applecensorship

We monitor 175 App Store storefronts to answer one question —

Is PayPayモール censored by Apple?

Gone.

PayPayモール is gone from every App Store storefront we test. It was last seen available on May 15, 2022.

156 tests on record·⚠ last verified 3 months ago — treat as historical

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 itLikely

    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

  • Apple applied a rule, unaskedLikely

    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

  • The developer withheld itUnlikely

    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.

  • 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 →

PayPayモール

Developer: Yahoo Japan Corporation · Category: Shopping · Released: Oct 23, 2019 · Rating: 4.6★

View in App Store ↗
0stores where available
36stores where blocked
2.49Bpeople behind the block
36of 175 stores tested
156tests on record

Other Shopping apps missing from mainland China

Everything missing from mainland China →

Life of this app

  1. Oct 23, 2019Released on the App Store
  2. Jan 29, 2021First tested by AppleCensorship
  3. May 15, 2022Last seen available anywhere
  4. Aug 28, 2023Gone from 36 storefronts
  5. Jul 6, 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.

2021-012026-07

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
AustriaATUnavailableJun 29, 20263 months ago
BelgiumBEUnavailableSep 1, 202513 months ago
BermudaBMUnavailableMay 15, 20222 years ago
Cape VerdeCVUnavailableJan 3, 20223 years ago
China (Mainland)CNUnavailableJan 29, 20212 years ago
DominicaDMUnavailableAug 28, 20233 years ago
EswatiniSZUnavailableMar 6, 20243 years ago
GeorgiaGEUnavailableApr 18, 20242 years ago
GreeceGRUnavailableDec 10, 20222 years ago
GrenadaGDUnavailableDec 8, 20233 years ago
GuatemalaGTUnavailableSep 13, 20242 years ago
Hong KongHKUnavailableJan 3, 20223 years ago
JamaicaJMUnavailableMay 15, 20222 years ago
JapanJPUnavailableDec 10, 20223 months ago
KazakhstanKZUnavailableApr 16, 20242 years ago
KenyaKEUnavailableDec 8, 20233 years ago
LatviaLVUnavailableJan 3, 20224 years ago
LiberiaLRUnavailableOct 17, 202512 months ago
LuxembourgLUUnavailableSep 12, 20242 years ago
MaliMLUnavailableJul 6, 20263 months ago
MontserratMSUnavailableMay 30, 20242 years ago
NauruNRUnavailableSep 12, 20243 months ago
NepalNPUnavailableDec 10, 20222 years ago
NetherlandsNLUnavailableMay 14, 20222 years ago
Papua New GuineaPGUnavailableJan 24, 20243 years ago
ParaguayPYUnavailableMay 14, 20222 years ago
PolandPLUnavailableSep 12, 20242 years ago
Republic of the CongoCGUnavailableMay 15, 202213 months ago
RussiaRUUnavailableMay 14, 20222 years ago
Solomon IslandsSBUnavailableNov 6, 202511 months ago
South KoreaKRUnavailableJan 29, 20212 years ago
St. LuciaLCUnavailableMay 15, 20222 years ago
UkraineUAUnavailableMay 14, 20222 years ago
United Arab EmiratesAEUnavailableDec 10, 20223 months ago
United StatesUSUnavailableJan 3, 20223 months ago
VietnamVNUnavailableDec 22, 20242 years ago
AfghanistanAFNot tested——0
AlbaniaALNot tested——0
AlgeriaDZNot tested——0
AngolaAONot tested——0
AnguillaAINot tested——0
Antigua & BarbudaAGNot tested——0
ArgentinaARNot tested——0
ArmeniaAMNot tested——0
