We monitor 175 App Store storefronts to answer one question —

Is Quick Chat: Whats Web Scanner censored by Apple?

Yes.

Apple does not offer Quick Chat: Whats Web Scanner in 22 of the 175 App Stores it operates, including mainland China. 1.75B people cannot install it. It has been unavailable in mainland China since Jan 1, 2024.

2,977 tests on record·last checked 6 days ago

Why it is unavailable

Five things can put an app out of one App Store. Each is weighed below against what can be seen from outside — open a card for the reasoning.

  • A government or a court demanded itPossible

    and Apple complied. Apple publishes a count of these per country each year and never says which apps they were. Apple's 2025 App Store Transparency Report

    • 35% of Social and messaging apps are unavailable in Afghanistan — 197 of 571 — against 24% of everything we test there.
    • Apple reports 196 government-ordered removals in mainland China for 2025, naming none of them.
  • Apple applied a rule, unaskedPossible

    either its own review guidelines, or its own reading of a local law, with nobody having demanded anything. This is the largest category in Apple's own removal figures by a wide margin, and it covers distribution permits as well as content — Apple kept a free Bible app out of mainland China in 2021 for want of one. Apple's 2025 App Store Transparency Report

    • 35% of Social and messaging apps are unavailable in Afghanistan — 197 of 571 — against 24% of everything we test there.
  • The developer withheld itPossible

    freely, or under legal advice of their own, or because Apple's guidelines require that kind of app to be limited to certain countries. Switching a country off is easy for a developer to do in Apple's own tools: it needs no new version of the app, and it leaves no public trace other than the app being unavailable.

    • 35% of Social and messaging apps are unavailable in Afghanistan — 197 of 571 — against 24% of everything we test there.
  • Something brokeUnlikely

    a rejected update, a lapsed certificate, a payment or licensing problem, a mistake nobody has got round to noticing.

    • 35% of Social and messaging apps are unavailable in Afghanistan — 197 of 571 — against 24% of everything we test there.
    • Gone for 2 years.
  • A local rule about paying for itRuled out

    gambling licences, financial rules, tax — the kind of law that governs a transaction. Apple can obey every one of them by refusing the payment, which is why this is the only restriction we would accept and the only one that cannot touch a free app.

    • It is free, so Apple sells nothing here.
How this is weighed, and what it cannot tell you

Weighed from the evidence under each card, not from a model. There is no published figure for how Apple's removals divide up, so these are ordered words rather than percentages. For scale on the same-day counts: across the whole record an app leaves a storefront with fewer than two others, so a dozen at once is not a dozen coincidences.

None of this is certain, and a citation does not make it so: Apple naming a Chinese agency tells you what Apple said, not everything that happened. What can be said is that the readings alone cannot separate these five — a developer switching off a country and a government ordering it removed arrive at Apple's catalogue looking identical — and that nobody has ever measured how they divide across the App Store. The one careful study of the question was done on Google's store, using an error message Apple does not emit.

Apple publishes no record of which apps are unavailable in which of its App Stores. For the removals it makes on a government's demand it publishes the agency and the law behind every one — 2,045 of the 166,899 apps it removed during 2025 — and never which app. Where a reason reaches the public at all, it is usually because a developer chose to say so. Apple's App Store Transparency Report

Know of a statement, notice or order we have missed? Tell us →

Quick Chat: Whats Web Scanner

Developer: Manani Jyotiben · Category: Social Networking · Released: Jan 31, 2018 · Rating: 3.0★

View in App Store ↗
153stores where available
22stores where blocked
1.75Bpeople behind the block
175of 175 stores tested
2,977tests on record

Other Social and messaging apps missing from mainland China

Everything missing from mainland China →

Life of this app

  1. Jan 31, 2018Released on the App Store
  2. Oct 11, 2019First tested by AppleCensorship
  3. Apr 9, 2024Gone from 22 storefronts
  4. Sep 12, 2026Most recent test

Testing history

One column per month, every month from the first reading to the last. Height follows how many readings we took that month; red is the share of them that found the app unavailable. An empty month is one nobody tested.

2019-102026-09

Found availableFound unavailable

Availability by storefront

Every storefront we test, current status first. Data is a measurement, not a promise: each row carries its own date.

