Every once in a while, an app will show up in the iOS App Store that's not meant to be there, obviously in violation of one rule or another but overlooked by Apple's approval team. Here are 10 great iPhone apps that Apple banned from existence.
iTether
iTether, which enjoyed a few hours in the App Store this week, allowed the iPhone to become a portable modem, feeding Internet service to any laptop through a USB cable. For a one-time fee of $15, iTether was a steal compared to the $20 per month charged by AT&T and Verizon and the $30 per month charged by Sprint.
Violation: Carriers forbid unauthorized tethering in their terms of service, so iTether was never going to last.
Jailbreak Alternative: MiWi ($19.99) or
PDANet should do the trick.
iDOS
It’s not the official app of the
International Dutch Oven Society, but rather a full DOS emulator for iPhones and iPads that cost just $1. Within hours of its October 2010 debut, users had figured out how to load Windows 3.1 and scads of classic computer games on their iPhones and iPads, using the file transfer utility in iTunes.
Violation: Apps that run unsigned code, such as the entire Windows operating system, are a big no-no in the App Store. A
second version of iDOS used a hidden hack to sideload old DOS programs, but was also booted by Apple.
Jailbreak Alternative: DOSPad is the same exact app, available through Cydia.
Nescaline
For a short time in December 2009, it was every iPhone gamer’s dream come true: a full-fledged Nintendo emulator in the App Store. Nescaline cost $7 and let users load classic NES ROMs through the iTunes file sharing utility. (Image from
TouchArcade)
Violation: Apple said Nescaline was removed for being “an emulator,” according to developer Jonathan Zdziarski, but other emulators such as C64 have been allowed. Potential copyright violations were probably to blame.
Jailbreak Alternative: A version of the app, simple called
NES, is available through Cydia.
Print to PDF
Print to PDF was a $4 app that arrived in August 2011, letting users print web pages, photos and e-mails as PDF documents. As long as the app was running in the background, a “Print to PDF” option would appear in Apple’s built-in printing feature. (Image from TIPB)
Violation: Apple
told the developers that they were not allowed to use AirPrint to print documents as PDF files.
Jailbreak Alternative: TruPrint ($9.99) has PDF printer functionality, among other features.
iControlBits
Transmission is a BitTorrent client for Macs, and for a brief time in January 2011, iPhone users could manage their BitTorrent downloads remotely using the
iControlbits iOS app. That included the ability to add new files, pause existing downloads and adjust server settings.
Violation: Although iControlbits advertises the management of “legal downloads,” BitTorrent’s association with piracy likely sealed its fate in the App Store.
Jailbreak Alternative: iControlBits is still available through the BigBoss jailbreak app repository.
Any Music Downloader
This generic-sounding name actually refers to one specific app that let users download and play MP3 files from around the Web. Users could then connect an iPhone to a PC to transfer the downloaded files. The app launched in May 2011, and quickly rose to the
top of the App Store charts. (Image from
AppAdvice)
Violation: This was quite obviously meant to infringe copyrights–and take away business from iTunes.
Jailbreak Alternative: An app called
MusicMeow in the Big Boss repository has similar functionality.
aMusic
aMusic was a native app for accessing Amazon’s Cloud Player service that launched in October 2011. Although Apple’s own iTunes Match can also store music on the Internet, Amazon’s service offers 5 GB of free storage, and can stream songs instead of downloading them.
Violation: Amazon asked Apple to pull the app, according to Mashable. The developer, James Clancey, had cited “legal issues with the music industry.”
Jailbreak Alternative: I’m not aware of any. However, the $2
gMusic can access Google’s similar service, and is available without jailbreaking.
VLC Media Player
VLC was a free media player that supported file types that the iPhone’s media player doesn’t, including AVI, MPG and MKV. The
free app, which appeared in October 2010, was based off the open-source desktop software of the same name. (Image from iDownloadBlog)
Violation: Apple isn’t directly responsible for this app’s removal. But because the App Store uses digital rights management, that put VLC in violation of its open source licensing agreement. A developer on the desktop project, Rémi Denis-Courmont, asked Apple to remove the app, and Apple yanked it last January.
Jailbreak Alternative: The app is
still available through Cydia.
Phone Story
I’ve mostly kept this list free of apps that were banned on editorial grounds, because there are too many examples–indeed,
entire articles have already been
dedicated to the topic–and usually it’s just a matter of Apple cracking down on porn or poor taste. But Molleindustria’s Phone Story is special because it was critical of tech companies and consumer culture. The $1 app highlighted the mining of conflict minerals, brutal factory conditions and planned obsolescence that keeps consumers coming back for more. Deep, man.
Violation: Conspiracy theorists might think Apple just didn’t want to be criticized, but Apple gave a
litany of other violated guidelines. Among them: the app depicts abuse of children and “excessively objectionable” content. Apple also accused the developer of violating its policies on donations.
Jailbreak Alternative: None, but the app is
available for Android[/ur] ($1.00).
Siri
Apple’s launch of Siri as an exclusive feature for the iPhone 4S spelled curtains for the Siri app that was already in the App Store. Users who already had the virtual assistant app on older iPhones were eventually cut off as well, as Apple shut down functionality on October 15. (Image from iPhoneHacks)
Violation: Perhaps Apple wanted Siri to be an iPhone 4S exclusive in order to upsell customers, but my guess is Apple didn’t want customers to be confused by an old, outdated Siri experience.
Jailbreak Alternative: Hackers have successfully run Siri on older iPhones, but haven’t released their secrets to the public.
