Apple, citing US sanctions, starts removing apps from Iranian developers in the App Store; Google allows Iranian developers to publish free apps to Play Store
TEHRAN — Officially, Apple has no presence in Iran. Because of American sanctions against the country, the company's iPhones …
Context & Ripple Effects
This 2017 split decision set the template for how the two mobile gatekeepers handle US sanctions: Apple purged Iranian developers from the App Store, while Google carved out an exception letting them publish free apps on the Play Store. The pattern has repeated since — Google later pulled Iran's official COVID-19 tracking app from the Play Store, and in 2026 Apple removed VK's apps citing sanctions even as VK disputed being sanctioned at all (Apple's VK removals).
The through-line is uneven enforcement. A Tech Transparency Project audit found both stores still hosting dozens of apps for US-sanctioned companies — Google removed 17, Apple removed 35 — and Apple separately faced scrutiny for hosting apps run by a sanctioned Chinese paramilitary organization in Xinjiang. Sanctions compliance at the app-store layer has become a recurring governance problem, not a one-off.
First-order effects
- Iranian developers immediately lost paid distribution and updates on iOS, while gaining a legal free-app channel on Android — splitting their audience along platform lines overnight.
- Google differentiated its Play Store policy from Apple's, making Android the default route to Iranian users for developers who can no longer reach iPhones.
Second-order effects
- The asymmetry forces developers targeting Iran to treat Apple and Google as different regulatory regimes, and pushes cross-platform businesses toward Android-first strategies in sanctioned markets.
- Later audits showing sanctioned-company apps still live in both stores expose the gap between policy statements like these and actual catalog hygiene, inviting pressure on Apple and Google to sweep more broadly.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, app stores function as de facto enforcement agents of US sanctions — with Apple applying them broadly (Iranian developers, VK) and inconsistently (sanctioned Chinese entities remaining hosted), and disputes over who is actually sanctioned landing on the platforms to adjudicate.
- Developer access to global distribution becomes contingent on geopolitics rather than store quality rules, pushing sanctioned-market developers toward sideloading, local stores, or web apps outside the two gatekeepers.
The trend: Mobile app stores are hardening into instruments of US sanctions enforcement, with Apple and Google applying — and failing to apply — the rules unevenly across markets and years.