Camera+ has been pulled from the app store

[rwilliams]

I like this about Apple. If people want to do the hacker crap, jailbreak their phone. I also like Apple keeping porn out of the App Store...

If I wanted all that crap, I'd be using Windows!

How is using an existing button on the phone "hacker crap"? Apple told the developers that using the volume buttons to snap a picture would create "user confusion", which is basically saying that their customers are too damn stupid to figure out something so simple and need Apple to hold their hands for them. That's insulting, yet the iSheep will just fall in line and nod their heads. All Apple had to say was that it violated the Human Interface guidelines, but they had to take it a step further and insult their paying customers. The arrogance and condescension from Apple in recent months has been astonishing.

And why does everyone toot Apple's horn for keeping porn out of the App Store when anyone can just find it for free using Mobile Safari?

 

[Simm0nS777]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4 (32GB, JB): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A306 Safari/6531.22.7)



This feature has been available to jailbreakers for ages. On my iPhone, it works with the stock camera app as well. I don't see what the big deal is ...

not everyone jailbreaks and knows about snaptap. relax man, no need to call people out if they dont know EVERYTHING you do

 

[UCLAKoolman]

This is actually my first iOS device so I have a newb question:

If I already have camera+ on my phone will apple somehow remove it from my device? Can I still sync to iTunes without losing the app?

 

[rwilliams]

This is actually my first iOS device so I have a newb question:

If I already have camera+ on my phone will apple somehow remove it from my device? Can I still sync to iTunes without losing the app?

Technically, they can remove it, but I don't think they've ever done it. The outrage from people who paid for the app, only to have it deleted by Big Brother with no refund, would be a sight to see.

 

[iphone1105]

This is actually my first iOS device so I have a newb question:

If I already have camera+ on my phone will apple somehow remove it from my device? Can I still sync to iTunes without losing the app?

Read the thread bro, your questions been answered

 

[barachus]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4 (32GB, JB): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A306 Safari/6531.22.7)



This feature has been available to jailbreakers for ages. On my iPhone, it works with the stock camera app as well. I don't see what the big deal is ...

does snaptap work with the iphone 4 now? or is there another cydia that does it?

 

[iMetalG5]

How about when opening the camera and it takes a pic on its own? is that a glitch?

 

[oneals2focus]

You need to go here in Safari

camplus://enablevolumesnap

Awsome!!!!!

 

[UCLAKoolman]

How about when opening the camera and it takes a pic on its own? is that a glitch?

Yes but I just posted on page 2 of this thread that this bug won't happen if you switch back to the camera using the camera icon on the bottom of the lightbox menu. That's faster anyways than clicking "done" then having to click on the camera again.

Edit: and to clarify: this bug occurs when you return to the startup menu from the lightbox by tapping "done" then tap "take photos"

 

[Lotso]

Camera+ Removed from the App Store

"Camera+ by tap tap tap has been removed from the App Store and all signs point to the VolumeSnap-enabling work-around revealed just the other day as the cause. TechCrunch reports that tap tap tap had revealed the work-around (entering “camplus://enablevolumesnap” without the quotation marks in mobile Safari, which allowed the volume buttons to control the camera shutter in the app) through its Twitter account but deleted the tweet a short time later.

Apple does not take kindly to hidden features in apps, as most recently demonstrated by the removal of Handy Light, a flashlight app that had a hidden tethering feature, just a few short hours after it debuted in the App Store.

So far, tap tap tap has said nothing about the removal of Camera+ in its blog or Twitter account. In fact, the company had only just published information on the second month sales of Camera+ in its blog a couple of days ago, noting that the app wasn’t subject to the “sophomore” sales slump apps typically see in the second month after release.

Other apps by tap tap tap, including Voices and Convert, remain in the App Store so the developer hasn’t been banned from the App Store completely and we’re hoping that Camera+ makes it back to the App Store soon."

Via App Shopper: http://appshopper.com/blog/2010/08/12/camera-removed-from-app-store/


I use this app myself and I know a lot of users here do to and I was surprised to learn this app was able to stay up this long. I'm increasingly getting worried about all of the things that are getting past Apple's approval process. Up until now the things getting by are innocent, but it foreshadows something terrible...

