applecensorship

We monitor 175 App Store storefronts to answer one question —

Is Des Moines Register censored by Apple?

Yes.

Apple does not offer Des Moines Register in most of the App Stores it operates — 29 of 175, including India. 3.6B people cannot install it. It has been unavailable in India since Apr 28, 2023.

208 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 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 →

Des Moines Register

Developer: Gannett · Category: News · Released: Jun 1, 2012 · Rating: 0.6★

View in App Store ↗
13stores where available
29stores where blocked
3.6Bpeople behind the block
42of 175 stores tested
208tests on record

Other News apps missing from India

Everything missing from India →

Life of this app

  1. Jun 1, 2012Released on the App Store
  2. Aug 18, 2019First tested by AppleCensorship
  3. Apr 28, 2023Gone from 29 storefronts
  4. Jul 7, 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.

2019-082026-07

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
AfghanistanAFUnavailableApr 28, 20233 years ago
BarbadosBBUnavailableDec 30, 20233 years ago
China (Mainland)CNUnavailableApr 28, 20232 months ago
CroatiaHRUnavailableOct 6, 20223 years ago
EgyptEGUnavailableApr 14, 20242 years ago
EstoniaEEUnavailableOct 6, 20224 years ago
GermanyDEUnavailableApr 28, 20233 years ago
Hong KongHKUnavailableApr 28, 20233 years ago
IndiaINUnavailableApr 28, 20232 years ago
LiberiaLRUnavailableAug 8, 20233 years ago
MacaoMOUnavailableApr 28, 20233 years ago
MalawiMWUnavailableSep 14, 20233 years ago
MaltaMTUnavailableJun 18, 20233 years ago
MongoliaMNUnavailableAug 2, 20233 years ago
MontenegroMEUnavailableDec 14, 20233 years ago
MozambiqueMZUnavailableJul 31, 20233 years ago
NepalNPUnavailableJun 18, 20232 years ago
NetherlandsNLUnavailableJun 19, 20203 years ago
NorwayNOUnavailableApr 28, 20233 years ago
RussiaRUUnavailableApr 28, 20232 years ago
SerbiaRSUnavailableJul 7, 20262 months ago
SingaporeSGUnavailableApr 28, 20233 years ago
SwedenSEUnavailableApr 28, 20233 years ago
TaiwanTWUnavailableApr 28, 20233 years ago
TürkiyeTRUnavailableApr 28, 20233 years ago
UkraineUAUnavailableJun 18, 20232 years ago
United Arab EmiratesAEUnavailableJun 18, 20232 years ago
United KingdomGBUnavailableApr 28, 20233 years ago
VietnamVNUnavailableApr 28, 20233 years ago
AngolaAOAvailable—4 years ago
Antigua & BarbudaAGAvailable—4 years ago
BhutanBTAvailable—4 years ago
British Virgin IslandsVGAvailable—4 years ago
Costa RicaCRAvailable—4 years ago
MexicoMXAvailable—4 years ago
NigerNEAvailable—4 years ago
OmanOMAvailable—4 years ago
South KoreaKRAvailable—4 years ago
TurkmenistanTMAvailable—4 years ago
United StatesUSAvailable—2 months ago
VenezuelaVEAvailable—4 years ago
ZimbabweZWAvailable—4 years ago
AlbaniaALNot tested——0
AlgeriaDZNot tested——0
AnguillaAINot tested——0
ArgentinaARNot tested——0
ArmeniaAMNot tested——0
AustraliaAUNot tested——0
AustriaATNot tested——0
AzerbaijanAZNot tested——0
BahamasBSNot tested——0
BahrainBHNot tested——0
BelarusBYNot tested——0
BelgiumBENot tested——0
BelizeBZNot tested——0
BeninBJNot tested——0
BermudaBMNot tested——0
BoliviaBONot tested——0
Bosnia & HerzegovinaBANot tested——0
BotswanaBWNot tested——0
BrazilBRNot 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
Côte d’IvoireCINot tested——0
CyprusCYNot tested——0
CzechiaCZNot tested——0
DenmarkDKNot tested——0
DominicaDMNot tested——0
Dominican RepublicDONot tested——0
DR CongoCDNot tested——0
EcuadorECNot tested——0
El SalvadorSVNot tested——0
EswatiniSZNot tested——0
FijiFJNot tested——0
FinlandFINot tested——0
FranceFRNot tested——0
GabonGANot tested——0
GambiaGMNot tested——0
GeorgiaGENot tested——0
GhanaGHNot tested——0
GreeceGRNot tested——0
GrenadaGDNot tested——0
GuatemalaGTNot tested——0
Guinea-BissauGWNot tested——0
GuyanaGYNot tested——0
HondurasHNNot tested——0
HungaryHUNot tested——0
IcelandISNot tested——0
IndonesiaIDNot tested——0
IraqIQNot tested——0
IrelandIENot tested——0
IsraelILNot tested——0
ItalyITNot tested——0
JamaicaJMNot tested——0
JapanJPNot tested——0
JordanJONot tested——0
KazakhstanKZNot tested——0
KenyaKENot tested——0
KosovoXKNot tested——0
KuwaitKWNot tested——0
KyrgyzstanKGNot tested——0
LaosLANot tested——0
LatviaLVNot tested——0
LebanonLBNot tested——0
LibyaLYNot tested——0
LithuaniaLTNot tested——0
LuxembourgLUNot tested——0
MadagascarMGNot tested——0
MalaysiaMYNot tested——0
MaldivesMVNot tested——0
MaliMLNot tested——0
MauritaniaMRNot tested——0
MauritiusMUNot tested——0
MicronesiaFMNot tested——0
MoldovaMDNot tested——0
MontserratMSNot tested——0
MoroccoMANot tested——0
Myanmar (Burma)MMNot tested——0
NamibiaNANot tested——0
NauruNRNot tested——0
New ZealandNZNot tested——0
NicaraguaNINot tested——0
NigeriaNGNot tested——0
North MacedoniaMKNot 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
São Tomé & PríncipeSTNot tested——0
Saudi ArabiaSANot tested——0
SenegalSNNot tested——0
SeychellesSCNot tested——0
Sierra LeoneSLNot tested——0
SlovakiaSKNot tested——0
SloveniaSINot tested——0
Solomon IslandsSBNot tested——0
South AfricaZANot tested——0
SpainESNot tested——0
Sri LankaLKNot tested——0
St. Kitts & NevisKNNot tested——0
St. LuciaLCNot tested——0
St. Vincent & GrenadinesVCNot tested——0
SurinameSRNot tested——0
SwitzerlandCHNot tested——0
TajikistanTJNot tested——0
TanzaniaTZNot tested——0
ThailandTHNot tested——0
TongaTONot tested——0
Trinidad & TobagoTTNot tested——0
TunisiaTNNot tested——0
Turks & Caicos IslandsTCNot tested——0
UgandaUGNot tested——0
UruguayUYNot tested——0
UzbekistanUZNot tested——0
VanuatuVUNot tested——0
YemenYENot tested——0
ZambiaZMNot 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.