What you need to know
- Like Patrol has been removed from the App Store.
- Apple says that the app "violated its guidelines."
- It's unknown whether the app will return.
Apple has removed third-party Instagram app Like Patrol from the App Store. This comes after Instagram itself sent the app's makers a ceaase-and-desist letter last month.
The whole point of Like Patrol was to get around the fact that Instagram has removed the ability to see what other people have liked. The app scrapes the data and then makes it publicly available again, something that Instagram says is against its terms anad conditions. The app's makers ignored the request. And now Apple has stepped in.
Apple says that Like Patrol "violated its guidelines" according to CNET but there was no futher information made available.
Like Patrol wanted to make creeping on Instagram easier than ever, setting up a service through which paying subscribers could get notifications anytime someone they followed commented on or liked a photo. It was targeted at people in relationships, telling them they could use it to keep tabs on whoever their partners were speaking with on Instagram.
Like Patrol previously charged people up to $80 per month to keep tabs on people's likes, a sum of money that seems pretty unimaginable to most people. In fact the app reportedly had just 300 users. Something that should perhaps not be all that surprising.
At this point it's unclear whether the app's makers will try to fight both Apple and Instagram on this. But I'd suspect not.
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