Cult of Mac: Apple News, Reviews and How Tos

31 comments

It’s because WiFi is used primarily for looking at porn.

fort90, on March 4th, 2010 at 1:08 am

They haven’t fully purged it of porn. Look at the top 25 free apps on the App Store on the iPhone. When I looked there earlier there were a few there.

HollyT, on March 4th, 2010 at 1:50 am

The entire App Store review process is fascist at best. Apple has from the start put the lock down on the platform that would make Hitler proud. As a result many high quality applications have been forced underground. The wide variety of apps available on the cydia and rockyourphone installers bring levels of very useful functionality to the platform that Apple doesn’t want to allow the customers to have. From things as simple as having a decent email alert tone on your device, to call “firewalls” to block unwanted calls, to apps that can find and catalog nearby wifi networks. Apple is only hurting itself with these actions. Every other mobile platform is far more open and allows the developers room to be creative and bring innovative products to the platform.

In this particular case, what they are whining about, is the wifi scanning applications talking directly to the system APIs that Apple holds with a death grip. There is no other way to achieve this functionality, they don’t want us to be able to do it at all. They had to know all along this was going on, as they are the ones that crafted the OS. They let it continue, until now, and they pulled the rug out from underneath everyone without notice.

The calls into this API had to be figured out by a collective group of people working long hard hours trying to make it work properly. This causes no instability in the system whatsoever, and brings a much desired function to the platform. WiFiTrak, which used to sell for $0.99 just yesterday, serving over a million customers was consistently in the top 10 in Productivity apps, and even spent a considerable amount of time at number 1. They would probably want you to believe that its just some fringe functions that they are cutting off, but, in fact, this is in high demand. Not to mention the other utility factors to network engineers of such applications in troubleshooting wifi installations and finding rogue access points….

The wifi apps left out there are merely databases of previously collected data, and aren’t always very up to date, and nowhere near as useful as being able to see the networks for yourself.

As far as I know, the apps that have vanished are:

WiFiTrak
WiFiFoFum
yFy Network Finder
WiFi-Where
WiFi Get
WiFi Get Plus

So, as an iPhone user you have a choice, jailbreak your device, or switch to another platform such as Android.

This stunt is nothing new. The Google Voice app is yet another fine example of the Apple App Store not being a fair and friendly place to develop software.

There are large cross sections of developers reaching the end of their wits dealing with all of the Apple nonsense. The App Store is turning into a collection of crappy $0.99 nerf apps that never make their developers any money at all. If the App Store dies, it will be at Apple’s own hand.

David Grant, on March 4th, 2010 at 2:13 am

“The entire App Store review process is fascist at best.”

Facists built death camps and killed millions of people. Apple runs an app store. Get some perspective, mate.

Ian Betteridge, on March 4th, 2010 at 4:56 am

If these apps are really using a private framework the developers can hardly complain. Putting lots of work into such an app is insane. Even if it gets tolerated for a while you’re constantly waiting for it to get pulled.

I’m not saying I’m happy with the fact that apps (any apps) are pulled but first using private frameworks and then complaining about Apple giving your app the boot is a bit silly.

joh, on March 4th, 2010 at 5:04 am

The Apple is rotten to the core. Open not Closed platforms are the way ahead. Steve Jobs has lost the plot it would seem.

Martin_NZ, on March 4th, 2010 at 6:02 am

I’m getting very close to moving from my iPhone 3G to the Nexus One or the Droid. I’m getting really turned off by Apple’s actions lately and I’ve been an Apple fan since the late 80′s.

Paul, on March 4th, 2010 at 6:27 am

WiFiFoFum had been around for years even before the iPhone. It was (and still is) available for WinMo and other platforms. I routinely use this for troubleshooting wifi networks at a variety of offices. I think if it was a simple as an API, Apple would warn the Dev to update the software and eliminate the call to the API.

Isn’t that what they recently started telling Devs looking to get apps approved? “we will approve your app, but fix this in the next release” Devs know they are not supposed to use these calls, but Apple has to find a better way to work with them.

Proto732, on March 4th, 2010 at 7:50 am

WiFi Analyzer is another app that got pulled out yesterday.

The worst thing is that you can see how a bunch of “companies” submit every day hundreds of crappy, useless apps that make it to the store. And not only they make large profits of out users that are willing to waste their money, they also use all sort of tricks to have their apps every where, like cloning the apps and changing their names to have them submitted (and accepted!) in different categories, using content that clearly infringe copyrights, and/or making up reviews and ratings.

I still believe the App Store it’s a great concept but I really don’t like the route is taking.

Frustrated Developer, on March 4th, 2010 at 10:57 am

Stupid question: If one already downloaded one of these apps, will that person get to keep the app, or will it be deleted off one’s computer and phone next time it is synced?

