Apple Now Blocking 'Overtly Sexual' Apps from App Store

[deenybird]

fresh on the heels of the announcement of HP's Slate, new Windows Mobile, and a flurry of hot new Android phones on the way; Apple tightens it's grip even further.

As the masses clamor for an open system, and are getting it from many companies with Google's Android leading the charge, Apple moves in the opposite direction.

Apple's latest move is somehow both sad, and hilarious...

 

[Compile 'em all]

Anyone saw Brighthouse Labs? These guys have more than 4000 (yes, four thousand) apps in the store. They release an avg. of 20 apps per day.

If you are interested or want to report other spammers there is a thread running here in the iphonedevsdk forums.

 

[Maserati7200]

So then don't feature them, but that doesn't mean you need to pull them.

I agree. These "concerned mothers" are way out of proportion, trust me, I'd know, my mother is one of them. You guys do realize that there are parental controls in the app store, right? Why not use them so everyone else besides their child doesn't have to suffer. What's next? Concerned mothers writing letters to movie studios asking not to make movies with sexual themes because their child might see them? Oh, wait, that already happens. But imagine if the studios actually listened?

And one poster said how he/she was so pro free speech, but this was the exception. BULL. You are either pro free speech or you aren't. Free speech means you let people say or produce things they want (within reason, which this is) no matter if you like it or not.

By the way, I'm 16 and I watch plenty of pornography. Sure, blocking one sexually themed app in the app store might make you feel like you made a difference, concerned mother, but it didn't. He could see things much more explicit than that via the internet, with complete ease and without paying a dime. Sure, you could even have those web blockers or whatever, but they are easy to get around. And even if your child can't get around it, your child probably has friends who have easy access to that crap. So concerned mothers, you fail. He isn't that innocent 7 year old boy anymore.

 

[CFreymarc]

Good riddance.

I'm as raging a liberal as anyone and love freedom of speech, but seeing iBoobs or HoxSexSuperHotGirls in the top apps makes me really lose faith in humanity and I'd rather see more worthwhile apps (or at least more...content-heavy apps) be celebrated instead.

I have to agree here. All of these girlie apps are a pain in the butt. It is like trying to sell condoms in Disneyland! If you want to do adult subjects, there are plenty of platforms for that. There are app portals for just adult applications now where you can run on Andriod. Sell you stuff there and see which platform comes out on top. Somehow, the iPhone has managed to avoid Hefner's Law (i.e. In any new media, the first application is porn.)

 

[SeaFox]

Meanwhile, at least one other developer seems to have accidentally gotten caught in the crossfire with his Invisible Girl book being removed despite the developer's insistence that the ebook contains no sexual references.

Nobody has to worry about seeing the naughty bits on an invisible girl. (ha-ha)

 

[marksman]

After blocking this, and then that, Apple will soon try to block our brains and try to turn us into dribbling religiously possessed droids who cant see, feel, experience, enjoy anything that it isn't blessed by Steve...

Enough of bullcrap already! >_<

Thanks for the Reminder!

 

[fastbite]

I'm with the 'create a new adult category and thats that' censoring is not healthy. Such category could be disabled if one wishes with parental controls.

 

[str1f3]

This is censorship. I mean where do you draw the line? If the Metropolitan Museum put out an app which contains Edward Weston nude photographs or Nan Goldin's photos, would they be considered inappropriate to sell? When exactly does a nude body move from art to pornography and how can Apple make that decision? Why can't they simply create a section for adult content for 18+ customers?

Where do you draw the line? Would it be ok to have full porn in the iTunes Store? What about bestiality? There is a difference between art and porn. iBoobs is not art. Apple is doing what they feel is right with their products. These answers aren't easy for anybody and Apple has wrestled with it themselves. Besides, no one but kids are downloading these apps because every adult already knows to get it through the browser and they wouldn't be caught dead with it on their phone.

I have no problem with porn but it does bother me to see these apps in the top 25. There is always the greater question of why society has a problem with nudity and sex but not with GTA or any game where you kill.

 

[mavis]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3GS (JB3.1, unlocked): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

So boobs are bad, but murdering cops is ok. Got it.

 

[bruinsrme]

I am not a huge fan of apple but they have decided THEY don't want to sell certain stuff in THEIR store.
What is the big deal? Imagine owning a store and a group of people demand you sell something, but you do not believe it fits your business model. Should you be forced to sell it.
Censorship, cmon really?

 

[Rychy]

Good riddance... I was sick of seeing them in the top app charts.

 

[nagromme]

Tag them. Require people, in iTunes, to opt INTO seeing them in search results, thus eliminating all complaints.

