Skip to main content

Apple pulls 'prematurely released' GameStore app, issues refunds

Apple pulls 'prematurely released' GameStore app, issues refunds

/

A few days after mistakenly releasing an iOS app called GameStore, Apple has issued refunds to buyers and removed the app from the App Store.

Share this story

Apple GameStore
Apple GameStore

A few days ago, some users noticed an app in the iOS App Store called GameStore, which appeared to be both made by Apple and not meant to be released. Now, Apple has admitted its error, issuing refunds to those who bought the 99-cent app and stating that the app was released "prematurely." We initially assumed GameStore wasn't supposed to be made public at all — it displayed a list of available in-app purchases for a mysterious racing game, but you couldn't buy any of them — and that it was an internal testing tool, but the text of Apple's email leads us to wonder if there might be more to the story. The GameStore name hints at a separate app store for iOS games, but with the app now pulled from the store, all we can do is speculate, and wait for the (maybe) real version of GameStore.