Flap no more: Google, Apple rejecting flappy-branded games

Flappy Bird knock-offs proliferated almost as soon as Flappy Bird became a (blessedly short-lived) phenomenon, and it seems that Apple and Google are both fighting back. The companies have started rejecting submissions with the word "flappy" in their names, reports TechCrunch, citing tweets from developers.

Games are being rejected from the Apple store with the company saying that they're attempting to "leverage a popular app." Google, more obtusely, is rejecting flappy applications from the Play Store as "spam."

At this time, neither company appears to have removed Flappy Bird clones that they've already authorized, so any developer that got in to the various marketplaces quickly enough now has an advantage over latecomers. As the bandwagon continues to roll on, these games remain popular and appear to be capitalizing on flappy branding: top of the iOS free games chart is Splash Fish—the Adventure of a Flappy Tiny Bird Fish, for example.