Apple has started cracking down on apps that reward social sharing

With revamped policies in the iOS 8 App Store, Candy Crush and other apps that reward you for social sharing could soon be booted. Apps that provide users incentives for sharing on social networks aren’t the only ones to violate Apple’s latest terms and conditions for developers; those that provide in-game credit for watching videos are also under fire, along with apps that promote other apps. Several developers have received rejections that reflect Apple’s new rules, with one individual reporting that a previously approved app was turned down even though he had only added a new skin.

Apple has begun to crack down on tools that app developers use to monetize and grow their applications, including incentivized video viewing and rewarded social sharing, as well as discovery tools that allow users to find apps inside the games they’re already playing. The move will have a significant impact on the app industry as a whole, and will serve as something of a “reset” in terms of how apps can achieve growth and scale. With the introduction of the revamped iOS App Store in iOS 8, Apple revealed a number of changes to the app discovery process, with new features that help users find apps by trending keywords, by category and subcategory, by related search terms, and more. Developers can even promote their apps in “bundles.” But as these changes indicate, what the company didn’t reveal is that it’s not only trying to reinvent app discovery with iOS 8; it’s also trying to own it.