Apple, Google rejecting "Flappy" knock-offs from their stores

Apple and Google are reportedly cracking down on developers trying to latch on to the “Flappy Bird” phenomenon.

Developer Ken Carpenter, whose “Flappy Dragon” was a not-so-hidden version of “Flappy Bird,” tweeted that his submission was rejected from Apple’s App Store. Apple’s rejection explained “we found your app name attempts to leverage a popular app."

Carpenter also reported that Google Play did not accept “Flappy Dragon." After tweaking the description and title, Carpenter was able to submit his game -- retitled “Derpy Dragon," according to The Verge.

The original “Flappy Bird” was downloaded more than 50 million times on Apple's App Store alone before its creator decided to pull the game because he said it “ruins his simple life.” He later explained to Forbes that the game's addictive qualities were the main motivation behind why he pulled the title.

TechCrunch hypothesized that Apple was weeding out any games that had the word “flappy” in their titles.

However, an Apple spokesperson told The Verge that wasn’t the case. They weren’t rejecting games with “flappy” in the title, but instead were not allowing games that attempted to trick people into thinking it was the original game.

Google did not respond to requests for comment at the time of this story’s publication.