We monitor 175 App Store storefronts to answer one question —

Is TouchTunes: Control Bar Music censored by Apple?

Yes.

Apple does not offer TouchTunes: Control Bar Music in most of the App Stores it operates — 63 of 175, including India. 4.22B people cannot install it. It has been unavailable in India since Apr 30, 2023.

366 tests on record·last checked 8 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

    • 31% of Music apps are unavailable in Latvia — 71 of 231 — against 18% of everything we test there.
    • 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

    • 31% of Music apps are unavailable in Latvia — 71 of 231 — against 18% 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.

    • 31% of Music apps are unavailable in Latvia — 71 of 231 — against 18% 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.

    • 31% of Music apps are unavailable in Latvia — 71 of 231 — against 18% of everything we test there.
    • Gone for 7 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 →

TouchTunes: Control Bar Music

Developer: TouchTunes · Category: Music · Released: Sep 12, 2010 · Rating: 4.8★

View in App Store ↗
2stores where available
63stores where blocked
4.22Bpeople behind the block
65of 175 stores tested
366tests on record

Installing it anyway

TouchTunes: Control Bar Music is unavailable in India, but it is still sold in the US App Store. A free second Apple ID installs it — about 10 minutes, no card, and your main account stays as it is.

How to install it — GreatFireVPN ↗

Other Music apps missing from India

Everything missing from India →

Life of this app

  1. Sep 12, 2010Released on the App Store
  2. Apr 18, 2019First tested by AppleCensorship
  3. Feb 6, 2023Gone from 63 storefronts
  4. Aug 21, 2026Last seen available anywhere
  5. Sep 29, 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.

