TMI: Apple Kills ‘Crude’ App That Tracks Pentagon’s Deadly Drone Strikes

Josh Begley, an artist and editor at the Intercept, developed the concept for an app that sends push notifications to Apple device users with information on US drone strikes and their positions on a map. It was a way to keep the public apprised of what, exactly, the US government was carrying out in their name.

Under the name of Drone+, the app was repeatedly rejected from Apple’s App Store for being “not useful or entertaining enough.” Funny, as it doesn’t appear to have been designed for entertainment purposes, but we digress.

It was finally accepted last year under a different name, Metadata+. The app started functioning, and informing people about the world’s victims of Washington’s deadly drones.

After seven months, Metadata+ was removed from the App Store last weekend, and all users were notified about the pull, with the explanation that the application included “excessively crude or objectionable content”.

How objectionable or crude could the app have been? It never included graphic imagery or descriptions of drone strike victims, but instead conveyed informational headlines, maps and links to original media publications.

Meanwhile, games in which one can play as a UAV operator, “fly[ing] covert recon missions while taking out high profile targets,” have been available on the App Store for years.

Begley is not set to surrender. Instead, he’ll keep working to keep the public informed.

“I still plan to update the Twitter account [@Dronestream] as new drone strikes get reported—and Metadata+ should continue to work for everyone who has it downloaded on their phone. But new users won’t be able to install it,” Begley told Gawker in an email.