Some off-color—baby shaking, drunk driving, and boob—apps have made it through Apple's rigorous application progress. Find out which were the most controversial.
Steve Jobs's micromanagement has been something of a mixed blessing for Apple. It's assured a high standard across Apple's family of products, but it has also given the majority of the company's devices a walled garden approach to content, helping to assure that you only see what Apple wants you to see. Jobs once famously interrupted an Apple earnings call to tell the world, "Folks who want porn can buy an Android phone."
The point there, of course, is that Apple vets app submissions for the App Store—Android, not so much. That means that adult content often makes its way into the Android Market. It also means, as we've seen in recent weeks, that malicious malware can make its way onto Android devices as well.
Still, even with Apple's infamously rigorous application process, we've seen a fair number of controversial apps hit the iTunes App Store. For some, like the recent so-called "Gay Cure" app from Exodus International, controversy is relative. A number of groups were shocked that Apple let such a thing into the store, in spite of its record of supporting gay causes. There were others, no doubt, who believed in the validity of the application's mission. (The app has since been pulled.)
Then there's something like the Baby Shaker app, which simulates the act of shaking a baby to death. How that managed to make it through Apple's team of reviewers is anyone's guess. Perhaps given the sheer number of submissions Apple receives at any one time, these things just sort of slip through the cracks sometimes.
In this roundup, we've gathered a pretty broad spectrum of apps, with different levels of controversy that were mostly controversial for different reasons. Each one had people in an uproar for one reason or another.
1.
Baby Shaker
Arguably no iPhone app has raised more scrutiny about Apple's review process than this little horror show. Users and members of the press were understandably outraged over this app, which simulated the act of infanticide. Infant health groups added to the fire, issuing statements accusing the app of "making fun of Shaken Baby Syndrome [and] actually encouraging it." Apple was quick on this one, removing the app and issuing and apology, just before announcing that the store had hit one billion downloads.
2.
Exodus International
Wow, the iPhone really can do anything—including curing you of your gayness. That was a promise made by this self-titled app from Exodus International, "the world's largest ministry to individuals and families impacted by homosexuality." The app unceremoniously disappeared from the App Store, but not before causing quite a storm in the gay community and beyond, including a petition with more than 15,000 signatures asking for its removal and public statement denouncement from a doctor whose work was cited as proof that homosexuality is, in fact, something that can be cured.
3.
iBoobs
The iPhone's architects clearly had their own ideas when they built an accelerometer into the device, but the feature didn't see its true potential until the designers of iBoobs rolled out this little bit of mobile misogyny. The app offered up such modern conveniences as "adjustable physics settings and breast size," and Apple promptly rejected it, resulting in a debate about free speech in the App Store. Also, fittingly, the app later appeared in the Android Market.
[Image from Android Version]
4.
Shake That Booty
In the off chance that all of your objectification needs weren't being met by the fine folks at iBoobs, this little gem launched in summer 2009, prompting similar outrage amongst the press. The app let users wiggle the image of a female behind using the magic of the iPhone's touchscreen. The app is no longer available in the store, apparently having failed to survive the great boobs and booty purge. The similarly titled "Shake Booty" party/exercise app remains, however.
5.
I am Rich
How much would you pay for an image of a spinning red jewel? $3,000? $4,000? Good news, you can get all of that on your iPhone for the low, low price of $999.99. Actually, the red jewel thing is really just a bonus—the real point of the app was the ability to demonstrate to the world that you were so filthy rich that you could blow a wad of cash on such a thing. Apple eventually pulled it from the store, after several users accidentally downloaded the thing.
6.
Tawkon
Talk on. Get it? Fueled by the on-going debate around the cell phone radiation levels, the Israeli firm of the same name took matters into its own hands, offering an app that promises to detect the amount of radiation emanating from your handset, so you can, at least theoretically, make calls and not end up with a brain like a fried egg. Steve Jobs didn't exactly jump at this one. When Tawkon asked why the app had been block, Jobs responded in his characteristically pithy manner that he had "No interest." Once rejected, Tawkon took its business elsewhere, offering the app up the for the jailbroken gray market.
7.
DUI Checkpoint Apps
How controversial are apps like Checkpointer, Buzzed, and .Tipsy? Well, their existence (and the existence of apps like them) prompted the United States Senate to pen a letter to smartphone leaders Apple, Google, and RIM, asking the companies to pull them and all other apps that reveal the location of DUI checkpoints. The letter from Senators Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Frank Lautenberg, and Mark Udall read, in part, "providing access to applications that alert users to DUI checkpoints is harmful to public safety." As of this writing, Research in Motion is the only one of the three companies that has removed the app.
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Brian Heater has worked at a number of tech pubs, including Engadget, Laptop, and PCMag (where he served as Senior Editor). Most recently, he was as the Managing Editor of TechTimes.com. His writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. He hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL, has appeared as a regular NPR contributor and shares his Queens apartment with a rabbit named Lucy.
