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March 7, 2009

10 'offensive' iPhone apps Apple blocked

The tools that didn't make it into the App Store

JR Raphael

Apple has insisted on full control over its iTunes App Store, which offers downloadable software for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. This has irked more than a few app developers, especially when their creations have been rejected for inclusion in the store, for on occasions, silly reasons.

The company won't reveal much about its mysterious and often seemingly-arbitrary process (representatives didn't respond to multiple requests to comment on this story), but we had no problem tracking down developers whose apps had been snubbed. So here are our favourite 10 iPhone apps that Apple saw fit to ban.

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1. Obama Trampoline

Swamiware's Obama Trampoline game, rejected by Apple last month , lets you place one of 18 politicians onto a giant trampoline, then use his or her body to pop balloons floating across the screen. Barack Obama, John McCain, and other politicians from both parties were among the character choices.

"It's cartoony," says Swamiware President and CEO Patrick Alphonso, hoping to deflate any implications of disrespect. "It's a game."

Apple, of course, didn't see the fun, and the game didn't get in. Swamiware is now working on retooling Trampoline for another try, but the guesswork is leaving its team less than elated.

"We spent a lot of time and money on this product," Alphonso says. "It sucks to develop an app and get it rejected for reasons that you weren't aware of."

2. MyShoe

The journalist who chucked his shoe at President George W Bush missed his mark, and so too did an iPhone game based on the now-infamous incident. MyShoe, conceived by a Pakistan-based programmer, turned the iPhone's accelerometer into an apparatus for imaginary footwear-flinging.

The developer has been quoted as saying the game also let you take aim at Bin Laden and other public figures. Even so, it appears that Apple wanted to dodge the controversy, with its reviewers citing the App Store's rule against "ridiculing public figures" and flinging this idea right into the trash.

3. I Am Poor

You probably remember the ill-fated (and, most would say, ill-inspired) I Am Rich application. The $1,000 (£700) function-free program - all it did was place a silly, shiny icon on your screen - got snubbed out just days after its debut. Grabbing less attention, though, was the far more affordable alternative, I Am Poor.

"It was the poor man's I Am Rich," explains developer Hardy Macia of Catamount Software, perhaps better known for its Prohibition 2: The Dope Wars, also rejected by the App Store.

Priced at $0.99 (70p), I Am Poor placed images of pot noodles, tuna and macaroni-and-cheese onto your humble home screen. Apple, however, didn't find the idea appetising and slapped a 'no user functionality' stamp on it.

"Their policies and approval are shrouded in mystery," Macia says. "Whenever an app is submitted, it seems like playing Russian roulette."

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NEXT PAGE: The South Park app and other rejected by Apple

  1. The apps that didn't get shelf space in the app store
  2. The South Park app and other rejected by Apple
  3. iBoobs, Slasher and Muderdrome
  4. Podcaster and Freedom Time


Continued...
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | NEXT >

<<newer story | back to index | older story>>

Comments received


xino said on Saturday, 07 March 2009

what about the Japanese game, whereas you can move your fingers to see under a little girls leg?

Shouldn't that be banned?

anon said on Saturday, 07 March 2009

here's an idea for all those developers. stop making stupid and blatantly denigrating apps.

i for one am sick of all the lame, violent, and sex filled pointless games and applications. for one it takes away from actually finding a useful or fun application. but it also shows the immaturity level of our society. GROW UP PEOPLE.

nick said on Sunday, 08 March 2009

i dont blame them id be pretty pissed if i spent time and money developing something.
sending them updates of what im creating, they go along with it than bann it.
if you dont want it on the store tell me before i waste my money and time otherwise you can pay my wages and costs.

sleepy said on Sunday, 08 March 2009

A pattern that is discernible here is that the store is for _software_, not _content_. So if your app includes actual politicians, boobs, photos, video etc as its principle feature, it's liable to be rejected. If your submission has a significant software content, it's likely some sort of re-work where users provide their own content is going to get it in.

mike72 said on Monday, 09 March 2009

I agree with anon (07 march 2009). Most of these apps are developed on the predication that they will appeal to a large number of people - in other words the lowest common denominator of mindless immaturity. Apple are to be congratulated on being particular about what they take on board. Maybe it will encourage developers to come up with much more useful apps in future.

Anon said on Monday, 09 March 2009

Sounds like Apple are getting all high and mighty like their main competitor Microsoft, I don't think the banning of the Podcaster was particularly fair. (Sounds like competition removal there...)

And what's life without humour? iBoobs and the Murder app weren't really suitable but the other applications sounded quite funny to some degree.

Oh, my poor immature little soul I must be the bottom of social pickings because I like a laugh now and again.
If it appeals to majority then why not let the majority have it, is that not what consumerism is all about?

Nothing wrong with advanced applications that do more constructive things with your/our time. But a bit of fun never hurt anyone and it would make the iPhone more of a mainstream item.
Can't see why Apple wouldn't snap up the opportunity of apps that would make their product more interesting for the masses.

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