No Easy WiFi in the Apple App Store
March 5th, 2010 by dave
You might notice that the main Easy WiFi application is not currently available in Apple’s app store. We actually removed availability of the app a few days back because the behavior wasn’t quite right on some devices and networks and we wanted to ready a new version. Ironically, we got hit in the much reported “WiFi scanner” purge that Apple did yesterday, so Apple removed our already unavailable app!
Now, the Network version of Easy WiFi isn’t a WiFi scanner, although it does try to do smart stuff with WiFi on the iPhone OS, and this may have triggered Apple’s action. Nonetheless, we’re working on a new version which should calm their concerns and it should be in process within the next few hours. All being well, we’ll have a new app approved and available soon. Watch this space.
March 8th, 2010 at 6:20 am
At the Wireless Geographic Logging Engine ( http://wigle.net ), a database and mapping system for “Net Stumbling” or “War Driving” hobbyists, we’ve seen the iPhone provide a low barrier-to-entry for this hobby. It combines a GPS with a Wifi radio, but it can only work when apps like Wifi-Where, WiFiFoFum and others are allowed to exist.
These apps were inspected for months before finally getting through the nebulous App Store approval process. Some have been available for months or even years. Now, arbitrarily, they are banned. If they use API calls that Apple didn’t want them to, why were they approved? Why weren’t the developers contacted behind the scenes to address any fiddly technical issues Apple might foresee?
As users all we see is a useful app, that was paid for, that now can not be updated. We can’t find the least used frequency channels to set our access points to, can’t take surveys of campus wireless coverage or find rogue wifi on a corporate network. And we can’t help with wireless mapping projects. There’s no app for that.