Imgur CEO hopes official iPhone app will launch in a few weeks
Chances are that you've stumbled upon photos on Imgur before, even if you're not familiar with the site itself. Imgur is an extremely popular and free photo-sharing site that quickly grew in popularity thanks to social media sites like Reddit. It also helps that the site, which now generates upwards of 4 billion pageviews a month, requires no cumbersome user registration process.
Yesterday, Imgur finally launched its official mobile app for Android. An official iPhone app, however, remains non-existent.
Don't worry folks. We're not entering a world where iPhone development is taking a backseat to Android development.
Speaking to VentureBeat, Imgur CEO Alan Schaaf explained that the iPhone holdup is the result of Apple's sometimes nitpicky application approval process.
While the launch of the Android app is a big step for the service, Imgur initially planned to release both Android and iPhone versions of the app together. But Schaaf said Apple has routinely rejected the iPhone application it built on grounds of copyright infringement and inappropriate content.
Schaaf said Imgur has submitted the app for approval from Apple several times. He said Apple first knocked the organization for having too much content sourced from copyrighted materials. But Imgur explained to Apple that it is DMCA compliant and removes any infringing images when it is notified. Then Apple didn't like how easy it was to access adult-focused content.
This, of course, isn't the first time an app with user-generated content has run into trouble with Apple's app review team. You might recall that, a few months back, Apple had removed the popular photo-sharing app 500px from the App Store after deeming it too easy for users to access nude, albeit artistic, photos. The app was subsequently allowed back in the App Store with a new feature that enables users to quickly flag and report inappropriate content.
The content on Imgur is a free-for-all in many respects, and it certainly lacks the artistic bent that 500px has. Nonetheless, Imgur's Schaaf relayed that the company has "made it harder to find crude content" and that the site's official iPhone app will hopefully launch in just a "few weeks."
