Applications trying capitalize on the success of
Flappy Bird in order to jump to the top of the charts on iTunes and Google Play will have to take another approach today, as both Apple and Google has started to reject applications that contain the word "flappy" in the title and descriptions. In the wake of the
original game being pulled by developer Dong Nguyen, both services have been flooded with clone applications trying to fill the void left by the game's departure.
Developers that have been trying to add their flappy-titled games to the iOS App Store are being rejected by Apple under a violation of the app review guidelines section 22.2. The guidelines state that "apps that contain false, fraudulent or misleading representations will be rejected." Apple pointed out specifically that the "app name attempts to leverage a popular app," according to Ken Carpenter of Mind Juice Media, a company attempting to launch the app Flappy Dragon.
The Play store has been bouncing "flappy" apps as well, delisting them from search (even after they had been published in some cases) as well. A search on Google Play currently turns up
250 applications with "flappy" as a keyword. In the case of Flappy Dragon, which Carpenter says was being delisted from search, 10 "flappy" apps with "dragon" in the title appear as well, which may have provided motivation to Google to delist the titles.
Carpenter told
Techcrunch that Google failed to issue a warning email about the application being pulled, simply removing his application without warning. When he did receive a message it "simply references the 'spam' provision of the Google Play terms and did not specifically call out what my transgression was."
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