Comments on: iPhone 3.0: Parental Controls May Change App Store Rejection Policies?

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:27:25 +0000

The newspaper concerned was the UK’s The Sun. The breasts concerned were on page 3, a daily treat from a publication that tags itself as ‘Britain’s best family paper’. Go figure.

By: dev

dev — Wed, 06 May 2009 06:21:10 +0000

"As long as Apple details what falls under particular ratings, there should be little reason for miscommunication"

Um, yeah, because Apple has such a good record of clearly communicating precise details with iPhone developers.

By: Sean Peters

Sean Peters — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:33:01 +0000

Oh, and how can we forget: NIN application: allows a user access to disturbing lyrics of one of the band’s songs. Status: banned. Safari: allows a user to access Nazi hate sites, al Qaeda sites, any other hateful site you can think of, and oh by the way, the same lyrics as found in the NIN site. Status: all systems go!

By: Sean Peters

Sean Peters — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:29:46 +0000

Umm, let me get this straight. Newspaper reader: allows a user to get a single image of a topless woman. Status: banned. Safari: allows a user to get as much hardcore porn as he/she wants. Status: clear for all users, baby!

If there's a clearer example of why the app store approval process is completely hosed, I can't think of what it could be.

By: Dionte

Dionte — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:43:04 +0000

yes, maybe after 3.0 zintin can come back, it was shut down by apple for having mature content

By: SimpleLeap Software

SimpleLeap Software — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:08:38 +0000

@Steve I just don't think most of the companies/developers would even risk having their app rejected or being penalized by Apple by doing this.

As long as Apple details what falls under particular ratings, there should be little reason for miscommunication

By: Pj

Pj — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:03:50 +0000

I think this would be a great idea and maybe open up the door for adult only apps and mature apps. If video games can do it so can the iPhone.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:34:48 +0000

But of Apple's reviewing the app, they're going to decide the rating anyway. Seems silly asking the developer to rate their own app. They're most likely always going to go easy on themselves.

Sorry, I thought he meant customer reviewers.

By: sting7k

sting7k — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:26:21 +0000

@Steve, to make apps blocked by the parental controls they would need to be classified or rated. It’s probably much easier to just have the developer say straight up when they submit their apps for review that it has mature content. The reviewers then say yay or nay and assign that classification to be blocked by the parental controls.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:12:41 +0000

Why wouldn’t Apple just make certain apps inaccessible unless Parental Control is turned on in Settings? Why would Apple leave it up to developers and reviewers to decide?

By: SimpleLeap Software

SimpleLeap Software — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:56:13 +0000

@thekevinmonster

This would seem best.

By: thekevinmonster

thekevinmonster — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:40:35 +0000

I'm going to bet that:

1) Developers can classify their apps 2) Reviewers will make sure that classification is correct, and will reject apps that are classified wrong.

So if you try to put one of those b00b apps in as an E for Everyone game, you might get rejected.

Apple could follow ESRB ratings since people are familiar with those.

By: SimpleLeap Software

SimpleLeap Software — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:15:18 +0000

I’m very excited to see how this will be implemented. Whether it will be an option the app developers can set within the application or will the applications have ratings.

By: sting7k

sting7k — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:01:13 +0000

Finally, parental controls for apps.