We monitor 175 App Store storefronts to answer one question —
Is Hacker News Client censored by Apple?
Hacker News Client is gone from every App Store storefront we test. It was last seen available on Jan 4, 2021.
1,050 tests on record·last checked 32 hours 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 it
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
- News apps in the United States are unavailable at 3%, near the 5% for everything there, which cuts neither way.
- 11 other apps left mainland China the same day, Nov 25, 2021.
- Apple reports 1,213 government-ordered removals in Russia for 2025, naming none of them.
Apple applied a rule, unasked
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
- News apps in the United States are unavailable at 3%, near the 5% for everything there, which cuts neither way.
- 11 other apps left mainland China the same day, Nov 25, 2021.
The developer withheld it
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 broke
a rejected update, a lapsed certificate, a payment or licensing problem, a mistake nobody has got round to noticing.
- 11 other apps left mainland China the same day, Nov 25, 2021.
- Gone for 4 years.
A local rule about paying for it
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 →
Hacker News Client
Developer: Marcin Kmiec · Category: News · Released: Nov 20, 2014 · Rating: 1.0★
Other News apps missing from India
Life of this app
- Nov 20, 2014Released on the App Store
- Mar 18, 2020First tested by AppleCensorship
- Jan 4, 2021Last seen available anywhere
- Aug 8, 2022Gone from 128 storefronts
- Sep 17, 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.
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 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AfghanistanAF | Unavailable | Feb 14, 2026 | 7 months ago | ||
| AngolaAO | Unavailable | May 16, 2025 | 16 months ago | ||
| AnguillaAI | Unavailable | Sep 19, 2023 | 2 years ago | ||
| Antigua & BarbudaAG | Unavailable | Mar 21, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| ArmeniaAM | Unavailable | May 30, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| AustriaAT | Unavailable | May 27, 2025 | 2 months ago | ||
| BahrainBH | Unavailable | Nov 30, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| BarbadosBB | Unavailable | Sep 23, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| BelizeBZ | Unavailable | Dec 8, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| BeninBJ | Unavailable | Sep 2, 2025 | 13 months ago | ||
| BermudaBM | Unavailable | Dec 19, 2023 | 3 years ago | ||
| BhutanBT | Unavailable | Nov 23, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| BoliviaBO | Unavailable | Feb 18, 2024 | 2 years ago | ||
| Bosnia & HerzegovinaBA | Unavailable | Feb 28, 2025 | 2 years ago | ||
| BotswanaBW | Unavailable | Sep 10, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| BrazilBR | Unavailable | Feb 4, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| BulgariaBG | Unavailable | May 2, 2025 | 1 year ago | ||
| Burkina FasoBF | Unavailable | Sep 22, 2025 | 12 months ago | ||
| CameroonCM | Unavailable | Oct 27, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| Cape VerdeCV | Unavailable | Mar 8, 2022 | 7 months ago | ||
| Cayman IslandsKY | Unavailable | Mar 8, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| ChadTD | Unavailable | Sep 6, 2022 | 5 months ago | ||
| ChileCL | Unavailable | Feb 14, 2026 | 7 months ago | ||
| China (Mainland)CN | Unavailable | Nov 25, 2021 | 2 months ago | ||
| ColombiaCO | Unavailable | Nov 25, 2021 | 4 years ago | ||
| Côte d’IvoireCI | Unavailable | Nov 3, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| CroatiaHR | Unavailable | Jul 28, 2023 | 3 years ago | ||
| CyprusCY | Unavailable | Nov 25, 2021 | 5 months ago | ||
| CzechiaCZ | Unavailable | Dec 7, 2023 | 3 years ago | ||
| DenmarkDK | Unavailable | Mar 24, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| Dominican RepublicDO | Unavailable | Apr 25, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| DR CongoCD | Unavailable | Aug 8, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| EgyptEG | Unavailable | Aug 26, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| EstoniaEE | Unavailable | Dec 9, 2021 | 2 years ago | ||
| GabonGA | Unavailable | Jun 30, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| GambiaGM | Unavailable | Dec 23, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| GeorgiaGE | Unavailable | Feb 12, 2026 | 4 months ago | ||
| GermanyDE | Unavailable | Oct 27, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| GhanaGH | Unavailable | Dec 14, 2021 | 3 years ago | ||
| GrenadaGD | Unavailable | May 21, 2024 | 2 years ago | ||
