May 20, 2026
UPDATE
the App Store stopped more than $2 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions
Using human control and artificial intelligence to combat malicious activity, Apple rejected more than 2 million problematic app submissions and blocked more than 1.1 billion fraudulent account creations by 2025
The App Store was built on two core principles: giving users a safe, trusted place to discover apps, and giving developers a vibrant marketplace to grow their business.
Living up to these principles requires vigilance and dedication. As the digital landscape expands, malicious actors continue to evolve their methods, often using deceptive tactics to target consumers and legitimate businesses. To meet these challenges, Apple is continuously improving its multi-layered defenses, using a combination of expert human judgment and advanced machine learning technologies to detect and stop malicious activity.
By 2025, Apple will have prevented more than $2.2 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions, bringing the total over the past six years to more than $11.2 billion. Apple has also taken a number of measures to prevent malicious parties from spreading malicious software. Last year alone, more than two million problematic app submissions were rejected.
Apple’s protections not only prevent harm to users, but also ensure developers can thrive in a global marketplace. Over the years, bad actors have developed their methods to defraud users, using tactics such as deploying bot networks to create fake accounts, spam users, manipulate charts, or generate fake reviews.
Account fraud
Over the years, bad actors have developed their methods to defraud users, using tactics such as deploying bot networks to create fake accounts, spam users, manipulate charts, or generate fake reviews.
In 2025, Apple’s Trust and Safety teams stopped multiple large-scale attempts to create fraudulent accounts. Last year, Apple’s systems also successfully rejected 1.1 billion fraudulent customer account creations (blocking bad actors from the start) and deactivated another 40.4 million customer accounts due to fraud and abuse.
Apple is also taking decisive action to prevent malicious developers from entering the ecosystem, helping to ensure that legitimate creators don’t compete with fraudulent actors. In 2025, Apple terminated 193,000 developer accounts due to fraud concerns and denied more than 138,000 developer signups.
To further protect users from malicious software, Apple detected and blocked 28,000 pirated apps on pirate stores by 2025, including malware, pornographic apps, gambling apps, and pirated versions of legitimate apps from the App Store. By restricting these storefronts and illegal distribution channels, Apple also protects developers from having their apps cloned, modified, or weaponized to spread malicious software.
In the past month alone, Apple also prevented 2.9 million attempts to install or launch apps that were illegally distributed outside the App Store or approved alternative app marketplaces.
App review
As powerful AI development tools drive a surge in app submissions, Apple’s App Review process has seamlessly scaled to handle the volume and ensure that every new app and app update meets the App Store’s high standards for privacy, security and quality.
In 2025, the App Review team reviewed more than 9.1 million app submissions, helping to welcome more than 306,000 new developers to the platform. Additionally, the team has rejected more than two million app submissions – including more than 1.2 million new apps and nearly 800,000 app updates – for not adhering to App Store review guidelines.
Apple’s App Review has always combined human expertise with machine learning, and that system continues to evolve. Today, a multi-layered approach helps reviewers analyze submissions at scale, identify complex malicious patterns, and flag potentially fraudulent apps with greater speed and accuracy.
This compound investment in advanced systems does more than just identify bad actors; it makes the entire curation process more efficient. By using AI to quickly identify complex malicious patterns, analyze app similarity, and flag potentially problematic changes in app updates, Apple’s systems help human reviewers focus their expertise on the areas that matter most. Not only does this improve the customer experience by ensuring a high-quality, curated storefront, it also helps legitimate developers get their great apps and updates to users faster.
As deceptive tactics become more complex, App Review remains vigilant in identifying problematic apps. This includes apps that were initially approved as standard games or utilities, such as a puzzle or calculator app, and then modified their software after review with the intent to commit financial fraud. In 2025, the team removed nearly 59,000 apps due to such bait-and-switch maneuvers.
Apple also rejected more than 22,000 submissions because they contained hidden or undocumented features; more than 371,000 submissions that copied other apps, appeared to be spam, or otherwise misled users; and more than 443,000 submissions for privacy violations.
Apple offers developers a number of tools and features to help them build their apps, including TestFlight – a service that allows app makers to test their products and get feedback from actual users. Apple checks pre-release software before making it available to users on TestFlight to ensure apps meet the company’s high security standards. In 2025 alone, Apple blocked more than 2.5 million submissions from distribution on TestFlight due to fraud or security concerns.
Discovery fraud
Ratings and reviews are essential for findability. They help users make informed decisions in the App Store and enable developers to reach new audiences.
To maintain a safe and trusted App Store, Apple uses a combination of human reviews and advanced artificial intelligence to identify problematic reviews and over-ratings. Apple’s Trust and Safety teams integrate AI throughout the moderation process to detect spam, offensive content, and inauthentic reviews at scale. Additionally, AI-powered dashboards and rapid data analysis tools accelerate the discovery of new fraud vectors, allowing Apple’s teams to quickly respond to deceptive activity and protect the integrity of the platform.
By 2025, Apple will have processed more than 1.3 billion ratings and reviews. Using proactive detection tools, Apple identified and blocked nearly 195 million fraudulent ratings and reviews from ever appearing. To further protect the integrity of app discovery, Apple has blocked nearly 7,800 deceptive apps from appearing in the App Store search results and another 11,500 apps from appearing in the App Store listings, ensuring that honest developers are properly presented for their innovation and hard work.
Payment and credit card fraud
Apple empowers developers to build secure businesses by providing access to world-class payment technologies. When consumers make a purchase with Apple Pay or StoreKit, their payment information is protected by industry-leading encryption. Today, more than 680,000 apps use Apple’s secure payment technologies to securely sell goods and services.
Apple uses both human control and advanced technology to identify and stop stolen financial information. Using machine learning, Apple teams build powerful models to accelerate fraud detection and quickly evaluate new deceptive tactics. These technologies also provide a comprehensive view of fraudulent activity across customer accounts, devices and payment methods.
Last year, Apple prevented more than $2.2 billion in fraudulent transactions, prevented more than 5.4 million stolen credit cards from being used for fraudulent purchases, and banned nearly 2 million user accounts from transacting again.
Empowering users and families
In addition to Apple’s robust systemic defenses, there are a number of tools and features designed to empower users and families to manage their own App Store experiences with confidence.
The Kids category in the App Store is a great way for families to easily find apps designed for kids. Apps in this category must adhere to a stricter set of app rating guidelines, such as restrictions on age ratings and in-app advertising. In 2025, Apple rejected more than 5,000 apps from appearing in the Kids category because they didn’t follow strict App Store rules. In addition to this category, Apple offers developers many free tools to help them build age-appropriate experiences in their apps, including the Declared Age Range API and PermissionKit.
Apple also offers features like Screen Time to help parents manage their child’s device usage, including the ability to set app limits, downtime schedules, and content and privacy restrictions. Parents can also use Apple’s Ask to Buy feature to approve every app download and in-app purchase on their child’s devices. If users are having trouble downloading or purchasing an app, they can use Apple’s Report a Problem tool to report these issues.
Apple will continue to invest in its long-standing commitment to protecting the quality and security of the App Store so that it remains the premier destination for users to explore and developers to innovate for years to come. Learn more about staying safe in the App Store at support.apple.com/en-ca/122712.
Press Contacts
Josh Zeliger
Apple
(647) 537-7244
Cortney Hughes
Apple
(647) 943-4562
