Apple Bans Apps with Sexual Content from App Store, Leaves Developers in Lurch

Apple has quietly reinstated its adult content ban in the App Store and is now banning the following content according to Wobble developer Jon Atherton:

1. No images of women in bikinis (Ice skating tights are not OK either)

2. No images of men in bikinis! (I didn’t ask about Ice Skating tights for men)

3. No skin (he seriously said this) (I asked if a Burqa was OK, and the Apple guy got angry)

4. No silhouettes that indicate that Wobble can be used for wobbling boobs (yes – I am serious, we have to remove the silhouette in this pic)

5. No sexual connotations or innuendo: boobs, babes, booty, sex – all banned

6. Nothing that can be sexually arousing!! (I doubt many people could get aroused with the pic above but those puritanical guys at Apple must get off on pretty mundane things to find Wobble “overtly sexual!)

7. No apps will be approved that in any way imply sexual content (not sure how Playboy is still in the store, but …)

Any apps that currently feature the above are also being pulled from the App Store with no explanation, with exceptions still present for the time being.

Before this latest move, Apple gradually loosened its policies on adult content until it implemented full parental controls for apps and purchases in iPhone 3.0 last year, which many thought would spell the end of Apple’s seemingly arbitrary process for pulling applications it deemed too risque.

Now with the reinstatement of the adult content ban despite having the tools for controlled access, Apple is risking the wrath of developers once again as it is pulling applications without prior warning or explanations, affecting many whose livelihoods depend on the sales of such apps.