Apple has threatened to remove Amphetamine from the App Store

[Sorry, I'm a bit hyped up at the moment]

This is all ridiculous and I don't like where we're headed as a society.

I don’t buy your claim that there’s a double standard here. “Beer bong” would be another bad name for this app that I wouldn’t blame Apple for restricting. This isn’t about the arguably mixed up public policies that treat certain drugs as more dangerous than other drugs.

Anything that could have offensive connotations could also be trivialized as "just a [noun]". That doesn't make it any more or less likely to be taken badly by the intended customer base

I’m very glad you brought up weed actually. See I have no problem with weed and like to smoke a joint every now and then. However what I don’t want is to have to buy weed called dumb things like “bro down”, “the obliterator”, and “brain destroyer”. I’d much rather you just named something not so click baity.

Sure it’s just a chemical. Everything is just chemicals but I don’t need “meth” for my computer. Same reason our kids don’t need toys advertised as “crack for your baby”.

Agin not offended its just not a good name. Even if let’s say you build an app that’s hooks into some other program and you sell said app for two dollars, you may think it’s hilarious to call it “two dollar hooker”, hell I myself might even chuckle. But only once, then I’ll just get annoyed every time I see “two dollar hooker” in startup, “two dollar hooker has crashed” etc.

I also would not buy your product if it were called alcohol poisoning. I love alcohol. I’m drinking a beer right now (happy New Years everyone). But naming a computer program after it sounds like an odd thing to do. And more to your point would also be a violation of the same rule Apple is using in this case.

> For God's sake, is this where we're headed? Just ban anything that sounds offensive?

Headed?

It doesn’t sound offensive, just stupid and provoking. Along the lines of Condom Antimalware Suit or Holocosta Firewall. Condoms are great for protecting you and holocaust just means “burn all” - had nothing to do with burning people. It only burns network packets, look at the context, it’s fire wall! No need to come the raw prawn here, simply rename it.

> Amphetamine is a chemical. What is wrong with that?

This disingenuous take on the term does not help your case nor reflects positively on your reputation as a honest person. Amphetamines have a long reputation as recreational and illicit drugs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphetamine

Amphetamines, much like cocaine and heroin, are not a mere chemical, nor do they convey a mental image of chemists doing science in a lab to the public. And please don't try to pass everyone as a bunch of stupid idiots by claiming that an app designed to keep a device awake is named after a mere chemical, with a long track record of being used as an euphoriant, without any popular connotation with drug abuse.

There are lots of software that I won’t touch simply because if I ever had to explain the name, I would immediately be put on the defensive, regardless of how useful they may be. It’s a conversation that would waste my time.

Similarly, I would avoid naming something potentially weird or offensively for much the same reason, no matter how appropriate or funny it might seem at the time.

While rebranding might be a pain, I suggest just doing it. This not a free speech hill worth dying on, in my opinion.

The application keeps one's Mac from going to sleep. Its name is basically a direct analogy, and doesn't imply any wrongdoing or illegality, as far as I can see.

> I also would not buy your product if it were called alcohol poisoning. I love alcohol. I’m drinking a beer right now (happy New Years everyone). But naming a computer program after it sounds like an odd thing to do. And more to your point would also be a violation of the same rule Apple is using in this case.

What about an application that assists in force-quitting other programs? One might call that "Scotch", since that's what it does ("It 'scotches' other processes, you see..."), and the application might have a cutesy whiskey glass as its icon. Would that run afoul of your sensibilities?

I'd set up a mastadoon server but I don't want to tell my friends to check out my toots.

Hehe your fucking five, but then it just gets annoying.

I don't think it implies wrongdoing, just sounds like a silly joke.

Scotch vs scotch whiskey is more of a word play joke as well than a direct analogy. But I see your point and your totally right that one sounds less bad to me. I'm only stating that as a matter of taste I do not like this particular apps name.

And since it's apple's store they have the right to not like it either. I just don't think this is a profound "free speech argument" like some do in these comments.

Personally I think it's really odd that someone would need an app to keep their computer from sleeping. This says far more about macs than the arbitrary naming policy.

Alcohol 120% has entered the chat. /s

I can see why Apple chooses the family friendly route and rebranding probably is the best option in this case as fighting it would most likely be futile.

I don't think they went overboard with the name in general tho. It makes sense for the app as much as the other coffee/coca branded ones do.

They explicitly chose "amphetamine" over "meth" which is a medical term and has valid uses.

Haha. It's just a convenience, not a need. There's nothing stopping you from going to screensaver settings and energy settings, manually setting it to "never", then going back after you've completed the download, screenshare, or whatever, and changing your settings back. Alternatively, you could use Apple's built-in CLI tool, `caffeinate`, as others have mentioned.

Amphetamine sounds clinical to me, I used to take prescribed, 24 million people in the US, including me in the past, are prescribed amphetamines.

I generally dont like obnoxious marketing either, but unless it is inappropriate for the setting i dont think it should be banned, and this is far more tame than other apps on the app store

To most of the world, that word does not mean farts. That is only the case where you happen to live.

To most people, it refers in this context to the noise an elephant makes.