Apple Pauses Gambling Ads in App Store Pages After Developers Complain [Updated]

[mdriftmeyer]

Let me get this straight, Apple should reduce its percentage from Developers and stop advertising? Anything else? Perhaps pay you to use its products?

 

[Peepo]

This is a sign... one day there will be Pr0n in the App store and the world will rejoice!

 

[Wildkraut]

Let me sum up the thread, everybody p’off fanboys and non-fanboys, well done Tim Apple. 👌

I wonder if Tims Crook‘s Apple Watch will show him a stupidity award.

 

[Naraxus]

Soon, soon we can!

I can't wait personally. Of course there will be the usual crowd who'll accuse us of "only wanting to steal/not pay for apps etc" but I've been hearing that claptrap since I jailbroke my iPhone 3g

 

[Naraxus]

So much outrage here! Will people here stand up and translate their faux outrage into action; ie abandon their Apple products and purchase competitor products?

Of course not. That would require a wee bit of guts and energy to stand up and actually follow through, supporting their principles.

Much easier to have a good whine and call it a day.

I have and will continue to divest myself of Apple so there goes your little rant & veiled insults.

 

[msackey]

Why does this being said over and over? Has it EVER been said by anyone at Apple that they're overpricing their products so that you can enjoy an ad-free experience, or is this just something you think is how it is?

I don't think Apple has ever said that, but many, many historical and current customers do feel that way about Apple. I can't fault them for that and Apple should pay attention to that sentiment regardless. If anything, Apple should know that it has one of the stronger customer base compared to many, many other companies and they shouldn't gamble with that.

 

[bruinsrme]

Now, the pro leagues are inundating their in broadcasts and intermissions with gambling ads watching sports. Even the commentators during the games and intermissions are reviewing some of the odds.

Good on Tim Cook for giving us even more attention to gambling.

 

[HiRez]

I remember back in 2010-2012, i would be excited about getting a new app (both free/paid) and spent so much time browsing in the app store.

Today, I cant remember the last time I downloaded an app. or even opened the app store. (probably around 2017ish). My perception of the app store? a toxic hell stew of subscriptions and in-app purchase-infested freemium apps.

EDIT: Looks like my last purchase was Apr 5th, 2016.

Same with me, I use the App Store only a few times a year and then only to download some specific app I know I need. I forget the App Store app even exists until I need it for something. For whatever reason, the days of browsing over thousands of apps and trying them out is over for me. I use almost all of the built-in Apple iPhone apps and a handful of others (Google Docs apps, Slack, Lightroom, Starbucks, and a bunch of video streaming apps), and that's about all I need. I play a lot of games and used to on the iPhone and iPad, but I have a Switch and a PS5 and the experience tends to be a lot better, so I don't even bother with phone games anymore.

 

[akbarali.ch]

From last few years it seems they are focussing on more innovative way to extort money from users rather than make an awesome product and make user empty their pockets and still happy about.

 

[msackey]

From last few years it seems they are focussing on more innovative way to extort money from users rather than make an awesome product and make user empty their pockets and still happy about.

I agree. I'd add that it feels like Apple is nickle and diming its way through this and that not only feels cheap, but shady, ungrateful, and most of all, PETTY.

 

[mikethemartian]

Same with me, I use the App Store only a few times a year and then only to download some specific app I know I need. I forget the App Store app even exists until I need it for something. For whatever reason, the days of browsing over thousands of apps and trying them out is over for me. I use almost all of the built-in Apple iPhone apps and a handful of others (Google Docs apps, Slack, Lightroom, Starbucks, and a bunch of video streaming apps), and that's about all I need. I play a lot of games and used to on the iPhone and iPad, but I have a Switch and a PS5 and the experience tends to be a lot better, so I don't even bother with phone games anymore.

I usually only download apps that are affiliated with a bank I use or a product I buy.

 

[geartau]

What if it were YOUR CHILD being exposed to those gambling ads? You know, those really shiny ones that force a child's attention directly to it via being there? And then your child downloads it and suddenly you're $10,000 in the hole? (This is also known as, "Why I don't EVER link a card to a Google/Apple/Microsoft account")

This happened before in apps designed for children. VERY scantilly clad women were in ads for children's apps! Bunches of 1-star reviews later and detailed descriptions as to WHY...well, those ads disappeared.