| GuatemalaGT | Unavailable | Apr 25, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| Guinea-BissauGW | Unavailable | Jun 24, 2023 | 3 years ago | ||
| GuyanaGY | Unavailable | Oct 20, 2022 | 2 months ago | ||
| HondurasHN | Unavailable | Jan 23, 2023 | 4 years ago | ||
| Hong KongHK | Unavailable | Nov 25, 2021 | 3 months ago | ||
| HungaryHU | Unavailable | Nov 8, 2022 | 9 months ago | ||
| IcelandIS | Unavailable | May 29, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| IndiaIN | Unavailable | Feb 20, 2024 | 3 years ago | ||
| IndonesiaID | Unavailable | Oct 19, 2023 | 13 months ago | ||
| IraqIQ | Unavailable | Nov 22, 2024 | 7 months ago | ||
| IrelandIE | Unavailable | Sep 28, 2023 | 2 years ago | ||
| IsraelIL | Unavailable | Nov 29, 2021 | 4 years ago | ||
| JamaicaJM | Unavailable | Mar 21, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| JapanJP | Unavailable | Nov 25, 2021 | 2 years ago | ||
| JordanJO | Unavailable | Jun 28, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| KazakhstanKZ | Unavailable | Jan 28, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| KenyaKE | Unavailable | Nov 5, 2022 | 1 year ago | ||
| KuwaitKW | Unavailable | Oct 24, 2022 | 6 months ago | ||
| KyrgyzstanKG | Unavailable | Jun 17, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| LiberiaLR | Unavailable | Nov 25, 2021 | 4 years ago | ||
| LithuaniaLT | Unavailable | Jan 10, 2023 | 4 years ago | ||
| LuxembourgLU | Unavailable | Mar 19, 2022 | 1 year ago | ||
| MadagascarMG | Unavailable | Sep 24, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| MalawiMW | Unavailable | Jun 25, 2026 | 3 months ago | ||
| MalaysiaMY | Unavailable | Mar 12, 2026 | 6 months ago | ||
| MaldivesMV | Unavailable | Nov 23, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| MaliML | Unavailable | Feb 13, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| MaltaMT | Unavailable | Dec 9, 2021 | 3 years ago | ||
| MauritaniaMR | Unavailable | Oct 8, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| MauritiusMU | Unavailable | Mar 19, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| MicronesiaFM | Unavailable | Apr 9, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| MoldovaMD | Unavailable | Jun 7, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| MongoliaMN | Unavailable | Dec 9, 2021 | 3 years ago | ||
| MoroccoMA | Unavailable | Sep 30, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| MozambiqueMZ | Unavailable | Mar 18, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| NamibiaNA | Unavailable | Aug 8, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| NauruNR | Unavailable | Jun 26, 2024 | 32 hours ago | ||
| NepalNP | Unavailable | Dec 8, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| New ZealandNZ | Unavailable | Dec 14, 2021 | 3 years ago | ||
| NicaraguaNI | Unavailable | Feb 2, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| NigerNE | Unavailable | Sep 4, 2025 | 12 months ago | ||
| NigeriaNG | Unavailable | Dec 3, 2021 | 3 years ago | ||
| North MacedoniaMK | Unavailable | Dec 11, 2021 | 4 years ago | ||
| NorwayNO | Unavailable | Aug 13, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| PakistanPK | Unavailable | Nov 25, 2021 | 1 year ago | ||
| PanamaPA | Unavailable | Nov 29, 2021 | 3 years ago | ||
| ParaguayPY | Unavailable | Apr 24, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| PeruPE | Unavailable | Nov 13, 2024 | 2 years ago | ||
| PolandPL | Unavailable | Dec 9, 2021 | 3 years ago | ||
| PortugalPT | Unavailable | Jan 17, 2024 | 3 years ago | ||
| RomaniaRO | Unavailable | May 18, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| RussiaRU | Unavailable | Mar 8, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| RwandaRW | Unavailable | Aug 7, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| São Tomé & PríncipeST | Unavailable | Dec 3, 2021 | 2 years ago | ||
| SenegalSN | Unavailable | Oct 1, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| SerbiaRS | Unavailable | Nov 14, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| SeychellesSC | Unavailable | Jan 16, 2024 | 2 years ago | ||
| Sierra LeoneSL | Unavailable | Mar 18, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| SingaporeSG | Unavailable | Nov 25, 2021 | 32 hours ago | ||
| SlovakiaSK | Unavailable | Aug 7, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| SloveniaSI | Unavailable | Mar 13, 2024 | 32 hours ago | ||
| Solomon IslandsSB | Unavailable | Dec 11, 2021 | 2 years ago | ||
| Sri LankaLK | Unavailable | Jan 8, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| St. Kitts & NevisKN | Unavailable | Nov 25, 2021 | 2 months ago | ||
| St. Vincent & GrenadinesVC | Unavailable | Apr 7, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| SurinameSR | Unavailable | Nov 25, 2021 | 3 years ago | ||