Doug, on March 4th, 2010 at 1:40 pm

Don’t these apps actually duplicate the functionality of the built in Wi-Fi panel in the Settings? I mean, I’ve walked around with the Wi-Fi panel up on my iPhone to find hotspots and it works just fine. Even better, I’m already in the settings, so a single click connects me to the network.

Aaron, on March 4th, 2010 at 2:10 pm

No, you have no idea what youre talking about. These apps do much more than iPhone’s own wifi scanner. The iPhone wifi scanner only finds the really strong signal networks, and ignore all the rest. Besides, it does not give any info about them, besides the SSID

antonio, on March 4th, 2010 at 2:18 pm

The idiots at apple also removed the “WiFi Analyzer” app. It’s a really useful tool, and I’ve frigging paid for it! Now if I delete it by mistake or need to reformat my device, there’s no way I’ll be able to reinstall it again. Bastards at apple need to return the money back to all those affected by this. No more apple products for me. The ipad can eat shit and die too!

Hobo, on March 4th, 2010 at 3:21 pm

@ Ian

Yeah David goes overboard in his comparison to the Nazi’s but he also makes a lot of valid and well justified points about Apple’s increasingly ludicrous restrictions.

Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater just because he used a single word you disagree with.

Camperton, on March 4th, 2010 at 3:55 pm

Minor point. Fascism != Nazism. No point in making this a political forum though, but hey, there are obvious distinctions.

Dave, on March 4th, 2010 at 4:45 pm

I was hunting for alternative sources for WiFi apps, should they cease to be available on iTunes and found this:

http://code.google.com/p/iphone-wireless/

I would point out the relevant statements:

“MobileApple80211 is a framework roughly analogous to the Apple80211.framework (private) on “big” Mac OS X.”

and

“Given that the Apple80211 framework is a private framework, it might possibly be an indication of Apple intending to revise the mainstream framework in Leopard.”

So there.

@pixelsrzen, on March 4th, 2010 at 4:57 pm

I have a couple of these applications. They seem to better find WiFi access – even my own home system – than the built-in app under Settings on my 3G 32GB touch. Will a sync in iTunes “erase” these purchased, “non-approved” apps? Or am I too paranoid?

Clint Bradford, on March 4th, 2010 at 6:40 pm

@Clint: It shouldn’t, as long as you transferred purchases from the iPhone. I have some apps that are no longer in the app store on my computer and the transfer to and work on the iPhone just fine.

none, on March 4th, 2010 at 9:05 pm

Conspiracy theorists really do go out of their way to avoid the obvious conclusion.

So far as I know, all the Wi-Fi stumblers are using a private framework to gain access to information that Apple didn’t provide an API for. Now, in early March, Apple pulls every app that appears to be doing that.

So, should we conclude that Apple is evil?

Or should we assume that Apple has a forthcoming software release that Apple has realized is quite problematic when applications go poking around in the Wi-Fi internals? Perhaps that software release even runs on a new piece of hardware that is scheduled to be available later this month?

So, should Apple:
1) delay the iPad
2) pull a dozen outside the mainstream applications that might cause the iPad to have problems which are knowingly using a private framework

As an AAPL shareholder, I vote for the second.

Although as a long-time wireless geek, I also vote for AAPL to extend the 802.11 framework.

reinharden

Reinharden, on March 4th, 2010 at 11:15 pm

Reinharden,

Apple APPROVED the apps and HAD (at least some of) THEM IN THE STORE for OVER A YEAR. Why did Apple APPROVE them if they’re “rogue” in some way? These are not “outside the mainstream”.

Charles, on March 5th, 2010 at 8:56 am

@Reinharden, the larger question is should Apple pull the apps without HELPING THE DEVELOPERS understand what the issue is, and at least give them a clue on what they have done ‘wrong’? If they are making mods to an internal framework that could break apps, at least tell the developers that is the issue. Don’t just remove apps that have been ‘Approved’ for over a year without some explanation.

PaulJ, on March 5th, 2010 at 9:54 am

At the Wireless Geographic Logging Engine ( http://wigle.net ), a database and mapping system for “Net Stumbling” or “War Driving” hobbyists, we’ve seen the iPhone provide a low barrier-to-entry for this hobby. It combines a GPS with a Wifi radio, but it can only work when apps like Wifi-Where, WiFiFoFum and others are allowed to exist.

These apps were inspected for months before finally getting through the nebulous App Store approval process. Some have been available for months or even years. Now, arbitrarily, they are banned. If they use API calls that Apple didn’t want them to, why were they approved? Why weren’t the developers contacted behind the scenes to address any fiddly technical issues Apple might foresee?

