Announcing the removal of FruitPot from the iOS App Store due to changes in Apple's rules

It's a real shame this game has been deleted from the app store. It's one of my favourites.

Just want to thank you for a wonderful game. I loved fruitpot. I have a question. I still have the game on my device. Will the game still be playable? Best of luck with your future game and I look ahead to your new game

Hi! I'm sorry to read here that Fruitpot had to be removed from the IOS App Store because of new anti-gambling rules made by Apple. I have a few other slot machine games, so I suppose they will all disappear from the App Store as well. Getting back to Fruitpot, I assume we can still play that game if we already have it: I hope I'm right! I look forward to discovering the new game when it's ready, but, in the meantime, I'd like to thank the Fruitpot developers for creating a fun game which we VoiceOver users could also play and enjoy.

I am sorry to hear this. It is one of my favorite games to play. Apple really needs to change the rules regarding this. I think what someone else said is correct. I feel like other slot machine games will be removed as well. So unfortunate.

What is this? This sounds to me like yet another arbitrary rule they've come up with. What's next? Will they ban any and all apps, podcasts, movies and TV shows that contain content particular people in the company don't agree with? Oh wait, they've already started doing that! This is a bunch of bull!

such a shame this has had to happen, i suppose though the same could be said about any title; people who play GTA could learn to murder, and do other offences etc. or fortnight, but it isn't fair on those who just see it as leissure. so if it has gone from the store, how can we redownload it if have already purchased it say, if we delete it, or change device? also, how can we save our game state i.e. what symbols we have? zz

Yes, the slot machine game in audio game hub also crossed my mind, as did Blindfold Slots and Accessible Fruit machine, which is pretty old now but fortunately still playable. However, fruit pot was the game in this genre I played the most.

I'm curious about whether this app required in-app purchases to play. If so, I could see why Apple would want to remove it. Otherwise, I don't see why it would make sense to essentially ban simulated gambling apps, provided that they didn't offer in-app purchases to continue playing.

Chris, Apple is well within their rights to disallow content from their iTunes store, app store, and podcasts directory. You would actually have a valid point regarding podcasts, movies, and TV shows if Apple made it impossible to play the content they don't approve of, but they don't do this. Through iTunes home sharing, you can play any movies or TV shows on an iOS device that aren't sold in the iTunes store. In the podcasts app, you can manually add RSS feeds for podcasts that aren't listed in their directory. On balance, I think Apple's seemingly arbitrary rules are generally quite reasonable and inline with their branding and core values.

Hello Edwardo,

I am so disappointed about this decision from Apple. If I am this disappointed, I can only imagine how disappointed you must be after all the time and effort you put into Fruitpot and Westopia.

I admire your attitude, love your games, and look forward to playing your next wonderful creation.

It's sad to see, but not unexpcted. They do have the right to choose what content goes where, why do you think people jailbreak? Anyway, good luck with the new game, i admit to not playing fruit pot anymore, I was getting a little bored. The westtopia game sounds awesome. I'd love to see something like an oregon trail type of simulation. Also, someone else who's games that are being taken down, they think they can put it back using simulation. As for the in app purchases, I can understand why they might've been a problem. true, it supported the developement, the other though is fraudlent people who have way to may coins, or gold, because they keep buying more just to have a cash cow as it were.

When I read This article this morning I thought that the gambling app ban was only for China. Fruitpot was an app that I returned to often, as it's a great example of how to universaly design a good app that has both excellent VoiceOver support and appealing graphics and a good user interface.

This seems like a very strange move on Apple's part, especially in this situation where there is no real money involved, only pretend gambling. I fully intend to keep Fruit Pot installed on my phone and enjoy it as I always have. I will also be eagerly awaiting your new VO friendly game, whenever it becomes available. It's just sad that big companies like Apple, Twitter and FB are making all of these seemingly arbitrary changes that have such a negative impact on their customers/users, but most of all, I feel bad for app developers like you who put a lot of time and effort into creating a quality product. Thanks again for explaining the situation, and I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

Hi,
The new game sounds interesting! I'm looking forward to it! Keep up the great work!

Perhaps i should take a gamble and issue a refund on all my gambling games before they disappear. I don't mind buying stuff, but i don't have cash to waste either.

Just for everyone’s information, A cursory search of Google says that the Chinese government has been hammering apple over the number of gambling apps that are available to Chinese users. What I don’t understand is why should this affect us living in the United States and other western countries? This role is arbitrary and is a miss guided attempt by Apple to please The Chinese government but there is no reason why this should be applied worldwide. It is certainly a sad day when a large corporation, in its attempt to rectify a legitimate problem, applies such arbitrary and pernicious rolls two small app developers who are simply trying to make a living and create a quality product. It is sad to see that Apple cannot think beyond its own guidelines to adequately exempt developers that should rightfully deserve an exemption. It’s just too bad that this story has not spread further

The very second response asked a question that had already been answered in the initial post.