Apple has come across controversy recently by clearing out some apps from its App Store. Today the company has scrapped more apps -- this time, apps designed to detect Wi-Fi hotspots. The move seems strange, since users will still be able to scan for hotspots with their iPhones; they just won't be able to use an app to do it. Apple hasn't explained itself, even to the developers effected, who have no clue why their app has been kicked out of the App Store.
Even more strange is the fact that the de-selection seems to single out certain apps. Apple has pulled apps that actively scan for Wi-Fi hotspots, but left those that use a database of hotspots in conjunction with GPS data. One developer, Three Jacks Software, said in a blog post that they received an email from Apple saying that their app, WiFi Where, had been taken down due to the product's use of 'private frameworks' to access wireless information. Other newly-banned apps include WiFiTrack, WiFiFoForum, yFy Network Finder and WiFi Get.
In a post online, Three Jacks notes that many such apps have been available for a considerable amount of time and that their own WiFi Where app went through months of submissions before it was approved in January. Two months later, it's out.
Apple did not respond to our phone calls for a comment. Developers, though, must be getting antsy about seemingly arbitrary decisions over which apps can still get distributed on the App Store and which will get ditched.