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It is not the same analogy. 1. Apple did not create the porn site. 2. Apple did not publish the link 3. Apple did not promote the site. 4. User found the link / site and decided to use Safari / Firefox / Chrome to visit the site. So the actions are entirely in the control of the user.

In the app case, the third party App Store is hosting and maybe promoting the app as well. Secondly, the third-party App Store falsely claiming that it is an "Apple approved app" is a blatant lie.
They don't need to promote the app. It can receive zero coverage and it's just hosted available for download like adult sites are hosted somewhere and available for someone to type in.
 
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As a European citizen, this Porn app or the whole AltStore debacle makes me so sad. They sold us freedom of choice, but all we got is a crappy new store with a porn app and a game emulator. Is this the best developers can do when the walled garden is torn down? Don’t make me laugh.

Please, EU, give me a real choice. The choice to keep everything the way it was! Nobody is using it. Give it two years, and it will be completely dead.

It stands to reason that people would use third party app stores to distribute apps normally not allowed in the iOS App Store. Typically pornography, gambling, vaping, maybe even pirated APKs or those with trackers up the wazoo.

These are the obvious low hanging fruit that supporters of third party app stores risk been seen as endorsing, and it starts from them being unwilling to acknowledge the benefits of the closed App Store model in the first place.
 
the third-party App Store falsely claiming that it is an "Apple approved app" is a blatant lie.
You may have missed the part where Apple said they “approved” it.
Your splitting hairs on what approval meant - Apple checked the app for malware and said they found none. They did not say Apple approves of this app
When you require every app and its developer obtain your approval for distribution, don’t complain when they take you up on your own terms (and wording) and run with it.
 
“we certainly do not approve of this app”.

You do not approve of this app.
But you do and did approve this app.

👉 Because you force every developer into seeking your approval (for their apps).
Such a response is a gross distortion of the truth and denial of what the developer is trying to do and their motives as demonsrated by their promotion efforts. The developer's intent is obvious as is your dislike of Apple and high approval of the EU regulators actions directed at Apple.

"You do approve this app" makes no sense grammatically.
 
Read the post again and stop focusing on the porn. It isn't about that. It's about the risk to child safety.


Nah, they need direct access to their favourite category instead of having to search. Too many people protesting too much.

Keep children safe from what? Don’t children use browsers? Where there are 1 billion free porn videos?
 
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You may have missed the part where Apple said they “approved” it.

When you require every app and its developer obtain your approval for distribution, don’t complain when they take you up on your own terms (and wording) and run with it.
Why so intent on distorting the meaning of "approved" as it applies only to meeting technical standards and nothing else? I am pretty sure you know that and are trying to push a narrative that is false because it is in compliance with a personal opinion. Could it be there is no objectivity where Apple is concerned? Your profile picture / avatar would seem to provide a hint of your views.
 
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I guess one of us should to let Apple know that most people find porn with the browser…Guess they’ll need to delete Safari to keep the Apple customers safe.
That make zero sense. My guess is you knew that already.
 
Not if you actually take the time to set up child protection on the device. Protection that Apple can enforce in Safari or their App Store. But not in third party app stores or browsers. And this is exactly the point here!!!



If a kid starts driving a car then they are quickly arested. So there is an (external) protection here. Exactly what Apple wants in their devices.

However, watching people blow each other’s heads off with machine guns is OK for kids to watch, it’s just the sex that’s dangerous.
 
Car companies are started every day. Car companies fail every second day.

Just because Apple and Google have a stranglehold on western phone OS’s doesn’t stop other companies starting up. Apple aren’t trying to ‘crush’ them. People are so paranoid about Apple.

Apple have worked alongside Microsoft for decades for example. And they’re worked alongside Google and Qualcomm and many other companies who they still compete with.

So I agree with you. Apple isn’t a monopoly. Google isn’t a monopoly and they are both trying to increase a market share to increase value. But they work alongside each other and are definitely not acting as a monopoly to prevent other companies from forming or competing.