1. my kids wouldn't have access to the app store.
2. kids are already exposed to scam crypto coins that promises people to get rich outside of the app store in a much more accessible way (web/twitter/instagram)
3. when i was a kid, pokemon booster packs were already a form of gambling as i recall buying 100+ booster packs just to get the elusive charizard. now take a look at a game called hearthstone for iPhone. and then there are mobile games like call of duty have IAP that gives players a chance for an "epic" skin while showing a gambling-like interface animation.

 

[mrochester]

1. my kids wouldn't have access to the app store.
2. kids are already exposed to scam crypto coins that promises people to get rich outside of the app store in a much more accessible way (web/twitter/instagram)
3. when i was a kid, pokemon booster packs were already a form of gambling as i recall buying 100+ booster packs just to get the elusive charizard. now take a look at a game called hearthstone for iPhone. mobile games like call of duty have IAP that gives players a chance for an "epic" skin

I got a shiny Charizard is the first pack I ever bought.

 

[Millah]

I am serious: is android play store any better? Apple's appeal for the last 20 years was a walled garden, but if the garden is starting to rot (ads, price increases, product releases that don't mesh), how do I justify staying all in? At this point the only lock-in feature I like is iMessage. But it's a two horse race and my perception of android and samsung/google are they're worse.

Sheesh. Can we all tone down the hyperbole for a second? Yes, these ads are fairly crummy, but they’re still NOWHERE NEAR as bad as Googles ad machine. All you need to do is use YouTube to see how infinitely more scummy Googles ads are. They literally advertise scam products in YouTube ads. BS, fly by night companies in China, making completely false claims with the ad narrated by a bot….these are ads and scams you can see on YouTube TODAY. Unsafe chargers with fake claims, unsafe medical claims “invented by a genius doctor” that doesn’t exist, from some shell Chinese companies.

So please…let’s all calm down. We all hold Apple to absurdly high standards for a reason, because the rest of the industry is a complete joke. That hasn’t changed, and in fact has gotten significantly worse. No matter how bad you might perceive something from Apple, it is still INFINITELY less scummy than anything Google or Facebook is doing. Not to mention, Apples hardware and software quality is still unmatched no matter how bad Apple nerds complain about bugs or software that isn’t 100% perfection. News flash, Android and Windows still aren’t 100% perfect either. They’re not even close to Apples fit and finish, despite the regressions. Even the simple things…like try to force quit a rogue app on Android TV…it’s VERY intuitive *rolleyes*

Lol, calm yourselves everyone.

 

[4nNtt]

They should have never gotten involved with advertising at all. It is a scummy business that forces Apple to also act scummy so that they can “compete.”

Apple has so much $ I can’t even believe they are bending down to scoop up these moldy crumbs.

Apple had an ad service called iAD for other developers that failed and was shut down, so they repositioned that team to put ads in their own services. The problem is there is no way to opt-out, move to a paid tier without ads, or choose a different service in most cases so it cheapens the experience of the entire walled garden. Apple is also doing a really poor job at ads. Even with tracking disabled it should at least show ads relevant to a search. Apple is only attracting the lowest quality advertisers to their ad system. When the iAD service launched for other developers Steve Jobs said they were curating the advertisers and only the highest quality ads would be allowed. Steve Jobs would certainly be rolling in his grave with this mess.

 

[theOmega]

Dunno about that. I've been playing RPG's ever since forever. My character has a habit entering people's house uninvited and rummaging through their dressers/treasure chests/barrels for items. In front of the occupants no less.😲 I've been at for over 40 years. Not once have I had to urge to do this in real life.😉

I've played plenty of shoot 'em up FPS (started with Castle Wolfenstein) as well. Never shot anyone in my life.

Parents did their job. Good thing too. If they didn't, I'd probably be doing time for running a saw across a fat guy's head. Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk.

This is only possible if they are tracking you, something Apple denies doing.🤔

They don’t track you but use your data to deliver their ads: https://www.apple.com/uk/legal/privacy/data/en/apple-advertising/

 

[LV426]

It might be an idea to just scrap ads completely from the Apple ecosystem. Even Apple's own. I was hopping mad when they sent me an email along the lines of "Get her something for Mother's Day", a few days after the death of my mother.

