Just lately, a number of builders complained about how Apple threatened to take away their apps from the App Retailer as a result of they hadn’t been up to date in a “important period of time.” Now, the corporate has responded — by issuing a press launch successfully saying that no person was downloading the apps in any case.

The discover, launched on Friday night, reads partially:

As a part of the App Retailer Enhancements course of, builders of apps that haven’t been up to date throughout the final three years and fail to fulfill a minimal obtain threshold — which means the app has not been downloaded in any respect or extraordinarily few occasions throughout a rolling 12 month interval — obtain an e-mail notifying them that their app has been recognized for potential elimination from the App Retailer.

We’ve heard about these emails earlier than — final week, builders like Robert Kabwe and Emilia Lazer-Walker reported getting them, and expressed misery that they’d 30 days to replace their apps, or they’d be faraway from the shop. Different builders shared comparable experiences on Twitter, saying that the coverage, and the period of time they got to make modifications, have been unfair to indie builders.

In addition they expressed deeper issues about Apple deciding to wipe away a whole class of apps as a result of it thinks they don’t belong on its retailer. Lazer-Walker argued that video games needs to be allowed to be completed, and that they’ll nonetheless be beneficial with out being a service. Kabwe expressed the same thought, stating that you would be able to nonetheless purchase console video games from the 2000s. To place the argument one other approach: Apple eradicating these apps is a bit prefer it eradicating films from the iTunes Retailer simply because they present up with black bars on trendy TVs (although I do perceive that deciphering a video sign is simpler than operating code).

Apple’s rationalization does clear up why it, as some builders famous, appeared to use the principles inconsistently. For instance, one developer noted that Pocket God, a preferred sport from the iPhone’s early days, hasn’t been up to date for seven years however remains to be on the App Retailer. Apple is mainly saying it’s nonetheless up as a result of it’s nonetheless widespread.

From one angle, this reasoning doesn’t essentially gel with the primary half of Apple’s publish, the place it says it removes previous apps to make sure “consumer belief in high quality apps,” and to enhance discoverability, safety and privateness, and consumer expertise. In any case — if an app is problematic as a result of it’s outdated, extra downloads would make a nasty app a much bigger situation. Who’s being harmed if there’s an outdated app virtually nobody is downloading?

However Apple says it doesn’t need the App Retailer cluttered up with apps that each builders and customers have forgotten about. It has sufficient issues making it straightforward for customers to search out good apps as it’s, and it’s straightforward to think about Apple seeing deleting previous, seemingly irrelevant apps as an excellent resolution.

Whereas Apple’s publish might really feel like a slap within the face to builders nervous about shedding one thing that they spent real effort and time on, the corporate is extending a tiny olive department. Its publish notes that anybody who receives a discover from right here on out — and those that already obtained a discover — can have 90 days as a substitute of 30 to replace their app earlier than it’s eliminated. Whereas that ought to make it simpler for builders to save lots of their apps, it doesn’t let the applications “exist as accomplished objects,” as Lazer-Walker put it. Apple, it appears, is just within the accomplished objects which might be nonetheless getting eyeballs.