We monitor 175 App Store storefronts to answer one question —
Is VOA Speical English censored by Apple?
VOA Speical English is gone from every App Store storefront we test. It was last seen available on Oct 28, 2020.
952 tests on record·last checked 40 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 it
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
- Education apps in the United States are unavailable at 4%, near the 5% for everything there, which cuts neither way.
- 4 other apps left mainland China the same day, Jan 29, 2022.
- Apple reports 1,213 government-ordered removals in Russia for 2025, naming none of them.
Apple applied a rule, unasked
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
- Education apps in the United States are unavailable at 4%, near the 5% for everything there, which cuts neither way.
- 4 other apps left mainland China the same day, Jan 29, 2022.
The developer withheld it
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 broke
a rejected update, a lapsed certificate, a payment or licensing problem, a mistake nobody has got round to noticing.
- 4 other apps left mainland China the same day, Jan 29, 2022.
- Gone for 4 years.
A local rule about paying for it
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 →
VOA Speical English
Developer: 天琪 赵 · Category: Education · Released: Feb 23, 2019 · Rating: 1.1★
Other Education apps missing from India
Life of this app
- Feb 23, 2019Released on the App Store
- Mar 3, 2019First tested by AppleCensorship
- Oct 28, 2020Last seen available anywhere
- Sep 4, 2022Gone from 117 storefronts
- Aug 10, 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.
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 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AfghanistanAF | Unavailable | Aug 7, 2024 | 2 years ago | ||
| AlgeriaDZ | Unavailable | Feb 19, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| Antigua & BarbudaAG | Unavailable | Apr 1, 2023 | 3 years ago | ||
| ArgentinaAR | Unavailable | Aug 17, 2025 | 13 months ago | ||
| ArmeniaAM | Unavailable | Sep 30, 2023 | 3 years ago | ||
| AzerbaijanAZ | Unavailable | Jan 29, 2022 | 40 days ago | ||
| BahamasBS | Unavailable | Feb 9, 2024 | 3 years ago | ||
| BahrainBH | Unavailable | Apr 2, 2025 | 14 months ago | ||
| BarbadosBB | Unavailable | Jun 7, 2022 | 12 months ago | ||
| BelarusBY | Unavailable | Apr 27, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| BeninBJ | Unavailable | Mar 30, 2024 | 2 years ago | ||
| BermudaBM | Unavailable | Jan 27, 2025 | 2 years ago | ||
| BhutanBT | Unavailable | Mar 13, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| BoliviaBO | Unavailable | May 8, 2024 | 2 years ago | ||
| Bosnia & HerzegovinaBA | Unavailable | Mar 2, 2024 | 3 years ago | ||
| BotswanaBW | Unavailable | May 24, 2023 | 3 years ago | ||
| BrazilBR | Unavailable | Jun 1, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| British Virgin IslandsVG | Unavailable | Apr 12, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| BruneiBN | Unavailable | Feb 21, 2022 | 11 months ago | ||
| BulgariaBG | Unavailable | Aug 21, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| Burkina FasoBF | Unavailable | Mar 31, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| CambodiaKH | Unavailable | May 12, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| CanadaCA | Unavailable | Apr 12, 2023 | 3 years ago | ||
| Cape VerdeCV | Unavailable | Jan 29, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| ChadTD | Unavailable | Jan 29, 2022 | 4 months ago | ||
| China (Mainland)CN | Unavailable | Jan 29, 2022 | 12 months ago | ||
| Costa RicaCR | Unavailable | Sep 8, 2025 | 12 months ago | ||
| CzechiaCZ | Unavailable | Jan 29, 2022 | 7 months ago | ||
| DenmarkDK | Unavailable | Feb 10, 2023 | 4 years ago | ||
| DominicaDM | Unavailable | Feb 21, 2024 | 40 days ago | ||
| Dominican RepublicDO | Unavailable | Jan 8, 2024 | 3 years ago | ||
| DR CongoCD | Unavailable | Jul 24, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| EcuadorEC | Unavailable | Oct 1, 2024 | 1 year ago | ||
| EgyptEG | Unavailable | Feb 9, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| El SalvadorSV | Unavailable | Apr 26, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| FijiFJ | Unavailable | Feb 19, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| FinlandFI | Unavailable | Jul 28, 2023 | 2 years ago | ||
| GabonGA | Unavailable | Jul 30, 2022 | 16 months ago | ||
| GambiaGM | Unavailable | Jul 11, 2023 | 3 years ago | ||
| GermanyDE | Unavailable | Jan 29, 2022 | 5 months ago | ||
| GrenadaGD | Unavailable | Aug 9, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| Guinea-BissauGW | Unavailable | May 2, 2024 | 12 months ago | ||
| Hong KongHK | Unavailable | Jan 14, 2026 | 7 months ago | ||
