In context: Apple tree threatened to remove longtime macOS utility Amphetamine from the Mac App Store in late Dec for violating the App Store Guidelines due to the app's name. However, Apple has since changed its position after the app's developer successfully appealed the decision.

The app Amphetamine is a uncomplicated but useful macOS utility which tin be configured to go on a Mac awake, preventing the computer from going into slumber mode. Information technology's been bachelor on the Mac App Shop for some half dozen years, where it'due south accrued over a chiliad favorable ratings from users. Given the nature of the app, its name makes sense; amphetamine is a central nervous system stimulant commonly used in the treatment of conditions like narcolepsy.

That's why developer William Gustafson was so surprised when Apple got in affect in belatedly December to threaten Amphetamine with removal from the Mac App Shop.

A representative cited App Store Guideline 1.4.3, which states: "Apps that encourage consumption of tobacco or vape products, illegal drugs, or excessive amounts of alcohol are non permitted on the App Shop. Apps that encourage minors to consume any of these substances will exist rejected. Facilitating the sale of marijuana, tobacco, or controlled substances (except for licensed pharmacies) isn't allowed."

Apple told Gustafson that to avert removal from the Mac App Store, he'd have to rebrand Amphetamine completely; Apple was unhappy with both the app's proper noun and its icon, which takes the form of a minor pill. This not but meant a lot of work for the developer, but it besides posed serious risks to Amphetamine'southward current brand sensation – something Gustafson had built upwards over years.

Fortunately, later making an entreatment and speaking with an Apple tree representative, the company swiftly backtracked. According to Gustafson, Apple at present realizes that the app'southward proper noun is being used in a metaphorical sense, and that the macOS utility isn't promoting inappropriate use of controlled substances.

While this is undoubtedly good news for Amphetamine, it's all the same disappointing to see another case of Apple tree's unusual approach to enforcing App Store Guidelines. It seems bizarre that a utility as popular (and innocent) as Amphetamine was placed at the center of this dispute, particularly when countless other macOS apps violate Apple'south guidelines far more overtly.