Apple App Store Turns Down Controversial App That Tracks US Drone Strikes (VIDEO)

The Drones+ App seems to function on a simple algorithm of sending users a pop-up notice whenever a flying robot from the U.S. military kills someone in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. But the nature of its message seems to be putting off Apple, which has fended off attempts to host the application in its App Store.

Josh Begley, the New York-based developer of the application, told Wired that Apple has turned down Drones+ for third time in a month.

Apparently, the company's reasons cited for shying away from the app vary every time. In the first instance, Apple cited the application was "not useful," in the second, it identified that corporate logo was hidden and in the third, it noticed that there is a crude content problem, Wired added.

The program does not present any violent images of corpses or untoward images. It just provides information when a strike has killed some based on information culled from a public database of strikes compiled in the UK Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which compiles media account of strikes.

This seems to have left Josh Begley confused. Though Apple has not made any public announcements yet on the App, it has to be noted that iOS developers have a set of guidelines that need to be adhered to for gaining entry into the App store.

A small team of app reviewers in Apple reportedly scan through 10,000 apps a week and are said to err on the side of caution especially with questionable apps.

As he had not much success with several resubmissions to the Apple App Store, Begley is at present planning to pursue the Android market. The basic premise was to get denizens interested in the U.S. drone attacks with information popping up on their phones similar to an Instagram comment or retweet.

However, Wired noted that the App Store hosts several remote-control apps for a drone quardricopter that is not used in a war zone. Besides, the App Store also contains several applications for news publications and aggregators that seem to deliver the same content as provided by Drones+.

So, the reason for Apple shying away from the controversial app does not seem to have anything to do with its nature of content. Whatever be their reasons, Apple as an organization cannot be scrutinized for shying away from an app. But it would do well if the company clearly indicates its apparent lack of interest with the developer.

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