Apple says that it uses human reviewers to go through each submission to make sure that no App Store listing rips off consumers. And of course, Apple prevents the sideloading of apps from third-party App Stores to try and keep iOS users away from scams. The “walled garden” technique doesn’t work if the problem is found to be “inside the garden.
Apple also needs to guard against excessive app pricing and has started to take a longer look at some apps that offer in-app purchases. Various developers are being grilled by Apple about how they came up with the pricing for their apps and why a consumer needs a subscription for a particular app in the first place.
Last month, Apple filed a submission with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in which the company said that “Apple is surprised to hear that developers have legitimate concerns about their ability to engage with Apple in the app review process, in circumstances where the purpose of app review is to ensure the quality of apps on the App Store.”
In that same submission, Apple addressed the practice of using human reviewers to vet app submissions. The company says that its human reviewers go through submitted apps “to ensure they are reliable, perform as expected, respect user privacy, and are free of objectionable content.