Disputes from the likes of Spotify and Epic are about them wanting to be treated differently to other companies and it’s nothing about acting like a monopoly.

Yes, so it seems like the people who are really asking for a sideload/alt store option is very small, and therefore rules should not be created to serve the few.

Delete the sideload option. This is just a massive headache for most people.
 
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Some will download AltStore for this app, almost everyone will not ... meanwhile the Earth will continue to spin as people continue their normal access to porn on their iPhone or iPad through a web browser

same argument applies to side loading: some will sideload, almost everyone will not. weird how some people will go through the ends of the earth to fight for one thing, but minimize another thing of similar calibre when they don't like it.
 
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Yes, absolutely, Apple and government authorities should take reasonable steps to protect children. Therefore Apple will immediately yank the objectively riskier sex hookup apps such as Tinder, Bumble, and Grindr from their App Store because unfortunately some children use them, and thus some adults criminally sexually assault those children. In real life, physically.

Apple will get right on that, correct?
Qualifier: Apple's point about what the developer is doing is obviously correct even to a blind person. It's not Apple's job to play the role of a parent. They are well within their rights to disapprove of certain categories of material and to say so. Apple has provided extensive tools for parents to monitor children's online activity and their access to their app store. Far more tools than any other OS and App Store provider has. To claim Apple has not take reasonable steps to protect children and then conflate that with with dating / hookup apps is just plain wrong and a distortion made for purposes of pushing a personal narrative. If parents fail to use the tools or allow their children to access inappropriate material it is a parent failure not Apple's failure. Any app that allows message communication between people can be used as dating apps can to find partners for sexual activity. Such apps have nothing in common with apps that directly provide porn images.
 
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Prudish, hypocritical Americans.
The country with the largest porn industry.
Better give some money to Trump Mr. Cook
hypocritical, money hungry ceo


The article gets lost in these ridiculous side arguments that are based nothing other than an individual's personal dislike for one of the parties they mention masked by some flimsy moral or ideological claim.

Let em remind readers the article was a bout a developer intentionally trying to give the impression Apple approved of their porn app. Injecting semantics and the rest of the hypocrisy I read into the comments is laughable.
 
While I’m sure Apple is not ecstatic that people use Apple devices for porn via browsers, there is no other practical option for Apple. The internet is too vast and wild. But a closed app ecosystem is small and manageable by comparison, so control is an option in that case.

And there are important distinctions between visiting a porn site with a browser vs downloading a porn app. A website exists independently and generally has no affiliation with any device/platform, neither in social concept nor in a technical way. It can generally be accessed by multitude of browsers and by a multitude of devices. An app however is much more closely associated with its device/platform, both technically (lives on the device, usually deeper access/integration to hardware and OS, often uses platform-specific design language, etc) and in social concept. You will hear people say, “download the (eg.) Yelp iPhone app” and the app will look and act like it belongs on an iPhone. You will never hear anyone say, “visit the Yelp iPhone site” because that wouldn’t make sense.

So an app is both more personal to the user and to the device. This association is significant if the creator of the platform believes the thing being associated is detrimental either to the creator’s/platform’s image, or to its users, or both. And if they believe it’s detrimental to their users, and they have a way to control it, then it’s understandable if they feel they have a responsibility to restrict it on their product, even if in this case porn is still accessible via browser. For Apple, it could be less about keeping porn from their users in the practical sense, and more about not condoning porn by allowing it in their App Store, since that is very direct access and within their control. And who knows, for some people, having a dedicated porn app may cause them to look at porn more than if they had to go into a browser and find a bookmark, etc. (I think that is true for social media apps for many people so it reasonably stands to be true here too), so there may be measurable practical results to the restriction as well.
 
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Not if you actually take the time to set up child protection on the device. Protection that Apple can enforce in Safari or their App Store. But not in third party app stores or browsers. And this is exactly the point here!!!l
Such a weird take.

