Apple Now Banning "Cookie Cutter" Apps?

[Paul Daniel Ash]

The banhammer marches on at the App Store, apparently, as Apple has reportedly begun removing apps built from templates that pull from websites and RSS feeds without adding much functionality. Coming as it does on the heels of the recent removal of thousands of "explicit" apps and the purge of WiFi stumblers, Apple seems to be in the midst of a significant "spring cleaning" ahead of the iPad launch.

The boss of Mobile Roadie, one of the companies that provides apps made from templates as a service, had a blog post up earlier today telling about a call he had received from Apple. Michael Schneider had gotten a phone call from someone at Apple who told him that so-called ‘cookie cutter’ apps were no longer going to be acceptable on the App Store. Reportedly, the representative also said that further restrictions were going to be imposed on certain industries, and that there would be guidelines for what was acceptable and not. The blog post has since been removed, but Robert Strojan at Tap, Swipe, Pinch read it while it was online. Interestingly, he said that Schneider's post said he was "already working on the features requested,” which implies that Apple gave him the guidelines, though there are no specifics on what those are.

Many observers feel that the cleanup push is Apple preparing to welcome a rush of new users when the iPad is released. PCWorld's Jeff Bertolucci points out that Apple had to make a move against racy apps if it was serious about positioning the iPad as an education tool. And an emphasis on quality may be advisable with Apple asking people to shell out $500 - $900 US for a new iPad. The purge has also included apps that have what Apple deems "minimal user functionality", such as one app from Atlantia Software that just made your iPhone quack like a duck. Nothing else. Just quacking.

So on the one hand, this is good news from the point of view of quality development. If anyone can make an app that just uses WebKit to draw some pages on the screen of an iPhone, then anyone will make such an app, and many of those can certainly be of poor quality. And the App Store is certainly better off for having fewer farting, quacking apps. However, if the impression spreads that that Apple might change its standards at any point in time, seemingly on a whim, then it may cause devs to shy away from iPhone/iPad development.

[nico_g]

This is wonderful!!!

At last some standards in place for good applications. Hopefully now they can do the same with farting apps and we're getting somewhere :P...

[z3r01]

but i like cookie cutters :-( no seriously tho...people are getting lazy with simple UIWebView apps that can just be regular webapps...ive done so but pulled them off myself lol...im starting fresh with new ideas! more animated UI's and things

[extremzocker]

nooooooo, they removed iQuack

[rhekt]

thank god its about time! enough garbage. Cydia now needs to start cleaning up all the useless LockBackground.jpg/Wallpaper.png themed apps that litter the store. anyone can create their own in two minutes. *sigh*

[boxxa]

thank god its about time! enough garbage. Cydia now needs to start cleaning up all the useless LockBackground.jpg/Wallpaper.png themed apps that litter the store. anyone can create their own in two minutes. *sigh*

I agree. Its like allowing a bunch of Hello World apps in the AppStore.

I don't need 100's of Flashlight, Fart, Burp, Quack, and Moo applications. Filter them and see if they provide innovation above something else that's in there.

[TooSlo]

So... for the people who purchase the apps, are they being refunded?

I believe my wife bought at least one or two to play with my 2 year old daughter and she loves them.

This is starting to get old with the banning of genres of apps.

Maybe they're trying to set a pace to ban enough apps to get below 100k, then have a huge celebration of having 100k "useful" apps?

[z3r01]

as useless as this app comes none Oh No You Didn't! for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

[ukoda]

... The purge has also included apps that have what Apple deems "minimal user functionality", such as one app from Atlantia Software that just made your iPhone quack like a duck. Nothing else. Just quacking.

... And the App Store is certainly better off for having fewer farting, quacking apps.

Now I'm left wondering how many ducks own iPhones, or is there some werid duck related trend like the furries? Many puns come to mind but none SFW.

[moon#pie]

I don't care about this because we needed a cleaning of 1,000 fart apps but I'm tired of apple telling me what I can and can't do with MY device.

[pyromcr]

steve just loves hitting the big rep pull button at his desk...

[Raptors]

Delete the hundred "iPhone Heater" app, like WTF, lmao people acually believe that.

Something has Been bothering me lately too. Everything I see an app, and read the reviews, there's SO much fake reviews(by developer I'm guessing) and before u know it's in the top 50 :/

[lolcats1]

all this talk about cookies is making me hungry

[matthew1111]

thank god its about time! enough garbage. Cydia now needs to start cleaning up all the useless LockBackground.jpg/Wallpaper.png themed apps that litter the store. anyone can create their own in two minutes. *sigh*

You forgot about the millions of ringtones...

[dbizzy1]

This is a huge double edged sword and I have a feeling that it's gonna blow up in Apple's face if they aren't cautious with their next few steps. Let's hope this turns out well.

[knguyen]

thank god its about time! enough garbage. Cydia now needs to start cleaning up all the useless LockBackground.jpg/Wallpaper.png themed apps that litter the store. anyone can create their own in two minutes. *sigh*

I agree, but if Saurik starts pulling apps from Cydia, it would go against everything he believes in and the purpose of Cydia itself. I think he should give us the option to block the non-talented "devs" who are posting those useless "themes." The only way now is to remove the repos but we don't wanna do that.

[Jahooba]

So... for the people who purchase the apps, are they being refunded?

I believe my wife bought at least one or two to play with my 2 year old daughter and she loves them.

I still have apps in my iTunes that can no longer be found on the Appstore, like MemoryInfo. Once you buy them you get to keep them, but Apple can discontinue the sale of them.

As far as I know they can't reach into your iTunes... can they?

[danfarmer]

i used to d-load apps like this when i 1'st got my iphone (mainly coz of the price and small file size). But man these apps get old really fast and are pretty much pointless..

[Cer0]

I still have apps in my iTunes that can no longer be found on the Appstore, like MemoryInfo. Once you buy them you get to keep them, but Apple can discontinue the sale of them.

As far as I know they can't reach into your iTunes... can they?

Apple has a "Kill-Switch" to make the app stop working but it has never been used. In SBSettings, go to more>extras>Apple KillSwitch

[awesomeSlayer]

So glad that Apple is using App Store Cleanup!