Apple removes app that allows users to find their lost AirPods from the app store

[WolfDeville]

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Considering that Apple charges $69 to replace a single lost AirPod, you would imagine that an app designed to find one of the misplaced wireless buds would be a good thing. But it seems the iPhone maker disagrees, and has just pulled ‘Finder for AirPods’ from its app store.

 

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Quote from Devs: "Yeah, just got off the phone with them. They didn't find anything wrong with the app itself, but rather they didn't like the 'concept' of people finding their AirPods and hence was deemed "not appropriate for the App Store."

 

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When another Redditor asked for proof of this conversation, the developer added: “The proof being, they called me to say that the App Review board doesn't like the concept of the app and deemed it not appropriate for the App Store. They have their own reasons why, but probably won’t release it to the public.”

 

I never liked Apple's products or their practices, and this is a perfect example why that is.

 

Source

[terrytek]

man this is so fucking stupid. they just wanna eliminate ANYTHING remotely practical, such as the headphone jack, magsafe, usb ports, etc. it's just apple being douchey. i know for a fact if steve jobs was still alive and still ceo of apple, shit like this wouldn't disappear on apple products. but the fact that they simply "didn't like the concept of people finding their airpods" is complete headassery. apple needs to lay off the crack and just get this shit together.

[Scruffy90]

Is anyone surprised anymore? Apple's bread and butter has always been replacement of broken products. We could now add missing products and accessories.

[The Sloth]

loose your air pods? buy a new one sounds simple to me before you had to open an app and search for them now you can just buy new ones. 

[PlayStation 2]

I'd bet money they have their own version in the works?

[Spork829]

Apple wants MORE of your money!? No way, what a shocker.

[WolfDeville]

1 minute ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

I'd bet money they have their own version in the works?

Yeah that's what the author of the article was speculating. I think it could be the reason, although I'd bet dollars to donuts it's because they want to take more money from their customers by replacing lost devices.

[PlayStation 2]

Just now, TehStranger said:

Yeah that's what the author of the article was speculating. I think it could be the reason, although I'd bet dollars to donuts it's because they want to take more money from their customers by replacing lost devices.

Eh, there's a reason the Find My iPhone/iPad/[insert iDevice] service exists, and I wouldn't put that past me.

[WolfDeville]

1 minute ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

Eh, there's a reason the Find My iPhone/iPad/[insert iDevice] service exists, and I wouldn't put that past me.

Yeah but they might think customers will be more tolerable when it comes to replacing accessories, which don't cost the same price as the iPhone/iPad itself.

[Wolther]

The app apparently was shit. and costed money for people to use. You couldn't use it to find your airpods outside of your home since it tracked it only by bluetooth signal, and didn't tell you what floor it was on either; nor was it entirely accurate. I guess it could be removed because it made no sense to charge people for it. Although that's the best way of looking at it 

[Spork829]

1 minute ago, Wolther said:

The app apparently was shit. and costed money for people to use. You couldn't use it to find your airpods outside of your home since it tracked it only by bluetooth signal, and didn't tell you what floor it was on either. I guess it could be removed because it made no sense to charge people for it. Although that's the best way of looking at it 

If the app was bad that does make Apple look less scummy in this case. Either way I'm skeptical they'll implement a replacement of their own.

[WolfDeville]

1 minute ago, Wolther said:

The app apparently was shit. and costed money for people to use. You couldn't use it to find your airpods outside of your home since it tracked it only by bluetooth signal, and didn't tell you what floor it was on either. I guess it could be removed because it made no sense to charge people for it. Although that's the best way of looking at it 

How much was it? It would be a bit difficult finding those small things in a big house, so any sort of indication of it's wherabouts would be helpful I guess.

[Wolther]

2 minutes ago, TehStranger said:

How much was it? It would be a bit difficult finding those small things in a big house, so any sort of indication of it's wherabouts would be helpful I guess.

$4 

[SpaceGhostC2C]

12 minutes ago, TehStranger said:

I never liked Apple's products or their practices, and this is a perfect example why that is.

I'd say this is an example of why the concept of "app market" is a terrible idea, and it metastasis to Windows is to be received with concern.

You have the device, you want the program, the developer is willing to write it, you both agree on a price... who thought adding a bi-directional monopolistic middle-man was a good idea?

[Scruffy90]

The alternative

[Spork829]

8 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

You have the device, you want the program, the developer is willing to write it, you both agree on a price... who thought adding a bi-directional monopolistic middle-man was a good idea?

Probably the bi-directional monopolistic middle-man

[OhadShwartzman]

Introducing the AirpodsPro

Now with no improvement at all to the first AirPods, and appples new software- the FindYourPod works with magic and peanut butter fuel.

Now at the modest price equal to a baby elephant

[Syntaxvgm]

even if they have their own version in the works, this is fucking scummy, even for apple. 

[Drak3]

On ‎1‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 4:38 PM, SpaceGhostC2C said:

I'd say this is an example of why the concept of "app market" is a terrible idea, and it metastasis to Windows is to be received with concern.

You have the device, you want the program, the developer is willing to write it, you both agree on a price... who thought adding a bi-directional monopolistic middle-man was a good idea?

Sometimes, it works fairly well. Sometimes, it doesn't.

One has to look at the intentions of the middle man.

 

It just tends to work significantly better if there is competition

[Energycore]

On 1/10/2017 at 5:28 PM, Dan Castellaneta said:

I'd bet money they have their own version in the works?

That costs you $69 per earpod

[Trik'Stari]

Why are people still buying their garbage products?

 

Forgot my obligatory response to Apple users whining about the terrible product and service they bought:

 

[Bouzoo]

Who would have thought.

 

 

 

[Master Disaster]

Apples attitude towards their customers

 

[SpaceGhostC2C]

14 hours ago, Drak3 said:

Sometimes, it works fairly well. Sometimes, it doesn't.

One has to look at the intentions of the middle man.

 

It just tends to work significantly better if there is competition

But the whole point of all these markets is their twice-monopolistic nature: Apple (or Google, or Microsoft, each on its own) acts as a monpsonist to developers and a monopolist to consumers. They (try to) restrict what you can get by (trying to) force you to install from said market only, therefore forcing developers to abide to their terms. And since they write their own apps, that's such an obvious case of market power abuse that the whole Windows-internet explorer case would pale in comparison (imagine all car manufacturers having to sell through Ford, with Ford having the right to refuse certain models at will).

But I guess it's not the 90s anymore  

[Drak3]

29 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

But the whole point of all these markets is their twice-monopolistic nature: Apple (or Google, or Microsoft, each on its own) acts as a monpsonist to developers and a monopolist to consumers. They (try to) restrict what you can get by (trying to) force you to install from said market only, therefore forcing developers to abide to their terms. And since they write their own apps, that's such an obvious case of market power abuse that the whole Windows-internet explorer case would pale in comparison (imagine all car manufacturers having to sell through Ford, with Ford having the right to refuse certain models at will).

But I guess it's not the 90s anymore  

That holds very true with Apple, And to an extent, Google, because their primary ecosystems rely on a single app market.

Microsoft, on the other hand, has to contend with Steam, Origin, uPlay, and download/install straight from the internet. That's something they can't just get rid of either, it's still a huge selling point of newer versions of Windows.