Apple stupidly rejects Tweetie 1.3 for foul language in Twitter trends

Apple's just reached a whole new level of stupidity in App Store approval shenanigans: the Tweetie 1.3 update was just rejected for displaying "offensive language" in its Twitter trend search view. Right, not for offensive language in the app itself, but for offensive language on Twitter -- an insanely strict new standard that could conceivably be used to reject each and every iPhone Twitter client out there. (And if you haven't noticed, there are quite a few iPhone Twitter clients.) Hell, Apple might as well reject the next versions of Safari and Mail, since they can display dirty words too -- and let's not forget the awful things people are doing with Notes and the camera. Better lock it down.

Look, Apple -- this is a nadir. Rejecting a Twitter client for Twitter's content is simply indefensible, and it's a sign that the App Store approval "process" is broken beyond repair. It's time to drop the seemingly-random black-box approach -- which has earned nothing but well-deserved scorn -- open up, establish consistent, easy-to-understand rules with a well-defined appeals process, and actually work with innovative developers like Tweetie's Loren Brichter to push your platform forward in the face of newly-stiff competition. The massive popularity of the iPhone and the App Store may prevent a mass exodus, but the best devs are going to leave if they feel jerked around, and we doubt a store full of fart apps and misogynistic jiggle apps is really the vision you had for your platform. Think about it.

[via The iPhone Blog]

[phanbouy fan fan @ Mar 10th 2009 4:53PM]

Rudolph, you're an ignorant, deluded dumb ass if you're trying to play the innocent card now. You brought the Jew-bashing and race-baiting irrelevantly into this. And if you think that everyone laughs and jokes about Nazis then I suppose you also have a comedy troupe reenactment of Rwandan and Darfur atrocities too? Just because you're not African? Nice try jerkoff.

[Mark Anderson @ Mar 10th 2009 3:25PM]

This is a joke, right?

I mean that's just silly.

[Deadpan @ Mar 10th 2009 3:46PM]

Welcome to the iPhail Appplication Submission Process.
It's why I went with a Blackberry instead of upgrading from a Touch to an iPhone.

[bradley.will @ Mar 10th 2009 4:03PM]

...It's why I went with a G1 instead of upgrading from a BlackBerry to an iPhone.

:)

[Juaquin @ Mar 10th 2009 4:05PM]

What about AIM? All kinds of horrible things are said there! The horror!

[--Ed @ Mar 10th 2009 4:09PM]

I'm more shocked that Engadget is coming down hard on their BFF Apple!

[Shunnabunich @ Mar 10th 2009 4:12PM]

Welp, that's it, guys. The App Store has officially jumped the shark.

[KarlW @ Mar 10th 2009 4:21PM]

I'm sure this wasn't purposeful. I imagine that whoever reviewed that app didn't have much experience of twitter, saw the word, and instantly rejected it to be safe. It's been resubmitted, and no doubt it will pass this time. An inconvenience, yes, but nothing more than that.

So yes, Apple screwed up. They obviously made the wrong decision. But calling it anything other than a random mistake of ignorance would be wrong IMO. There's certainly no need for the somewhat aggressive ranting style of the post.

[J. Houk @ Mar 10th 2009 4:47PM]

I'm actually impressed by the tone of this article as a whole. Thank you for drawing the line in the sand in what has become the laughing stock of Apple.

[Seightan @ Mar 10th 2009 4:25PM]

app store fails so hard. screw paying for software, go open source bitches! nokia n810 > iCrap

[matt @ Mar 10th 2009 4:27PM]

@Deadpan if you're basing your phone purchases on behind the scenes app approval, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.

[KarlW @ Mar 10th 2009 4:29PM]

Oh, and my theory seems to be supported by the fact that apps on the store can be restricted by age, including 17+. There's no reason to disallow profanity if you can restrict under-17s from viewing it. This makes a mistake from the reviewer much more likely.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Mar 10th 2009 4:36PM]

Ha, stupid. No way this will last.

