Apple has revealed that it prevented over $2 billion worth of fraudulent transactions on its App Store in 2024 alone, bringing the total amount blocked in the last five years to more than $9 billion.
This was disclosed in the tech giant’s latest annual App Store fraud analysis, showcasing its ongoing efforts to maintain the platform as a secure marketplace for developers and users alike.
The App Store, which launched in 2008 and now sees more than 813 million visitors each week, is available in 175 regions globally.
Cracking down on fraud
In a year marked by increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, Apple said it employed a comprehensive strategy to detect, investigate, and prevent malicious activity from reaching users.
“These threats range from deceptive apps designed to steal personal information to fraudulent payment schemes that attempt to exploit users,” Apple stated.
- Apple added that in 2024, it terminated more than 146,000 developer accounts over fraud concerns and rejected an additional 139,000 developer enrollments, preventing bad actors from submitting their apps to the App Store in the first place.
- Apple also rejected over 711 million customer account creations and deactivated nearly 129 million customer accounts last year, blocking these risky and malicious accounts from carrying out nefarious activity.
- That, it said, includes spamming or manipulating ratings and reviews, charts, and search results that risk compromising the integrity of the App Store.
“In 2024, Apple detected and blocked over 10,000 illegitimate apps on pirate storefronts, which include malware, pornography apps, gambling apps, and pirated versions of legitimate apps from the App Store.
“By restricting these storefronts, Apple also protects developers from having their apps cloned, altered, or weaponized for spreading malicious software,” the company stated in the report.
Over the past month, Apple said it has also stopped nearly 4.6 million attempts to install or launch apps distributed illicitly outside the App Store or approved third-party marketplaces.
Nearly 129 million customer accounts were deactivated for engaging in suspicious activities such as spamming or manipulating ratings and reviews.
App ratings and reviews
In 2024, Apple said it processed over 1.2 billion ratings and reviews and took significant action to combat fraud, removing more than 143 million fraudulent ratings and reviews from the App Store.
In the same year, Apple also removed more than 7,400 apps from App Store charts and nearly 9,500 deceptive apps from appearing in App Store search results.
“These actions in turn benefit developers who are in good standing, leveling the playing field and allowing them a fair chance to thrive on the App Store,” the company stated.
- Apple said its review team also rejected over 43,000 app submissions in 2024 for containing hidden or undocumented features.
- The company also took action against a number of apps that attempt to trick or scam users, and in 2024, rejecting over 320,000 submissions that copied other apps, were found to be spam, or otherwise misled users.
- According to Apple, bad actors can also attempt to deceive users by disguising potentially risky software as seemingly innocuous apps. This, it said, led to the removal of over 17,000 apps last year for bait-and-switch maneuvers.
