Apple Removes Vaping Apps From the App Store
Apple is putting the hammer down on vaping apps. The company is removing all apps on the App Store that encourage or facilitate the use of e-cigarette and vaping products that were recently found to be harmful for users’ health.
Apple has been taking actions against such apps since June. Axios reports that the company stopped accepting new apps that promote vaping since June of this year, and it’s now removing all 181 vaping-related apps from the store, citing the health-related issues.
“Recently, experts ranging from the CDC to the American Heart Association have attributed a variety of lung injuries and fatalities to e-cigarette and vaping products, going so far as to call the spread of these devices a public health crisis and a youth epidemic. We agree, and we’ve updated our App Store Review Guidelines to reflect that apps encouraging or facilitating the use of these products are not permitted. As of today, these apps are no longer available to download,” an Apple spokesperson said.
Apple has never allowed the sale of vape cartridges directly from apps on the App Store, but there were a ton of vaping-related apps that ranged from letting users configure their vape, to vaping-related social networks which is pretty wild.