AustraliaAUNot tested——0
AzerbaijanAZNot tested——0
BahamasBSNot tested——0
BahrainBHNot tested——0
BarbadosBBNot tested——0
BelarusBYNot tested——0
BelizeBZNot tested——0
BeninBJNot tested——0
BhutanBTNot tested——0
BoliviaBONot tested——0
Bosnia & HerzegovinaBANot tested——0
BotswanaBWNot tested——0
BrazilBRNot tested——0
British Virgin IslandsVGNot tested——0
BruneiBNNot tested——0
BulgariaBGNot tested——0
Burkina FasoBFNot tested——0
CambodiaKHNot tested——0
CameroonCMNot tested——0
CanadaCANot tested——0
Cayman IslandsKYNot tested——0
ChadTDNot tested——0
ChileCLNot tested——0
ColombiaCONot tested——0
Costa RicaCRNot tested——0
Côte d’IvoireCINot tested——0
CroatiaHRNot tested——0
CyprusCYNot tested——0
CzechiaCZNot tested——0
DenmarkDKNot tested——0
Dominican RepublicDONot tested——0
DR CongoCDNot tested——0
EcuadorECNot tested——0
EgyptEGNot tested——0
El SalvadorSVNot tested——0
EstoniaEENot tested——0
FijiFJNot tested——0
FinlandFINot tested——0
FranceFRNot tested——0
GabonGANot tested——0
GambiaGMNot tested——0
GermanyDENot tested——0
GhanaGHNot tested——0
Guinea-BissauGWNot tested——0
GuyanaGYNot tested——0
HondurasHNNot tested——0
HungaryHUNot tested——0
IcelandISNot tested——0
IndiaINNot tested——0
IndonesiaIDNot tested——0
IraqIQNot tested——0
IrelandIENot tested——0
IsraelILNot tested——0
ItalyITNot tested——0
JordanJONot tested——0
KosovoXKNot tested——0
KuwaitKWNot tested——0
KyrgyzstanKGNot tested——0
LaosLANot tested——0
LebanonLBNot tested——0
LibyaLYNot tested——0
LithuaniaLTNot tested——0
MacaoMONot tested——0
MadagascarMGNot tested——0
MalawiMWNot tested——0
MalaysiaMYNot tested——0
MaldivesMVNot tested——0
MaltaMTNot tested——0
MauritaniaMRNot tested——0
MauritiusMUNot tested——0
MexicoMXNot tested——0
MicronesiaFMNot tested——0
MoldovaMDNot tested——0
MongoliaMNNot tested——0
MontenegroMENot tested——0
MoroccoMANot tested——0
MozambiqueMZNot tested——0
Myanmar (Burma)MMNot tested——0
NamibiaNANot tested——0
New ZealandNZNot tested——0
NicaraguaNINot tested——0
NigerNENot tested——0
NigeriaNGNot tested——0
North MacedoniaMKNot tested——0
NorwayNONot tested——0
OmanOMNot tested——0
PakistanPKNot tested——0
PalauPWNot tested——0
PanamaPANot tested——0
PeruPENot tested——0
PhilippinesPHNot tested——0
PortugalPTNot tested——0
QatarQANot tested——0
RomaniaRONot tested——0
RwandaRWNot tested——0
São Tomé & PríncipeSTNot tested——0
Saudi ArabiaSANot tested——0
SenegalSNNot tested——0
SerbiaRSNot tested——0
SeychellesSCNot tested——0
Sierra LeoneSLNot tested——0
SingaporeSGNot tested——0
SlovakiaSKNot tested——0
SloveniaSINot tested——0
South AfricaZANot tested——0
SpainESNot tested——0
Sri LankaLKNot tested——0
St. Kitts & NevisKNNot tested——0
St. Vincent & GrenadinesVCNot tested——0
SurinameSRNot tested——0
SwedenSENot tested——0
SwitzerlandCHNot tested——0
TaiwanTWNot tested——0
TajikistanTJNot tested——0
TanzaniaTZNot tested——0
ThailandTHNot tested——0
TongaTONot tested——0
Trinidad & TobagoTTNot tested——0
TunisiaTNNot tested——0
TürkiyeTRNot tested——0
TurkmenistanTMNot tested——0
Turks & Caicos IslandsTCNot tested——0
UgandaUGNot tested——0
United KingdomGBNot tested——0
UruguayUYNot tested——0
UzbekistanUZNot tested——0
VanuatuVUNot tested——0
VenezuelaVENot tested——0
YemenYENot tested——0
ZambiaZMNot tested——0
ZimbabweZWNot 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.