 

[Drag'nGT]

repost

 

[bobab8ey]

Welcome to several hours ago.

 

[mgamber]

Yeah, how DARE they offer a feature that customers want and Apple won't provide. Not to mention that the app itself is everything that Apple's built-in camera should be.

I agree that Apple was fully within their rights to pull the app, but to suggest that they treat the developer like a terrorist for providing their customers with useful capability is just utterly asinine.

Sorry, but you are wrong. If they wanted to release an app that played by their rules and not Apple's, they should have been adults about it and done it via Cydia or the like. Apple has put a lot of time, effort and money into their reputation and that of the app store and when a trojan....sorry, an "easter egg"....makes it into the app store, that reputation is ruined. I don't trust anything on the app store 100% now because who's to say there aren't "easter eggs" out there that will sell every piece of personal information on your phone to the highest bidder over the period of a couple of weeks? Can you guarantee that every app on the phone that gives me no way to check the apps myself is safe? Nope. Can anyone else here or outside of Apple? Nope. How about anyone inside Apple? Apparently that's also a nope. So this app proves that the app store isn't any safer than any random repository anywhere on the internet and that despite all their bull and bluster, Apple really has no control over what goes on your phone and you should treat it as you would a computer with a permanent network connection and no anti-malware protection whatsoever. I pretty much despise the whole "Mein Kampf" approach of Apple as much as the next guy but ALL developers are going to suffer because these assclowns thought they could sneak something by Apple. Suffer not only from Apple tightening the screws even harder but also from potential customers who either won't trust the app store enough to buy anything or figure if you can't trust anything anyway, steal it.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Yeah, I thought Apple (and Android) had the ability to remotely pull apps off your phone???

(Which sounds so "Big Brother" as I type it.)

They have a "killswitch" but you can disable that yourself if you're jailbroken.

 

[Bodhi395]

I'm very confused as to why Apple would not allow an app to use the volume button to snap pictures. I can see if the feature is buggy, which some users said it is, but lets just assume it works as advertised, what's wrong with it?

I think the app could put some precautions in it, such as having it in its preferences and not activated at first, so when the user wants to set it up they have to activate it, and then a little dialog box can pop up stating that it will disable your volume buttons when you are using this app to take pictures. Seems like that would be sufficient warning to any customer and eliminate any confusion.

Apple is again shooting itself in the foot here by giving critics of its app store another reason to criticize them. And all because its worried a few dumb customers might get a tad bit confused, while 95% of the other customers would love the feature!

 

[GameraFan]

EASY WORKAROUND FOR THAT BUG: switch back to the camera with the camera icon in the bottom of the lightbox menu.

Sweet. Thanks for the tip.

 

[OceanView]

too bad, it's a cool app.
Glad I got it before it got pulled.

Camera + should submit their app in Cydia now.

 

[pdjudd]

I'm very confused as to why Apple would not allow an app to use the volume button to snap pictures. I can see if the feature is buggy, which some users said it is, but lets just assume it works as advertised, what's wrong with it?

Because it violates Apples' rules quite clearly - even Taptaptap thought so when they talked about it in their blog. Here is Apple's response:

Changing the behavior of iPhone external hardware buttons is a violation of the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement. Applications must adhere to the iPhone Human Interface Guidelines as outlined in the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement section 3.3.7

Taptaptap's response:

So while we’re disappointed with their decision, we’re at least happy that they’re being perfectly clear about the exact reason for the rejection and that they’re being consistent about it. I was told that overriding the volume controls is one of the most common reasons for app rejection.
Apple’s app reviewers tend to catch a lot of **** from people and the press but after speaking with them at length on this, I came away overall with a good feeling about the whole process. They’re just trying to do their job as best as they can, given the constraints they have, so cut them some slack.

 

[mashinhead]

Well i managed to purchase i before it was pulled.

I typed this into Safari: camplus://enablevolumesnap but it didn't really do anything.

Am I doing something wrong? How do i enable it?

