Apple removed 181 e-cigarette-related apps from the app store

The potential health problems of e-cigarettes have now attracted the attention of many national and regional regulatory authorities, including the United States, which have already imposed restrictions on e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes, which have been advertised as healthier than traditional cigarettes, are now finding multiple problems, and more importantly, e-cigarettes are spreading to younger age groups. Apple has also responded to e-cigarette-related issues a few days ago, and the company announced that it has removed all e-cigarette-related applications from Apple’s app store.

“E-cigarette logo concept” by Samadara Ginige is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 

In fact, Apple itself is not allowed to sell e-cigarette-related applications, but those around e-cigarettes can also be reviewed by Apple. For example, e-cigarette information or related applications for e-cigarette control, Apple has not imposed restrictions on such applications, so it can be put on the shelves. Later, after many media reported e-cigarette-related hazards, Apple has banned e-cigarette-related applications from being put on the shelves, and the already-applied applications can continue to download. But now Apple decided to continue to strengthen the regulation of e-cigarette-related applications, and any application associated with e-cigarettes will be removed if it is released.

Apple has removed 181 e-cigarette-related apps from the app store this week, all of which have been previously reviewed and released. In the statement, Apple said in a statement that the company has carefully nurtured the app store and built it into a credible place for users, especially young people, to download apps. So Apple will often evaluate these applications and refer to the latest research evidence to determine which applications may affect the user’s physical and mental health. Apple said that many experts have recently attributed multiple lung injury and death cases to e-cigarettes, and even referred to the popularity of e-cigarettes as public health crises and epidemics. Apple also agrees with these views and therefore decided to update the Apple App Store’s developer policy, etc., and the e-cigarette-related applications are no longer available for download.

Via: CNBC