applecensorship

We monitor 175 App Store storefronts to answer one question —

Is SHOWTIME censored by Apple?

Gone.

SHOWTIME is gone from every App Store storefront we test. It was last seen available on Mar 10, 2024.

144 tests on record·⚠ last verified 5 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 →

SHOWTIME

Developer: Showtime Digital Inc. · Category: Entertainment · Released: Jul 7, 2015 · Rating: 4.8★

View in App Store ↗
0stores where available
34stores where blocked
2.56Bpeople behind the block
34of 175 stores tested
144tests on record

Other Entertainment apps missing from mainland China

Everything missing from mainland China →

Life of this app

  1. Jul 7, 2015Released on the App Store
  2. Mar 3, 2019First tested by AppleCensorship
  3. Nov 19, 2022Gone from 34 storefronts
  4. Mar 10, 2024Last seen available anywhere
  5. May 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.

2019-032026-05

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
AustraliaAUUnavailableJan 5, 20223 years ago
BelarusBYUnavailableFeb 7, 20202 years ago
Burkina FasoBFUnavailableMar 10, 20243 years ago
CambodiaKHUnavailableJun 25, 20203 years ago
ChileCLUnavailableMay 13, 20222 years ago
China (Mainland)CNUnavailableNov 11, 20193 years ago
CzechiaCZUnavailableJun 14, 20214 years ago
DominicaDMUnavailableJan 18, 20234 years ago
Hong KongHKUnavailableJan 1, 20223 years ago
KyrgyzstanKGUnavailableNov 19, 20224 years ago
LatviaLVUnavailableDec 5, 20224 years ago
LebanonLBUnavailableNov 19, 20226 months ago
LibyaLYUnavailableDec 19, 20224 years ago
MaliMLUnavailableMay 13, 20222 years ago
MicronesiaFMUnavailableFeb 7, 20204 years ago
MontenegroMEUnavailableNov 19, 20224 years ago
Myanmar (Burma)MMUnavailableNov 19, 20224 years ago
NauruNRUnavailableSep 6, 20245 months ago
NepalNPUnavailableDec 19, 20223 years ago
NicaraguaNIUnavailableJun 14, 20214 years ago
OmanOMUnavailableJun 25, 20204 years ago
PakistanPKUnavailableJun 14, 20214 years ago
PalauPWUnavailableSep 6, 20242 years ago
RussiaRUUnavailableMay 13, 20223 years ago
São Tomé & PríncipeSTUnavailableDec 14, 20233 years ago
St. LuciaLCUnavailableJan 5, 20223 years ago
St. Vincent & GrenadinesVCUnavailableSep 7, 20242 years ago
Trinidad & TobagoTTUnavailableDec 6, 202510 months ago
TürkiyeTRUnavailableNov 11, 20193 years ago
UkraineUAUnavailableMay 13, 20223 years ago
United Arab EmiratesAEUnavailableDec 19, 20225 months ago
United KingdomGBUnavailableNov 11, 20194 years ago
United StatesUSUnavailableSep 6, 20245 months ago
VanuatuVUUnavailableMay 23, 20265 months ago
AfghanistanAFNot tested——0
AlbaniaALNot tested——0
AlgeriaDZNot tested——0
AngolaAONot tested——0
AnguillaAINot tested——0
Antigua & BarbudaAGNot tested——0
ArgentinaARNot tested——0
ArmeniaAMNot tested——0
AustriaATNot tested——0
AzerbaijanAZNot 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
BrazilBRNot tested——0
British Virgin IslandsVGNot tested——0
BruneiBNNot tested——0
BulgariaBGNot tested——0
CameroonCMNot tested——0
CanadaCANot tested——0
Cape VerdeCVNot tested——0
Cayman IslandsKYNot tested——0
ChadTDNot tested——0
ColombiaCONot tested——0
Costa RicaCRNot tested——0
Côte d’IvoireCINot tested——0
CroatiaHRNot tested——0
CyprusCYNot tested——0
DenmarkDKNot 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
FinlandFINot tested——0
FranceFRNot tested——0
GabonGANot tested——0
GambiaGMNot tested——0
GeorgiaGENot tested——0
GermanyDENot 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
IndiaINNot 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
LaosLANot tested——0
LiberiaLRNot tested——0
LithuaniaLTNot tested——0
LuxembourgLUNot tested——0
MacaoMONot tested——0
MadagascarMGNot tested——0
MalawiMWNot tested——0
MalaysiaMYNot tested——0
MaldivesMVNot tested——0
MaltaMTNot tested——0
MauritaniaMRNot tested——0
MauritiusMUNot tested——0
MexicoMXNot tested——0
MoldovaMDNot tested——0
MongoliaMNNot tested——0
MontserratMSNot tested——0
MoroccoMANot tested——0
MozambiqueMZNot tested——0
NamibiaNANot tested——0
NetherlandsNLNot tested——0
New ZealandNZNot tested——0
NigerNENot tested——0
NigeriaNGNot tested——0
North MacedoniaMKNot tested——0
NorwayNONot 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
SingaporeSGNot tested——0
SlovakiaSKNot tested——0
SloveniaSINot tested——0
Solomon IslandsSBNot tested——0
South AfricaZANot tested——0
South KoreaKRNot tested——0
SpainESNot tested——0
Sri LankaLKNot tested——0
St. Kitts & NevisKNNot tested——0
SurinameSRNot tested——0
SwedenSENot tested——0
SwitzerlandCHNot tested——0
TaiwanTWNot tested——0
TajikistanTJNot tested——0
TanzaniaTZNot tested——0
ThailandTHNot tested——0
TongaTONot tested——0
TunisiaTNNot tested——0
TurkmenistanTMNot tested——0
Turks & Caicos IslandsTCNot tested——0
UgandaUGNot tested——0
UruguayUYNot tested——0
UzbekistanUZNot tested——0
VenezuelaVENot tested——0
VietnamVNNot 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.