Some people just do not respond to ads. I've NEVER bought an app based on any kind of ad in the App Store, and I very likely never will. For me, ads are just an annoyance. If I'm thinking of buying something I will go out of my way to research it and consider alternatives.

 

[compwiz1202]

1. my kids wouldn't have access to the app store.
2. kids are already exposed to scam crypto coins that promises people to get rich outside of the app store in a much more accessible way (web/twitter/instagram)
3. when i was a kid, pokemon booster packs were already a form of gambling as i recall buying 100+ booster packs just to get the elusive charizard. now take a look at a game called hearthstone for iPhone. and then there are mobile games like call of duty have IAP that gives players a chance for an "epic" skin while showing a gambling-like interface animation.

Yes like every MMO has loot boxes. At least it used to be if you paid $#.##, you got the item. Not a low chance that is really lower because RNG is BS and always gives you a worse chance that the % shows.

 

[krakenrelease]

I might be the lone dissenter, but I disagree. An app is an app. If it's allowed in the app store, then an ad for that app should be allowed to be placed anywhere. No gambling but Tinder is ok?

Granted it shouldn't show up in You Also Might like, when it has nothing to do with previous app purchases / downloads.

 

[themuseboy]

The gambling industry (casinos, state lotteries) depend on the addictive behavior. Interesting analyses have shown the issue state lotteries have in that they have difficulty maintaining revenues once the pool of addicitve buyers have been bankrupted. Strange that we have as a society embraced something widely considered illegal a few decades ago. Am wondering, if the NFL runs ads during its game prompting viewers during a game being shown on Apple TV to place prop bets thru the App Store NFL App and Apple gets 30% of the bet are we in a new sort of advertising metaverse where everyone but the consumer wins ??

You are absolutely right about them depending on peoples addictive behavior. It's been more than 20 years since I've been to a casino for a conference but I remember wandering around and wondering what the little side business like rooms were for. After a little research I figured out you could go in and take out a second mortgage on your home right there in the casino and then head right out and back to gamble it away without even leaving the casino. Not sure if you can still do that or not but can you imagine losing that much money and your home in one night?

 

[cardfan]

I might be the lone dissenter, but I disagree. An app is an app. If it's allowed in the app store, then an ad for that app should be allowed to be placed anywhere. No gambling but Tinder is ok?

Granted it shouldn't show up in You Also Might like, when it has nothing to do with previous app purchases / downloads.

I don’t mind the ads where they are right now. But let them get to messaging app, maps, etc then it’ll get annoying to the point one starts looking elsewhere Don’t care if they’re gambling. If people are dumb enough then let ‘em. Not a good look for apple but their apps in general are about nickel and diming.

 

[cardfan]

You are absolutely right about them depending on peoples addictive behavior. It's been more than 20 years since I've been to a casino for a conference but I remember wandering around and wondering what the little side business like rooms were for. After a little research I figured out you could go in and take out a second mortgage on your home right there in the casino and then head right out and back to gamble it away without even leaving the casino. Not sure if you can still do that or not but can you imagine losing that much money and your home in one night?

Never understood the desire to gamble knowing the house is setup to win. I don’t get the appeal of slot machines. I’ll see people in there (walking through on cruise ship) camped all night losing money. Can’t help the helpless. There’s a reason they stay poor. Dumb choices.

That said I’m all for people choosing to do this. These are the morons you want to target.

 

[koelsh]

Lots scamming gaming publishers registered hundreds (or even thousands?) of accounts to give fake ratings and fake reviews, so the ranking of those scamming apps would be at Top 10 for a while.

Just read comments elsewhere rather than in App Store.

Upshot for me so far is the ads haven’t been for the garbage apps, however I do have personalized ads turned on.

The only reason I open the store is to get updates or download an app I heard about elsewhere. Last time I “browsed” the app store would have been probably 2013.

 

[MacBH928]

How about Apple give a percentage of the ad revenue to the app store developer whose pages they appear on, eh?

Oh no, can't have that.

thats actually a nice idea... but capitalism doesnt work based on nice. It works on survival of the strongest. Greed is good.

 

[howywood]

I feel this year has been such a weird year for apple with lots of faux pas across their releases from software bugs to hardware hit and misses compared to previous years. Is it just me noticing or is it that more people have been reporting the issues on social media and news outlets etc. I remember when bend gate (or flex gate?) was the only thing we used to talk about back in the day..😄.

Work. From. Home.