As users all we see is a useful app, that was paid for, that now can not be updated. We can’t find the least used frequency channels to set our access points to, can’t take surveys of campus wireless coverage or find rogue wifi on a corporate network. And we can’t help with wireless mapping projects. There’s no app for that.

bobzilla, on March 5th, 2010 at 9:57 am

@Ian

“Fascists advocate the creation of a single-party state. Fascist governments forbid and suppress openness and opposition to the fascist state and the fascist movement”

Yes David took it a bit far but the point is that Apple is against openness is a fair one.

Utnnyan, on March 5th, 2010 at 1:54 pm

I was in a room some 21 months ago where Apple talked about the fact that people were using 802.11 APIs that were undocumented and that the APIs would eventually break — and that apps that were using the undocumented APIs would, um, run into difficulties. Much discussion followed as to in what ways the APIs needed to be extended to provide the required documented functionality.

Why were they originally approved? Because they provided functionality that wasn’t available with the APIs that are available. And because Apple undoubtedly hoped to produce new APIs and ween the developers over to them before a moment such as now.

But there’s nobody who is writing an 802.11 stumbler on the iPhone without understanding that they’re using unsupported APIs.

By the by, the typical iPhone / iPod Touch user doesn’t install an 802.11 stumbler. With an installed base of 75 million devices, even hundreds of thousands of users would still be “outside the mainstream”.

#####

So, iPad will ship in early April with 802.11a/b/g/n support. iPhones continue to ship with only 802.11b/g support. The current generation iPod Touch maintains a chipset capable of supporting 802.11a/b/g/n; however, only 802.11b/g is enabled.

Software that touches hardware often breaks when the hardware changes.

Color me crazy, but Occam’s razor seems applicable.

reinharden

PS: Obviously this is all conjecture. For all I know Steve Jobs’ astrologer told him that 3, 11, and 802 were unlucky numbers — so he moved the iPad ship date to April and pulled the 802.11 applications.

reinharden, on March 5th, 2010 at 3:15 pm

Where’s an edit function when you need one.

:s/21 months ago/12 months ago/g

reinharden

reinharden, on March 5th, 2010 at 3:19 pm

Why do I get the feeling that the same people crying over Apple’s move here would be the same people to gloat if a bunch of iPhones started getting maliciously hacked and personal data was lost in mass?

I get the feeling that no matter what Apple does, people will piss and moan, so Apple just might as well do (innovate) as it sees fit anyway unless sales suffer.

If you guys don’t like it, hack your iPhone.. jailbreak or whatever away at it. Just don’t whine like babies when you lose all your personal data to a thief like the little bitches you are.

That said, I wish Apple would make a version of the iPhone that’s completely open for nerds so they’ll shut the fuck up. I’m sure the millions in legal expenses Apple would need to keep in hand for such a release would make that iPhone version much more expensive, but… oh wait… then you bitches would bitch about the price. Just can’t win… hahahahaha….

Cowicide, on March 7th, 2010 at 3:10 pm

look, Apple owns/runs the app store. They have every right under the sun to decide what they will, or will not allow to be offered there, just like Wal-Mart, Sears, Old Navy, etc. decide what they will stock in their stores. Too many people these days have no clue about what the right to freedom of speech really means. Guess what folks, Apple is a private entity, and as such are entitled to THEIR freedom of speech, and that means they determine the products that are offered via their app store, since it is representing in some way directly or indirectly, their company. Get over it.

RCS, on March 8th, 2010 at 8:12 am

I got eWiFi from Cydia, it is cool. I love it. It seems some cool new features are included.

Akash, on April 9th, 2010 at 12:08 am

I forgot to mention, I’m also a retard. I’m cool cos I jailbreak and steal from people

Cowicide, on June 30th, 2010 at 12:57 pm

i cannot believe that all of this was caused by some faggot developer that complained that his gay ass app was not making enough money and he didnt like how the stumbling apps could search and connect unlike the others that can only find through wifi!! Apple can go to hell for all i care!!! they are willing to do anything so that they may gain more money!! F*** apple Steve Jobs is a controlling,self-centered,son of a bitch.

eli, on July 31st, 2010 at 9:44 pm

“Minor point. Fascism != Nazism. No point in making this a political forum though, but hey, there are obvious distinctions.”

Not quite, Nazism isn’t a real word, it’s a word the opponents of National Socialism(the real name) made up. They also didn’t call themselves Nazis, now did they? Such as the Soviets didn’t call themselves commies. National Socialism is basically a form of fascism. As the NSM describe it in a nutshell. The best features out of capitalism and out of socialism.

“Facists built death camps and killed millions of people. Apple runs an app store. Get some perspective, mate.”

And once again Mussolini was a fascist, but did he kill millions of people? No? Oh what a surprise, maybe you should stud your history. Did he build death camps, nooooo. He may have sent people to die. But still, read your history before you make claims knowing nothing.

Goodbye,

Info(Supplying idiots with information)

Info(Supplying idiots with information), on August 26th, 2010 at 11:04 pm

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