Apple has threatened to remove Amphetamine from the App Store

Post by monocularvision » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 12:31 AM UTC

joseph_grobbles wrote: post #215

silentsea90 wrote: post #37

The name was approved by Apple years ago. The developer built the brand on that name. What changed? Apple's policies (on their whims). If Apple has to come down hard, they should bear the cost of the re-branding at least to measurably communicating widely regarding the rename. It is sad that Apple exercises so much power callously.

"The name was approved by Apple years ago" This isn't going to be popular, however getting away with something for a period of time is not the same as being approved/sanctioned/etc. In the petition the author claimed that the app "spontaneously began violating" one of the guidelines, when clearly it has violated it all along. Yet that disingenuous angle is used constantly when people get away with something for a whi…

Post by freehunter » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 12:35 AM UTC

sillysaurusx wrote: post #334

freehunter wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I download and use the app despite the name. I’m not okay with it, but I need the features it offers and there isn’t a better alternative with a better name. There used to be (called Caffeine) but it disappeared from the store and I’m not sure why. Just because people use the app doesn’t mean they like the name.

Why aren’t you okay with Amphetamine?

Post by freehunter » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 12:38 AM UTC

oauea wrote: post #534

sbarre wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In their environment that they clearly indicate is their environment from the outset? Yes.. They are not telling the author they can't call his app whatever they want. They are saying they will not sell it in their app store under that name. And that's the bargain you enter into when you sell in a walled garden ecosystem.

They are also doing everything they can to block people from distributing apps outside of their walled garden. So they are in fact telling the author that he can't call his app whatever he wants. Because if he does, they will do everything they can to prevent anyone else from ever using that app.

Post by colejohnson66 » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 12:39 AM UTC

chaboud wrote: post #507

tengbretson wrote: post #496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My grocery store sells an energy drink called liquid death.

I’m pretty sure that Liquid Death is just water.

Post by colejohnson66 » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 12:41 AM UTC

twitch-chat wrote: post #516

timsneath wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. Clearly one team at Apple feels (or felt) that the name was no impediment to them marketing it. Like all corporations, Apple is just a congregation of human beings, rather than a synchronized hive mind. But it's problematic if app authors can't trust in consistency as a result. FWIW, it's a net downside for me that my professional workstation has an app named "Amphetamine", so I'm quietly in favor of a rename.…

How is it a net downside? The entire purpose of the App Store being locked down is that it's reliable. There is no way any HR department will launch an investigation because you downloaded an app called Amphetamine. Worst case scenario they go look it up and realize there's nothing more to the situation. I'd have to see a documented event of this happening rather than a hypothetical scenario to believe a downside act…