Why is it not possible to place Apps “on hold” within App Stores?

The reason is simply that there is no such option within App Stores as placing Apps “on hold”. The only option is to remove apps from App Stores. This is, however, a terminal and permanent solution, not a temporary one. Here are the reasons why:

1. App Stores regard the un-publishing of an app as permanent.

2. App Stores seek to avoid having apps which are un-published and then re-published, and as a result, penalize such conduct by possibly blocking a later re-publishing.

3. The name of your app will become available to other publishers instantly, which could result in the need to re-design and re-build the app under a different brand name, with new graphics/corporate design etc…, at a later point, which essentially, comes close to start all over again from scratch.

4. This is also true for your install-base and viewership: you would immediately lose your entire install-base and viewership, which you invested to build over the course of months or even years.

5. Your viewers would lose your app from all of their devices where they downloaded and installed your app. This is something that could affect your brand and organization negatively. App-stores for instance, are trying to avoid such a negative user-experience for users of their devices, thus trying to avoid to publish apps from publishers who remove/un-publish apps from their app-stores, and later try to re-publish the apps again.