Apple is going on an App Store cleansing spree, according to sources speaking to AllThingsD. The company is reportedly moving to get rid of apps that promote other apps or use push notifications for marketing. The decision follows the highly publicized ouster of an app called AppGratis, which ultimately violated both rules.

The buzz about Apple's enforcement of these two rules—sections 2.25 and 5.6 from the App Store Review Guidelines—began earlier this week when AppGratis' iPhone and iPad apps were removed from the App Store. AppGratis CEO Simon Dalwat shared his feelings about the decision in a blog post on Tuesday, expressing frustration that Apple had previously approved AppGratis in the App Store but only retroactively decided to enforce the app promotion and push notification rules.

According to Dalwat, the sudden decision left "12 million iOS users wondering where one of their favorite apps had gone, my 45 employees wondering if they’d still have a job next week, my partners and investors in shock, and myself with an absolutely crazy situation to deal with, thousands of miles away from our headquarters."

Section 2.25 of the App Store guidelines specify that apps cannot display other apps "for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store." Dalwat argues that he worked with contacts at the App Store to get AppGratis approved despite this restriction (and several others) and was taken aback last week when Apple sent a rejection seemingly out of the blue. The notice pinged AppGratis for violating 2.25 and also section 5.6, which forbids the use of push notifications to send "advertising, promotions, or direct marketing of any kind."

The decision to remove AppGratis has stirred some debate over whether AppGratis was being given a fair shake given its existing and previous App Store violations. I argued on Twitter that, at a minimum, Apple's continued inconsistency when it comes to enforcing its guidelines is what leads to these kinds of public conflicts—if Apple had chosen to enforce its guidelines more consistently when AppGratis was first reviewed, we would likely find ourselves in a different situation today. But there were plenty of users who were happy to see Apple cracking down. As many regular App Store users know, there are numerous other apps that abuse one or both of these rules in user-unfriendly ways, removing some of the shine from the iOS app experience.

Indeed, according to AllThingsD's sources, the AppGratis removal was no accident. The decision "was a first step in a broader enforcement action generally targeted at app-discovery apps that run afoul of clauses 2.25 and 5.6," wrote AllThingsD's John Paczkowski, who said that Apple feels the apps "threaten the legitimacy of the App Store charts by providing a way for developers to spend their way to a high ranking."

Apple also reportedly wants to prevent the App Store from being overrun with "alternative storefronts," which could confuse users and ultimately cheapen the premium experience that Apple tries to create. "As one source described it to me, some of these discovery apps create a scenario that’s similar to walking into Nordstrom and seeing a Walmart inside," wrote Paczkowski.

We can hear the cries now. "But there are tons of other apps that do the same thing as AppGratis, and they're still in the App Store!" Indeed, and that's apparently why Apple has decided to start looking for violators despite their having been approved. Whether that's a good thing depends on your perspective—there are some users who appreciate apps that claim to promote "app discovery," especially since the main App Store can often be so difficult to browse. But the difficulty in sifting through apps is the reason why other users are happy to see stricter enforcement—fewer apps means less junk to sift through when finding something new.

AppGratis wasn't the only company to complain loudly about Apple's App Store guidelines this week. Apple also blocked the publication of a Saga comic through the popular Comixology app for "two postage-stamp sized images of gay sex," according to Saga creator Brian K. Vaughan. The ban caused a stir because of Apple's less-strict attitude toward heterosexual sex depictions in the past—again, despite Apple's general rules against explicit content. As noted by Macworld, though, the same comic is available through Apple's iBookstore, which has different publication rules.

(Update: ComiXology has published a new blog post clarifying that Apple did not block Saga's comic. It was ComiXology itself who decided not to publish it under the assumption that Apple would have blocked it, but the company talked to Apple and clarified that it would be allowed.)

Apple has not publicly commented on the AppGratis ouster and did not comment on the Saga comic, but it seems clear that the company is becoming more acutely focused on how outsiders see the iOS App Store. Apple wants to keep users thinking that the iOS App Store offers a clean, premium experience while simultaneously offering more apps than competing mobile platforms. Those two goals seem to be diametrically opposed, however, and Apple will have to decide whether tightening up its enforcement is truly the way it wants to go in the future.