Apple Says It Will Remove Low-Quality and Duplicate Apps From the App Store

Overview

• Apple updated its App Review Guidelines on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, adding rule 4.3(b) that names saturated categories and warns apps may be removed if they are not updated, improved, or do not attract customers.
• The new 4.3(b) explicitly lists categories such as dating, flashlight, sound effects, wallpaper, simple timers, and fortune telling and says new submissions in those areas must offer a meaningfully different or improved experience.
• Apple strengthened user-generated content rules in guideline 1.2 by making developers responsible for removing violating material and allowing Apple to remove apps until compliance is shown.
• A new rule, 4.5.3, forbids using Live Activities to spam, phish, or send unsolicited messages and the company warns repeated low-effort submissions can lead to removal from the Apple Developer Program.
• Apple released these guideline changes at WWDC alongside personalized recommendations and merchandising tools and says the aim is better discovery rather than immediate mass removals, a shift from only rejecting new copycat apps to proactively cleaning existing listings.