| IcelandIS | Unavailable | Nov 20, 2024 | 2 years ago | ||
| IndiaIN | Unavailable | Jul 9, 2023 | 16 months ago | ||
| IndonesiaID | Unavailable | Jan 29, 2022 | 8 months ago | ||
| IsraelIL | Unavailable | Jan 29, 2022 | 9 months ago | ||
| JamaicaJM | Unavailable | Apr 12, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| JapanJP | Unavailable | Aug 19, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| JordanJO | Unavailable | Sep 12, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| KazakhstanKZ | Unavailable | Oct 16, 2023 | 3 years ago | ||
| KenyaKE | Unavailable | Jul 29, 2023 | 2 years ago | ||
| KosovoXK | Unavailable | Jun 27, 2023 | 9 months ago | ||
| KuwaitKW | Unavailable | Aug 7, 2024 | 12 months ago | ||
| KyrgyzstanKG | Unavailable | Jul 23, 2023 | 3 years ago | ||
| LaosLA | Unavailable | Feb 16, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| LatviaLV | Unavailable | Apr 13, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| LebanonLB | Unavailable | Dec 5, 2023 | 4 months ago | ||
| LiberiaLR | Unavailable | Apr 7, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| MadagascarMG | Unavailable | Jun 1, 2022 | 12 months ago | ||
| MaltaMT | Unavailable | Jun 23, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| MauritaniaMR | Unavailable | Dec 30, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| MauritiusMU | Unavailable | Apr 7, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| MoldovaMD | Unavailable | May 21, 2023 | 3 years ago | ||
| MontenegroME | Unavailable | Nov 19, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| MontserratMS | Unavailable | Feb 9, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| MoroccoMA | Unavailable | Jun 23, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| MozambiqueMZ | Unavailable | Jun 5, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| Myanmar (Burma)MM | Unavailable | Jun 14, 2023 | 3 years ago | ||
| NauruNR | Unavailable | Jun 22, 2024 | 40 days ago | ||
| NepalNP | Unavailable | Mar 31, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| NetherlandsNL | Unavailable | Nov 24, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| New ZealandNZ | Unavailable | Jun 27, 2023 | 2 years ago | ||
| NicaraguaNI | Unavailable | Jul 19, 2025 | 14 months ago | ||
| NigerNE | Unavailable | Aug 23, 2025 | 13 months ago | ||
| NigeriaNG | Unavailable | Feb 15, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| NorwayNO | Unavailable | Sep 4, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| PanamaPA | Unavailable | Dec 31, 2023 | 3 years ago | ||
| PeruPE | Unavailable | Dec 1, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| PolandPL | Unavailable | Mar 31, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| PortugalPT | Unavailable | Jan 29, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| QatarQA | Unavailable | Apr 12, 2023 | 3 years ago | ||
| Republic of the CongoCG | Unavailable | Feb 3, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| RomaniaRO | Unavailable | Apr 26, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| RussiaRU | Unavailable | Mar 13, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| RwandaRW | Unavailable | Oct 12, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| Saudi ArabiaSA | Unavailable | Nov 12, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| SenegalSN | Unavailable | Jan 1, 2024 | 5 months ago | ||
| SerbiaRS | Unavailable | Nov 12, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| SeychellesSC | Unavailable | Jun 16, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| Sierra LeoneSL | Unavailable | May 12, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| Solomon IslandsSB | Unavailable | Oct 16, 2022 | 12 months ago | ||
| South AfricaZA | Unavailable | Feb 21, 2022 | 16 months ago | ||
| South KoreaKR | Unavailable | Jan 22, 2025 | 2 years ago | ||
| Sri LankaLK | Unavailable | Jun 4, 2022 | 7 months ago | ||
| St. LuciaLC | Unavailable | Apr 5, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| SwitzerlandCH | Unavailable | Mar 29, 2024 | 2 years ago | ||
| TanzaniaTZ | Unavailable | Mar 13, 2022 | 12 months ago | ||
| ThailandTH | Unavailable | Jan 5, 2023 | 4 years ago | ||
| TongaTO | Unavailable | Aug 11, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| Trinidad & TobagoTT | Unavailable | Apr 13, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| TunisiaTN | Unavailable | Jan 29, 2022 | 12 months ago | ||
| TürkiyeTR | Unavailable | Feb 3, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| TurkmenistanTM | Unavailable | Oct 6, 2024 | 2 years ago | ||
