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Craigslist tool defers to App Store decency standards

by Michael Rose Feb 10th 2009 at 9:00AM

The developers of the iPhone Craigslist app craigsphone [App Store link] seem to have found themselves in a bit of a pickle. Sure, most of Craigslist's content is perfectly appropriate for all audiences -- nothing too risque about buying a used bike or looking for an apartment -- but there are some more adult areas of the service, including the ever-popular Missed Connections, that might just run afoul of the App Store's ever-shifting sands of appropriateness. What to do?

Apparently, the answer is "throw up your hands and turn the URL over to Mobile Safari," as you can see in the screenshot here. I'm not sure this is a particularly well-thought out workaround; there are plenty of other apps that can pull down adult-themed content, starting with Apple's own YouTube tool and including ebook readers, RSS feed handlers, etc.

Should a developer providing a custom portal to an external website really be responsible for all the content hosted there, or would it be simpler to put up the same 18-and-up warning that Craigslist uses? It may be up to Apple to implement, or allow a third-party to build, more granular parental controls for iPhone apps, but simply handing off the same mature content to Safari for display seems like a pretty big cop-out.

Update: In response to some of the commenters, we don't know whether this restriction was put in out of an overabundance of caution, or because of a specific requirement of the App Store -- so blaming Apple for prior restraint may be premature. We'll try to get the straight story.

Update 2: It has been confirmed that the change to the craigsphone behavior was, in fact, prompted by a concern from Apple's app store team that the app might be violating terms of service by displaying the mature content. If other apps have been given similar red flags, please let us know.

Thanks xnifex & Nilay

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The developers of the iPhone Craigslist app craigsphone [App Store link] seem to have found themselves in a bit of a pickle. Sure, most of...
 

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24 Comments

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Tim

The iPhone/iTunes should have a setting (like TVs & DVD Players) that restrict content/applications based on an age appropriate scale. As an adult i should be allowed to say unrestricted on my phone. And if someone has kids with iPhones then they would set the rating somewhere between G & PG17.

But why bother, just deliver the very cool craigsphone app through rockyourphone.com

May 06 2009 at 3:07 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
beth

The censorship of perfectly innocent content is damaging Apple. It is really not clear who should make these decisions and how. Consider the case of the perfectly innocent iStrip app for iPhone that was stuck "In Review" for 6 months until we finally found a way through. http://rockcottageindustries.com/novelty-app/

February 16 2009 at 6:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Pete

I was using craigsphone and now all of a sudden it is asking for a passcode to change the settings. I never set one, so does anyone know if there is a default. It only has room for 4 characters.

February 11 2009 at 11:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Andy Bourassa

Over the past two weeks I've had two applications (regular and pro versions of the same app) rejected from the app store for violating Section 3.3.12 of the iPhone SDK Agreement, that is, the section about obscene/pornographic/etc. content. My application allows users to search various (non-pornographic) websites and then shows the search results in a UIWebView inside my app. Both apps have been rejected twice citing section 3.3.12, and the first rejection email included two screenshots of the UrbanDictionary entry for "shit" and a wikipedia entry for "fellatio" (reached by searching for a more common term). Email me if you need any more details.

February 11 2009 at 5:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Andy Bourassa's comment
davidavermillion

So what, now apple is going to reject any application that can access the WEB?!? This is what happens when you let one company arbitrarily tell you what you can do with your own device. Apple really innovated with the iPhone, but their insistence on draconian control will cause them to flounder.

February 11 2009 at 9:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
xnifex

cool my tip was posted. oh yeah, they brought back the option to disable all the different sections on your own. the only thing you cant disable is their block on any bad words in a title & any pics in a "personals" section

February 11 2009 at 12:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
lkwdbrian

What really bothers me is that apple isn't listening to me... I'm an adult.. I don't have kids.. I paid for my iPhone out of my own hard-earned money.. I pay for my monthly mobile bill which includes internet access.. and I use craigslist on a regular basis... and yes.. I use the personals feature of craigslist.. why can't I have a native app on my phone that takes the craigslist web content and formats it in an easily readable form on my iphone...

I see nothing wrong with that and I think Apple is being ridiculous.

February 10 2009 at 7:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rob


I like my iPhone, I really do. But Apple deciding what software I can and can not have is very annoying. The lack of any OSS is just plain stupid.

If something does not happen to fix it, I think i'll jump to the Pre when it comes out.

February 10 2009 at 12:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Rob's comment
Brand

Bye

February 10 2009 at 1:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
colouroflight

@Brand: He has an excellent point, you know. This is completely lame.

At least developers who have their apps 'rejected' by Apple's puritans can use other channels (Cydia) to get it out there. But it remains that no one has the right to dictate what you can and can't put on a device you paid for.

February 10 2009 at 6:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Shawin

Guys, it's to protect children. Restrictions can be enabled for Safari (Settings->General->Restrictions), but not for AppStore apps. They did this as a temporary fix to control access.

February 10 2009 at 12:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Shawin's comment
circuitboy1276

From the same menu you can additionally restrict iTunes and Installing Apps, plus there is something to be said for parents acting like parents and knowing what their children are doing online including on the iphone or any multimedia device.

February 10 2009 at 1:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Albenheimer

I had an app rejected for this very reason as well. I'm still waiting (it's been two weeks) for them to come back with some sort of response as to what the heck they'd like me to do to work around this....

Just crazy.

February 10 2009 at 12:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Scott Miller

Apple, The NEW Microsoft.

February 10 2009 at 11:09 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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