Update 3:

Apparently the author of the first tweet, @jazeferino came out with an update stating that the e-mail we saw screenshots of was spoofed. While most already guessed as much, it will now put an end to the discussion for good.

On December the 18th, we noticed this Tweet from @jzeferin0 which was highly interesting for good reasons. In particular, @jzeferino proposes that Apple will not only remove current apps from their App Store that was created with online builders and generators but that in 2019, Apple is poised to start removing all apps developed with Xamarin, PhoneGap, Appcelerator and Trillian.

No official confirmation

While we have had no official confirmation from Apple on this, at Nodes we are monitoring the situation closely and will update this post continuously when we get new data or information.

The email apparently looks genuine in terms of originating from Apple, but it could very well be that the content has been altered.

@MikeCodesDotNet who joined Microsoft last year when they acquired Xamarin took to Twitter with a vested interest and struck up a conversation with the original Tweeter. We scanned their conversation and found that Mike believes the part about Xamarin and other frameworks being removed might be an unofficial line, added to the original email in order to create a hoax or some publicity for unknown reasons.

Update 1:

We’ve found the following quote from a software engineer at Apple, Adam Kemp:

The wording surprises me. I will try to look into it. I’m pretty far removed from app review, though. — Adam Kemp (@TheRealAdamKemp) December 19, 2017

Update 2:

@MaxLynch from Ionic has called the entire story as clearly fake, following up his conclusion with a piece of information that Apple has been recommending Ionic as a framework for people having gotten hit by the strict templating policy.

Our own perspective:

According to our CTO Casper Rasmussen, this email is likely to be false. “Although Apple is known for aggressively pursuing new technologies to heighten the quality of their apps and content in the App Store, this seems to be to drastic a move.”

3 Reasons why it could be false

No other confirmed sources, questionable grammar in the email content, and questionable wording in general. Would create too much uncertainty for the App Store and iOS apps in general from a development perspective, making the App Store seem as an immature choice for investment. While Xamarin and PhoneGap were mentioned, many people would consider React Native to be a more obvious framework to remove, yet it wasn’t mentioned.

3 Reasons why it could be true

Apple would ensure a higher standard of quality in their store. It would undoubtedly improve users and adoption rates of Apple’s own framework, Swift. Could even be a jab at Microsoft by disallowing Xamarin, Microsoft’s recent billion dollar purchase, in the App Store.

Stay tuned for more, as we will update this page continuously with the latest information.

Backstory

It’s been known for a while that Apple was contemplating removing apps built with low-quality app templates and builders, and Apple was already removing thousands of apps for falling below their quality scores back in June. And for apps considered as spam there’s been a purge happening for most of the year. Yet it would signify an even more drastic step in terms of Apple’s policies if this rumour proves to be true.