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Apple Pulls 500px’s Mobile Apps From The App Store

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Re: Apple Pulls 500px’s Mobile Apps From The App Store

#141

Post by clarky07 »

ry0ohki wrote: post #76
neya wrote: post #30

This is good in my opinion. The more the rejection, the more the developers will tend to flee away from arrogant Marketplaces like that of Apple's. It will also, in a way, probably force developers to try out other marketplaces like the Windows Phone Marketplace and the Google Play store. Now, I do understand 500px is trying to create a uni-platform experience for its users, but now that 500px isn't allowed to publis…

Developers go where the users go (and pay). Until the Windows and Android stores start bringing devs the same type of money, it's still always worth it to "take the risk" of Apple's store. The only way I see this changing is if users themselves cared about an app being pulled, and this app doesn't seem big enough for people to care (maybe if Instagram was taken down).

I recently decided to port some apps to Android and Windows 8 to lower my Apple only risk. Diversification is good right? It's been a really mixed bag so far. 1 of my apps is doing better than it's iPhone counterpart, the rest might as well not exist. [1]

[1] - http://www.entrelife.com/2013/01/case-study-of-android-vs-ip...

Re: Apple Pulls 500px’s Mobile Apps From The App Store

#142

Post by burningion »

FireBeyond wrote: post #95
bollockitis wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm actually glad they wanted to verify that your app worked as advertised before approving it. They should probably have peripherals on hand for testing though.

I wouldn't be - such apps are not regulated medical devices. Why should Apple be giving such things the okay? It adds an air of at least implied reliability for such tools, and that's probably not a good place for anyone to be in. (Not to mention, at least for me, such tools have proven horribly inaccurate.)

I want to address your last comment, about heart rate monitors being horribly inaccurate for you.

According to a large body of research (http://www.polar.com/en/about_polar/who_we_are/research_inde...), the Polar brand heart rate monitors provide basically medical quality data.

Have you really tried one of the new Bluetooth LE monitors, and what sort of problems did you have?

It's vitally important to me, because my startup revolves around the rock-solid, years of research that have gone into developing these devices.

Thanks for letting me know.

Re: Apple Pulls 500px’s Mobile Apps From The App Store

#143

Post by Wilya »

schoper wrote: post #96
joebadmo wrote: post #42

A few years ago, I was in a big box store and overheard a young (~10y/o) child and his mother picking out a new video game. The kid excitedly picked up a box and asked his mom if he could get that one. She checked out the cover, then started reading the rating. "Rated 'mature' for sexual content? No way!" "Aw, man! Ok, how about this one?" "Rated 'mature' for extreme graphic violence? Well... ok."

The woman was right. Depictions of sex have huge individual and cultural repercussions. Depictions of violence have little to no effect on all but the most borderline of individuals. Porn can really make your life worse. Violence on TV ain't going to.

Most video games, even rated 'mature' for 'strong sexual content', have nothing to do with porn. It means you might see a nipple, and there might be a few seconds of more or less implied sex at some point.

That you consider this worse than, say, playing a dude running around cutting people's heads is quite interesting. But I think it's more a cultural thing than a scientifically rational one.

Re: Apple Pulls 500px’s Mobile Apps From The App Store

#144

Post by cstejerean »

tsycho wrote: post #118
gte910h wrote: post #57

The app was rated 4+, yet would show pictures of naked people http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:itunes.... I think trying to paint Apple as bad in this case is pretty crappy, as it's very clear what the different ratings mean and 500px didn't follow the VERY CLEAR list of what each thing means. http://www.internetsafetyproject.org/wiki/apple%E2%80%99s-ap... True nudity only belongs in 17+ in their…

By that logic, Safari should be 17+ only and should not be installed by default unless the user claims/proves that they are 17+. It's much easier to access nudity/porn via Safari. 500px's app required much more work, and contained "artistic nudity" not porn.

Safari can be disabled under parental controls for precisely this reason.

Re: Apple Pulls 500px’s Mobile Apps From The App Store

#145

Post by jmreid »

tchebotarev wrote: post #119
jmreid wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can someone upload a nude photo and not flag it as a nude? Do you guys check this before it gets published? If not, Apple might not care that the default is "Safe On" when someone can either disable it easily (outside of iOS's parental controls), or the tagging is inconsistent.

Yes they can. Although there are special tools to discourage non-tagged or improperly tagged photos. We don't check, but our community self-monitors and reacts very quickly (few minutes at most).

