Would it be somewhat morbid if you could download an app that would basically track drone kills conducted over in the Middle East? After all reading about the death and carnage caused by war in the newspapers alone is a little disconcerting, let alone being notified in real-time whenever there are drone strikes. Then again we guess there are some who are curious and want to be updated all the time, and now there’s an app for that called Metadata+. Developed by John Begley, this app has been in the works for several years now but has constantly been rejected by Apple, originally claiming to be not entertaining enough, before it was told to Begley that his app might have content that users might find questionable.Begley manages to pull data for his app from the UK’s Bureau of Investigative Journalism where it shows the location of the drone strike on a map, and will even tell you the names and activities that the deceased were engaging in at the time of their death. Once again, very morbid. It is surprising that Apple actually approved the app, but as it turns out this was done with a little trickery and use of Apple’s loopholes. According to FastCo Exist, “[Begley] says he was told by an Apple employee that even though his app only took data from reports in the news, drones fell into a category of ‘concepts’ that the company decides not to advance. If he broadened his scope, Begley would be good to go.”
Begley then resubmitted his app and then filled it in with drone strike information once the app had gone live. We’re pretty sure Apple can’t be too pleased about it and we have to wonder if it is only a matter of time before it is removed from the App Store, but in the meantime the app is still live and available for download, so for those interested, hit up the iTunes App Store for the details.