Apple Now Blocking 'Overtly Sexual' Apps from App Store

[speedriff]

To all the idiots on here who don't get it, what is censorship? In Saudi Arabia it is considered offensive/pornish/perverted to show a womans legs or anything else for that matter. I actually bought a cd in Jeddah and they took a black magic marker and colored in the womans bare shoulders on the cover. They rip pages out of scuba magazines and OMG I brought back a French Vogue for the GF and they tore 80% of the pages out of it and handed it back to me. No thanks, keep it. The point is, what you consider offensive is perfectly fine to a lot of people. Unless you're going to go all the way and outlaw everything (which I'm sure some of the fanatics would love) then let people buy what they will as long as it is legal. If you think something is perverted, DON'T BUY IT!! Go download the morality app known as the "Bible" and go to church and leave the rest of the sane world alone.

 

[elephant man]

You knew when you purchased an iPhone that all of your apps would have to be purchased from the App store.

The Wal-Mart comparison is valid.

There are other phones out there... You are free to choose one of those.

Go with me on this -- Lets compare the time when you were buying your phone to someone who is getting ready to move to a new home:

This person has a choice to move to two differnt towns (Phones).

One town has several different stores that sell a wide variety of products. Some of these products are great, but many are porn based... The worst kind of porn.

The other town has one store. It sells many great products and refuses to sell any porn products. (Although it has some issues of Sports-Illustrated Swim Suite issue.)

You, buy purchasing an iPhone, made the choice to move to the town with one store...

YOU obviously made a mistake. This is YOUR fault if you are not happy that Apple is banning iGiggleBoobs. YOU should have bought a differnt phone if your entire decision is based on the iGiggleBoobs being available for you to purchase.

Why are you against setting up an "adult" section of the app store? Why do you rejoice that these apps are banned? You sounds like someone who would be the first to remove books from the library that you found objectionable.

All of these people who go on saying you shouldn't have bought an iPhone if you want to see all sorts of content sound like a group of people who have just jumped on the Apple platform and are now somehow using it as a weapon. I've been using a Mac since the Apple II. I use Apple products because I appreciate that experience. However I do NOT agree with Apple removing content because a vocal minority find it objectionable, as opposed to finding a way to re-organize the store.

 

[WhySoSerious]

Conversations with you must be very short.

you say the same thing over and over though. if you're going to post a reply to every person here, at least make each reply original in concept. all you're doing it stomping your feet and screaming the same things at the top of your lungs.

 

[tatonka]

What the heck "bad" has happened to your iPhone since you purchased it??? What has Apple done?

Removed iGiggleBoobs? Is that it?

Are YOU a developer? Has Apple's review process affected you?

I have things I like about the iPhone .. I referred to them as "the goods" or "good sides of the product" if that helps .. and I have things I don't like .. I referred to those as "bads"
I didn't say it happened since I bought it .. some things where there before I bought it .. why the hell, would you think that that waves all rights to complain about them or automatically makes me like them the instance I purchased the phone .. especially when instead of improving them, things are getting worse?

T.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

To all the idiots on here who don't get it, what is censorship? In Saudi Arabia it is considered offensive/pornish/perverted to show a womans legs or anything else for that matter. I actually bought a cd in Jeddah and they took a black magic marker and colored in the womans bare shoulders on the cover. They rip pages out of scuba magazines and OMG I brought back a French Vogue for the GF and they tore 80% of the pages out of it and handed it back to me. No thanks, keep it. The point is, what you consider offensive is perfectly fine to a lot of people. Unless you're going to go all the way and outlaw everything (which I'm sure some of the fanatics would love) then let people buy what they will as long as it is legal. If you think something is perverted, DON'T BUY IT!! Go download the morality app known as the "Bible" and go to church and leave the rest of the sane world alone.

You're not getting it. You're right, but it's a two way street. You don't have to buy what you don't want to buy. But here's the other side - the side no one seems to be getting - YOU ALSO DON'T HAVE TO SELL WHAT YOU DON'T WANT TO SELL.

 

[mdelaney123]

Huh? My point is, they'll sell an R rated movie with full frontal nudity but they won't sell an iPhone app that has pictures of women who are still clothed.

And my point is that Apple is acting no differntly than Wal-Mart, Costco, Blcokbuster, or Netflix.

