Apple Bans VPN Advertisment Blockers for Third-Party Apps; Future Mind's AdBlock Gets Rejected

By Edward Leano, Christian Post Contributor Monday, July 17, 2017

Apple has reportedly rejected several major apps that have features designed to block ads from showing up in browsers and other apps. In an update, the company said that it would remove other apps that have been approved despite having similar ad blocking features.

Tomasz Koperski, Chief Technology Officer for Future Mind, has shared their experience with the recent crackdown by Apple that affected their apps. Future Mind is behind the AdBlock, Weblock and Admosphere ad blocking apps for iOS.

They submitted an update for AdBlock to the Apple App Store, but it was rejected, according to Apple Insider. The app has been in the store since 2014. When Future Mind submitted their appeal, a member of the Apple Review Team got hold of Koperski directly via phone.

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Apple responded to their appeal, saying that the store will no longer accept apps with Virtual Private Network (VPN) or root certificate features designed to block ads. AdBlock, in particular, was cited to be in violation of section 4.2 of the App Store Review Guidelines.

This section states that the store would reject apps that are "not particularly useful, unique, or 'app-like,'" as the guidelines state.

An update from Apple, however, implies that this ban has a more far-reaching intent than just keeping out VPN/root certificate based ad blocking features. In a clarification to 9 to 5 Mac, the company stated that they are just being consistent with existing guidelines.

"This is not a new guideline. We have never allowed apps on the App Store that are designed to interfere with the performance or capabilities of other apps," the message from the company said, referring to apps that can block ads from appearing in other third-party apps.

"We have always supported advertising as one of the many ways that developers can make money with apps," Apple added.

Their clarification also said that they would remove other apps that block advertising in other third-party apps as well, regardless of whether they have been previously approved or not.