Better not tell Apple that I have friends using that photo swapping app that have gotten nudies from random women.

[phoomp @ Mar 10th 2009 4:39PM]

@KarlW
Given Apple's track record for app approval, this doesn't appear to be too random. And, really, this would be a non-story if approval rules and an appeals process were available.

[adrian @ Mar 10th 2009 5:18PM]

There has to be at least one company out there to take a stand against foul language, Even if we don't all agree.

[Brian @ Mar 10th 2009 5:20PM]

Proof ?

Marketing scam ?

Mmmmmmm....

[boarder2 @ Mar 10th 2009 9:16PM]

An app I helped develop got rejected because it "provided access to pornographic material". The app is a better front to a forum system (Latest Chatty is the app name), and whoever was reviewing it happened to see a post that someone made which linked to boobs on another site.

We had to remove the NWS content from the XML feed that the app was parsing by default. We provide an option to change the feed URL so you can change it to a feed that does include the boobies and they're fine with that.

Boobs are slightly different than foul language, but not much. This just proves that app store acceptance is really still just a crapshoot.

[Chris Williams @ Mar 10th 2009 6:11PM]

Hands down I use Tweetie more than any other app on my phone. This is absurd! If anything Apple could solve this problem by implementing something in iTunes for age verification. But first things first, let Tweetie through! You are not our mother Apple!

[Brad @ Mar 10th 2009 6:25PM]

All this really proves is that a Twitter application is a planned future feature of iPhone 3.0 software.

See, it all makes sense now, doesn't it?

[BigD145 @ Mar 10th 2009 6:28PM]

How many children, religious 'adults' included, have a Touch or iPhone? It can't possibly be all THAT many.

[Tinu @ Mar 10th 2009 6:54PM]

Control freaks.

[Tinu @ Mar 10th 2009 6:56PM]

Well, Apple see the iPhones as toys that are used by kids. They must control everything to protect them.

[000000 @ Mar 10th 2009 7:33PM]

Fact of the matter is Apple controls everything about everything Apple. Just the way they like it. All the bitching you do only strenghthens their stance.

[Jerry @ Mar 10th 2009 3:29PM]

This is a good thing! It's a feature that's helping to feature the internet of foul language!

[Jerry @ Mar 10th 2009 3:31PM]

Ugh... *filter.

[Wiigee @ Mar 10th 2009 9:10PM]

censorship does nothing. the more you tell me i cant say fuck on the internet, the more i want to. We dont need to get rid of 'foul language' we need to act like grown ups and not be offended if the word "shit" pops up in a tweet, or if someone is naked on TV. honestly its not like we are all 4 and freak out when we hear a bad word, id say most of us are in the 16-25 age range, we can handle a little profanity.

Fuck censorship.

[Frenchman @ Mar 10th 2009 3:26PM]

Can't wait 'til there's a jiggle app for the Pre.

[Ghen @ Mar 10th 2009 9:57PM]

i lol'd

[nerdtalker @ Mar 10th 2009 3:27PM]

As much as I would love to rip on apple for such blatant puritanism, this HAS to be a misunderstanding or some kind of mistake.

[ECJ @ Mar 10th 2009 3:30PM]

Seriously? Really? Sad.

[VeganFreak @ Mar 10th 2009 3:28PM]

Finally something complementary I can relate to the name Apple.

[whatishalo? @ Mar 10th 2009 3:28PM]

Someone could call me and speak dirty words to me over the cell network. They should shut that off too just to cover their butts.

[AMiSH PiRATE @ Mar 10th 2009 3:37PM]

that'll be $4.99 per minute.

[Samboini @ Mar 10th 2009 3:38PM]

Well they've already stopped you from copy and pasting dirty words.

[RioRyan @ Mar 10th 2009 5:00PM]

They've also got to remove the YouTube app, there's some pretty foul stuff on there too, like I'm on a boat!
They might as well just lock the whole damn phone on the clock screen, cause I think that's all that's safe.