They all sell what they want. You have a choice to buy what they sell, or not.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

Why are you against setting up an "adult" section of the app store? Why do you rejoice that these apps are banned? You sounds like someone who would be the first to remove books from the library that you found objectionable.

I read the post you replied to, and I can't believe you are so dense you think it sounds like that person is the type that would remove books from libraries. The poster rightly understands that people have a choice on what to buy and what to sell.

It is called personal freedom. Only when government steps in, and through force, removes the free choice from either buyer or seller, do you have true censorship.

 

[kingtj]

That's the ironic part though!

The apps, as you say, were "filling up the top 25 lists"!
That means they're among the most popular ones of all!

IMHO, that's kind of a sad commentary on society as a whole. If you've ever watched the comedy movie "Idiocracy", by Mike Judge, you'll probably start to feel like he was onto something....

At the same time though, I think Apple needs to address this the way many others have done before them (eBay, etc.). Create a whole separate "adult section" of the App Store, and allow the iPhone to hide it/lock it out with the same restrictions a person can apply to the music/movies allowed to be viewed on the device. Don't "ban" those apps, but put them off in their own place - where those who don't want them don't have to be bothered with them.

That's one less trashy app on the app store, and more to follow. I was getting fed up of all these "sexy" apps filling up the top 25 lists.

Now if Apple would remove all the "lite" apps and add a lite/trial feature for paid apps, that would make the app store a nicer experience

 

[PeterQVenkman]

Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft all know that it's their responsibility to make sure that their products are family-friendly. We all know that there is a market, and potentially a huge one, for Adult content on these consoles that is going completely unfulfilled. So why doesn't any of these consoles just allow adult titles (virtually no AO titles, especially sex-related ones, have been released in years) and apply some type of content blocking?

IIRC, Manhunt 2 was rated AO for a while, but it wasn't going to be carried by Walmart, Best Buy, or Target. It was the kiss of death for a retail game. So they neutered the content to meet an M rating.

They released it AO on the PC, I think.

 

[mdelaney123]

Why are you against setting up an "adult" section of the app store? Why do you rejoice that these apps are banned? .

I never said I was against an Adult section of the App Store.

If Apple wants to do it, I am fine with it.

The point is, I knew what I was getting into when I purchased an iPhone.

Apple controls the App Store. Apple says what I can install and cannot install.

I AM OK WITH THAT!!!!

I happen to like the apps that Apple allows me to purchase and use on the iPhone. I never used any of the iGiggleBoobs apps, and I could care less that they are being removed.

To say that Apple is going to go draconian and remove R rated movies, games, and every other app under the sun is just completely irrational.

They removed a bunch of porn-lite apps. So what.

They way you guys are reacting, you would think that the just shot your puppy.

 

[mdelaney123]

you say the same thing over and over though. if you're going to post a reply to every person here, at least make each reply original in concept. all you're doing it stomping your feet and screaming the same things at the top of your lungs.

So your saying I should be censored?

Do you work for Apple?

 

[Winni]

This is so American in the worst meaning of the word. Electrocutions are okay, waging war is okay, shooting what moves is okay, but oh my gosh, there is a naked breast! Outrage!

Those Disney-like standards of "morale" are less than just immature. They are dangerously immature. Sexual liberation is something that never made it to the United States, just as religious liberation never made it to the muslim world.

Well, at least to me it explains why I saw so many young teenagers with babies in the shopping mall in Grand Junction, Colorado, and why it that very same town people shot their ex-girl friends on the parking lot of a grocery store. It is the result of what is being fostered by this bizarre American world view. Burning witches and books is next on the list.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

I never said I was against an Adult section of the App Store.

If Apple wants to do it, I am fine with it.

The point is, I knew what I was getting into when I purchased an iPhone.

Apple controls the App Store. Apple says what I can install and cannot install.

I think most of these people think they own the App Store, or have a right to sell things on it, like its some kind of civil rights issue. Hence we have people talking about Saudi Arabia and pulling Harry Potter from public libraries and the like.

I would like to see these people walk into any big box store and demand shelf space for their product.

Also, I think the "porn is mainstream and as wholesome for our children as YooHoo" crowd doesn't understand that sometimes a company doesn't want to sell porn because they object morally and ethically to selling porn, not because marketing couldn't figure out how it fits in with their bottom line or target demographic.

