AfterDawn: News

Apple chucks adult apps out of App Store

Apple Inc. has reportedly thrown out a bunch of applications for the iPhone that contain adult content under a new policy that bans all "overtly sexual content". Developers have been getting notices from Apple informing them that their applications have been removed from the App Store, without any prior warning or notification of a change in policy.

This could be a setback for some small app companies that were developing for the platform. On the Go Girls had half of its portfolio removed from the app store, while Jens Ltd was left with only one application remaining; and the purge is apparently on-going. A number of apps provided by Maxim were removed too, showing that established brands aren't being ignored either. Playboy's latest app is reportedly still up.



"Whenever we receive customer complaints about objectionable content we review them. If we find these apps contain inappropriate material we remove them and request the developer make any necessary changes in order to be distributed by Apple," a statement from Apple reads.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 21 Feb 2010 4:23

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• 6 comments

• Altair2

  I wish they would concentrate instead in chucking out all the absolute crap first to save us wading through mountains of rubbish looking for the real gems (of which there are now many it has to be said)

  21.2.2010 04:32 #1

• Joshewah

  Sig heil, Adolf Jobs!

  21.2.2010 18:34 #2

• Altair2

  Josh, may I remind you of Godwin's Law?

  22.2.2010 00:40 #3

• Joshewah

  I had not heard about that before. lol I kind of just skipped all the foreplay and got right to the point huh?
  
  The impact of this one Apple act might not have been significant enough to make such a statement, but you can't deny that a lot of what goes on in the Cupertino concentration camp is BS.
  
  Wait... did... did I just do it again?
  
  :P
  
  Seriously though, the foxconn employee that ended up dead for losing an iphone prototype, the Apple secret police, the jail like atmosphere of their dev facilities, the unconditional support for Jobs/Apple despite how crappy a product/service/software is...

  23.2.2010 16:14 #4

• Gnawnivek

  Ah come on, it's not adult apps, it's just those "dirty" like apps. There's a difference...
  
  I read this in the Times, basically, parents are concerned that there are apps where you scratch off girls' skirts to reveal undies. Some devs basically cashing in quick money by using sexy ladies in their apps (sex sells, everyone knows that). This upsets the rating on Apple's App store a bit... Since the "popular" downloads are just mindless sexy ladies doing sexy things with a touch of the user's finger, the other legitimate apps don't have much of exposure.
  
  They also mentioned that why the sexy ladies from Sport Illustrated were okay... Well, that's b/c Sport Illustrated is a well know company and it's content is understood to be "clean."
  
  Good? Eh, if you're a parent or a small dev team looking to expand on the Apple Apps, this is an okay move.
  
  Bad? Well, if you're a causal Apple App user, it's a fun killer :)
  
  Honestly, i don't think provocative apps/pictures hurt anything, we need those things to give us a giggle or two in our boring lives. The Times article also mentioned that Google will not use Apple's model. Google will use the YouTube system, basically, let the users decide what's appropriate and what's not. When something flagged as inappropriate, then the mods come in play. I think it's a better system.

  25.2.2010 14:49 #5

• xboxd00d

  That is so pathetic, you need a credit or debit card to even use the appstore so most users will be old enough to see naked chix anyway, its not like u cant find porn on the internet easy enough anyway, from what ive seen of these kind of apps they suck anyway!!!

  27.2.2010 07:09 #6