Ahead of WWDC, Apple says App Store blocked $2B in fraud transactions last year, $9B in past 5 years

Summary

Apple on Tuesday announced new figures related to its App Store’s ability to protect app developers and consumers from fraud. The company said it has prevented more than $9 billion in fraudulent transactions over the past five years. In 2024, Apple stopped $2 billion in fraudulent transactions and blocked nearly 2 million risky app submissions from being published. The release of these metrics, in the days before Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC 2025), aren’t just meant to highlight the benefits of selling software on the App Store. They also serve as a stark reminder of what developers will face if they try to go it alone on mobile payments. After Fortnite maker Epic Games successfully prevailed in a high-stakes legal battle with Apple over App Store antitrust issues last month, Apple was forced to give U.S. app developers the ability to link to alternative payment methods inside their apps, where Apple couldn’t take a commission. Though larger apps like Fortnite, Spotify and Amazon Kindle were quick to take advantage of the new functionality, smaller app developers may still be on the fence as to whether it makes financial sense for them to process their own payments due to the risks of fraud, chargebacks, refunds, and other issues that Apple’s App Store handles in exchange for a 15%-30% commission on in-app purchases. Demonstrating the scale of its operation, Apple said it prevented over $2 billion in fraudulent transactions in 2024 alone across its App Store, which is live in 175 regions globally and sees an average of more than 813 million visitors per week. Image Credits:Apple The iPhone maker also reminded developers that transaction fraud isn’t the only kind of risk that Apple protects against, noting that bad actors try to exploit users in other ways, like stealing personal data, creating fraudulent accounts, and pirating apps, among other things. Apple said it terminated more than 146,000 developer accounts in 2024 over fraud concerns, a...