Ads, dating apps, and the end of Waze?
Apple updated their App Store Review Guidelines to include many items that consumers are not going to be happy about. The only clear winners are advertisers, oppressive regimes, and police departments. As for losers? Well, do you own an iPhone? Okay, then you.
The new guidelines add fortune telling apps and dating apps to their “saturated” category, which means developers introducing new apps will have to prove they’re unique if they fall into those categories. That could reduce the number of poorly made apps in those categories. The rest of the changes, however, could upset consumers.
Apple will be banning apps that report on police activity. This could mean apps like Waze, which allow drivers to warn other drivers of traffic and dangerous road conditions, including police speed checkpoints. This seems to be in response to the criticism of their action over the HKMap app, which helped protestors avoid the violent and draconian use of force the Hong Kong police are famous for. These were usually peaceful protests, turned violent by the police. Protesters were right to avoid them, but China said otherwise.
Perhaps the most annoying aspect for most people will be a new guideline allowing apps to serve ads in push notifications.
In This Article:
Police Activity Apps
I live in a city now, so, for the most part, I recognize cars as the bane of the city. Pedestrian and cyclist deaths are up, and laws allow drivers with multiple dangerous infractions to drive anyway. They speed in busy areas, run red lights, and do so without a care. In NYC, you’re never more than 1 degree of separation away from someone who has witnessed a serious accident or been hit themselves, despite the fact that cars in the city are, for most people, completely unnecessary.
I previously lived in a rural area, where the only way to get anywhere was to drive 30 miles. Before I moved, I also raced as a hobby. Legally, of course, no street racing or anything as selfish and reckless as that. However, I grew accustomed to going very fast in cars. I did 60mph in a parking lot, dodging cones, how was 55mph on a stretch of highway with 5 miles of visibility supposed to feel like anything but a crawl? This did terrible things to my sense of speed behind the wheel, and I had many speeding tickets to show for it. Waze was a godsend. It helped me avoid traffic or lousy road conditions, sure, but it also saved me from a number of tickets. Not enough, clearly, but some. The thing that saved me most tickets was learning to accept a slow-feeling pace behind the wheel.
Though that doesn’t mean I was safer.
Doing the speed limit in the United States (and apparently Canada) on highways is actually more dangerous than speeding. Local law enforcement and governments work together to speed limits on highways below average speeds on the roads to increase the number of tickets they can issue. By driving at a different pace than those around you, slower or faster, you increase the risk of causing an accident. It’s the variation of speed that increases accidents, though it’s true that increased speed increases the severity of those accidents. Still, following the law on the highway is actually more dangerous than doing 5-10mph over the limit, depending on the road. This means that nearly every driver needs to slow down when they see police ahead, because the average speeds of our highways are higher than the limits. Waze is practically required for driver safety under these absurd conditions.
Police Profiling, Racism, and Violence
Sandra Bland was pulled over supposedly for not signalling a turn. She was arrested, thrown in a jail cell, and turned up dead a few days later. Authorities withheld evidence, the officer committed perjury, and no criminal charges were filed. A police officer killed Philando Castile while his daughter sat in the back seat. His killer, while charged, was acquitted, but fired. Samuel DuBose was shot and killed during a traffic stop. The officer who killed him gave false testimony revealed by his own body camera. Despite this, the Fraternal Order of Police would later argue he should be reinstated. African Americans, especially, have much to fear with every interaction they have with police. If you could have a warning to be on your absolute best behavior behind the wheel, because any excuse to pull you over could be deadly, wouldn’t you want that app?
Hong Kong Police Brutality
A banner depicting the protestor who’s eye was shot out by police. She continued to protest. Photo: SCMP/Felix Wong
To the people of Hong Kong, police tracking apps were life savers. People used the apps to track the movements of police. The protests were peaceful, but police didn’t let them stay that way. They used riot tactics, firing tear gas, rubber bullets, and even live ammunition at the unarmed protestors. Their arrests included beatings and torture. These are people fighting for democracy. They shouted out their names as police arrested them, so anyone recording could inform their families. That would ensure they didn’t “disappear.” Police went so far as to cover their mouths during arrests so they couldn’t do this.
If you could have an app to avoid that kind of dystopia and the beatings, torture, and murder that come with it, wouldn’t you want it?
Obviously apps made to track down individual officers or hurt people have no place on the app store. But for people looking to avoid danger and violence? They deserve the ability to do so. Apple’s actions here show a distinct lack of understanding for how the world works outside of their pristine bubble.
Push Notification Ads
Typically, when my phone rings, I don’t pick up. Unless I was expecting a call or recognize the person calling (and actually want to talk to them), I send them to my latest voicemail prank. Spoiler, it’s currently the sound of my phone ringing for a minute and a half before the beep. If anyone has any good prank ideas, especially those that would leave scam callers wanting to rethink their lives, please, leave it in the comments.
Now, imaging if every time your phone made a sound or vibrated, you assumed it was an ad. That’s the nightmare Apple has now opened the App Store to with their latest guidance. There is some good news. You’ll have to opt in to receive those ads. So, if, while reading the full terms of service, you see something consenting to advertising through push notification, make sure you opt out later.
But how often do you receive a notification of some kind and tell yourself, “I should open that app to turn notifications off, I never need them.” Quite often, am I right? I’ve been getting notifications from Amazon, telling me I “might like” something. For this article, I turned it off. It wasn’t hard, but it did involve opening the app, figuring out where it is in settings, and turn it off. That’s a bit much typically. Usually I’m too busy to waste time doing that. I’m willing to bet you are too.
If you thought it was bad before. Now that Apple allows such behavior, expect a litany of annoying push notifications. You won’t know where to start by disabling advertising notifications. Hopefully with simply deleting the app, but that’s not always an easy option, is it? What happens if advertisers ask for more? Will Apple continue to make their App Store a place that’s better for the obnoxious than the users?
Who’s The App Store For?
This is a pointless question, but who’s the market for? Is it just for the sellers? If so, there would be predatory aspects that customers couldn’t back out of. Is it just for the clients? If so, it wouldn’t be very profitable. There has to be a balance. Push notifications might allow an app developer to make more money, but it’s a huge detriment to users. Oppressive regimes might not want protestors to know where enforcers are, but users and developers clearly want that. While police have targets on them, apps that remind people to slow down and switch lanes are hardly purposed well for this. These apps make everyone safer.
So who’s the App Store for? Is it for consumers, developers, or governments?
No, it’s for Apple.
Apple profits from continued business in authoritarian countries. Apple profits from more developers using their services. Maybe the only real winner from these guidelines isn’t developers, users, or governments, but Apple. It seems the most obvious answer, doesn’t it?
Sources:
- Callum Booth, The Next Web
- Sarah Perez, TechCrunch
- Mike Peterson, AppleInsider