2019-042026-09

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
AfghanistanAFUnavailableApr 30, 20233 years ago
AlbaniaALUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
AngolaAOUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
AnguillaAIUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
Antigua & BarbudaAGUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
ArgentinaARUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
ArmeniaAMUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
AustraliaAUUnavailableJan 5, 20223 years ago
AustriaATUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
AzerbaijanAZUnavailableAug 12, 20203 years ago
BahamasBSUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
BahrainBHUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
BarbadosBBUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
BelarusBYUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
BelgiumBEUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
BeninBJUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
BermudaBMUnavailableJan 12, 20234 years ago
BhutanBTUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
BoliviaBOUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
Bosnia & HerzegovinaBAUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
BotswanaBWUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
BrazilBRUnavailableSep 9, 20212 years ago
BruneiBNUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
BulgariaBGUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
Burkina FasoBFUnavailableSep 29, 20268 days ago
CameroonCMUnavailableApr 25, 20233 years ago
Cape VerdeCVUnavailableSep 9, 20214 years ago
China (Mainland)CNUnavailableApr 18, 20196 months ago
Costa RicaCRUnavailableAug 13, 20223 years ago
CyprusCYUnavailableAug 12, 20203 years ago
FinlandFIUnavailableNov 30, 20193 years ago
GabonGAUnavailableAug 3, 20224 years ago
GermanyDEUnavailableFeb 6, 20233 years ago
GhanaGHUnavailableAug 3, 20224 years ago
GreeceGRUnavailableMar 12, 20203 years ago
GuyanaGYUnavailableMay 21, 20233 years ago
Hong KongHKUnavailableDec 31, 20212 years ago
HungaryHUUnavailableNov 30, 20194 years ago
IndiaINUnavailableApr 30, 20233 years ago
JapanJPUnavailableApr 18, 20193 years ago
LatviaLVUnavailableDec 5, 20224 years ago
MacaoMOUnavailableApr 30, 20233 years ago
MalaysiaMYUnavailableOct 8, 20193 years ago
MongoliaMNUnavailableSep 25, 20213 years ago
NepalNPUnavailableDec 13, 20223 years ago
North MacedoniaMKUnavailableFeb 10, 20223 years ago
NorwayNOUnavailableApr 30, 20233 years ago
RussiaRUUnavailableAug 3, 20222 years ago
São Tomé & PríncipeSTUnavailableDec 14, 20233 years ago
SingaporeSGUnavailableOct 8, 20193 years ago
South AfricaZAUnavailableFeb 6, 20234 years ago
South KoreaKRUnavailableSep 9, 20214 years ago
St. LuciaLCUnavailableJan 5, 20224 years ago
SwedenSEUnavailableApr 30, 20233 years ago
TaiwanTWUnavailableApr 30, 20232 years ago
TajikistanTJUnavailableSep 25, 20213 years ago
ThailandTHUnavailableMar 12, 20203 years ago
TongaTOUnavailableAug 13, 20224 years ago
TunisiaTNUnavailableFeb 10, 20224 years ago
TürkiyeTRUnavailableApr 30, 20233 years ago
UkraineUAUnavailableAug 3, 20223 years ago
United Arab EmiratesAEUnavailableDec 13, 202216 months ago
VietnamVNUnavailableApr 8, 20213 years ago
United KingdomGBAvailable—3 years ago
United StatesUSAvailable—2 months ago
AlgeriaDZNot tested——0
BelizeBZNot tested——0
British Virgin IslandsVGNot tested——0
CambodiaKHNot tested——0
CanadaCANot tested——0
Cayman IslandsKYNot tested——0
ChadTDNot tested——0
ChileCLNot tested——0
ColombiaCONot tested——0
Côte d’IvoireCINot tested——0
CroatiaHRNot tested——0
CzechiaCZNot tested——0
DenmarkDKNot tested——0
DominicaDMNot tested——0
Dominican RepublicDONot tested——0
DR CongoCDNot tested——0
EcuadorECNot tested——0
EgyptEGNot tested——0
El SalvadorSVNot tested——0
EstoniaEENot tested——0
EswatiniSZNot tested——0
FijiFJNot tested——0
FranceFRNot tested——0
GambiaGMNot tested——0
GeorgiaGENot tested——0
GrenadaGDNot tested——0
GuatemalaGTNot tested——0
Guinea-BissauGWNot tested——0
HondurasHNNot tested——0
IcelandISNot tested——0
IndonesiaIDNot tested——0
IraqIQNot tested——0
IrelandIENot tested——0
IsraelILNot tested——0
ItalyITNot tested——0
JamaicaJMNot tested——0
JordanJONot tested——0
KazakhstanKZNot tested——0
KenyaKENot tested——0
KosovoXKNot tested——0
KuwaitKWNot tested——0
KyrgyzstanKGNot tested——0
LaosLANot tested——0
LebanonLBNot tested——0
LiberiaLRNot tested——0
LibyaLYNot tested——0
LithuaniaLTNot tested——0
LuxembourgLUNot tested——0
MadagascarMGNot tested——0
MalawiMWNot tested——0
MaldivesMVNot tested——0
MaliMLNot tested——0
MaltaMTNot tested——0
MauritaniaMRNot tested——0
MauritiusMUNot tested——0
MexicoMXNot tested——0
MicronesiaFMNot tested——0
MoldovaMDNot tested——0
MontenegroMENot tested——0
MontserratMSNot tested——0
MoroccoMANot tested——0
MozambiqueMZNot tested——0
Myanmar (Burma)MMNot tested——0
NamibiaNANot tested——0
NauruNRNot tested——0
NetherlandsNLNot tested——0
New ZealandNZNot tested——0
NicaraguaNINot tested——0
NigerNENot tested——0
NigeriaNGNot tested——0
OmanOMNot tested——0
PakistanPKNot tested——0
PalauPWNot tested——0
PanamaPANot tested——0
Papua New GuineaPGNot tested——0
ParaguayPYNot tested——0
PeruPENot tested——0
PhilippinesPHNot tested——0
PolandPLNot tested——0
PortugalPTNot tested——0
QatarQANot tested——0
Republic of the CongoCGNot tested——0
RomaniaRONot tested——0
RwandaRWNot tested——0
Saudi ArabiaSANot tested——0
SenegalSNNot tested——0
SerbiaRSNot tested——0
SeychellesSCNot tested——0
Sierra LeoneSLNot tested——0
SlovakiaSKNot tested——0
SloveniaSINot tested——0
Solomon IslandsSBNot tested——0
SpainESNot tested——0
Sri LankaLKNot tested——0
St. Kitts & NevisKNNot tested——0
St. Vincent & GrenadinesVCNot tested——0
SurinameSRNot tested——0
SwitzerlandCHNot tested——0
TanzaniaTZNot tested——0
Trinidad & TobagoTTNot tested——0
TurkmenistanTMNot tested——0
Turks & Caicos IslandsTCNot tested——0
UgandaUGNot 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.