 

[mdelaney123]

I have things I like about the iPhone .. I referred to them as "the goods" or "good sides of the product" if that helps .. and I have things I don't like .. I referred to those as "bads"
I didn't say it happened since I bought it .. some things where there before I bought it .. why the hell, would you think that that waves all rights to complain about them or automatically makes me like them the instance I purchased the phone .. especially when instead of improving them, things are getting worse?

T.

I repeat my question... What "bad" has Apple done to the iPhone since you purchased it?

(Sorry WhySoSerios, I had to repeat myself here since he totally avoided my question.)

 

[ghostface147]

Anybody have any recommendations for movies on the iTunes Movie Store. I am looking for something to watch on my iPod Touch. Was thinking Zach and Miri Make a Porno.

The scat scene was both vile and funny...

 

[Adokimus]

This is just stupid. No one is forcing anyone to buy these apps. If you don't like them, don't buy them.

If there is a problem sifting through all the adult-oriented apps when you're not interested in them, the proper response is to FIX THE FRIGGIN' STORE. Rejecting apps from the store just because Apple is too lazy to bother putting in a toggle for "show me adult apps" is ridiculous.

It's certainly consistent with Apple's other ridiculous app-rejection policies. The whole idea that Apple would reject an app for anything other than it being malicious is ridiculous. But it's still ridiculous. Being consistently ridiculous doesn't make it right.

+1

This is the problem with Apple. They want to control everything. If there was a way to download whatever app I wanted without going to iTunes... you know, like you can with other computers... this wouldn't be a problem. But Apple has found a new revenue source and they won't give it up easily. With the release of the iPad and the carry over of the app store to that device, we're seeing a shift in the way Apple wants us to use computers. And it's a HUGE step back. I'm all for Apple's integration, but I'm about user choice. I should be able to use firefox on an iPhone like I can on a MacBook. I should be able to put adult material on it, whether that be a violent game, something pornographic, or controversial books, etc. Do not try to control my content, it's my device, it's in my home... Apple is going to far.

As for the complaints that "boobie apps" are flooding the top sellers... that just shows that humans enjoy sex and there's a consumer demand for it. Putting together an "adult" section to keep this seperate, with parental blocks for children, wouldn't be difficult for Apple at all...

 

[WestonHarvey1]

Those Disney-like standards of "morale" are less than just immature. They are dangerously immature. Sexual liberation is something that never made it to the United States, just as religious liberation never made it to the muslim world.

The number of out of wedlock births, pandemic levels of genital herpes and warts, millions of abortions per year, and 12 year olds on the pill seem to disagree with your idea that sexual liberation never made it to the United States.

 

[mdelaney123]

I think most of these people think they own the App Store, or have a right to sell things on it, like its some kind of civil rights issue. Hence we have people talking about Saudi Arabia and pulling Harry Potter from public libraries and the like.

I would like to see these people walk into any big box store and demand shelf space for their product.

Also, I think the "porn is mainstream and as wholesome for our children as YooHoo" crowd doesn't understand that sometimes a company doesn't want to sell porn because they object morally and ethically to selling porn, not because marketing couldn't figure out how it fits in with their bottom line or target demographic.

I agree 100%... Entitlement.

 

[HarryPot]

I'm grateful Apple did this.

The amount of crap apps in the App Store, specially the ones regarding boobs, were getting out of control. It's got nothing to do with not liking the content, but the fact that most of them were completely useless and very badly done.

Apple should find a way to increase the specifications apps should satisfy. Right now it's difficult to find useful apps.

I mean, enter the Lifestyle top 100 paid apps:

There's:
- Amateur Thongs
- College Boobs
- BumBunnies Amateur Web Girls
- Epic Boobs
- Adult Tennis Boobs D this one at least is more original)
- Asian Boobs DVD - HD Videos ...
- AwesomeBOOBS: BABiES
- Hot Emo Girls, Punk Rock Girls ...
- Sexy Demotivational Pictures (is that even a word)

And I skipped the many Truth and Dare Adult/Sexy/Sexual/College games, and the so many sexual positions apps. And don't enter the free section, since you'll find all these apps+LITE and many more similar apps.

BTW, my opinion is they should not let a similar apps (fart/boobs/noises/etc) spam the entire store. It just makes the developers that did take the time to make a worthy app not shine.

