News

Both Apple and Google Are Rejecting “Flappy” Games

TouchArcade Rating:

1-Dr7CdnB6GN5-kCmcvcUJaAThe App Store is ridiculously unpredictable except when it comes to one thing: Developers doing everything they can to ride on the coattails of something that’s successful. We saw it with Angry Birds and a tidal wave of games where you would fling things to knock other things over for three stars. Temple Run brought about a new era of endless behind the back runners. Now, Flappy Bird has everyone and their brother racing to release a game with “Flappy" in the title.

It’s understandable, as Flappy Bird mania is still going strong, with Flappy Bird’s interest over time over the past 12 months exceeding that of Minecraft. Additionally, the top free charts are still dominated by Flapp-likes. The result? Both Apple and Google have decided that enough is enough, and they’re actively rejecting games trying to ride the Flappy popularity bus.

TechCrunch points out a few rejections that happened over the weekend, with Apple specifically citing this clause of the App Store guidelines:

22.2: Apps that contain false, fraudulent or misleading representations will be rejected
22.2
We found that your app, and/or its metadata, contains content that could be misleading to users, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines.
We found your app name attempts to leverage a popular app.

The game in question here was Flappy Dragon by Mind Juice Media. The story also references a tweet from Kuyi Mobile mentioning a small group of other developers who have had their Flapp-likes meet a similar fate with the Apple banhammer. Oddly enough, this only seems to impact new games, Apple doesn’t seem to be doing anything with the current Flappy games locking up the iTunes free charts.

It’s a bit of an odd stance, as “Flappy" was neither trademarked or copyrighted by Flappy Bird developer Dong Nguyen. People obviously want these games, or else the current Flapp-likes wouldn’t be glued to the top of the free charts. Either way, we’re going to keep our eyes on whatever happens next in the always surprising saga of Flappy Bird.

[via TechCrunch]

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  • 12 Comments

    1. rIcHrAnDoM

      I can't even figure out how to set the date back on my device :( lol

      1. Scot Damn

        Go to Settings, General, scroll down to Date & Time. Switch off "Set Automatically" and select the date. Bam! You're in business!

      2. Seniku Moonjewel

        Christ, how dumb are you? ..let me guess, an american?

        1. diovivente

          I am getting so sick if these type of comments.

          1. Rafd08 ☫

            He's just saying, i hope you're not sick only when ppl f0ck with americanz... Because i can pretty much say that from my experience with americans they literally are, not everyone(duh), dicks with every other country.

            1. AJShadowz

              It's not just Americans. Human beings in general are stupid dicks. However I must say I personally know quite a few people right here in the states that are both nice and intelligent. If your going to judge Americans, just go ahead and judge all of humanity because I'm sure there is just as many simple minded dickheads running around in whatever countries you all reside in as well.

    2. CooleTeeps

      Is the TouchArcade channel on Twitch TV still searchable even if they are not streaming? I've searched "TouchArcade" and "toucharcade" but it just says "No Results".

      1. thiagovscoelho

        the app does that when they aren't streaming; not sure about the website but the website probably doesn't

        it is quite the weirdlitude

      2. CzechCongo

        Try "TA Plays".

    3. Anotherkellydown

      What was the Metroid game Eli was trying to start up on the GBA emulator?

      1. joshjosh667

        That would be Metroid Fusion for the GBA.
        The first one before that of course being Castlevania Aria of Sorrow.
        Both being excellent titles and some of my favorites as well.

        1. Anotherkellydown

          Thanks! I remember playing through both of those, way back when. I gave my GBA away to a friend a while back, so it's cool they got this emulator going.