Apple has released a report detailing its efforts to protect users, including that it stopped $1.5 billion in fraudulent App Store transactions.
The App Store is at the heart of Apple’s case against Epic, with the latter suing to force Apple to allow alternative payment methods and app stores. Not surprisingly, Apple is touting the benefits of the App Store, and working to demonstrate how integral it is to the overall security of the iOS platform.
In its latest report, Apple reveals some significant details regarding its efforts.
In 2020 alone, Apple’s combination of sophisticated technology and human expertise protected customers from more than $1.5 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions, preventing the attempted theft of their money, information, and time — and kept nearly a million risky and vulnerable new apps out of their hands.
Apple also says it blocked some 48,000 apps for having hidden or undocumented features; 150,000 apps for including spam, being copycats or misleading users; and 215,000 for privacy violations.
The company is also tackling fraudulent app ratings.
App Store ratings and reviews help many users make decisions about which apps to download, and developers rely on them to incorporate new features that respond to user feedback. Apple relies on a sophisticated system that combines machine learning, artificial intelligence, and human review by expert teams to moderate these ratings and reviews to help ensure accuracy and maintain trust. Since 2020, Apple has processed over 1 billion ratings and over 100 million reviews, and over 250 million ratings and reviews were removed for not meeting moderation standards.
While the Apple vs Epic court case will continue for some time, Apple is certainly trying to make a compelling case for how the App Store works and why it’s so important to the iOS ecosystem.