When the app is removed from the App Store, does it mean that it disappears from all phones, or it means that the new sales of the app are not possible?
In my understanding, this depends on what action Apple exactly takes. If it just removes it from the App Store, all existing installations on devices would remain and continue to work. If Apple revokes the developer's certificate, then the app would likely fail to launch sometime soon and would be removed.
I'm sure there are gaps in my understanding. Corrections are welcome.
I believe these are the different levels they have at their disposal:
- Remotely delete from everyone's devices (Apple has never used this capability, they say the ability is there in the case of malware)
- Remove from the App Store completely (keeps running if you had it installed, you can back it up to iTunes and reinstall from there, can't download from the store. I think they did this with apps that worked their way around AT&T tethering restrictions back in the day when that was a thing)
- Removed from sale (if you installed it before, you can still re-download it from your App Store purchase history)
I don't think certificate revocation is applicable to app store apps - e.g. I can revoke my own dev distribution certificate and it only kills self-hosted Ad Hoc builds. They may have per-developer app store certs only available internally as well but I think they'd use one of the capabilities above instead
When Apple removes an app from the App Store, you cannot download it anymore but it will continue to run on your device if you had it already. Apple also has the power to "blacklist" applications and prevent them from running on your device even if you've installed them (https://iphone-services.apple.com/clbl/unauthorizedApps), but this list looks empty for now. Usually what happens in the latter case is that the violation is so egregious that they will instead terminate the developer's Apple Developer account, which will have the same effect.
newscracker|6 years ago
I'm sure there are gaps in my understanding. Corrections are welcome.
kalleboo|6 years ago
- Remotely delete from everyone's devices (Apple has never used this capability, they say the ability is there in the case of malware)
- Remove from the App Store completely (keeps running if you had it installed, you can back it up to iTunes and reinstall from there, can't download from the store. I think they did this with apps that worked their way around AT&T tethering restrictions back in the day when that was a thing)
- Removed from sale (if you installed it before, you can still re-download it from your App Store purchase history)
I don't think certificate revocation is applicable to app store apps - e.g. I can revoke my own dev distribution certificate and it only kills self-hosted Ad Hoc builds. They may have per-developer app store certs only available internally as well but I think they'd use one of the capabilities above instead
saagarjha|6 years ago
McDev|6 years ago