On Saturday, one of the most popular crypto wallet apps on Apple’s App Store, MetaMask, had been removed in the US, but was then restored in a couple of hours.
A spokesperson for MetaMask said that they had removed the app from the US Apple App Store due to an operational error on their end and Apple had not been responsible for the action.
The development
The removal had first been shared on X, formerly Twitter, by @WatcherGuru. There was a quick response from an account that apparently belonged to a representative of MetaMask.
The representative confirmed that they were aware of the issue and were working on figuring out and resolving it.
The response is believed to have come from Taylor Monahan, the lead product manager at MetaMask. She also requested that any fake MetaMask apps on the App Store should be immediately reported.
The product manager said that when legit apps are removed, it gives phishers and malicious apps an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
It did not take long for the official MetaMask account to issue a statement after Monahan’s statement was made.
The details
ConsenSys’ global public relations director, Elo Gimenez, confirmed that the app had been removed and that there was not any malicious activity that had caused it.
Gimenez added that it had not been a security concern and that users did not need to take any action or make any compromise.
Furthermore, it was also clarified that the incident did not happen due to any issue with the functionality of the app.
He also reiterated the request for help that Monahan had made to the crypto community for reporting the fake apps.
She had said that they were doing their best to sort out the matter quickly to protect their users from any fake apps that might pop up.
She added that their dedicated team was working to fix the issue as quickly as possible and that the MetaMask app would be available shortly on the App Store.
Wallet apps
The MetaMask app was back on the App Store by midday Saturday. During this time, other crypto wallet apps like Binance, UniSwap, and Coinbase remained available on the App Store.
The co-lead developer and co-founder of MetaMask, Dan Finlay, had publicly denounced the policies of Apple’s App Store back in December last year when the Coinbase App had been removed.
He had stated that he was ready to leave the Apple ecosystem. MetaMask was removed from the Google Play Store back in 2019.
However, it took a week for the app to be restored and become available to Android users once more.