Every App That Apple’s Tried to Kill

Apps perish — often . It ’s all part of the technological circle of life where alpha predatory animal in multi - billion dollar mark dens feast on more vulnerable , less cash - infused fair game . And one company that has always had an unsatiable T. Rex - storey hungriness is Apple .

In some mode , it ’s just adept business . Buy an app that ’s doing something well , blend it together with a enormously popular mobile or screen background OS , and spit out the off-white . But often , those apps are the golden ones . Other apps just die , clearing the room for a pre - loaded app that fills the same need . Some dying are ready , and some are slow . Some apps just languish into obscurity .

So , we decide to memorialise all the utter ( or dying ) apps plow untimely blows by Apple ’s hand , and will go along to update this listing as the body count rises . Here ’s a look at all the apps Apple ’s slain throughout the eld , and the doomed ones still on its putting to death list .

F.lux

Interred January 11 , 2016

F.lux is the newest member to fall in this assemblage of forlorn apps . Started in 2009 , F.lux is the best way to keep your laptop from make for mayhem on your sopor docket . The app intelligently controls your laptop computer display , cut down the discharge of downcast brightness which inquiry hint is one reasonableness for insomniac night .

However , its mobile app was n’t so lucky . Because of iOS ’s closed ecosystem , F.lux built an app outside of the App Store that any technologically savvy person could sideload onto their iPhone . Apple throw a fit , and the app was shut down only to be replaced months later by Apple ’s “ Night Shift , ” with all the same blue lightness - define tech included . The bad part isthis heartfelt letterby F.lux developer receipt — with a grin — that they just got boned .

Skitch

Interred June 2 , 2014

Skitch , the once - popular online annotation tool snatch up by Evernote back in 2011 , had a good thing going . It was one of the first onscreen markup tools , and it was on every imaginable platform — even Windows Phone . Although itsown bungled updates certainly did n’t help issue , Apple ’s introduction of “ Markup ” in Yosemite was a death knell . As recent as late 2015 , Evernote ’s pulled the app from all political program except Mac OS . Skitch is a fighter , but the app will most likely be left on life support .

Boxcar

Interred June 6 , 2011

Boxcar used to be scream a“vital app”for iPhone , an app that smartly served up notifications , which , let ’s be dependable , iOS should have been doing in the first place . Apple finally got around to fixing that oversight with iOS 5 . After other subsequent iOS updates , Apple slow chipped forth at Boxcar ’s usefulness . In 2012,things began looking grim , and we have n’t really try much from Boxcar since .

ISIS/Softcard

bury September 9 , 2014

In 2010 , the joint venture among T - Mobile , AT&T , and Verizon foretell ISIS Mobile Payments was already playing a biz of catchup since efforts in South Korea and Japan had a sizable read/write head start . Five days later , it ’s been completely break up ( literally ) by the competition . Although Apple was only one of the knives in this “ Et tu , Brute ” blackwash , the introduction of Apple Pay for certain did n’t help subject . Google level Softcard for partsin February 2015 .

HopStop

Interred June 8 , 2015

In the grand system of things , HopStop is really one of the lucky single . Apple kept HopStop alive more than two eld after its leverage , but theapp officially shutter this past September . Before Google Maps added built - in transportation direction , HopStop was a MUST for any savvy , city - living iPhone user . Its last is made worse by the fact that its soul is apply hostage inside Apple Maps , which is still inferior compare to Google ’s own digital cartography .

All Flashlight apps

Interred June 10 , 2013

All those torch apps ? Meet iOS 7 ’s Control Center .

You had a effective run .

Bump

June 10 , 2013

Bump had a rough 2013 . In June , Apple innovate AirDrop for iOS , which mimicked Bump ’s easy elbow room of file - share-out but without the needless Bump action . Two years before iOS 7 ’s release , Google buys Bump , most potential to shore up its competitor Android Beam . Three calendar month after Google kill Bump .

Goodbye , Bump .

Auxo (and a zillion other jailbreak apps)

Auxo represents a family of apps too numerous to count in just one blog station , so I ’ll let the tale of Auxo speak for them all . Jailbreaking an iPhone used to bea great means of making your iPhone do precisely what you want it to . It go around Apple ’s sometimes creatively kick the bucket restrictions and became its own fluid frontier . But because of its lawfully dubious nature , that frontier also became a killing field for Apple ’s iOS . The good feature of speech like Auxo for better multitasking , but other apps like Clockify , DeepEnd , and perhaps the most notable ripoff accusal , Wi - Fi Sync , met an ill-timed demise after Apple ’s with child bone refresh with iOS 7 in 2013 .

