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Apple Censors Dictionary App, Forces 17+ Rating, Claims Dominion over English Language

Categories: Apple, Applications, iPhone
By: , IntoMobile
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 7:25 AM

iPhone dictionary application, Ninjawords, has had one hell of a ride getting into the iTunes App Store, and demonstrates even further the ridiculousness Apple’s review process.  In short, Ninjawords is a cheap dictionary app that pulls on Wiktionary for the latest definitions, links to synonyms, and offers views for favourite, recent and random lookups. Sounds cool, right? Well, what do you know, the dictionary has naughty words in it! And because Ninjawords could potentially enable a few prepubescents to get an idiotic laugh which they would otherwise have to visit their junior high school’s library to get, the folks at Matchstick Software had to run the app through the hoops four times (once because of a minor glitch), paring down words like ass, snatch, pussy, cock, and screw (which all have their non-vulgar definitions), and earning the app a 17+ age rating regardless.

Not to beat the dead Google Voice horse some more, but these kind of high-level decisions are exactly the reason I’ve never found Apple products, however shiny or functional, remotely attractive. If you need a dictionary app and want to help out a developer who has been through a lot of shit poop, you can grab Ninjawords from the iTunes App Store for $1.99.

[Daring Fireball via @saschasegan]

About The Author

Simon Sage

Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.

  • zato

    “and demonstrates even further the ridiculousness…”

    Really? Hey Ninjawords, what part of “NO SWEARWORDS AT ALL” in the SDK did you misunderstand?
    I see. You thought it didn’t apply to dictionaries. You thought it wouldn’t be a useful dictionary unless it defined fuck and motherfucker. You’re right. That would make it a much better app.