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The reason you see innocent tags like #gay being blocked on certain platforms is that they are still frequently returning adult content which our entire app was

by hrktb 13y ago

The reason you see innocent tags like #gay being blocked on certain platforms is that they are still frequently returning adult content which our entire app was close to being banned for. I guess it's about Apple's no porn policy, but I thought results returned by search were OK with a 17+ years warning. Or is it for pure browsing clients only, and platform owners' official app don't get the same privilege ? Am I missing something ? (not that Apple's policies are consistent or evenly applied, but still...)

king_jester 13y ago
Apple review policies and reviewers are really inconsistent. Their process isn't transparent in any way and who reviews your app has a lot of leeway for rejecting your submission, even if its the reviewers mistake.
- csense 13y ago
  Which is a great reason for developers to say "screw Apple" and develop exclusively for Android. I don't get why so many developers care so much about iOS.
  - justinhj 13y ago
    Because it's a great market
  - lostlogin 13y ago
    Average app price: Android $0.06, iPhone $0.19, iPad $0.50. I'm picking this might be a part of it. Its just one data point but I've never seen anyone say that there is more money to be made on Android. http://blog.flurry.com/bid/99013/The-History-of-App-Pricing-And-Why-Most-Apps-Are-Free http://blog.flurry.com/bid/99013/The-History-of-App-Pricing-...
    - king_jester 13y ago
      Its true that its hard to sell an app directly on Google Play compared to the iTunes app store. A lot of devs have switched to in-app purchases or subscriptions as a way to allow their app to be free, allowing users to engage with the app before they decide if they want to buy in (the older style of doing this is a free app and then a premium unlocker app). Ultimately the pay upfront model hasn't really taken off and Android and probably never will for most apps.
    - csense 13y ago
      You linked to a very insightful blog post. I guess the TL:DR is that it's tough to get rich in the mobile app market unless you have enough users to make ads profitable.
  - thejosh 13y ago
    Userbase. If you don't develop for iOS and your target market is using iOS you are losing out on A LOT.
threeseed 13y ago
Apple's policy is completely consistent here. If you are a browser then you don't control the data that the user is accessing. But with all other apps especially Tumblr you do control the data.
- hrktb 13y ago
  Not really. In the meantime I've been wondering about their past stance for twitter for example, and it seems twitter got away with just marking the app 17+ [ http://allthingsd.com/20130206/nudged-by-apple-twitters-porn-saga-ends-in-a-raw-deal-for-vine/ http://allthingsd.com/20130206/nudged-by-apple-twitters-porn... ] With such a clear prior case, it feels like tumblr tried to play it safer than necessary for some reason (the app is 17+ anyway)
  - chipotle_coyote 13y ago
    That was my take, too. While it's certainly true that Apple can be inconsistent and even weirdly capricious, this wouldn't be the first time a company has preemptively "censored" themselves on the App Store. While it's true that a Tumblr app is a bit different from, say, a web browser, it's not really true that Tumblr has a high level of control over the content on their own service -- no more than a service like Twitter or even Facebook does.
werid 13y ago
The logical thing to do in this situation would be to block those search terms when they come from ios-devices.

by hrktb 13y ago

king_jester 13y ago

Apple review policies and reviewers are really inconsistent. Their process isn't transparent in any way and who reviews your app has a lot of leeway for rejecting your submission, even if its the reviewers mistake.

csense 13y ago
Which is a great reason for developers to say "screw Apple" and develop exclusively for Android. I don't get why so many developers care so much about iOS.
- justinhj 13y ago
  Because it's a great market
- lostlogin 13y ago
  Average app price: Android $0.06, iPhone $0.19, iPad $0.50. I'm picking this might be a part of it. Its just one data point but I've never seen anyone say that there is more money to be made on Android. http://blog.flurry.com/bid/99013/The-History-of-App-Pricing-And-Why-Most-Apps-Are-Free http://blog.flurry.com/bid/99013/The-History-of-App-Pricing-...
  - king_jester 13y ago
    Its true that its hard to sell an app directly on Google Play compared to the iTunes app store. A lot of devs have switched to in-app purchases or subscriptions as a way to allow their app to be free, allowing users to engage with the app before they decide if they want to buy in (the older style of doing this is a free app and then a premium unlocker app). Ultimately the pay upfront model hasn't really taken off and Android and probably never will for most apps.
  - csense 13y ago
    You linked to a very insightful blog post. I guess the TL:DR is that it's tough to get rich in the mobile app market unless you have enough users to make ads profitable.
- thejosh 13y ago
  Userbase. If you don't develop for iOS and your target market is using iOS you are losing out on A LOT.

threeseed 13y ago

Apple's policy is completely consistent here. If you are a browser then you don't control the data that the user is accessing. But with all other apps especially Tumblr you do control the data.

hrktb 13y ago
Not really. In the meantime I've been wondering about their past stance for twitter for example, and it seems twitter got away with just marking the app 17+ [ http://allthingsd.com/20130206/nudged-by-apple-twitters-porn-saga-ends-in-a-raw-deal-for-vine/ http://allthingsd.com/20130206/nudged-by-apple-twitters-porn... ] With such a clear prior case, it feels like tumblr tried to play it safer than necessary for some reason (the app is 17+ anyway)
- chipotle_coyote 13y ago
  That was my take, too. While it's certainly true that Apple can be inconsistent and even weirdly capricious, this wouldn't be the first time a company has preemptively "censored" themselves on the App Store. While it's true that a Tumblr app is a bit different from, say, a web browser, it's not really true that Tumblr has a high level of control over the content on their own service -- no more than a service like Twitter or even Facebook does.

werid 13y ago

The logical thing to do in this situation would be to block those search terms when they come from ios-devices.