Following an onslaught of Flappy Bird clones, it seems the iTunes App Store and Google Play have started to filter out apps that contain the word “flappy.”
Mobile game developer Ken Carpenter of Mind Juice Media said on Twitter that his game, Flappy Dragon, was rejected by the iTunes authorization process because the app’s name “attempts to leverage a popular app.”
As Carpenter correctly points out, the iTunes App Store currently still hosts plenty of clones, like Flappy Bee, Flappy Plane, Flappy Bird Flyer, etc, but isn’t accepting more apps with the word “flappy” in the title anymore.
One ridiculous attempt to ride the coattails of the Flappy Bird phenomenon is “Flappy Bird – Gift of Valentine’s Day and Lover’s Day,” which has nothing to do with birds or flapping. It’s just a free photo app, which might make some money from advertising if people download it expecting the return of Flappy Bird.
Carpenter and other mobile developers have reported that apps that use the word “flappy” are being rejected by Google Play as well.
Carpenter said that he’s resubmitting his game to iTunes with the title “Derpy Dragon.”
Dong Nguyen, the creator of the simple but brutally difficult Flappy Bird pulled the game from app stores on Feb. 9, but not because of legal reasons, he said.