But it remains true that the jailbroken iPhone of today is the prescribed iOS of tomorrow .

iFlow Reader (and others)

Interred May 11 , 2011

iFlow Reader was one victim of Apple ’s bountiful policy shift in 2011 , requiring apps sell books or other mediato pony up 30 percent of its total earnings to Appleif the subscription come from an iOS app . As iFlow Reader ’s laminitis stated after the update insurance policy , the company did n’t make a profit above 30 percent , meaningthey were actually losing money per transaction .

The crux of the matter is that Apple is now requiring us , as well as all other ebook sellers , to give them 30 % of the merchandising price of any ebook that we deal from our iOS app . Unfortunately , because of the “ authority manakin ” that has been adopted by the largest publishers , our crude security deposit on ebooks after paying the middleman is less than 30 % , which means that we would have to take a loss on all ebooks sold . This is not a sustainable business model .

Cold - hearted .

Swell

inter July 30 , 2014

Swell was a damn unspoilt podcast app , hailed as the“Pandora for lecture Radio,”that Apple buy in 2014 . Two days later it was travel . consecrate fans of the app can take some solace that it most probable lives on in Apple ’s iTunes Radio and Podcasts avail . in reality , nevermind . Those apps are terrible .

Beats Music

Beats Music is more like the story of a Phoenix . At its best , the app was a passable music avail but definitely not a considerable threat against pullulate queen , Spotify . With the boastful purchase of Beats in 2014 and the subsequent release of Apple Music , it was fashion into something good . Although few will lament the honest-to-god Beats platform , it was the first of the music cyclosis culling that ’s led to Rdio ’s dying as well .

What’s left on Apple’s kill list?

Spotify

Instapaper

Apple ’s been trying to kill Instapaper since adding Reading Lists to Safari . At first , it did n’t stick since you had to be on-line to register your favored inclination . So then they sum up offline reading , and Instapaper proved resilient . Once Apple supply a new Sidebar for Mac , it adjudicate once again to kill the popular reader .

Instapaper continues to be the unkillable roach .

DropBox

Dropbox is get going through a bit of a crisisafter belt down off Mailbox and Carouselin readiness for its big makeover . Apple ’s iCloud , along with Google Drive and Microsoft ’s OneDrive , has made a big move into Dropbox ’s orbit of influence , and the former swarm work out front ball carrier is beginning to palpate the rival .

Dropbox may surprise with its ambitious relaunch , but facing down the world ’s three large tech company is n’t really the position you need to be in .

Password Managers

word managers , despitea few embarrassing security lapses , are still hanging around even though Apple ’s introduced its own solution to the multiple word conundrum with iCloud Keychain as well as fingermark biometrics . However , people still seem to favor Lastpass or 1Password for the time being .

Skype

The “ video recording phone ” is the most archaic “ the future is now ” litmus test test , and Skype in reality brought the idea into far-flung realisation . Then Apple created FaceTime . Skype still has its inherent advantages , mainly that you could call people who do n’t have an iPhone . It also does n’t have the wonderfully impressive andgrowing translation capableness . Microsoft ’s ability to outpace the contender is one understanding why Skype is n’t expire anywhere soon .

WhatsApp is doing juuuuuust fine outside the United States , but its US hegemony is less certain . With iOS 8 , Apple did damn near everything it could to take all of the app ’s best ideas and broil it into iMessages , like inline images , interpreter message , ego - destruct messages , and general UI designing . At the time , the CEO of WhatsApp was none too pleased .

very flattering to see Apple " borrow " numerous WhatsApp features into iMessage in iOS 8#innovation

— jan koum ( @jankoum)June 2 , 2014

However , WhatsApp ’s also been accused ofcopying quite a piece from BBM . Ah , so it goes .

Evernote

Io 9 provided a giant raise to its Notes app , which was a not - so - insidious headshot at Evernote and other simplistic note - taking apps . Evernote has its consecrated fanbase , but the apphas emphatically seen better mean solar day . Apple probably would n’t mind toppling that note - consider kingdom if it could .

Flipboard

When Apple announced News for iOS 9 , my first thought was “ Flipboard is going to be wee-wee . ” On October 6,The Wall Street Journal reportedthat Flipboard was still growing despite the launching of Apple ’s News app . Three hebdomad later on , WSJ report a less affirmative taradiddle , a floundering news program reader lose from brain drainage and disquieted investor . Flipboard stay on its struggle against Apple , and still remains a damn good word reviewer . But after reading through Apple ’s voracious appetence for software program , you ca n’t help but recollect that Flipboard is just another bushed app walking .

[ Top image bySam Woolley ]

Are there other apps that should be allow for mansion in our Apple graveyard ? get in touch with the source at[email protected]or impart suggestions below .