Apple has decided “to remove any overtly sexual content from the App Store,” according to an email received by TechCrunch.
The developer of the Wobble iBoobs app says he received the following email from Apple:
“The App Store continues to evolve, and as such, we are constantly refining our guidelines. Your application, Wobble iBoobs (Premium Uncensored), contains content that we had originally believed to be suitable for distribution. However, we have recently received numerous complaints from our customers about this type of content, and have changed our guidelines appropriately.”
Watch the Wobble app in action:
TechCrunch reports that a few other sexy apps, including Exotic Positions and Sexy Women, are no longer available in the Apple App Store. “It may be a case of Apple picking and choosing which apps are too sexual, or they may still be figuring out which apps to pull (or the changes may not have propagated to all of Apple’s servers),” says TechCrunch.
Grindr — a popular gay cruising iPhone app — seems to be unaffected. The app is still available for download in the App Store as of Friday afternoon.
Apple has come under fire for its strict and prudish app guidelines. iPhone users can only download apps through the official Apple App Store. To get an app in the store, it must pass through Apple’s vague and abritrary approval process.
Competitors have recognized the strong demand for sexy apps and have rushed to fill the void. Android-based phone users can download adult apps via Mikandi’s App Store. Mikandi says frustrated iPhone users have this message for Apple: “It might be THEIR platform, but it’s MY phone. I should be able to put whatever the hell I want on it.”
Grindr founder Joel Simkhai told Xtra in 2009 that Grindr has “censors who work 24/7 to review each profile,” so that the app complies with Apple’s guidelines. See a full list of what you can and can’t do on Grindr.
Some gay hookup sites have avoided developing iPhone Apps altogether. Squirt.org chose to build a browser-based mobile version of its website to avoid Apple’s App Store approval process. “Anybody at Apple with any smarts would look at our online presence and know automatically what it is,” says Squirt’s Will Scott.
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