Filed under: iPhone, App Store
Craigslist tool defers to App Store decency standards
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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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
ryemac3 said 9:25AM on 2-10-2009
Yeh, that's s pretty stupid UI. I'd be annoyed if I had to leave the app to look at the content in a browser. For that, I'd just look at Craig's List on the internet to begin with.
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Quinton said 9:50AM on 2-10-2009
Did anyone else notice these features worked for a little while? Just last week I was able to get to the missed connections section fine in the app, now it's back to showing that 'click here' message.
circuitboy1276 said 10:14AM on 2-10-2009
I completely agree, Why would I use this app now if its crippled? I would just use Safari. I feel bad for the developers that Apple is being so heavy handed but they should also show a little backbone and take a stand.
Where will it stop? Will Apple tell Ebay to pull any "offensive" posts for products because it has an App on the store? And who at Apple is determining what posts are offensive? Will apple start blocking access to "offensive" sites through mobile safari?
Everyone wants to "protect the children" but there has to be some personal responsibility. Read: Parental Controls, Talking to your children, Asking what they are doing, et al.
Maybe the developers will move to Cydia or Installer.
Joerg said 10:04AM on 2-10-2009
The CraigsMobile app has no problems at all showing the more risqué sections with a popup warning that shows the same text as the Craigslist Website where you have to accept that you are 18+
I do not understand why it is possible on the CraigsMobile app and not possible on the CraigsPhone app...
WTF?
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LD said 10:37AM on 2-10-2009
Welcome to the nanny state! We're in for at least 4 more years of this stuff from our gov't, might as well get it from Apple as well.
If parents simply parented this wouldn't be an issue.
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VanillaSpice said 6:50PM on 2-10-2009
Way to misuse 'nanny state'. A real nanny state is one in which sensible and informed adults are prevented from engaging in acts that are deemed risky.
It is not a nanny state when an *open* channel (i.e. available to under 18s) is restricted from showing mature-age content.
Is it a nanny state when hardcore pornography and gore are prevented from being shown on TV during the day? Is it a nanny state when we do not allow children to see R-rated movies? I do not think so.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Longhorn said 10:56AM on 2-10-2009
If Apple supports their browser that can load any adult content found on the internet, what grounds would they have for restricting another application from doing the same?!!
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Todd Sieling said 11:01AM on 2-10-2009
That's ridiculous, and there's smells fishy about all this. The craigsphone didn't impress me from the get-go, and something about this 'workaround' doesn't smell right. Do we really think Apple is calling the dance tune here, or is the developer trying to imbue the app with a sense of the developer's morality?
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circuitboy1276 said 11:40AM on 2-10-2009
I don't know. Initially the developer didn't include access to the personal sections of craigslist and only added it after people asked for it. If they had a problem with these sections you think they would have just refused to add it.
robogobo said 11:01AM on 2-10-2009
what a bunch of pussies.
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Scott Miller said 11:10AM on 2-10-2009
Apple, The NEW Microsoft.
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Albenheimer said 12:14PM on 2-10-2009
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.
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Shawin said 12:40PM on 2-10-2009
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.
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circuitboy1276 said 1:14PM on 2-10-2009
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.
Robert said 12:46PM on 2-10-2009
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.
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Brand said 1:22PM on 2-10-2009
Bye
colouroflight said 6:43PM on 2-10-2009
@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.
lkwdbrian said 7:13PM on 2-10-2009
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.
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xnifex said 12:45PM on 2-11-2009
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
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Andy Bourassa said 5:08PM on 2-11-2009
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.
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