We monitor 175 App Store storefronts to answer one question —

Is 掌上生活-招商银行信用卡 censored by Apple?

Yes.

Apple does not offer 掌上生活-招商银行信用卡 in 3 of the 175 App Stores it operates: South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. 96.5M people cannot install it. It has been unavailable in South Korea since Apr 4, 2020.

1,316 tests on record·last checked 2 months 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

    • 34% of Finance apps are unavailable in the United Arab Emirates — 455 of 1,349 — against 15% of everything we test there.
    • Apple reports 108 government-ordered removals in South Korea 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

    • 34% of Finance apps are unavailable in the United Arab Emirates — 455 of 1,349 — against 15% 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.

    • 34% of Finance apps are unavailable in the United Arab Emirates — 455 of 1,349 — against 15% 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.

    • 34% of Finance apps are unavailable in the United Arab Emirates — 455 of 1,349 — against 15% of everything we test there.
    • Gone for 6 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 →

掌上生活-招商银行信用卡

Developer: CHINA MERCHANTS BANK CO.,LTD. · Category: Finance · Released: Oct 29, 2010 · Rating: 3.3★

View in App Store ↗
83stores where available
3stores where blocked
96.5Mpeople behind the block
86of 175 stores tested
1,316tests on record

Installing it anyway

掌上生活-招商银行信用卡 is unavailable in South Korea, 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 Finance apps missing from South Korea

Everything missing from South Korea →

Life of this app

  1. Oct 29, 2010Released on the App Store
  2. Feb 27, 2019First tested by AppleCensorship
  3. Nov 24, 2019Removed in Saudi Arabia
  4. Apr 4, 2020Removed in South Korea
  5. Dec 18, 2022Removed in the United Arab Emirates
  6. Aug 23, 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.

