
Apple bans vaping apps from the iOS App Store - ProAm
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/11/apple-bans-vaping-apps-from-the-ios-app-store/
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anonymouswacker
Apple is taking a moral stance against addictive substances? Perhaps they
should ban Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram next, to really free us from these
unhealthy addictions.

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wan23
This is just another warning to avoid being dependent on Apple and the App
Store. Imagine being a hardware startup that invested in a mobile app to
control your device and then mass produced and marketed that device only to
have Apple pull the app without warning.

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jdgoesmarching
I’m not defending this Apple decision, but in general I’m very tired and
annoyed with hardware that insists on unnecessary apps. Especially when they
are 5% useful and 95% data mining.

Both Bose and Sony were found to be scraping listener data via their apps. I
believe these are both optional for now, but companies keep normalizing apps
being required and I’m very uncomfortable with it.

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swiley
Someone on here a while ago said “protocols and not apps.” That’s definitely
the right way to look at things, especially when it involves hardware.

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theincredulousk
Signaling and politics. Called it in a previous post -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20942910](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20942910).
If a person or entity has no skin in the game WRT a prevailing topic, but
there is moral high-ground to stand on, they will get involved or form an
opinion _solely_ for the opportunity, essentially a photo-op, of them standing
on that high-ground. "Protect the children" is probably the most popular high-
ground used in this way.

Apple doesn't make a vaporizer, nor do vaporizing apps amount to more than a
rounding error in revenue for them. Right on cue, they take the opportunity to
make this token action, so that this article can be published.

It is a selfie of them standing on the high-ground; in the same way people
stage a carefully framed IG post of them out "exploring" when they are
actually in their backyard.

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immawizard
I checked Storz & Binkel app, and it’s missing from App Store. S&B makes vapes
for dry herb, which are completely outside of the controversy. Fortunately,
most of their models are perfectly usable without the app so no real harm for
users has been done.

While Apple policy seems heavy handed and completely out of touch, I hope
situations like this will bring back physical controls to devices.

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goatinaboat
What on Earth is a “vaping app”??

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apetresc
It controls the hardware e-cigarette.

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lunias
Seems like there are still a lot of cigar-related apps in their app store.
What say you, Apple?

I really can't stand all the double standards, hypocrisy, and ignorance around
vaping.

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gargalatas
Steve jobs knows what is good for you. Other people same bad practises.

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favorited
Steve Jobs has been dead for over 8 years.

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gargalatas
Exatly. But they still follow his bad principles.

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theredbox
American tech imperialism in the real world. Apple thinks the US has the moral
authority to ban the vaping apps...except maybe the rest of the world
disagrees.

