May 16, 2023
Update
The App Store has stopped more than $2 billion in fraudulent transactions by 2022
The App Store was launched in 2008 with two main goals: to provide a platform where users can securely find and download applications, and to provide an exciting opportunity for developers to showcase their ideas and grow their businesses.
Over the years, Apple has introduced various measures to support the ecosystem that benefit users and developers. As a result, the App Store has become a vibrant and innovative platform that attracts more than 650 million average weekly visitors worldwide and provides more than 36 million registered Apple developers with a global distribution platform that supports more than 195 local payment methods and 44 currencies.
Today, Apple By 2022, the App Store prevented more than $2 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions, and rejected nearly 1.7 million apps for not meeting the App Store’s high standards for privacy, security, and content.
Account fraud
Apple last year compromised 428,000 developer accounts and 282,000 customer accounts through fraud and abuse.
Over the years, Apple has improved its systems to continuously monitor and detect account fraud. In the year By 2021, Apple had suspended more than 802,000 developer accounts for potentially fraudulent activity. In the year By 2022, that number will drop to 428,000, thanks in part to new methods and protocols the App Store uses to prevent fraudulent accounts from being created. In addition, approximately 105 million Apple Developer Program registrations were rejected due to suspected fraud, preventing bad actors from submitting apps to the App Store.
In the year By 2022, Apple has protected users from nearly 57,000 untrusted apps from illegal storefronts, which lack the same built-in privacy and security protections as the App Store. These unauthorized marketplaces distribute malicious software that can copy popular apps or modify them without the permission of their developers.
In the past 30 days alone, Apple has blocked nearly 3.9 million attempts to install and launch illegally distributed apps through the Developer Enterprise Program, which allows large organizations to deploy internal apps for use by employees.
Apple takes action against fraudulent customer accounts and by 2022 has disabled more than 282 million customer accounts linked to fraud and abuse. And 198 million fraudulent new accounts were banned before they were created.
Application review
The App Store’s frontline defenses protect users from hundreds of thousands of insecure apps by 2022.
Apple runs several security checks on every app before it’s released to the App Store. During development, Xcode systematically checks apps to ensure they use approved technologies and that the app meets the minimum requirements for App Store. After a developer uploads their app to App Store Connect, additional checks are performed to ensure that it does not reference private APIs and is free of known malware. Once reviewed, each submission is carefully reviewed by a member of the App Review team to ensure it meets Apple’s quality and security standards.
App Review has improved its processes over time, and expanded its operations worldwide to support developers and help them get their apps into the App Store faster. On average, the team reviews more than 100,000 submitted applications per week, with nearly 90 percent receiving a review within 24 hours. In the year After reviewing more than 6.1 million app submissions in 2022, App Review helped more than 185,000 developers publish their first app on the App Store, and made more than 20,000 phone calls to developers to help them test and resolve issues that caused their apps to be rejected. .
In the year By 2022, approximately 1.7 million apps will be rejected from the App Store for a variety of reasons, including fraud and privacy concerns. On more than one occasion this year, App Review caught apps using malicious code that could steal users’ credentials from third-party services. In other cases, the app review team has identified several apps that pretend to be innocuous financial management platforms but have the ability to convert to another app. In 2022, nearly 24,000 apps were banned or removed from the App Store for such bait-and-switch violations.
There are other reasons why an application may be rejected for fraud. For example, last year more than 153,000 app submissions were rejected from the App Store because they were found to be spam, copies or misleading, and about 29,000 submissions were rejected for containing hidden or unregistered features. Sometimes applications try to access users’ personal data without their knowledge or consent. By 2022, more than 400,000 applications will be rejected due to privacy violations.
App Review also investigates apps reported by Apple’s Problem Tool and takes immediate action to remove apps that are found to be fraudulent or malicious. Apps with unapproved developer accounts terminated for fraud and abuse will be immediately removed and barred from the App Store. In 2022, App Review took action to prevent nearly 84,000 potentially fraudulent apps from reaching users on the App Store.
Ratings and reviews
Apple found and banned more than 147 million fake ratings and reviews from the App Store last year.
Ratings and reviews are an essential feature of an app store. Users rely on them to help them decide which apps to download, and developers use them as important feedback to improve their apps. Inaccurate ratings and fake or bot accounts can mislead users into downloading an untrustworthy app that tries to mislead the system. In the year In 2022, with more than 1 billion ratings and reviews processed, Apple blocked and removed more than 147 million ratings and reviews for not meeting moderation standards.
Payment and credit card fraud
Apple in 2010 It blocked a record $2 billion in fraudulent transactions in 2022 and prevented 714,000 fraudulent accounts from trading again.
As the digital economy evolves, more and more people are turning to online payments to purchase goods and services. Apple has invested heavily in creating secure payment technologies like Apple Pay and StoreKit to protect people’s financial information. These technologies are used by approximately 943,000 apps to sell goods and services on the App Store.
Apple takes credit card fraud very seriously, and is committed to protecting the App Store and its users from this type of stress. For example, with Apple Pay, credit card numbers are never shared with merchants, thus eliminating risk in the payment transaction process.
Last year, Apple blocked nearly 3.9 million stolen credit cards from being used for fraudulent purchases, and blocked 714,000 accounts from retrafficking. In general, Apple It blocked $2.09 billion in fraudulent transactions on the App Store in 2022.
The work Apple has done to keep the App Store a safe and trusted place for users and developers has never been done. As bad actors improve their dishonest tactics and deception, Apple continues to build its anti-fraud initiatives with feedback from multiple channels — from news stories to social media to AppleCare calls — and develop new approaches and tools designed to prevent fraud. It hurts App Store users and developers.
Press the contacts
Adam Dema
Apple
AdamDema@apple.com
Archelle Thelemaque
Apple
athelemaque2@apple.com
Apple Media Helpline
media.help@apple.com
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