 

[samcraig]

nevermind

 

[samcraig]

Posting in here since this thread exists already:

Glad I have it as it's a great app regardless of the backdoor. I hope they "fix" it so that others can enjoy the app. I'm sure they will.

And while I agree that the developers went against the SDK and put in functionality that they shouldn't and therefor their app should have been pulled - I have to question Apple's initial response.

Yes - it can be confusing to a user if the buttons are remapped in an application where audio is important or an element. But in a camera app - no one is using the buttons to control volume. As long as the app releases the control of the volume buttons when exited - I see no harm. I think apps should be reviewed on a case by case basis as to whether or not the remapping REALLY is confusing.

Again - I understand and agree with policy. But this is another example how Apple wants to treat its customers as if they aren't too bright - or put another way - in need of parental care.

It's also peculiar given that iPhones come with no instructions in the box or on the phone. Yes - the UI is intuitive to a degree. But in many ways - it is definitely not and requires being shown, definite exploring or otherwise. So I find it a little hypocritical that Apple is deciding what is "confusing" and what isn't.

There are ways to communicate behavior changes. IE - a popup "This app is taking control of the volume buttons - note that until the app is closed, they will not function normally" or something like that

my .02

 

[Habakuk]

Allows you to take picture with a physical button (the volume buttone) instead of tapping the screen.

Actually you can shoot a series of full size photos when you keep your finger pressed on one of the volume buttons (or even both if you want)! About two per second on my iPhone 4 (iOS 4.0.2). I don't know if this additional feature has been mentioned before.

Edit: and to clarify: this bug occurs when you return to the startup menu from the lightbox by tapping "done" then tap "take photos"

I cannot replicate the mentioned "self shooting" bug with my Camera+ version 1.2.1. Tested three times: Works pretty well here. Occurs maybe only on iPhone 3GS? Or maybe because I have always some pictures in Lightbox?

Do you have the issue where your volume buttons wont work properly (ie: music controls) until you kill the app from the multitask bar?

When there is a music app running in the background (webradio, iPod) and you launch the "jailbroken" (=VolumeSnap activated) Camera+ viewfinder screen the sound will fade out (not on the other screens like lightbox). And the sound doesn't come back when you quit viewfinder. You'll have to start the player manually. But of course you get the "snap sound" on pressing the volume button.

Otherwise the volume buttons change their behavior (being a shutter release) only on viewfinder screen. As soon as you leave this screen, they will do nothing and you won't see the volume icon display. You have to quit Camera+ to multitask bar for getting this icon back (I did not have to kill the app from multitask bar).

I have not tested yet what happens when you get a call during photo shooting with "jailbroken" (well, not really) Camera+. Anyone? (I guess you can do everything normal on phonecalls except controlling volume.)

And by the way you can put the "special" www hyperlinks into notes app—it works like Safari. Pls have a look at the screenshot attached to this posting.

Maybe there will come even more web activated features instead of official updates? Listed in notes instead of settings? Something like camplus://enablevideo?

 

[foo1osophy]

Just bought the app a few days ago in preparation for my iPhone 4 delivery. Now it's not going to get updated ever again.

 

[Hisdem]

I bought that app a few weeks ago. See, this is exactly why I jailbroke my 3GS when jailbreakme.com came out. Apple doesn't like apps to enhance the iPhone, and while they do that, I can only say SCREW YOU. I WANT the phone to do EVERYTHING it is able of doing, whether you like it or not. After all, I paid for it, I have the right to have full functionality.

 

[samcraig]

I bought that app a few weeks ago. See, this is exactly why I jailbroke my 3GS when jailbreakme.com came out. Apple doesn't like apps to enhance the iPhone, and while they do that, I can only say SCREW YOU. I WANT the phone to do EVERYTHING it is able of doing, whether you like it or not. After all, I paid for it, I have the right to have full functionality.

I don't "disagree." At the same time - Apple does have the right to terminate support for anyone that HAS jailbroken. You choose to jailbreak "at your own risk" and "reward." And if that's the case, then Apple can choose to not warranty the device the second you do. Fair is fair...