| SwedenSE | Unavailable | Jan 13, 2022 | 3 years ago | ||
| SwitzerlandCH | Unavailable | Nov 25, 2021 | 3 years ago | ||
| TaiwanTW | Unavailable | Nov 25, 2021 | 7 months ago | ||
| TajikistanTJ | Unavailable | Jan 13, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| TanzaniaTZ | Unavailable | Feb 4, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| ThailandTH | Unavailable | Jan 24, 2023 | 4 years ago | ||
| TongaTO | Unavailable | Jun 28, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| Trinidad & TobagoTT | Unavailable | Apr 24, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| TunisiaTN | Unavailable | Mar 23, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| TürkiyeTR | Unavailable | Feb 13, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| TurkmenistanTM | Unavailable | Feb 2, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| Turks & Caicos IslandsTC | Unavailable | Oct 14, 2023 | 3 years ago | ||
| UkraineUA | Unavailable | Mar 8, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| United Arab EmiratesAE | Unavailable | Dec 8, 2022 | 32 hours ago | ||
| United KingdomGB | Unavailable | May 18, 2024 | 2 years ago | ||
| United StatesUS | Unavailable | Nov 25, 2021 | 32 hours ago | ||
| UruguayUY | Unavailable | Sep 19, 2023 | 2 years ago | ||
| VenezuelaVE | Unavailable | Aug 25, 2022 | 4 years ago | ||
| VietnamVN | Unavailable | Jun 20, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| YemenYE | Unavailable | Mar 27, 2023 | 2 years ago | ||
| ZambiaZM | Unavailable | Nov 30, 2022 | 2 years ago | ||
| ZimbabweZW | Unavailable | Jul 19, 2026 | 2 months ago | ||
| AlbaniaAL | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| AlgeriaDZ | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| ArgentinaAR | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| AustraliaAU | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| AzerbaijanAZ | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| BahamasBS | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| BelarusBY | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| BelgiumBE | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| British Virgin IslandsVG | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| BruneiBN | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| CambodiaKH | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| CanadaCA | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| Costa RicaCR | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| DominicaDM | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| EcuadorEC | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| El SalvadorSV | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| EswatiniSZ | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| FijiFJ | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| FinlandFI | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| FranceFR | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| GreeceGR | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| ItalyIT | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| KosovoXK | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| LaosLA | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| LatviaLV | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| LebanonLB | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| LibyaLY | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| MacaoMO | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| MexicoMX | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| MontenegroME | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| MontserratMS | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| Myanmar (Burma)MM | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| NetherlandsNL | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| OmanOM | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| PalauPW | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| Papua New GuineaPG | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| PhilippinesPH | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| QatarQA | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| Republic of the CongoCG | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| Saudi ArabiaSA | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| South AfricaZA | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| South KoreaKR | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| SpainES | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| St. LuciaLC | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| UgandaUG | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| UzbekistanUZ | Not tested | — | — | 0 | |
| VanuatuVU | Not 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.