 

[kevinmmccormick]

No one is going to make a $.99 WiiWare game where you can jiggle boobs with the Wiimote.

I do agree that the comparison isn't perfectly fair between the gaming console market and smartphone market. Though, regarding this point, the reason no one is making this game is because they know it will never make it onto the platform. Trust me, if WiigleBoobs (haha pun intended) was released on WiiWare every kid in the universe who got a Wii points giftcard for Christmas would have this game. It would probably be the #1 seller for awhile, too. Much more than the iPhone, of course, the number of complaining parents would dwarf the number of conservatives who complained to Apple about the bikini Apps.

 

[Adokimus]

I think most of these people think they own the App Store, or have a right to sell things on it, like its some kind of civil rights issue. Hence we have people talking about Saudi Arabia and pulling Harry Potter from public libraries and the like.

I would like to see these people walk into any big box store and demand shelf space for their product.

Also, I think the "porn is mainstream and as wholesome for our children as YooHoo" crowd doesn't understand that sometimes a company doesn't want to sell porn because they object morally and ethically to selling porn, not because marketing couldn't figure out how it fits in with their bottom line or target demographic.

You missed the point. It's not like going into a store and demanding shelf space.. it's being told that you can't sell your product at all, anywhere, regardless of consumer demand, because that shelf space is the only place that things are allowed to be sold, and it has arbitrary guidlines and puritanical standards to uphold unless a big buisness name like Playboy or EA's Call of Duty is involved.

And you're damn right that if Apple stores were the only stores on the planet, and that's where I had to go to get my clothes, groceries, and anything else... I'd also be pissed if they didn't sell what I wanted because it was adult material.

 

[WhySoSerious]

So your saying I should be censored?

Do you work for Apple?

see reply #283

 

[tatonka]

I think most of these people think they own the App Store, or have a right to sell things on it, like its some kind of civil rights issue. Hence we have people talking about Saudi Arabia and pulling Harry Potter from public libraries and the like. ...

I don't think it is illegal what Apple does .. but it is not right if that makes sense.

I wasn't porn as in hard core porn and in the case of iBoobs I understand that it didn't even contain any explicit material, but rather offered you to "wiggle" any personal shot. So in that sense a lot of other things should be forbidden as well (as the bing app, that allows you to pull pictures of nude women of the internet .. and so on).

T.

 

[CaryMacGuy]

And my point is that Apple is acting no differntly than Wal-Mart, Costco, Blcokbuster, or Netflix.

They all sell what they want. You have a choice to buy what they sell, or not.

The issue is that you have no choice other than the App Store. The only other choice you have is jailbreaking.

The iPhone is created by Apple but it isn't "Apple's device" it is my device. I spent $200 for it...I spend $100 per month to use it....it is MY device.

Would people be accepting if HP decided that they were only going to allow software from the HP software store on computers made by them? Imagine if Apple were to create a Mac App Store and only things that they wanted you to have were allowed.

The iPhone is on the level of a computer. It has more in common with a PC than a cell phone. It is time that Apple allow users to install what they please on the device. If they can keep their Mac computers free of viruses and spyware, shouldn't they be able to do they same with the iPhone?

 

[QCassidy352]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

You people whining about censorship simply do not get it. I'm going to make it as simple as possible for you, and then I'm going to leave this ridiculous thread.

Apple runs a store. They are in the business of keeping customers happy and interested in returning to this store. These "sexually explicit apps" apparently upset enough customers that it became in the best interest of the store as a whole to remove them.

The reason R rated movies, explicit songs, and violent games hav not been removed is that they are not bad for business. You can rant and rave about how wrong it is to condone violence and not sex, and I'd agree with you. But the fact is that the "sexual" apps are bad for business while Call of Duty and explicit songs are not. That is why one is gone and the others are not and will not be.

This has nothing to do with censorship. Apple made a business decision based on what they believe to be in the best interest of their store. If you don't like it, the thing to do is not to wail about it on message boards, it's to show apple that they made a bad business decision by taking your business to a platform that does not ban these types of apps.

The level of hyperbole, hand-wringing, and misuse of the word "censorship" in this thread is truly astounding. A store decided to stop carrying a class of product that was bad for business. Go to another store or get over it.