Josh Begley had a great idea on how to get people talking about the U.S. Military’s controversial use of attack drones. He created an iOS app called Drones+ that sends users a push notification every time a US drone strikes a target.
All those notification will probably get you thinking about whether drones are good or bad. The aim of Drones+ was to create a conversation using barebones information. It doesn’t contain nasty images of corpses, or a death toll meter. All the data comes from publicly available sources. It’s family friendly. But for some reason, Apple really doesn’t want iPhone owners to use it, so they’ve rejected it three times.
The first time Begley submitted the app, Apple told him it wasn’t “useful or entertaining enough.” He made some changes, submitted again and got rejected again. Then a few days ago he received his third rejection that says the app contains “objectionable” content.
Here’s how Wired describes Drones+:
When a drone strike occurs, Drones+ catalogs it, and presents a map of the area where the strike took place, marked by a pushpin. You can click through to media reports of a given strike that the Bureau of Investigative Reporting compiles, as well as some basic facts about whom the media thinks the strike targeted.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
4 responses to “Apple Doesn’t Want You To Track Killer Drones From Your iPhone”
I like this idea. Drone strikes have become one of those things that no one wants to talk about, even though they know it’s happening. Too bad Apple has kept on rejecting it.
In typical Apple fashion if an app duplicates a function they roll out (rip off from another developer or infringe on another developers work) they kill your update and your app. If they don’t find it entertaining or useful they kill your app. Well maybe its time to deal a blow to them and make the app available for Android I am sure they would like it.
Seriously I find plenty of useless, uninteresting crap apps in the app store on a daily basis and I don’t see it as their job to be content controllers. Yeah I get it, its their garden and they can wall it up but without the users who pay for the flowers that went into that garden it would be a rotted out overgrown field.
Maybe could release it as a Jailbreak App if Apple keeps rejecting it. Being fed up with the “Walled Garden” control freakery, I am now seriously considering Jailbreaking. I want control over my devices. Maybe, even, my next device would be a Samsung Android after the latest bully boy tactics from Apple. Don’t think I want my money going to a company who behaves as Apple has been.
He should put it on Cydia!