Well, you can see Apple's side of this, no? You're basically saying that you don't deserve the mature, "internet app rating" because your users as usually pretty quick at flagging things or that you have a safe default to catch the rest (which can be turned off by creating a 500px account and just turning it off). Both of these subvert Apple's built in parental controls and I'm guessing that's exactly why this happened. If there's a chance of mature stuff, you have to set your rating correctly.

Everyone already got all bothered about this ages ago. Apps that had built in web views had to set a mature rating because a user could then surf the web even if Safari was disabled.

I guess this comes down to what they've asked (yet?) of you. Can you resubmit the app with a higher age-restiction?

Re: Apple Pulls 500px’s Mobile Apps From The App Store

#146

Post by adabsurdo »

Steko wrote: post #121
blindhippo wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything I've read to date suggests the Android user base is very different to the iOS user base. From a developer perspective, despite the enormous market share Android offers, it's users are reluctant to spend any money on software. The iOS user base on the other hand seems to attract users willing to spend money. I seriously doubt Android will be a viable platform for developers until this culture changes.

Just because the returns are lower doesn't mean it's not viable. There are plenty of Android success stories. Even Angry Birds makes more money on Android than on iOS last I heard. One of the big challenges on Android is Google doesn't have many credit cards for Apps so right there non-free apps are in trouble. Android may have double the iOS market share but if they only have half as many credit cards their effectiv…

What do you mean, "many credit cards for Apps"?

Re: Apple Pulls 500px’s Mobile Apps From The App Store

#147

Post by jmreid »

D3nver wrote: post #22

I hope the App Store reviewers look over the Safari app. You can do the same thing, but there's no default safe search!! Scandalous!

It's funny how this comment comes up in this discussion.

It's not about Safari also being able to surf porn sites, it's about Apple wanting to protect the integrity of their parental controls.

If I've disabled mature apps as well as Safari on a child's iOS device, should I now worry that they can see mature content using 500px? Those parental controls are there for a reason and rely on accurate ratings for apps.

Yes, sucks that everything with web access gets a mature rating, but you must see how that's the point, right?

Re: Apple Pulls 500px’s Mobile Apps From The App Store

#148

Post by gbog »

ry0ohki wrote: post #76
neya wrote: post #30

This is good in my opinion. The more the rejection, the more the developers will tend to flee away from arrogant Marketplaces like that of Apple's. It will also, in a way, probably force developers to try out other marketplaces like the Windows Phone Marketplace and the Google Play store. Now, I do understand 500px is trying to create a uni-platform experience for its users, but now that 500px isn't allowed to publis…

Developers go where the users go (and pay). Until the Windows and Android stores start bringing devs the same type of money, it's still always worth it to "take the risk" of Apple's store. The only way I see this changing is if users themselves cared about an app being pulled, and this app doesn't seem big enough for people to care (maybe if Instagram was taken down).

> Developers go where the users go

You are aware that, except in a tiny fraction of the world, users are going massively android, right?

Re: Apple Pulls 500px’s Mobile Apps From The App Store

#149

Post by jmreid »

cheald wrote: post #117
gte910h wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Instead, the rationale from Apple and defended by you and others is that it is better to make the entire app 17+ Yes, then parents can give the device to children, turn on whatever restrictions based on those ratings, and have it work, even if the kid is trying to get around it by doing all those things. This is not only intended to defeat 5 year olds, but 14 year olds. If 500px would prefer to turn that switch off…

> You do know the web browser and pretty much any apps can be turned off in restrictions right? Please enlighten me as to how to restrict apps other than Safari, Camera, FaceTime, and iTunes, because that's all there is in that menu.

You restrict based on age ratings. That's the whole point of his argument.

You set the rating restriction, block the communication apps, Safari, and the kid cannot go download another browser and surf. If Apple goes lax on these ratings, then those parental controls stop working.

Re: Apple Pulls 500px’s Mobile Apps From The App Store

#150

Post by jmreid »

tsycho wrote: post #118
gte910h wrote: post #57

The app was rated 4+, yet would show pictures of naked people http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:itunes.... I think trying to paint Apple as bad in this case is pretty crappy, as it's very clear what the different ratings mean and 500px didn't follow the VERY CLEAR list of what each thing means. http://www.internetsafetyproject.org/wiki/apple%E2%80%99s-ap... True nudity only belongs in 17+ in their…

By that logic, Safari should be 17+ only and should not be installed by default unless the user claims/proves that they are 17+. It's much easier to access nudity/porn via Safari. 500px's app required much more work, and contained "artistic nudity" not porn.

You're thinking of it backwards.

The device settings and parental controls are set BEFORE you hand the device to a child.

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