| Turks & Caicos IslandsTC | Unavailable | Feb 15, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| UgandaUG | Unavailable | Mar 31, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| UkraineUA | Unavailable | Mar 13, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| United Arab EmiratesAE | Unavailable | Dec 17, 2022 | 40 days ago | ||
| United StatesUS | Unavailable | Jan 29, 2022 | 40 days ago | ||
| UruguayUY | Unavailable | Jun 14, 2024 | 2 years ago | ||
| UzbekistanUZ | Unavailable | Jun 5, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| VanuatuVU | Unavailable | Nov 24, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| VenezuelaVE | Unavailable | Jan 29, 2022 | 16 months ago | ||
| VietnamVN | Unavailable | Sep 7, 2024 | 2 years ago | ||
| YemenYE | Unavailable | Dec 24, 2024 | 2 years ago | ||
| ZambiaZM | Unavailable | Dec 1, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| ZimbabweZW | Unavailable | Oct 16, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| AlbaniaAL | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| AngolaAO | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| AnguillaAI | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| AustraliaAU | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| AustriaAT | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| BelgiumBE | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| BelizeBZ | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| CameroonCM | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| Cayman IslandsKY | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| ChileCL | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| ColombiaCO | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| Côte d’IvoireCI | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| CroatiaHR | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| CyprusCY | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| EstoniaEE | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| EswatiniSZ | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| FranceFR | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| GeorgiaGE | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| GhanaGH | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| GreeceGR | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| GuatemalaGT | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| GuyanaGY | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| HondurasHN | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| HungaryHU | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| IraqIQ | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| IrelandIE | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| ItalyIT | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| LibyaLY | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| LithuaniaLT | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| LuxembourgLU | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| MacaoMO | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| MalawiMW | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| MalaysiaMY | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| MaldivesMV | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| MaliML | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| MexicoMX | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| MicronesiaFM | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| MongoliaMN | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| NamibiaNA | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| North MacedoniaMK | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| OmanOM | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| PakistanPK | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| PalauPW | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| Papua New GuineaPG | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| ParaguayPY | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| PhilippinesPH | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| São Tomé & PríncipeST | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| SingaporeSG | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| SlovakiaSK | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| SloveniaSI | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| SpainES | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| St. Kitts & NevisKN | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| St. Vincent & GrenadinesVC | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| SurinameSR | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| SwedenSE | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| TaiwanTW | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| TajikistanTJ | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| United KingdomGB | Not tested | — | — | 0 |
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.