Apple review guidelines: yes to kids, no to farts
While Apple’s newly published App Store review guidelines are locked up nice and tight behind the iOS developer login, Engadget is hosting a copy in the clear. They’ve also broken out some highlights:
- “We have lots of kids downloading lots of apps, and parental controls don’t work unless the parents set them up (many don’t). So know that we’re keeping an eye out for the kids.”
- “We have over 250,000 apps in the App Store. We don’t need any more Fart apps.”
- “We have lots of serious developers who don’t want their quality Apps to be surrounded by amateur hour.”
- “If your app is rejected, we have a Review Board that you can appeal to. If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps.”
- “This is a living document, and new apps presenting new questions may result in new rules at any time. Perhaps your app will trigger this.”
- “If it sounds like we’re control freaks, well, maybe it’s because we’re so committed to our users and making sure they have a quality experience with our products.”
Steve Jobs has rallied against porn before, but it would be nice if the App Store could provide the same, appropriately rated content as, say, iTunes movies. As to fart apps, we won’t make any jokes or point out any irony there.
However, I’m curious if “amateur hour” is Apple’s new passive-aggressive (aggressive-aggressive?) battle cry against Google/YouTube/App Inventor and Android?
Go read Engadget for more, and grab the download if it interests you.
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I think this is great. At first I was a little taken back by apples approval process, then I tried my sisters android and looked at their app store. It’s like scouring a 99 cent store for quality goods.
It seems as if they’re taking a very mature stance on this. Good job apple.
Everything in the android market has 5 stars. Too much spamming comments and 5 star ratings to know if there is anything worth getting. Most apps are just repeats. There are around 100 task managers….are you kidding me?
Apples App store owns and always will because they actually have people working on it rather than google robots.
Good to see apple opening up a little to the developers.
Who cares if they don’t accept porn apps. They have this great app on every iOS device called ‘Safari’ that lets you browse the worlds biggest porn library – the internet.
“Apps that look similar to apps bundled on the iPhone, including the App Store, iTunes Store, and iBookstore, will be rejected.”
This really made me chuckle, considering iBooks was pretty much a direct rip of ‘Classics.’
Nice to see them actually posting these guidelines though. I wonder if this is mroe to with WP7, and the way MS have actively courted AAA iPhone app developers to port their games, rather than Android, Which, going from my own experience, has a horrible store.
I agree with the thinking that this is good. I hate going to the app store and looking through pages and pages of idiotic apps. I’m glad they’re going to finally crack down on stuff like that. And people who want porn apps, I mean come on, seriously? I feel like those people need porn everywhere though, mags, videos, mugs, tshirts. Like wtf? haha They are control freaks, but who says that’s a bad thing, in this case it’s for the better.
I don’t agree with this business of “looking out for the kids” (or not in this context anyway). If they have parental control facilities available and parents are too stupid to use them, then quite frankly that’s their fault. It ruins things for the rest of us adults.
As someone who browses the app store for serious, productive and useful apps, I’m glad to see Apple take this stand. In an ideal world, discerning consumers would ignore such apps and they would fade into oblivion, however, all of the twelve-year-olds who get iPod Touches for Christmas have caused many fart apps to remain popular enough to stick on my top 25 lists. I realize people have flocked to this because they can make a quick buck, but I appreciate Apple standing by serious developers.
Sorry Apple, but the “pull my finger” app on my iPhone is absolutely priceless if used correctly. iPhone apps are about having a bit of fun to me. Sure I use professional apps far more often, but don’t take the fun out of the platform. Seriously the first push-notification app I downloaded was Beejive, but the second one allowed me to push fart noises 24/7 to my friends… And the LOLcat app, still cracks me up…
People seriously stop complaining about lack of porn ! The Internet is littered with porn and safari is a great browser. I commend apple for removing all those porn like apps . I’m a parent and I know alot of kids that have an itouch, don’t need them looking at top 25′s that were starting to look more like a porn site. I’m not against porn, many of the top porn sites have fantastic mobile sites built specifically for iPhone . As for quality apps comment , despite all the trash talking from android and BB. Owners about fart apps , there is no question that the best, highest quality apps or also the iPhone . Apple maybe control freaks but there products are the best in the business because of it !
The tone of these quotes is surprisingly frank and informal. I like it.
@ Greyscale: “its quite frankly their fault” is not Apples kind of user-experience-strategy. Its more like “u don’t have to think about it, we take care of whatever could be bad”. This happens at some costs. Thats the Apple-user’s trade-off.
In Parental Controls I would like password protect the Settings button.
Surprised that my 7 year old was able to create a Game Center ID, it just sent me an email to approve to the terms.
Thank god. Remove all the fart apps. Most retarded apps out there
@laZee
Then the proper response is to have parental controls with the same level as the status quo enabled by default, so that lazy people do not have to do anything, but allow those controls to be disabled by those who gulp know what they are getting into.
Yes, exactly what the above poster said. In the UK, all the carriers have “Safesearch” enabled by default, which stops you from going on porn sites, all it takes is a quick phone call to disable it (provided you can prove you are of consenting age which, if you have a contract, you must be).
Just to clarify on my earlier comment, I wasn’t actually referring to porn, but other things that may be construed as adult material. As everyone else says, if I wanted porn I’d just use Safari.
I agree with all of their points, except for one: “We have lots of kids downloading lots of apps, and parental controls don’t work unless the parents set them up (many don’t). So know that we’re keeping an eye out for the kids.”
Apple isn’t a parent. Apple should not act as one. That’s what the parents are supposed to do. If the parents don’t, that’s their problem. By the way, if they don’t set up parental controls, you should make them easier to find. The world doesn’t revolve around kids. Besides, who gives a crap if a kid sees an app with curse words? What’s the harm? You don’t want your kids to see it? That’s your responsibility then.
Who needs a fart app anyway when you can do the real thing and just let one rip.
Well, clearly this an orgy of apple fan-boys
. For all the apple clowns here, search “The NPR Android App: A Bazaar Beginning”.
It talks of the two software design philosophy: The Cathedral (Apple) vs The Bazaar (Google). The Cathedral is build from the grounds up with full control and planning, while the Bazaar takes a humble beginning with lost of chaos and confusion that gets ironed and improved in time.
A quick look at history (not just software history) should tell you who will win this battle… and if Wikipedia is any example to the future… good luck to fan-boys
.
As a 2 year iPhone user who walked the Jail Broken roads, I could not be more happier with Android. App for App, I have all I need. As the saying goes, “You must be willing to swim across the horizon to find new shore lines”.
~pIx