Test now
AfghanistanAFUnavailableJan 17, 20242 years ago
AlbaniaALUnavailableApr 2, 20242 years ago
BeninBJUnavailableMar 31, 20242 years ago
ChileCLUnavailableJul 6, 20242 years ago
China (Mainland)CNUnavailableJan 1, 20244 months ago
ColombiaCOUnavailableApr 9, 20242 years ago
DominicaDMUnavailableJan 11, 20242 years ago
El SalvadorSVUnavailableMay 10, 20242 years ago
FijiFJUnavailableAug 10, 20242 years ago
GreeceGRUnavailableMar 16, 20242 years ago
KenyaKEUnavailableNov 26, 20242 years ago
KyrgyzstanKGUnavailableJan 22, 20242 years ago
LibyaLYUnavailableFeb 3, 20242 years ago
NorwayNOUnavailableJan 16, 20242 years ago
PolandPLUnavailableApr 26, 20242 years ago
PortugalPTUnavailableMar 11, 20242 years ago
QatarQAUnavailableJun 7, 20242 years ago
SlovakiaSKUnavailableMay 14, 20242 years ago
Sri LankaLKUnavailableJul 8, 20242 years ago
TanzaniaTZUnavailableMar 7, 20242 years ago
TongaTOUnavailableApr 21, 20242 years ago
UzbekistanUZUnavailableJan 6, 20252 years ago
AlgeriaDZAvailable2 months ago
AngolaAOAvailable30 days ago
AnguillaAIAvailable6 days ago
Antigua & BarbudaAGAvailable5 months ago
ArgentinaARAvailable5 months ago
ArmeniaAMAvailable30 days ago
AustraliaAUAvailable11 months ago
AustriaATAvailable7 months ago
AzerbaijanAZAvailable2 months ago
BahamasBSAvailable3 months ago
BahrainBHAvailable12 months ago
BarbadosBBAvailable5 months ago
BelarusBYAvailable5 months ago
BelgiumBEAvailable6 months ago
BelizeBZAvailable9 months ago
BermudaBMAvailable8 days ago
BhutanBTAvailable2 months ago
BoliviaBOAvailable10 months ago
Bosnia & HerzegovinaBAAvailable9 days ago
BotswanaBWAvailable9 months ago
BrazilBRAvailable11 months ago
British Virgin IslandsVGAvailable5 months ago
BruneiBNAvailable15 months ago
BulgariaBGAvailable5 months ago
Burkina FasoBFAvailable5 months ago
CambodiaKHAvailable9 months ago
CameroonCMAvailable13 months ago
CanadaCAAvailable13 months ago
Cape VerdeCVAvailable8 months ago
Cayman IslandsKYAvailable2 months ago
ChadTDAvailable15 months ago
Costa RicaCRAvailable2 months ago
Côte d’IvoireCIAvailable2 months ago
CroatiaHRAvailable9 months ago
CyprusCYAvailable6 days ago
CzechiaCZAvailable5 months ago
DenmarkDKAvailable1 year ago
Dominican RepublicDOAvailable3 months ago
DR CongoCDAvailable7 months ago
EcuadorECAvailable7 months ago
EgyptEGAvailable11 months ago
EstoniaEEAvailable31 days ago
EswatiniSZAvailable5 months ago
FinlandFIAvailable31 days ago
FranceFRAvailable11 months ago
GabonGAAvailable8 months ago
GambiaGMAvailable10 days ago
GeorgiaGEAvailable44 days ago
GermanyDEAvailable2 months ago
GhanaGHAvailable3 months ago
GrenadaGDAvailable8 months ago
GuatemalaGTAvailable9 days ago
Guinea-BissauGWAvailable2 months ago
GuyanaGYAvailable6 months ago
HondurasHNAvailable8 months ago
Hong KongHKAvailable3 months ago
HungaryHUAvailable15 months ago
IcelandISAvailable6 months ago
IndiaINAvailable44 days ago
IndonesiaIDAvailable6 months ago
IraqIQAvailable8 days ago
IrelandIEAvailable3 months ago
IsraelILAvailable8 months ago
ItalyITAvailable7 days ago
JamaicaJMAvailable3 months ago
JapanJPAvailable7 months ago
JordanJOAvailable2 years ago
KazakhstanKZAvailable12 months ago
KosovoXKAvailable8 months ago
KuwaitKWAvailable4 months ago
LaosLAAvailable6 months ago
LatviaLVAvailable12 months ago
LebanonLBAvailable4 months ago
LiberiaLRAvailable11 months ago
LithuaniaLTAvailable9 months ago
LuxembourgLUAvailable12 months ago
MacaoMOAvailable10 days ago
