GreatFire tracks Apple iOS and Google Play Store applications for instances of censorship in over 220 regions, documenting when and how apps are removed in order to provide greater transparency.
App censorship is one of the most prevalent forms of mobile censorship, yet has only recently attracted attention from civil society and regulators. As a result, the scale of mobile app censorship by country has not been comprehensively measured, and many stakeholders do not fully understand the extent of the problem.
To address this issue, GreatFire tracks both Apple iOS and Google Play Store applications for instances of censorship across more than 220 regions, documenting when and how apps are removed to provide greater transparency.
This project enables researchers to better identify censorship by Apple and Google, track whether apps are being blocked locally at a government’s request (indicating local censorship) or globally, and empowers advocates familiar with local contexts to connect censorship occurrences with civil society actions and political events. The project has already helped identify censorship of apps related to religious freedom in China, the Tibetan diaspora, protests in Hong Kong, and other significant global events.
Data and insights from this project are made available to policymakers, journalists, advocates, and everyday citizens on the AppleCensorship.com and GoogleCensorship.org websites. The project has produced key reports, including “Isolation by Design: Censorship in Apple’s App Store in China,” and “A comparative cross-platform analysis of VPN availability in Apple’s App Stores and Google’s Play Stores.” These findings inform advocacy efforts focused on demanding greater transparency from tech companies regarding their app store management and censorship practices. In 2025, this data will be consolidated into a unified platform, AppCensorship.org, offering cross-platform analysis of app availability and censorship trends across both iOS and Android ecosystems.
