Apple pulls Camera+ following note about hidden feature
updated 12:45 pm EDT, Thu August 12, 2010
Company frowns on undocumented code
Apple has removed TapTapTap's popular Camera+ from the App Store. The title improves on the iPhone's default camera app by adding extra features, like software stabilization and touch-based exposure control. An update was in fact approved a little over a week ago, making the takedown all the more unusual.
Based on timing, the rejection appears to be in response to an August 11th Twitter post (now deleted), in which TapTapTap revealed that by visiting camplus://enablevolumesnap in Safari, people could make an iPhone's volume buttons act as a shutter control. Apple has a strict policy against undocumented functions, as these can be used to violate other rules (for example by allowing tethering workarounds), or in worst-case scenarios introduce malware. The company does allow benign Easter eggs, but it requires instructions on how to unlock them.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
hmmm
Seems odd that you could go to a URL and have a feature enabled in an app. Sounds like a security issue to me.
And is the shutter speed change a published API? One would think that would be more of a reason to take it down then having the capability and not 'documenting' it (for why would you need to document that you use a public API?). It would also explain why it was put in through a 'backdoor'.