Microsoft promises 'racy' app purge for Windows Phone

Microsoft is to crack down on sexually suggestive apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace, as part of a general tightening of the store's rules.

The company already has a content policy forbidding 'racy' apps but will now enforce it more strictly, Marketplace chief Todd Brix wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. He said Microsoft would allow "the kind of content you occasionally see on prime-time TV or the pages of a magazine's swimsuit issue", but nothing stronger.

"Our content policies are clearly spelled out: we don't allow apps containing 'sexually suggestive or provocative' images or content," Brix wrote.

"We will be paying more attention to the icons, titles, and content of these apps and expect them to be more subtle and modest in the imagery and terms used," he said. "Apps that don't fit our standard will need to be updated to remain in the store. This is about presenting the right content to the right customer and ensuring that apps meet our standards."

Brix suggested that "a small number of developers" might want to alter the tile icons of their apps by, for example, "showing male or female models in silhouette". He said the company would get in touch with the developers it was concerned about.

However, he added that Microsoft reserves the right to remove any app that customers find offensive.

The move is part of a series of steps Microsoft is taking to enforce a certain level of quality in the Windows Phone Marketplace. Apple and RIM take a similar approach with the iOS and BlackBerry OS stores, leaving Android's as the least filtered — and arguably least censored — smartphone app store.

We don't allow apps containing 'sexually suggestive or provocative' images or content.

– Todd Brix, Microsoft

Brix said Windows Phone developers had to stick to certain rules. They must not post their apps in multiple categories and, if they do have a range of similar or related apps, they must use visibly different icons for them.

Microsoft will also start enforcing the five-keyword limit set out in the Marketplace policies, and is "starting to examine app keywords for relevancy", Brix said, warning those who put in popular search terms as keywords for unrelated apps to clean up their act.

He also told developers to be more careful about their app titles infringing on the trademarks of others.

"I hope this insight into a few near-term changes we're putting in place helps save you time and reduces your risk of having apps pulled from the Marketplace," Brix said.