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In another seemingly kneejerk reaction to the illnesses caused by illicit THC cartridges, Apple is removing any vape related apps from the App Store.
Now, not to get off on a rant here, but how in the hell are these vape apps supposed to cause any harm to anyone using e-cigarettes? Vape Apps help Vapers choose the right wattage, calculate Ohm’s Law, and even run the Bluetooth controls on more sophisticated mods like the YiHi SXmini’s.
CEO Tim Cook is a long-time proponent of iPhone privacy laws, and while we have no problem to removing any NSFW apps that might appear there, removing helpful apps for Vapers is a step too far.
From AppleInsider (a terrific Apple-centric site and app)
“Vape pen manufacturers have an assortment of apps that allow users to control the temperature and lighting of their vape pens via their iPhone. There also had been instances of apps that provided vaping-related news and vaping-related games.
In June of this year, Apple had stopped accepting new apps that promoted vaping. Now, 181 vaping-related apps will be removed from the App Store. It’s currently unclear whether those who own these apps will be able to continue to re-download them in the future.”
Naturally Apple will be able to prevent inclusion of these apps in the App Store proper, but without some fancy new coding in the way the iPhone downloads apps it should be no problem for manufactures like YiHi, SMOK, Innokin, etc., to offer direct download of their apps on their own websites.
There are more than 1.8 million apps available at the Apple App Store, which is accessed via various Apple devices. This reporter has roughly 6 different vaping apps, and 88 apps that perform various duties. Each vape app I have downloaded as provided means for me to get more out of my mods and even atomizers. This won’t be a major blow by any means, though it just feels like another pile-on by those that do not understand why people vape in the first place.
AppleInsider Continues…
A quick spot-check of the App Store hasn’t shown evidence of the removal yet, nor has the public-facing review guidelines been modified as of 7:50 A.M Eastern Time. It isn’t presently clear if users that have already downloaded the apps, will be allowed to re-download them in the future, of if they will be stricken entirely from the service.
This reporter plans to check his own vape apps each morning for the duration. If they suddenly disappear during the night, I’ll make sure you know about it. In the meantime, it might be worth your time to download as many as you can, just to show Apple how much we depend on those apps.
