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946 points giuliomagnifico | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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rgovostes ◴[] No.25606126[source]
Well-written argument for the app reviewers to get bent, especially the highlighted examples of other apps that show the rule is clearly applied inconsistently.

Apple's App Store moderation is embarrassing. They routinely fail to catch harmful junk—I've shut down a few top-grossing bogus antivirus apps for Mac, and the publisher of Untitled Goose Game routinely posts screenshots of clones that are trying to make money off confused users.

They've banned apps like Phone Story and a drone strike tracker for being "objectionable and crude," yet they don't apply any content moderation to the Book Store or to Music or TV (or to Safari for that matter). They've yet to provide a cogent justification for why they're inconsistent on this.

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alisonkisk ◴[] No.25606230[source]
When apple bans an app, it ceases to exist on ios, effectively. Books, Music, and TV can be accessed through non-Apple controlled channels.

What are some TV content that's similar to these banned apps?

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1. rgovostes ◴[] No.25606320[source]
I think this is helping to make the case that they could be consistent in applying the guidelines to books/music/TV. "We're trying to be family-friendly, so we're not interested in selling any content that references drug use, but you're more than welcome to get it elsewhere." But they aren't; they only censor such content on the App Store.

Both Drone+ and Phone Story could have been done as web apps (which iOS supported before native apps), but of course there are many APIs that you cannot access from WebKit.