We monitor 175 App Store storefronts to answer one question —

Is JW Event censored by Apple?

Gone.

JW Event is gone from every App Store storefront we test. It was last seen available on Aug 27, 2024.

800 tests on record·last checked 14 hours 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

    • Reference apps in the United States are unavailable at 2%, near the 5% for everything there, which cuts neither way.
    • Apple reports 1,213 government-ordered removals in Russia 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

    • Reference apps in the United States are unavailable at 2%, near the 5% for everything there, which cuts neither way.
  • 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.

  • Something brokeUnlikely

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

    • Gone for 1 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 →

JW Event

Developer: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. · Category: Reference · Released: Mar 22, 2019 · Rating: 2.8★

View in App Store ↗
0stores where available
98stores where blocked
4.27Bpeople behind the block
98of 175 stores tested
800tests on record

Other Reference apps missing from mainland China

Everything missing from mainland China →

Life of this app

  1. Mar 22, 2019Released on the App Store
  2. Aug 7, 2019First tested by AppleCensorship
  3. Aug 27, 2024Last seen available anywhere
  4. May 2, 2025Gone from 98 storefronts
  5. Sep 18, 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.

2019-082026-09

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
AfghanistanAFUnavailableFeb 1, 202532 days ago
AlbaniaALUnavailableJan 29, 202514 hours ago
AlgeriaDZUnavailableDec 16, 20259 months ago
AngolaAOUnavailableSep 1, 20255 months ago
AnguillaAIUnavailableNov 15, 202510 months ago
ArmeniaAMUnavailableJan 29, 20254 months ago
AustraliaAUUnavailableJan 29, 202510 months ago
AzerbaijanAZUnavailableMay 17, 202516 months ago
BahamasBSUnavailableJan 29, 202512 months ago
BahrainBHUnavailableMar 30, 20266 months ago
BelarusBYUnavailableMay 29, 202512 months ago
BelgiumBEUnavailableMay 2, 20251 year ago
BelizeBZUnavailableMay 22, 202516 months ago
BermudaBMUnavailableMay 10, 202538 days ago
BotswanaBWUnavailableJan 29, 20252 months ago
BrazilBRUnavailableNov 6, 202510 months ago
British Virgin IslandsVGUnavailableJun 26, 202515 months ago
BulgariaBGUnavailableMay 30, 202516 months ago
Burkina FasoBFUnavailableSep 12, 20266 days ago
CameroonCMUnavailableJul 21, 20262 months ago
Cape VerdeCVUnavailableNov 11, 20253 months ago
ChadTDUnavailableMar 27, 20264 months ago
ChileCLUnavailableMar 11, 20266 months ago
China (Mainland)CNUnavailableJan 29, 20255 months ago
ColombiaCOUnavailableJul 16, 202514 months ago
Côte d’IvoireCIUnavailableApr 4, 20251 year ago
CroatiaHRUnavailableJul 29, 20254 months ago
CzechiaCZUnavailableJan 29, 20257 days ago
Dominican RepublicDOUnavailableMay 14, 202516 months ago
EcuadorECUnavailableJun 8, 20263 months ago
El SalvadorSVUnavailableJan 29, 202524 days ago
EswatiniSZUnavailableFeb 5, 20267 months ago
FijiFJUnavailableApr 29, 20251 year ago
FinlandFIUnavailableMar 20, 20251 year ago
FranceFRUnavailableJan 29, 20256 days ago
GabonGAUnavailableJan 29, 20254 months ago
GambiaGMUnavailableDec 11, 20259 months ago
GermanyDEUnavailableSep 18, 202512 months ago
GhanaGHUnavailableMay 22, 202516 months ago
GrenadaGDUnavailableJan 9, 20268 months ago
Guinea-BissauGWUnavailableJan 29, 202524 days ago
Hong KongHKUnavailableJan 29, 20254 months ago
IndonesiaIDUnavailableJan 29, 20253 months ago
IraqIQUnavailableMar 5, 20252 years ago
IsraelILUnavailableJul 9, 202514 months ago
JapanJPUnavailableJan 29, 20253 months ago
JordanJOUnavailableJul 25, 20262 months ago
KazakhstanKZUnavailableJan 29, 202538 days ago
KenyaKEUnavailableApr 28, 202514 hours ago
KuwaitKWUnavailableMay 27, 202516 months ago
LaosLAUnavailableFeb 22, 20252 years ago
LebanonLBUnavailableJan 29, 202510 months ago
