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Apple, Google rejecting "Flappy" games

Apple and Google have started rejecting games that have the word "Flappy" in the title on IP infringement grounds, developers are reporting.

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Michelle Starr is CNET's science editor, and she hopes to get you as enthralled with the wonders of the universe as she is. When she's not daydreaming about flying through space, she's daydreaming about bats.
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Apple and Google have both started rejecting games that have the word "Flappy" in the title on IP infringement grounds, developers are reporting.

(Screenshot by Michelle Starr/CNET Australia)

After developer Dong Nguyen pulled Flappy Bird from iTunes and Google Play, it was the beginning of a massive proliferation of clones hoping to cash in on the craze. It seems, however, that Apple and Google aren't really down with it, though.

According to a report on TechCrunch, several games developers are having their "Flappy" games rejected or pulled from the app marketplaces.

Ken Carpenter of Mind Juice had his game Flappy Dragon rejected, noting on Twitter:

Apple said in an email to Carpenter, "We found that your app, and/or its metadata, contains content that could be misleading to users, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines. We found your app name attempts to leverage a popular app."

Developer Kuyi Mobile also noted:

Other games that previously included the word "Flappy" in the title have also been noticed changing their names, although as you can see from the screenshot above, it certainly has not yet become a widespread phenomenon.

And, although Carpenter notes that his game was also rejected from Google Play — with the company only citing "spam" and not going into detail — plenty of Flappy Bird clones remain live on the site.

CNET Australia has reached out to both Apple and Google for comment, and will update this story if we receive new information. In the meantime, cool your jets with the Flappy Jam on itch.io.