Coronavirus apps from unofficial sources are gated from App Store

Photo by Tim van der Kuip on Unsplash

Apple is restricting apps developed for the sake of spreading awareness and information about the coronavirus outbreak, like, information about confirmed cases, the official death toll, and precautionary methods, etc. But if those developed coronavirus apps are not from official sources like governments or recognized health organizations like WHO, they will not be published on App Store, reported by CNBC.

The reason for restricting apps that are developed by individual developers and not by organizations or government is to stop the spread of misinformation on a sensitive topic such as Coronavirus, there will be some people who may try to take advantage of a situation like this, however, there are some genuine developers that try help people understanding the current situation of coronavirus.

This restriction also hinders the efforts of those who are genuine, some independent developers told CNBC, that "Apple rejected their apps, which would allow people to see stats about which countries have confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus," even though the data displayed on their apps were collected from trusted sources like WHO.

According to a person familiar with the matter, Apple is confirming two things while reviewing an app, whether the data is from the official sources, and whether the developer is related to an organization. Other big tech companies already have taken steps to prevent the spread of misinformation, Facebook CEO Zuckerberg said he's "focused on making sure everyone can access credible and accurate information."

Amazon warned the sellers on its platform that it will take down products that promise to kill coronavirus and Google has banned ads for anti-coronavirus products besides displaying information from WHO and other trusted websites at the top when someone queries about the outbreak of the new virus.

Morgan Reed, president of the App Association said: "Right now the technology industry is working very hard to ensure the platforms are not being used to provide people with false or, even worse, dangerous information about the coronavirus, We are seeing significant pressure inside and outside to halt applications and advertisements before they harm citizens."

Spent all day yesterday building a coronavirus app just to get this rejection 🙃 pic.twitter.com/HSJxp0JERS

— Zachary Shakked (@zacharyshakked) March 4, 2020