On Tuesday, Apple – the operator of the world’s most lucrative mobile application storefront – directed a communication at its entire developer community. The message? Apple has no patience or tolerance for the manipulation of app rankings in the App Store.
“When you promote your app, you should avoid using services that advertise or guarantee top placement in App Store charts. Even if you are not personally engaged in manipulating App Store chart rankings or user reviews, employing services that do so on your behalf may result in the loss of your Apple Developer Program membership,” the warning from Apple reads.
The warning came in response to a growing number of claims that shady marketing practices and purpose-driven technologies are falsely inflating app store rankings via erroneous, repetitive download schemes.
In order to maintain the integrity of the App Store and its ranking system, Apple says it will clean house and not hesitate to remove anyone who tinkers with the legitimate established processes that determine an app’s rightful ranking in the App Store.