Developer of Amphetamine says Apple agreed to let the Mac app stay up with its current name and logo, after previously threatening to remove it due to its name

Amphetamine is a free app that helps keep your Mac awake. Amphetamine has been on the Mac App Store since 2014 and it's been downloaded over 432,800 times.

GitHub 2021-01-04 William C. Gustafson

Context & Ripple Effects

Amphetamine’s developer had said Apple was poised to remove the long-running Mac utility over its name; Apple has now reversed that position, preserving the app’s existing name and logo. The reversal follows the developer’s public account of the threatened removal.

The episode sits within a store-review system where Apple can apply naming and policy rules case by case. A later one-character X listing similarly drew attention to apparent flexibility in App Store naming requirements.

First-order effects

Amphetamine stays available on the Mac App Store under its current branding, avoiding an immediate delisting or a forced rename for its developer and existing users.
Apple’s decision resolves the specific name-and-logo dispute without requiring Amphetamine to change the identity it has used on the store since 2014.

Second-order effects

Other Mac developers facing naming objections gain a concrete example that public review disputes can end in an exception or reversal, increasing pressure on Apple to explain comparable decisions.
Apple’s discretion over storefront rules becomes more visible to developers, making consistency in enforcement part of the practical risk of App Store distribution.

Third-order effects

Repeated exceptions to naming rules would shift App Store governance toward precedent shaped by individual review outcomes rather than rules developers can apply predictably.
The enduring issue is platform gatekeeper accountability: as Apple retains final distribution control, developers have stronger incentives to document and publicize disputed enforcement.

The trend: App Store governance is increasingly judged not only by written rules, but by whether Apple applies them consistently when developers challenge individual decisions.