MadagascarMGAvailable11 months ago
MalawiMWAvailable13 days ago
MalaysiaMYAvailable6 days ago
MaldivesMVAvailable15 days ago
MaliMLAvailable2 months ago
MaltaMTAvailable9 months ago
MauritaniaMRAvailable2 months ago
MauritiusMUAvailable2 months ago
MexicoMXAvailable3 months ago
MicronesiaFMAvailable4 months ago
MoldovaMDAvailable2 months ago
MongoliaMNAvailable11 months ago
MontenegroMEAvailable41 days ago
MontserratMSAvailable4 months ago
MoroccoMAAvailable3 months ago
MozambiqueMZAvailable3 months ago
Myanmar (Burma)MMAvailable6 months ago
NamibiaNAAvailable2 months ago
NauruNRAvailable6 days ago
NepalNPAvailable7 months ago
NetherlandsNLAvailable5 months ago
New ZealandNZAvailable9 months ago
NicaraguaNIAvailable2 months ago
NigerNEAvailable7 months ago
NigeriaNGAvailable8 months ago
North MacedoniaMKAvailable10 months ago
OmanOMAvailable9 months ago
PakistanPKAvailable5 months ago
PalauPWAvailable7 months ago
PanamaPAAvailable2 months ago
Papua New GuineaPGAvailable4 months ago
ParaguayPYAvailable4 months ago
PeruPEAvailable3 months ago
PhilippinesPHAvailable10 days ago
Republic of the CongoCGAvailable7 months ago
RomaniaROAvailable15 months ago
RussiaRUAvailable5 months ago
RwandaRWAvailable4 months ago
São Tomé & PríncipeSTAvailable11 months ago
Saudi ArabiaSAAvailable5 months ago
SenegalSNAvailable6 days ago
SerbiaRSAvailable4 months ago
SeychellesSCAvailable16 months ago
Sierra LeoneSLAvailable4 months ago
SingaporeSGAvailable1 year ago
SloveniaSIAvailable8 months ago
Solomon IslandsSBAvailable4 months ago
South AfricaZAAvailable7 days ago
South KoreaKRAvailable2 months ago
SpainESAvailable4 months ago
St. Kitts & NevisKNAvailable41 days ago
St. LuciaLCAvailable7 months ago
St. Vincent & GrenadinesVCAvailable6 months ago
SurinameSRAvailable13 months ago
SwedenSEAvailable14 months ago
SwitzerlandCHAvailable9 months ago
TaiwanTWAvailable14 months ago
TajikistanTJAvailable6 months ago
ThailandTHAvailable10 months ago
Trinidad & TobagoTTAvailable15 months ago
TunisiaTNAvailable7 months ago
TürkiyeTRAvailable3 months ago
TurkmenistanTMAvailable10 months ago
Turks & Caicos IslandsTCAvailable3 months ago
UgandaUGAvailable8 months ago
UkraineUAAvailable2 months ago
United Arab EmiratesAEAvailable6 days ago
United KingdomGBAvailable9 months ago
United StatesUSAvailable6 days ago
UruguayUYAvailable3 months ago
VanuatuVUAvailable9 months ago
VenezuelaVEAvailable6 months ago
VietnamVNAvailable14 months ago
YemenYEAvailable12 months ago
ZambiaZMAvailable5 months ago
ZimbabweZWAvailable4 months ago

Testing asks Apple whether it will sell this app in that storefront, right now, by the same method the crawler has used since 2019. Your browser asks Apple directly, so the answer describes what Apple serves your connection — and if your browser cannot reach Apple at all, we ask on your behalf and say so. The result is a link: open it to see Apple's own answer and check ours. Readings are added to the record above; roughly a quarter of the readings taken each day come from people testing.

How we test

Availability is checked against Apple's own catalog servers for every storefront, the same way the App Store app asks. "Unavailable" means Apple's servers say the app cannot be offered in that country — it does not say who asked for the removal. Removals initiated by the developer and removals demanded by governments look the same from outside; the history and context on this page are how we tell them apart.