Heads up, app developers. Apparently now Apple thinks the best way to prove your app deserves a porn warning is to email you a filthy screencap.
That’s what happened to the crew at Medium recently. Their news reading app was slapped with a 12+ rating and warnings that it displays “Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity,” along with just about everything else Apple warns against.
To prove it, Apple emailed a picture of an anonymous gentleman enjoying a little self-satisfaction. Bold move, Apple. Bold move. I suppose that the devs at Medium should be thankful that they weren’t sent something even more jarring.
It’s not exactly breaking news that there’s porn on the Internet. Heck, it’s probably more accurate to say there’s a little bit of Internet on top of all the digital porn. It’s also no shocker that an iOS app that pulls content from the Web is capable of displaying porn.
Still, Apple tends to err on the side of caution and alert iOS users whenever that’s a possibility. The official Google and Bing apps have a 17+ warning; I’d hate to think what this Apple reviewer would’ve sent them as proof if Medium was only deserving of a 12+ rating.
Medium’s Carl Smith is hoping that Apple will take a long, hard look at their policy. He points out that sending a hashtag they could search for on their own — when they’d have ample opportunity to prepare for genitalia to pop up on screen — instead of being ambushed by porn attached to an official email.