Discussion

@x74353 William C. Gustafson on x
Just got off a call with @Apple. Appeal accepted and Amphetamine will remain on the @AppStore. Thank you all for your comments, opinions, and action. We may not all agree, but I am happy we all still have the freedom to express ourselves today. ❤️ https://twitter.com/...
@dhh @dhh on x
Hey @vestager, may I posit a simple New Years wish? Treat the app stores as common carriers. Regulate the rates such that all developers pay the same, and according to cost. That denial of service can't be this ludicrously capricious. And do it in 2021, not 2031 🥂🙏❤️ https://twit…
@dhh @dhh on x
The casualties of Apple's capricious gatekeeping are everywhere. Every time you submit an app update, you're running the risk that something that was fine for years suddenly isn't. Completely insufferable. Access to main computing platforms must be regulated as common carriers. h…
@x74353 William C. Gustafson on x
@Apple has threatened to remove Amphetamine from the @AppStore if it is not completely rebranded and all “illegal drug” references aren't removed by 1/12/21. Help #SaveAmphetamine with a RT and by signing this petition! https://chng.it/...
@dhh @dhh on x
Apple: This app that simply keeps your computer from going to sleep is promoting drug use. Also Apple: GTA 5 gets our Editors Choice for actively basing gameplay around drug use and drug trafficking 👏👏 https://twitter.com/...
@chrismessina @chrismessina on x
TIL Apple has its own App Store Review Board, like Facebook has its @OversightBoard. Slowly tech companies are replacing democratic determination of acceptable content/speech by sheer virtue of their gatekeeping position in the information market. /cc @mmasnick #SaveAmphetamine h…
@lapcatsoftware Jeff Johnson on x
@chronic The thing is, this wasn't even app review. The developer didn't submit an update. Apple just came out of the blue and threatened to remove the app from the store. Is there even a “system” for that?
@dhh @dhh on x
As soon as an App Store reaches a dominant market position, it'll start shaking down platform participants by using exclusion as a cudgel. Apple has simply set the gold standard for this type of abuse, giving Huawei the road map. https://twitter.com/...
@bruceqburke Bruce Burke on x
Gustafson told The Verge he got a call Saturday from #Apple granting his appeal— but he didn't have insight into how the app was flagged in the first place. “I specifically asked ⁦@Apple⁩ on the phone if this was a result of customer complaints ... https://www.theverge.com/...
@tomwarren Tom Warren on x
Apple can literally kill your business overnight with its App Store rules. iOS desperately needs changes to allow other stores https://twitter.com/...
@krzyzanowskim Marcin K on x
always go to the press, it will only make things better https://twitter.com/...
@dhh @dhh on x
When Apple faces enough bad press on a particular case, they've started to fold quicker and quicker. But these one-off pardons only serve to protect the regime, and delay real reforms. It's utterly fucked. But in the mean time, AMPHETAMINE 🥂 https://www.theverge.com/...
@lapcatsoftware Jeff Johnson on x
@chronic Apparently the appeal was filed only after talking on the phone with Apple a couple times. It's confusing because the option to appeal app removal is not presented until you submit and login. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@ow @ow on x
These stories of Apple arbitrarily punishing apps that have existed for years are getting exhausting https://github.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@woodyatpch Bill Woodcock on x
Apple backing themselves into a corner over something ridiculous. I hope they can see their way to doing the right thing here. Editing content and building hardware: two difficult jobs, expertise not transferable between them. https://twitter.com/...
@neha_aks @neha_aks on x
Hello @Apple, please stop going insane. As a loyal user and a big time fan of the clever branding and efficient functioning of this app, Amphetamine is one the best app store has to offer. Stop harassing developers, thanks. https://twitter.com/...
@i0n1c Stefan Esser on x
This is another reason why the EU and the USA must put an end to @apple's App Store lock in. It must become illegal for a vendor like Apple to be able to lock out 3rd party apps based on arbitrary discriminatory rules. https://twitter.com/...
@craiggrannell Craig Grannell on x
FFS, Apple, this is stupid beyond belief. This app is bloody amazing—I find it essential. I can't imagine people have griped about the name, so this is extremist puritanical thinking, pure and simple. https://twitter.com/...
@chronic Will Strafach on x
the app review appeal process is real and works. it would be fair to say these problems should not pop up on the first place, but it is nice to see incremental improvements. https://twitter.com/...
@dhh @dhh on x
Apple's rejection letter suggests studying Programming 101. Wtf. How on earth did they think he made it so far as submitting an app? Although I do like that they readily admit that their rule for what to allow is “whatever the fuck we feel like”. Sounds like an antitrust exhibit.…
@ylin_ Yi Lin on x
@dhh But after I submitted to App Store (multiple times), I get an inane response that says “We found that the usefulness of your app is limited by the minimal amount of content or features it includes.” Basically, they want me to add more features to complicate the app.
@ylin_ Yi Lin on x
@dhh Forgive me for going on a rant. I once created an app to solve a simple problem: I want a menu app that lets me select from good desktop wallpapers collected from the internet with one click. Because of that goal, the ideal design is minimal. Just a scrolling & clickable men…
@starfire2258 Sean Hollister on x
Lot going on here but maybe “we approved this app years ago and it's never been a problem” and “nobody actually complained” should be flags before Apple stomps on someone's business? https://twitter.com/...
@chriswelch Chris Welch on x
It takes an uproar for this stuff to get resolved in the right way. Every. Single. Time. https://twitter.com/...
@simianlogic @simianlogic on x
I rebuilt a few games to be 64-bit in 2018 (completely unnecessary), and now one of those has been kicked off until I submit a new version that “follows the latest App Store Review Guidelines.” I appealed to ask which guidelines and they responded: resubmit and we'll tell you. ht…
@atomkirk Adam Kirk on x
The guidlines and citation dont even agree. Guideline: “cant encourage use” citation: “contains reference to”. If Apple's going to do this whole walled garden thing, they really need to make it way less arbitrary. https://twitter.com/...
@dunglas Kvin Dunglas on x
Apple wants to ban the “Amphetamine” app in the name of moral order: “Specifically, your app name and icon include references to controlled substances, pills.” Jobs was a promoter of LSD, Cook and the moderators should try too, it may open their minds. https://github.com/...
@furioursus @furioursus on x
This isn't a huge issue. Drug abuse is a huge issue and while it's silly that Apple hasn't enforced this before, all that's required is a name change and icon adjustment to not encourage the use of uppers. Find another windmill, Quixote. https://twitter.com/...
@tolmasky Francisco Tolmasky on x
It kind of feels like how on Day 1 of the Trump presidency he just tried to get better hotel deals with foreign countries. It was like, really, that was the big plan? That's how you're going to abuse the office? At least do something more diabolical! This is just... boring. Tacky…
@brockgs Brock Gunter-Smith on x
@dhh I expect to be insulted & attacked for this, however: 1. I love the app 2. Big Pharma and the FDA disgust me (generally) 3. I don't like that a controlled substance that is habit forming, ripe for abuse and overdose is the brand image 4. Apple is puritanical, that's their ch…
@okonetchnikov Andrey Okonetchnikov on x
That's pretty much what happened to @colorsnapper! We wanted to submit a tiny update and it got rejected after years being on the Mac App Store. https://twitter.com/...
@tolmasky Francisco Tolmasky on x
As I hit “Buy Movie” in the Prime Video app (which only Amazon is allowed to do), it saddens me that the entire AppStore infrastructure is wielded as a comically complicated bargaining chip just so that Apple and Amazon can bully each other into... not charging each other fees.
@dhh @dhh on x
“Apple contacted and informed me that, after 6 years on the Mac App Store, Amphetamine had spontaneously began violating one of Apple's App Store Guidelines”, another day, another capricious, inconsistent, unfair, backdated, incompetent abuse of power. https://github.com/...
@tolmasky Francisco Tolmasky on x
Or, imagine Apple realizing their awesome power in the AppStore and dumping the Breitbart app. Maybe doing something bold with https://news.app/ to combat fake news. That's something worth facing anti-trust scrutiny for! Nope. Apple prefers to just dump Chinese games.
@lapcatsoftware Jeff Johnson on x
I've seen a lot of ridiculous claims by Apple over the years, but this one may take the cake. https://twitter.com/...

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