Apple purges WiFi finders from the App Store

Robert Hallock 4 Mar, 2010 at 3:14pm ET Article published in Tech

An update from mobile phone developer 3Jacks Software has revealed that Apple is now removing applications that locate WiFi networks from the company’s App Store.

“We received a very unfortunate email today from Apple stating that WiFi-Where has been removed from sale on the App Store for using private frameworks to access wireless information,” writes user codemonkey57, presumably of the company’s dev team.

“Private frameworks” in Apple parlance refers to various software routines that have not yet been published in the official iPhone/iPad SDK.

“It also appears that all other competing WiFi enabled apps have been removed as well. This is very unfortunate as the past 2-3 months have seen a handful of new WiFi apps get approved,” the post continues.

WiFi locators are the second category of applications to suffer administrative removal since February 23, when Apple took issue with applications the company deemed “too sexy” for the app store.

Comments

4 Mar 2010 ~ 3:33pm AlexDeGruven Yet one more reason why a lot of people are moving from feature-phones and WinMo to Android devices, rather than iPhones. The more they lock them down for stupid stuff (and it keeps making the news) the more people will take a second look when they're deciding on their next phone purchase choice.

Apple can only rely on fanboys for so long before they have to start putting real capabilities into their devices.
4 Mar 2010 ~ 3:55pm timuchan Listen up InfoWorld magazine, this is why Android is not, in fact, "doomed."
4 Mar 2010 ~ 5:42pm primesuspect Apple is like the China of computers. Seriously. Does nobody see this? The happy citizens continue on their oblivious way...
4 Mar 2010 ~ 6:24pm ardichoke All these Stalinist (Jobsist?) purges of applications from the App Store make fill me with a sense of satisfaction bordering on smugness that I choose to go Android instead. Not that I would have bought an iPhone anyway.
4 Mar 2010 ~ 6:27pm Thrax Steve Jobs knows what's best for us.
4 Mar 2010 ~ 6:34pm Kwitko I've got a bad feeling about this. Pretty soon the only apps left will be flashlights.
4 Mar 2010 ~ 9:16pm DrLiam Personally, I did not buy the iPhone for the apps so all this is unfortunate but not relevant to my customer experience. For anyone else though, where apps were a part of their decision making process, this is a discouraging move on Apple's behalf.
5 Mar 2010 ~ 7:47am Snarkasm I enjoy the juxtaposition. A long, long time ago in a galaxy far away, Apple ran an ad smashing the Big Brother lockdown with their think different mantra. Now they're the ones locking everything down, and even Windows is throwing shit at the screen.
5 Mar 2010 ~ 8:14am mas0n B b b b but, Micro$oft!
5 Mar 2010 ~ 8:28am Cyclonite

Kwitko wrote:

I've got a bad feeling about this. Pretty soon the only apps left will be flashlights.

And fart apps.
5 Mar 2010 ~ 8:56am Snarkasm

Kwitko wrote:

I've got a bad feeling about this. Pretty soon the only apps left will be flashlights.

No, they banned sexy things already. Oh, wait, you said flashlights. My bad.
5 Mar 2010 ~ 8:57am AlexDeGruven

Snarkasm wrote:

No, they banned sexy things already. Oh, wait, you said flashlights. My bad.

Sadly, that's how I read it the first time I saw it as well.
5 Mar 2010 ~ 10:32am Annes *checks the date, waits for July*