A: why are you giving literal children access to a smartphone in the first place?

If they try to access this content, whose fault is it? It’s called bad parenting

B: using that same logic, surely you can block them from downloading alt stores anyway? I dunno why everyone seems to think having the option to download alt stores suddenly makes it less safe for everyone. It’s not true whatsoever
 
They are absolutely right though. Apple has developed a safe and closed environment, but then came the EU and it took the safety enitrely away. Which honestly is strange since the DSA would limit an App Store making Porn Apps available to children.
No, European anticompetitive law took it away.
There’s a distinctive difference.
 
You're joking, right? On the Apple App Store, right now, many sex hookup apps are available. Those apps reportedly support, even encourage, "sexting." Sex hookup apps aren't only about some minors who might see a recording of adults having sex. They're also about some minors sending explicit recordings of themselves and being sexually assaulted when they meet through the sex hookup apps. And it's revolting when it happens. Anybody preying on children needs to be investigated and criminally prosecuted.

So where's your outrage about the sex hookup apps? Where's Apple's? If Apple really has any logical argument based on protecting children then Apple would ban the sex hookup apps in their App Store as Step #1. I hope we can all agree that children seeing recordings of adults having sex is bad, but children being sexually assaulted is worse.

What's Apple's age verification for the sex hookup apps Apple distributes from their App Store? If the answer is, "The same age verification as AltStore applies" then Apple has no legitimate argument here. Apple is simply making a self-serving argument because Apple wants exclusive distribution of apps (including sex hookup apps) for commercial reasons.

By the way, Apple is distributing Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) app in their App Store. The (ironically named) X app will show you a ton of pornography with no meaningful age verification if that's what you want to see.
Nice that you ignored my question and then went on a rant... Is there Porn on those Apps?
☐ Yes
☐ No

You can try and change the narrative to something else if you want, but that is not what is happening here. The question that is being asked is, does Apple have the right to restrict the app store categories? What's next, you'd defend a terrorist app or is only what you find morally okay?

Keep children safe from what? Don’t children use browsers? Where there are 1 billion free porn videos?
So why do you think Children should have access to porn?
 
Oh wow not like the Americans to be oppressive with anything concerning sex /s
From a country where child marriage is completely legal in 37 states and you keep insisting on parading little kids dressed up as sleazy hookers for "entertainment" excuse us if we just ignore you yeah
You've got much much bigger issues to worry about right now
 
I expect this is the first of many many apps like it. And it looks like under the usual anti competition EU laws which are anti business and anti consumer really, their is little Apple can do about it.
 
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It would be nice if Apple didn't pretend like we all need adult supervision for what we do or view on the phone. It's great that there are protections for minors and that's how it should be, but this idea that adults need regulating too is just condescending
 
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Whilst there are many who disapprove of pornography, there are many non adult places where you can purchase it. Book shops sell pornographic novels, newsagents sell pornographic magazines, retail stores sell pornographic DVD's, cable and satellite broadcasters have pornographic channels and it's all legal. Why should the app store be any different?. People may not like it but tough because that is how the world works.

People always use children as an excuse to have pornography banned because they say it is too easy for children to access. All the above example's I have given can be very easily accessed by children because an adult can make the purchase and give it to the child. Are we to ban book stores, newsagents, retail stores and cable/satellite broadcasters because they are unable to control what adults do with the stuff they purchase?

as long as the porn app is clean as in has no malware or virus then it should be allowed in an EU app store.
 
It is not Apple's business what I do with the hardware I bought from them.

Most large US companies, Apple included, are censoring everything to Disney like "family friendly" standards because they don't want to "offend" any pressure group.

It's good that this is ending, at least in certain territories.

Edit: and stop being worked up about this porn app. Ask yourself how many other apps that touch "controversial" subjects have been denied by Apple since they started with the iOS app store...
 
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