of app rankings, comments, etc., and is discovered by Apple, it is very likely that your app will face its rankings on all lists will be cleared.

After the clearing of the list occurs, although the application can still be found through "search", and normal downloading, updating and other operations will not be affected, once the application with a higher ranking in the classification list and the overall ranking is cleared, the traffic loss is also huge.

Clear Keywords

Clear keywords refer to Apple manually removing all or part of the keywords covered by the app. Under normal circumstances, the occurrence of such penalties means that the developer has carried out extremely serious violations of the search ranking results of their App.

Removal

As the name suggests. "Removal" means being removed from the app store by Apple. Once it is removed, except for users who have already downloaded the app, no one else will be able to pass any list or search engine in the app store to download.

Because the consequences of removal are very serious, Apple will not penalize apps for removal if it is not for a series of extremely bad situations such as copyright disputes, pornography, and so on.

Block Account

"Block Account" is the most serious consequence of all Apple penalties. Once the developer account is blocked, not only can the account not be used to submit the app, it will also be difficult to log in.

In addition, once a developer is banned, he cannot apply for Apple's developer program again within one year.

Then knowing the common reasons for incurring Apple penalties can greatly avoid being punished by Apple. The reasons for punishment fall into the following categories:

1. Use illegal means to control the ranking of the list: Apple hates the behavior of using false amounts to violate the rules to manipulate the list and brush praise. In December 2015, Apple once lowered the rights of more than 200 apps that were suspected of this violation.

2. Inducing or compelling users to give praise: Part 3 of the latest App Store Review Guidelines can have clear text descriptions. Although Apple’s current definition of Youdao’s praise is relatively vague, once the behavior is discovered, it will be taken off the shelf. It's still big.

3. Involved in infringement disputes: Apple has always hated infringements. Once such a report is received and the situation is verified, one of the most common penalties is "removal".

4. Involving illegal content: Apps should not include offensive, sensitive, unpleasant, insulting, or inferior content. For example: content that is defamatory or insulting, including quoting or commenting on religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, or other target group content, especially if the app has caused harm to a specific person or group.

More realistic descriptions of people or animals being killed, maimed, tortured, or abused, or content that encourages violence.

The narrative encourages people to use weapons and certain dangerous goods illegally or indiscriminately, or provides convenience for people to buy guns.

Public sex or pornography. For apps that involve the above illegal content, Apple has always punished strictly-that is, "removed".

5. Serious bug or not updated for a long time: Whether it is a serious bug or not updated for a long time, it will harm Apple's user experience and will be "removed". I was maliciously praised by competitors, and the screenshots of the App were very different from the actual ones. The functions of the App are in competition with Apple's own apps, and multiple submissions of the same App may be punished.

What should I do after receiving the punishment?

It can be divided into the following four steps:

1. Pay attention to related emails/messages from Apple
2. Call Apple
3. Communicate with other developers
4. Enable the backup App

The above are the penalties and countermeasures of Apple compiled by the editor for everyone~ but this does not mean that Apple's all penalties. Therefore, on the road of operating and promoting APP, we had better not touch Apple's red line.


In the difficult period of ASO facing huge challenges and the cold winter of the Internet, in order to avoid the tragedy of being cleared, every advertiser and ASOer needs to pay attention and think.

1. Choose a reliable point wall channel. There are hundreds of points on the wall on the market, as well as various so-called agents and fake walls that have mixed in with sheep’s heads and selling dog meat. They are induced by promises of low prices or guaranteed results. It is necessary to pay attention to the technical ability of the wall, the level of anti-cheating and the volume of the essential.

2. Do not use too much force and proceed step by step during operation. Try not to make big ups and downs on some highly competitive words, and you can't stop suddenly after reaching the list. This is an abnormal data in Apple's view, and it is suspected that the amount of brushing is high.

3. Control the quality and quantity of comments. The number of comments corresponds to the actual downloads, you can refer to other products with larger downloads, the ratio of downloads to comments, the ratio of reviews of each star, and the combination of machine reviews and real comments to achieve the best effect of increasing weight while avoiding risk.