Early March 2023 brought the news that thousands of forex traders had been waiting nearly six months for. Following a lengthy ban from Apple’s App Store, MetaQuotes flagship products, MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 were back and ready to use on iOS. For a vibrant community that had grown an affinity to the trading platform, vindication had arrived. 

There’s little doubt that MetaTrader users have a quantifiable passion for their forex product of choice. For any app to maintain a 4.7-star rating on Apple’s App Store is impressive, but for one that was abruptly banned on September 24th 2023, maintaining a loyal community of users through the disruption is exceptional. 

Today, following both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5’s reinstatement to the App store, they sit comfortably among the top 100 most popular platforms in the store’s finance category.

So, what actually happened to MetaQuotes’ leading apps in order to receive a ban from Apple? Let’s take a deeper look into the fall and rise of MetaTrader, and how its community of users helped to steer the platform’s six-month revival: 

Charting MetaTrader’s Six-Month Turnaround

On September 23rd 2022, a representative of the Cyprus-based forex firm MetaQuotes confirmed to Finance Magnates that the company received a letter from Apple stating that the trading apps MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 did not comply with the App Store’s Review Guidelines and were due to be removed. 

One day later, on September 24th 2022, iOS users took to social media to voice their concerns about the disappearance of the app. 

With many trading community members bemoaning the loss of MetaTrader 4 & 5 on the App Store, MetaQuotes remained optimistic about users retaining their ability to use the platform on iOS. 

"Apple provided assurance that customers who have already downloaded the Apps will not be affected. These customers can still use the Apps from their devices and will still have access to any in-app purchase products," explained a MetaQuote representative to Finance Magnates.

Despite these assurances, MetaTrader’s community was fearful of further restrictions and had already begun to question how they could continue their forex journeys without the app. 

In the wake of the ban, MetaQuotes comprehensively revamped its MetaTrader 5 Web Terminal, launching the new product on October 12th 2022. The purpose of this release of the updated terminal was to quickly provide traders with a tool for work that can replace its mobile applications. 

With the web browser operating on any platform, including mobile devices, the Web Terminal helped to provide traders with a more efficient means of managing their investments outside of the iOS App Store.

By January 17th 2023, MetaTrader users who had downloaded the app before the removal of MetaTrader 4 & 5 from the App Store had begun reporting that their apps were no longer accessible, despite Apple assurances that this would not be the case. 

Finally, on March 7th 2022, some 164 days on from the removal of MetaTrader 4 & 5 from the App Store, the trading platform was fully restored on iOS for download. 

“We are happy that the situation has been resolved and we managed to find an understanding with Apple,” said Renat Fatkhullin, CEO of MetaQuotes. 

“Our company respects the requirements of any marketplace and always strives to meet them. We feel responsible to our users and therefore we did our best to provide clarifications on the issues raised by Apple in a timely manner. I also want to thank the traders, brokers, and media, who actively showed their support.”

Once again, the social media response to the reinstatement of MetaTrader was overwhelmingly positive. We can even see in the above screenshot that MetaTrader 4 rocketed to 2nd place on the App Store’s Finance download charts. 

But what caused such a popular finance app to be banned by Apple in the first place? 

Why was MetaTrader Banned? 

Because of the platform’s reputation and popularity, news of MetaTrader’s delisting caused much debate online. Due to the timing of the removal, many onlookers had considered that MetaTrader’s removal could be linked to some perceived ties between MetaQuotes and Russia, which was facing economic sanctions at the time. However, a MetaQuotes representative was quick to dispel this rumor. 

"We do not believe that Apple's actions are linked in any way with the Western sanctions on Russia," the representative told Finance Magnates. 

Other online speculators claimed that Apple could have been taking decisive action to limit instances of fraudulent activity emerging from its App Store, but with no definitive statement on the move to ban MetaTrader or the terms that have been met to trigger its iOS return, the specifics of Apple’s actions remain unclear. 

How Apple’s Ban Galvanized MetaTrader’s Community

The initial ban caused some members of the MetaTrader community to lose trust in Apple, with some users even going so far as to blame corporate espionage for the removal. However, because the app’s vibrant community could initially retain their access to the platform on iOS and through web terminals, its impact on forex trading overall was minimal. 

At the turn of the year, MetaTrader users were still taking to social media to ask Apple to reinstate the banned apps. This fierce resistance in the face of the apps’ App Store removal stems from the tight knit community that MetaQuotes has forged over the years. 

With this in mind, it’s unsurprising that MetaQuotes recently launched a secure messenger channel for traders to communicate with one another. Dubbed MQL5 Channels, MetaQuotes took the step of introducing its own channel to help support the development of trading communities for users to share their experiences and to unify their trading approaches. 

MQL5 Channels isn’t the only development made by MetaQuotes in the midst of its Apple hiatus. Alongside the launch of its new Web Terminal platform, MetaQuotes announced a ‘plethora’ of new functions for traders, including greater analytical features, better support for price data subscriptions, and the ability to request real accounts with a detailed registration form and document submission options.

It’s this commitment to innovation in the face of uncertainty that’s likely to have helped MetaQuotes regain the approval of Apple in recent months. However, it’s also worth highlighting the platform’s widespread popularity and international support from its vast user base as a contributing factor. 

The swift return to form of one of Apple’s App Store’s most popular financial apps may have been aided in no small part by the consistently favorable reviews of MetaTrader 4 & 5’s loyal user base. Thanks to its positive feedback, MetaTrader’s position in the app store is likely to have been secured on a long-term basis.