LiberiaLRUnavailableSep 15, 202512 months ago
LibyaLYUnavailableApr 12, 20251 year ago
LuxembourgLUUnavailableJun 3, 20264 months ago
MacaoMOUnavailableJul 18, 20262 months ago
MadagascarMGUnavailableJan 29, 20252 months ago
MalawiMWUnavailableJun 5, 20263 months ago
MalaysiaMYUnavailableJan 29, 202541 days ago
MaltaMTUnavailableApr 14, 20251 year ago
MexicoMXUnavailableOct 9, 202511 months ago
MicronesiaFMUnavailableJan 29, 20254 months ago
MoroccoMAUnavailableJan 29, 20257 days ago
MozambiqueMZUnavailableJan 29, 202515 months ago
Myanmar (Burma)MMUnavailableSep 17, 202632 hours ago
NamibiaNAUnavailableJan 6, 20268 months ago
NauruNRUnavailableJan 29, 202514 hours ago
NepalNPUnavailableJan 29, 20259 months ago
North MacedoniaMKUnavailableNov 7, 202510 months ago
NorwayNOUnavailableMar 27, 202541 days ago
PolandPLUnavailableJan 29, 20252 years ago
Republic of the CongoCGUnavailableOct 14, 202511 months ago
RussiaRUUnavailableJan 29, 202510 months ago
RwandaRWUnavailableJan 29, 20254 months ago
São Tomé & PríncipeSTUnavailableJan 29, 202534 days ago
Saudi ArabiaSAUnavailableJan 29, 20256 months ago
SeychellesSCUnavailableOct 31, 202511 months ago
Solomon IslandsSBUnavailableJan 29, 20252 months ago
South KoreaKRUnavailableJan 29, 20252 months ago
SpainESUnavailableAug 22, 202513 months ago
SwedenSEUnavailableJan 29, 20258 months ago
SwitzerlandCHUnavailableOct 22, 202511 months ago
TaiwanTWUnavailableJan 29, 202513 months ago
ThailandTHUnavailableOct 13, 202511 months ago
TongaTOUnavailableFeb 27, 20252 years ago
Trinidad & TobagoTTUnavailableMar 6, 20252 years ago
TunisiaTNUnavailableJan 22, 20262 months ago
TürkiyeTRUnavailableAug 20, 20259 months ago
TurkmenistanTMUnavailableMar 31, 20266 months ago
Turks & Caicos IslandsTCUnavailableDec 27, 20256 months ago
UgandaUGUnavailableMar 6, 20252 years ago
UkraineUAUnavailableJan 29, 20256 months ago
United Arab EmiratesAEUnavailableJan 29, 202514 hours ago
United KingdomGBUnavailableJan 29, 20252 months ago
United StatesUSUnavailableJan 29, 202514 hours ago
UruguayUYUnavailableAug 19, 202513 months ago
VanuatuVUUnavailableAug 8, 202641 days ago
VietnamVNUnavailableJul 17, 202514 months ago
Antigua & BarbudaAGNot tested0
ArgentinaARNot tested0
AustriaATNot tested0
BarbadosBBNot tested0
BeninBJNot tested0
BhutanBTNot tested0
BoliviaBONot tested0
Bosnia & HerzegovinaBANot tested0
BruneiBNNot tested0
CambodiaKHNot tested0
CanadaCANot tested0
Cayman IslandsKYNot tested0
Costa RicaCRNot tested0
CyprusCYNot tested0
DenmarkDKNot tested0
DominicaDMNot tested0
DR CongoCDNot tested0
EgyptEGNot tested0
EstoniaEENot tested0
GeorgiaGENot tested0
GreeceGRNot tested0
GuatemalaGTNot tested0
GuyanaGYNot tested0
HondurasHNNot tested0
HungaryHUNot tested0
IcelandISNot tested0
IndiaINNot tested0
IrelandIENot tested0
ItalyITNot tested0
JamaicaJMNot tested0
KosovoXKNot tested0
KyrgyzstanKGNot tested0
LatviaLVNot tested0
LithuaniaLTNot tested0
MaldivesMVNot tested0
MaliMLNot tested0
MauritaniaMRNot tested0
MauritiusMUNot tested0
MoldovaMDNot tested0
MongoliaMNNot tested0
MontenegroMENot tested0
MontserratMSNot tested0
NetherlandsNLNot tested0
New ZealandNZNot tested0
NicaraguaNINot tested0
NigerNENot tested0
NigeriaNGNot tested0
OmanOMNot tested0
PakistanPKNot tested0
PalauPWNot tested0
PanamaPANot tested0
Papua New GuineaPGNot tested0
ParaguayPYNot tested0
PeruPENot tested0
PhilippinesPHNot tested0
PortugalPTNot tested0
QatarQANot tested0
RomaniaRONot tested0
SenegalSNNot tested0
SerbiaRSNot tested0
Sierra LeoneSLNot tested0
SingaporeSGNot tested0
SlovakiaSKNot tested0
SloveniaSINot tested0
South AfricaZANot tested0
Sri LankaLKNot tested0
St. Kitts & NevisKNNot tested0
St. LuciaLCNot tested0
St. Vincent & GrenadinesVCNot tested0
SurinameSRNot tested0
TajikistanTJNot tested0
TanzaniaTZNot tested0
UzbekistanUZNot tested0
VenezuelaVENot tested0
YemenYENot tested0
ZambiaZMNot tested0
ZimbabweZWNot tested0

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.