Two years ago, Big Brother Camera Security was a Top 25 Overall App, and merely two months later it was removed by Apple over privacy concerns. Since then, Big Brother was marked on my portfolio as "Banned from the App Store." Today marks 21 months since that day, and I am finally pleased to announce that Big Brother is available yet again on the App Store.
Dear Daniel Amitay,
The following app has been approved. The status has changed to Ready for Sale.
App Name: Big Brother Camera Security
For those who are unfamiliar, Big Brother Camera Security is a lockscreen imitation app (within the limitations of iOS) for your iPhone that takes a picture of anyone who attempts to gain access to your phone, and sends you an email along with GPS coordinates. It was removed from the App Store by Apple after I had blogged about the Most Common iPhone Passcodes as revealed by the app's usage. From then on, it has been referred to by Huffington Post Tech as one of the 9 Most Controversial Apps Censored By Apple.
I have held back from writing a post for quite a while, in the hopes that Big Brother would have been re-accepted to the App Store sooner, and that my next post could have been this one. The past 21 months consisted of a back-and-forth review process with the review team (13 separate rejections with 8 unique reasons). The result is a version 2.0 of Big Brother, with a number of enhancements and improvements, but also with a number of reductions and aesthetic changes. One thing is certain: having one of your apps banned is no fun--especially if your app was averaging a couple thousand downloads per day.
To those who have lamented Big Brother's disappearance and awaited it's return, I only wish that I had been able to get it to you sooner, and hope that you enjoy the latest 2.0 version.
Feeling like congratulating me? Download Big Brother from the App Store (it's free!)