Don’t just censor them—that’s a poor response to something technology can solve, and makes developers rightly nervous about the more general principle of guidelines shifting out from under them.

I am not a huge fan of apple but they have decided THEY don't want to sell certain stuff in THEIR store.
What is the big deal? Imagine owning a store and a group of people demand you sell something, but you do not believe it fits your business model. Should you be forced to sell it.
Censorship, cmon really?

No, Apple should not be FORCED to make a good decision on this matter.

But they still should make a good decision.

And it’s not just a matter of “you want to sell certain stuff.” It’s a matter that you were ALREADY told by Apple that you COULD sell certain stuff, and then spent time and money to do so, only to have Apple change their minds.

Yes, they can do that. I’m sure it’s legal. It’s not a good thing though.

I’m not into buying OR developing adult apps, but I AM into Apple treating developers fairly, and this is not a shining example of that. You could say, it doesn’t matter because these apps are obnoxious and nobody wants them (though 260k sales says otherwise). But who decides when it’s OK to change the rules out from under developers? Not you—Apple. And Apple should be consistent when possible—and in this case it’s possible.

So I’d be happier if they found a compromise that let them be consistent with their past policy AND answer the complaints.

Opt-in would be just such a solution. I’d love to turn off those stupid apps AND have more general confidence in Apple if/when I have my own (non-adult) game ready to sell.

I’m not going to avoid the App Store over it, but I do think it’s a bad call.

 

[ipoppy]

Good. You have to draw the line somewhere. If you want mobile porn there's Safari browser.

Great post. Exactly my thought.
Unfortunately there always will be unhappy customers because of this. I am sick of porn related c**p all over the net already. Lets keep Apple clean from that.

 

[X38]

Personally, I'm glad to see Apple taking steps to keep the app store useful instead of letting it turn into just another porn market like so much of the internet. Like others have said, if you just have to have porn on your phone, you're free to go where ever you want with Safari. Or just load some porno pics or videos to the photo library or itunes videos. There's no need for an app.

However, this does show why Apple has put themselves in a predicament with a controlled environment like the app store. As soon as they created an in house app store, they created an expectation among their customers that they would police the content of their own store, which inevitably will lead to conflict between those who feel like there is too much control and those who feel there is too little. It is completely impossible for Apple not to irritate at least some people no matter what they do with the app store, that's just the nature of the beast.

 

[Criscoso]

The App Store sucks!

Apple is acting like a dictator, they have removed other apps giving other silly reasons as well.
If you don't want porn, just don't download the app, or lock adult content on the phone.

I believe the only reason to remove an app is if it does something illegal like showing illegal content or doing some illegal stuff, or if it has some serious bug.
But of course, is their store.

I truly understand the developers that quit developing in that platform.

 

[billystlyes]

Yet another example of Apple becoming too controlling. I never thought they would end up being the one that turned into Big Brother. Honestly, I'm not trying to be a troll, but this is starting to really make me mad.

 

[Nostromo]

Thanks, Apple, for taking the decision out of my hands.

Decision making is such a tedious process. Why not let your computer company let take care of this.

I'm sure it's being meant as a service.

 

[Criscoso]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3GS (JB3.1, unlocked): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

So boobs are bad, but murdering cops is ok. Got it.

You hit the point.
This is one of the many silly things in that country.

 

[kernkraft]

The App Store is being prepared for the iPad and the senior citizens.

 

[pondie84]

So now Apple is trying to be our parent too? iParent.

 

[davidjearly]

Good decision Apple. I've submitted a couple of complaints myself regarding these apps. They should not be advertised on the app store.

 

[djalice]

Steve Jobs originally said 'no pornography

I was always surprised that these kind of apps were allowed in the first place as Steve Jobs originally said 'no pornography'. I understand that this is the mildest form but I would still class it as pornography. Please, don't get me wrong, I like my porn as much as the next person. Maybe they should create an 'adult' area that is hidden by default?

It always confuses me why some people are offended by sexual content while are fine with extremely violent content like some video games etc.

Alice

 

[yargk]

I feel a little sickened...


By the significant number of positive responses to censorship. I'm under the impression that the only way to get an app on the iphone is through the appstore. If this is correct, they shouldn't be censoring based on content. If you don't want the offending apps featured prominently, request an adult section of the store, not that they be removed.

 

[nubero]

Good. You have to draw the line somewhere. If you want mobile porn there's Safari browser.

The user has to draw his personal line. Not the Publisher.
I find it incredibly funny and at the same time concerning, that a company like THAT wants to distribute books…

 

[MrSmith]

Good decision Apple. I've submitted a couple of complaints myself regarding these apps. They should not be advertised on the app store.

Puritanism or hang-up?