applecensorship

We monitor 175 App Store storefronts to answer one question —

Is Pollen.com's Allergy Alert censored by Apple?

Gone.

Pollen.com's Allergy Alert is gone from every App Store storefront we test. It was last seen available on Feb 19, 2022.

178 tests on record·⚠ last verified 6 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 →

Pollen.com's Allergy Alert

Developer: IQVIA Inc. · Category: Health & Fitness · Released: Feb 11, 2011 · Rating: 2.7★

View in App Store ↗
0stores where available
41stores where blocked
2.92Bpeople behind the block
41of 175 stores tested
178tests on record

Other Health and fitness apps missing from mainland China

Everything missing from mainland China →

Life of this app

  1. Feb 11, 2011Released on the App Store
  2. Jan 27, 2020First tested by AppleCensorship
  3. Feb 19, 2022Last seen available anywhere
  4. Oct 6, 2022Gone from 41 storefronts
  5. Apr 2, 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.

2020-012026-04

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
AlgeriaDZUnavailableMay 15, 20214 years ago
AustraliaAUUnavailableJun 1, 20233 years ago
AzerbaijanAZUnavailableOct 6, 20224 years ago
BelarusBYUnavailableJun 9, 20204 years ago
BrazilBRUnavailableAug 12, 20224 years ago
China (Mainland)CNUnavailableJun 9, 20204 years ago
DR CongoCDUnavailableSep 2, 20224 years ago
FranceFRUnavailableSep 9, 20242 years ago
GeorgiaGEUnavailableNov 22, 20224 years ago
GuatemalaGTUnavailableMay 15, 20214 years ago
Hong KongHKUnavailableDec 31, 20213 years ago
IrelandIEUnavailableApr 2, 20266 months ago
IsraelILUnavailableMar 8, 20252 years ago
JordanJOUnavailableMar 30, 20234 years ago
LatviaLVUnavailableAug 12, 20224 years ago
LuxembourgLUUnavailableDec 31, 20213 years ago
MalawiMWUnavailableJan 24, 20234 years ago
MaltaMTUnavailableNov 23, 20233 years ago
MexicoMXUnavailableSep 23, 20224 years ago
MicronesiaFMUnavailableMar 10, 20234 years ago
NauruNRUnavailableJun 22, 20246 months ago
NepalNPUnavailableJan 24, 20233 years ago
NetherlandsNLUnavailableApr 26, 20233 years ago
PalauPWUnavailableFeb 4, 20234 years ago
PanamaPAUnavailableAug 4, 20224 years ago
RussiaRUUnavailableAug 4, 20223 years ago
RwandaRWUnavailableAug 12, 20224 years ago
São Tomé & PríncipeSTUnavailableMay 15, 20214 years ago
SeychellesSCUnavailableSep 2, 20224 years ago
SingaporeSGUnavailableSep 23, 20224 years ago
South AfricaZAUnavailableAug 25, 20242 years ago
St. LuciaLCUnavailableJan 14, 20252 years ago
TanzaniaTZUnavailableJun 22, 20242 years ago
ThailandTHUnavailableDec 31, 20213 years ago
TongaTOUnavailableAug 4, 20224 years ago
Trinidad & TobagoTTUnavailableNov 22, 20224 years ago
UkraineUAUnavailableJun 9, 20203 years ago
United Arab EmiratesAEUnavailableJan 24, 20236 months ago
United StatesUSUnavailableAug 4, 20226 months ago
VenezuelaVEUnavailableNov 24, 20233 years ago
YemenYEUnavailableJan 2, 20243 years ago
AfghanistanAFNot tested——0
AlbaniaALNot tested——0
AngolaAONot tested——0
AnguillaAINot tested——0
Antigua & BarbudaAGNot tested——0
ArgentinaARNot tested——0
ArmeniaAMNot tested——0
AustriaATNot tested——0
BahamasBSNot tested——0
BahrainBHNot tested——0
BarbadosBBNot tested——0
BelgiumBENot tested——0
BelizeBZNot tested——0
BeninBJNot tested——0
BermudaBMNot tested——0
BhutanBTNot tested——0
BoliviaBONot tested——0
Bosnia & HerzegovinaBANot tested——0
BotswanaBWNot 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
Cape VerdeCVNot 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
DominicaDMNot tested——0
Dominican RepublicDONot tested——0
EcuadorECNot tested——0
EgyptEGNot tested——0
El SalvadorSVNot tested——0
EstoniaEENot tested——0
EswatiniSZNot tested——0
FijiFJNot tested——0
FinlandFINot tested——0
GabonGANot tested——0
GambiaGMNot tested——0
GermanyDENot tested——0
GhanaGHNot tested——0
GreeceGRNot tested——0
GrenadaGDNot 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
ItalyITNot tested——0
JamaicaJMNot tested——0
JapanJPNot 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
MacaoMONot tested——0
MadagascarMGNot tested——0
MalaysiaMYNot tested——0
MaldivesMVNot tested——0
MaliMLNot tested——0
MauritaniaMRNot tested——0
MauritiusMUNot tested——0
MoldovaMDNot tested——0
MongoliaMNNot tested——0
MontenegroMENot tested——0
MontserratMSNot 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
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
Saudi ArabiaSANot tested——0
SenegalSNNot tested——0
SerbiaRSNot tested——0
Sierra LeoneSLNot tested——0
SlovakiaSKNot tested——0
SloveniaSINot tested——0
Solomon IslandsSBNot tested——0
South KoreaKRNot 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
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
VietnamVNNot 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.