2019-022026-08

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
Saudi ArabiaSAUnavailableNov 24, 20193 years ago
South KoreaKRUnavailableApr 4, 20202 years ago
United Arab EmiratesAEUnavailableDec 18, 20222 years ago
AlgeriaDZAvailable—3 years ago
AnguillaAIAvailable—3 years ago
Antigua & BarbudaAGAvailable—3 years ago
AustraliaAUAvailable—2 years ago
AustriaATAvailable—3 years ago
AzerbaijanAZAvailable—3 years ago
BahamasBSAvailable—3 years ago
BahrainBHAvailable—3 years ago
BarbadosBBAvailable—3 years ago
BelizeBZAvailable—2 years ago
British Virgin IslandsVGAvailable—3 years ago
BruneiBNAvailable—3 years ago
BulgariaBGAvailable—3 years ago
CanadaCAAvailable—2 years ago
Cayman IslandsKYAvailable—2 years ago
ChadTDAvailable—3 years ago
ChileCLAvailable—3 years ago
China (Mainland)CNAvailable—2 months ago
ColombiaCOAvailable—3 years ago
CroatiaHRAvailable—2 years ago
CyprusCYAvailable—3 years ago
EcuadorECAvailable—3 years ago
EswatiniSZAvailable—3 years ago
FijiFJAvailable—3 years ago
FranceFRAvailable—2 years ago
GermanyDEAvailable—3 years ago
GreeceGRAvailable—3 years ago
HondurasHNAvailable—3 years ago
Hong KongHKAvailable—2 months ago
IcelandISAvailable—2 years ago
IndiaINAvailable—2 months ago
IndonesiaIDAvailable—2 months ago
IrelandIEAvailable—2 years ago
JapanJPAvailable—2 months ago
JordanJOAvailable—3 years ago
KenyaKEAvailable—3 years ago
KuwaitKWAvailable—3 years ago
LatviaLVAvailable—3 years ago
LithuaniaLTAvailable—2 years ago
LuxembourgLUAvailable—2 years ago
MacaoMOAvailable—2 months ago
MadagascarMGAvailable—3 years ago
MalawiMWAvailable—3 years ago
MalaysiaMYAvailable—2 years ago
MaltaMTAvailable—3 years ago
MicronesiaFMAvailable—3 years ago
MontserratMSAvailable—3 years ago
MozambiqueMZAvailable—3 years ago
NauruNRAvailable—2 years ago
NepalNPAvailable—2 years ago
NetherlandsNLAvailable—2 years ago
New ZealandNZAvailable—2 years ago
NigerNEAvailable—3 years ago
NorwayNOAvailable—3 years ago
OmanOMAvailable—3 years ago
PakistanPKAvailable—3 years ago
PalauPWAvailable—3 years ago
PanamaPAAvailable—3 years ago
PolandPLAvailable—3 years ago
PortugalPTAvailable—2 years ago
RomaniaROAvailable—3 years ago
RussiaRUAvailable—2 years ago
SingaporeSGAvailable—2 months ago
SlovakiaSKAvailable—3 years ago
SloveniaSIAvailable—3 years ago
SpainESAvailable—2 years ago
St. Kitts & NevisKNAvailable—4 years ago
SwedenSEAvailable—2 years ago
TaiwanTWAvailable—2 months ago
TajikistanTJAvailable—3 years ago
ThailandTHAvailable—2 years ago
TongaTOAvailable—3 years ago
Trinidad & TobagoTTAvailable—3 years ago
TunisiaTNAvailable—3 years ago
TürkiyeTRAvailable—2 months ago
Turks & Caicos IslandsTCAvailable—3 years ago
UkraineUAAvailable—2 years ago
United KingdomGBAvailable—6 months ago
United StatesUSAvailable—2 months ago
UruguayUYAvailable—3 years ago
VanuatuVUAvailable—2 years ago
VenezuelaVEAvailable—3 years ago
VietnamVNAvailable—3 years ago
AfghanistanAFNot tested——0
AlbaniaALNot tested——0
AngolaAONot tested——0
ArgentinaARNot tested——0
ArmeniaAMNot tested——0
BelarusBYNot tested——0
BelgiumBENot tested——0
BeninBJNot tested——0
BermudaBMNot tested——0
BhutanBTNot tested——0
BoliviaBONot tested——0
Bosnia & HerzegovinaBANot tested——0
BotswanaBWNot tested——0
BrazilBRNot tested——0
Burkina FasoBFNot tested——0
CambodiaKHNot tested——0
CameroonCMNot tested——0
Cape VerdeCVNot tested——0
Costa RicaCRNot tested——0
Côte d’IvoireCINot tested——0
CzechiaCZNot tested——0
DenmarkDKNot tested——0
DominicaDMNot tested——0
Dominican RepublicDONot tested——0
DR CongoCDNot tested——0
EgyptEGNot tested——0
El SalvadorSVNot tested——0
EstoniaEENot tested——0
FinlandFINot tested——0
GabonGANot tested——0
GambiaGMNot tested——0
GeorgiaGENot tested——0
GhanaGHNot tested——0
GrenadaGDNot tested——0
GuatemalaGTNot tested——0
Guinea-BissauGWNot tested——0
GuyanaGYNot tested——0
HungaryHUNot tested——0
IraqIQNot tested——0
IsraelILNot tested——0
ItalyITNot tested——0
JamaicaJMNot tested——0
KazakhstanKZNot tested——0
KosovoXKNot tested——0
KyrgyzstanKGNot tested——0
LaosLANot tested——0
LebanonLBNot tested——0
LiberiaLRNot tested——0
LibyaLYNot tested——0
MaldivesMVNot tested——0
MaliMLNot tested——0
MauritaniaMRNot tested——0
MauritiusMUNot tested——0
MexicoMXNot tested——0
MoldovaMDNot tested——0
MongoliaMNNot tested——0
MontenegroMENot tested——0
MoroccoMANot tested——0
Myanmar (Burma)MMNot tested——0
NamibiaNANot tested——0
NicaraguaNINot tested——0
NigeriaNGNot tested——0
North MacedoniaMKNot tested——0
Papua New GuineaPGNot tested——0
ParaguayPYNot tested——0
PeruPENot tested——0
PhilippinesPHNot tested——0
QatarQANot tested——0
Republic of the CongoCGNot tested——0
RwandaRWNot tested——0
São Tomé & PríncipeSTNot tested——0
SenegalSNNot tested——0
SerbiaRSNot tested——0
SeychellesSCNot tested——0
Sierra LeoneSLNot tested——0
Solomon IslandsSBNot tested——0
South AfricaZANot tested——0
Sri LankaLKNot tested——0
St. LuciaLCNot tested——0
St. Vincent & GrenadinesVCNot tested——0
SurinameSRNot tested——0
SwitzerlandCHNot tested——0
TanzaniaTZNot tested——0
TurkmenistanTMNot tested——0
UgandaUGNot tested——0
UzbekistanUZNot 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.