Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Backtracks After Popular Mac App 'Amphetamine' Threatened With Removal Over Branding

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,806
38,419


Popular Mac app "Amphetamine" will remain on the Mac App Store after reportedly being threatened with removal over its name and branding, which Apple had said breached App Store guidelines.

amphetamine.jpg


Amphetamine is a free Mac app that helps users to keep their machine awake for a set amount of time. Launched in 2014, the app has been downloaded over 432,000 times and is highly rated on the Mac App Store. The app has also been featured by MacRumors in the past. After six years on the Mac App Store, Apple suddenly decided that Amphetamine has been violating App Store Guidelines.

The developer of Amphetamine, William Gustafson, posted an extensive report on GitHub a few days ago explaining that a representative of Apple contacted him, saying that Amphetamine would be removed from the Mac App Store on January 12, 2021, if a number of changes were not made to the app. The representative indicated that Amphetamine breached the following requirement:

Apps that encourage consumption of tobacco and vape products, illegal drugs, or excessive amounts of alcohol are not permitted on the App Store. Apps that encourage minors to consume any of these substances will be rejected. Facilitating the sale of marijuana, tobacco, or controlled substances (except for licensed pharmacies) isn't allowed.
Click to expand...

The Apple representative reportedly said "Your app appears to promote inappropriate use of controlled substances. Specifically, your app name and icon include references to controlled substances, pills."

Gustafson argued that Amphetamine does not promote the use of illegal drugs because amphetamine is a legal, prescription medication in the United States. He also noted that "objectively speaking," Amphetamine does not encourage amphetamine to be taken "irresponsibly, illegally, or recreationally."

Just like amphetamine (the organic compound) can be legally used to keep humans awake and attentive, Amphetamine (the app) can be legally used to keep your Mac awake.
Click to expand...

Gustafson filed an appeal and set up a Change.org petition that has garnered over 500 signatures in an effort to combat the claim against the app. And just a short time ago, he announced on Twitter that he had finished a phone call with the App Review Board and that Amphetamine will remain on the Mac App Store.



Amphetamine has been directly promoted by Apple in a Mac App Store Story and has racked up over 1,400 reviews on the Mac App Store, so it seems odd that the app was only being asked to change its branding now. Furthermore, Gustafson said that he has had countless interactions with Apple and its App Review Team regarding Amphetamine, but the issue was never raised before, so it is unclear what triggered the issue.

Article Link: Apple Backtracks After Popular Mac App 'Amphetamine' Threatened With Removal Over Branding
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/01/02/amphetamine-app-store-removal-threat/
  • Like
Reactions: decypher44, Nightfury326 and iksretep
This is a great app and I use it all the time. But I actually agree that the name and icon are problematic. I almost decided to not install it or use it, because it sounds sketchy. I can only imagine how many people have actually decided to not download or use it just because of its sketchy name and icon.
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
  • Haha
Reactions: WelshDog, Stars&Stripes, name99 and 31 others
joeblough said:
this might be the laziest app ever.

go into the terminal and type "caffeinate -t 60"

there. your mac will definitely stay awake for 60 seconds. need an hour? -t 3600

need forever? no arguments.

it's not that hard. been using this for years and years.
Click to expand...
It's free, though; so it's a fun and simple to use thing for people not comfortable living half their life in the terminal. No harm done.
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: Tawhidish, Apple-Guy, Mainyehc and 35 others
Good on the developer for taking a stand. It sounds like the Apple rep overseeing the app may have been new and wasn't familiar with its history and promotion by Apple, not to mention exercising some common sense. Too many people trying to be correct all the time, so that others don't get offended. Glad to see that that mentality was axed in this case.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rgbrock1, justperry, behdadOS and 12 others
Apple removed my app from the App Store for a similar dumb reason. It was a clock that used World Time Format and was called WTFClock, and their explanation was “WTF” violated guidelines. After 7 years of me diligently keeping it up to date in the App Store at 100 bucks a year. Maybe I’ll rename it, but WTF Apple?
 
  • Like
  • Haha
  • Wow
Reactions: JKAussieSkater, Hammerd, Rockoar and 57 others
I saw this on the apple subreddit. I thought he could change his apps name to caffeine, then looked up any apps associated with the word caffeine, yikes.

im glad apple changed it tune on this, seems like that apps does exactly what it says, forces your Mac to stay up, nothing more.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rmariboe
joeblough said:
this might be the laziest app ever.

go into the terminal and type "caffeinate -t 60"

there. your mac will definitely stay awake for 60 seconds. need an hour? -t 3600

need forever? no arguments.

it's not that hard. been using this for years and years.
Click to expand...
Come on. You know full well there are people out there who don't know how and absolutely should not be effing around in Terminal.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tawhidish, Mainyehc, Big Bad D and 22 others
joeblough said:
this might be the laziest app ever.

go into the terminal and type "caffeinate -t 60"

there. your mac will definitely stay awake for 60 seconds. need an hour? -t 3600

need forever? no arguments.

it's not that hard. been using this for years and years.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't agree with that. The app goes beyond a simple terminal command. It has a bunch of extras, for example "don't sleep until a file is downloaded" or "don't sleep when the lid is closed", to name a few. It's a great little tool.
Somebody must've been really bored during Christmas period to take nitpicking to such extent. Good thing they've reversed the decision though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hammerd, Rockoar, TropN and 24 others
joeblough said:
this might be the laziest app ever.

go into the terminal and type "caffeinate -t 60"

there. your mac will definitely stay awake for 60 seconds. need an hour? -t 3600

need forever? no arguments.

it's not that hard. been using this for years and years.
Click to expand...
This is got to be the dumbest argument I have ever seen. First of all the app is free. It is also very nicely placed in the menu bar.

Saying this is like saying "Finder" is the laziest app ever. WHAT! You are using a GUI to move a file!

go into the terminal and type "mv source/file.txt destination/file.txt"

there. the file is moved. Need to move all the text files? "mv source/*.txt destination/*.txt"

it's not that hard. been using this for years and years. Why isn't everyone as smart as me!
 
  • Like
  • Love
  • Disagree
Reactions: fantasy_lu, derekamoss, Jpoon and 125 others
nawk said:
This is got to be the dumbest argument I have ever seen. First of all the app is free. It is also very nicely placed in the menu bar.

Saying this is like saying "Finder" is the laziest app ever. WHAT! You are using a GUI to move a file!

go into the terminal and type "mv source/file.txt destination/file.txt"

there. the file is moved. Need to move all the text files? "mv source/*.txt destination/*.txt"

it's not that hard. been using this for years and years. Why isn't everyone as smart as me!
Click to expand...

as it turns out, sometimes it is much, much easier to move files with terminal. or rename them. point and click isn't always the right solution to filesystem problems.
 
  • Disagree
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: tylertc04, ignatius345, Shadows_lord and 11 others
Interesting. On nearly all of these Apple vs. developer stories, after my first reading of the situation I come down on the side of the developer.

In this case, not so much.

And yet, it's the single example where Apple has immediately capitulated!
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: mlwarren0 and kkk123kkk123kkk
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back