Apple pulls MetaTrader 4 and 5 from Apple App Store today 9/23/22

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09-23-2022, 07:55 PM
ftpjesus

Apple pulls MetaTrader 4 and 5 from Apple App Store today 9/23/22

This is a very weird story. For those not familiar MT4 and MT5 are a common software used for forex and even CFD trading around the world. It’s even used by brokers like Oanda and Forex.com/Gain Capital actually licensed by the CFTC in the USA.

Abruptly both of the IPhone apps were pulled from APPLEs App Store today. Some people use the app to trade but others use it simply to monitor their accounts while away from their PC or VPN and to close trades if they want remotely. This didn’t affect Android and the windows programs are still available for use and download. There’s been some speculation Metaquotes who owns the software has ties to a Russian company but if this was a sudden enforcement action regarding sanctions it would make no sense only for the APPLE Apps to be pulled only. If you already have the app it doesn’t seem to be an issue and I’m aware there is a work around to install an IOS app directly without using Apple App Store. This doesn’t seem to be anything related to some purchase bypass issue that’s caused apps to be pulled before including Pokersbros briefly. (I might even know how that happened with PokerBros but as Sgt Schultz from Hogans Heros used to say. I say NOTHING).

I’m doing some more research based on some other posts regarding this and will update if anybody cares.
09-23-2022, 08:11 PM
sonatine

this is a fairly huge deal but that said, the only people impacted here are on iphone and im guessing thats a tiny handful of users.

but yeah id say at least the majority of alg traders use MT4 or MT5, so im intrigued and i want to know more.
09-24-2022, 02:45 AM
Dan Druff

Yes, I'd love to hear about the reason for this.

Apple is very controlling and doesn't give a lot of leeway to apps which break their rules. Some apps get pulled down for minor rule breakages, while others get yanked because of circumvention of the in-app purchase system, as you already mentioned. Others are removed because of scamming, inappropriate material, or some kind of legal violation.

Would love to know the story here. Often these stem from some sort of consumer complaint.
09-24-2022, 10:35 AM
sonatine

this is so odd... the reddit metatrader group mentions this and points the finger at the app being russian but theres is absolutely no official word about what happened.

it seems like the sort of thing that one or both sides would want to issue a statement in some form about.

like even if apple caught them pushing a malicious update, id expect apple to go public with that info.. but then again when they caught uber pushing spyware, i dont even think they made that public.
09-24-2022, 04:40 PM
Dan Druff

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonatine

this is so odd... the reddit metatrader group mentions this and points the finger at the app being russian but theres is absolutely no official word about what happened.

it seems like the sort of thing that one or both sides would want to issue a statement in some form about.

like even if apple caught them pushing a malicious update, id expect apple to go public with that info.. but then again when they caught uber pushing spyware, i dont even think they made that public.

I've seen apps get yanked before which were not nefarious, but Apple just got pissed off for some reason or another, and pulled it. If any statement comes, it's from the app developer, and they usually don't explain why. They just say, "Get the app from our webpage now" where you're basically just creating a link to their web interface, or they inform you that they will be back in the App Store soon.

One app I used was a game where you could make in-app purchases of stuff to improve your character, but if you broke rules in the game, they would punish you by taking away your stuff. That's blatantly against the Apple purchase terms, so they were yanked out of the store when people complained. They showed back up in the store about a month later, with a new system where you instead buy in-game currency, and then purchase the items. Then if you misbehaved, again they would yank your stuff. Why was this different? Because there was that in-game currency step in the middle, so technically you weren't losing what you bought through app (the in-game coins), only what you bought with the in-game coins! Sneaky! So Apple apparently had no issue with that, and the game stayed.

Dumb. I wasn't affected by this because I only played for free.