[Stridery @ Mar 10th 2009 10:42PM]

The clock safe? Are you kidding me? But what if the world clock says its 6:45? Thats just dirty.........

[Phenoum @ Mar 11th 2009 12:27AM]

heh, i guarantee that there's a ton of ppl missing the 6->9 reference here.....

[Gaucho @ Mar 10th 2009 3:28PM]

I still don't understand the popularity behind Twitter. Isn't it basically just an 'away message'?

[OneLove @ Mar 10th 2009 3:32PM]

twitter is for knuckle heads. i reject you.

[a ham sandwich @ Mar 10th 2009 3:36PM]

i think the reason its so popular is because it's one of the few new "technologies" that old people understand. seriously, i think facebook is way over the 40+ people's heads. twitter, on the other hand is something even a cnn anchor can pick up. even if the functionality if weak and only a small PART of what say, facebook or AIM offers, it makes them happy to get something for once.

[Gaucho @ Mar 10th 2009 3:40PM]

heh, Thanks A Ham Sandwich, that's what I figured based on who I heard uses it.

[Josh @ Mar 10th 2009 3:41PM]

think of it more as a text message to everyone on twitter, and then anyone who follows you will see it for longer on their feeds - but you can check trends and reply to people more or less like this comment system

[dan @ Mar 10th 2009 3:45PM]

That actually sounds like the first good explanation I've heard so far. I've been mulling the 'twitter problem' over for a while now without coming to any real understanding of why anybody would want to use it. Now I understand!

[dan @ Mar 10th 2009 3:46PM]

'a ham sandwich', I was aiming that at you.

[JamesR @ Mar 10th 2009 3:58PM]

I did reply to this, but it's on the second page - If you're interested in what someone who enjoys Twitter has to say about it.

I don't assume you do, this is the internet, but just in case.

[balls @ Mar 10th 2009 4:06PM]

Basically yes, but not necessarily that you are Away.

People change their facebook status/myspace status/AIM profile/Away messages as a sort of mini update. Twitter just encapsulates it for all us techie narcissists.

There isn't much to get, which is why so many people don't get it.

Personally I find the realtime updates of local traffic/weather/local scene, to be pretty cool. It also works much better if you have a good client, like Tweetie.

[nikster @ Mar 10th 2009 6:35PM]

You can't understand Twitter unless you use it. I started using it because some of my friends have private twitter feeds, and got hooked. It's way more fun than facebook, that's for sure. I rarely if ever use facebook, but twitter I use, mostly via tweetie actually.

Blocking tweetie 1.3 is a giant FAIL that should be enough to end the approval process right now. Unbelievable. Tweetie is actually the best twitter app, nothing on the desktop comes close.

[michas_pi @ Mar 10th 2009 6:43PM]

"Twitter is a free Micro-blogging service full of self absorbed people telling everyone about every little detail of their lives."

"Twitter is for pretentious people with too much time on their hands who believe that others are interested in reading things like, 'getting an oil change.', 'Just ate dinner.', 'going to take a shower.' Really? I don't give a fuck. That's not communication, it's pretense. And nobody gives a fuck what you're doing unless it directly involves them. It's built solely on the idea that people are egotistical enough to imagine that others care what they're doing every minute of the day. And sorry to break it to you but nobody does. It's a trendy tech toy and nothing else."

[Nick J @ Mar 10th 2009 7:04PM]

I rly enjoy receiving tweets from news/cool folks that have interesting things to twitter about ( for example, NYT, or Engadget, or Agent_M, or Jimmy Fallon, or George Stephanopoulos. )

Also, its is a rly easy way to let all ur co-workers/friends know when u cant work on the project/chill with them cause you are busy driving to kansas city or something.

I mean, if u have unlimited txting, u might as well use it getting useful info/easily communicating with large groups of people.

Some people might twitter every little thing they do--but some people compulsively check their facebook, or comment on every single engadget article...

[bashar @ Mar 10th 2009 3:28PM]

stupid!