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Comment by zapu | Hacker News Reader

It is named ScreenSaver, when it clearly does not function as "screen saver" on iOS device. Apple is right.

The Fart App doesn't fart. It is not possible to make an iOS device produce flatulence. Therefore, it is misnamed and the name is confusing to users.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-fart-app/id370742001?mt=8

Other computing devices have screen savers, so it's why many would be "mislead" to think it's an actual screen saver app that magically enables their iDevice to show screen savers.

The subset of iOS users who would consider an instance of iOS hardware to be "a computing device" is quite small, particularly given the app store policies which discourage apps which allow iOS devices to be used for general purpose computing.

And in any event, the App Store contains products of similar functionality, e.g. live wallpaper.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/live-wallpapers-pro/id4994091...

Yes, and look at the reviews. All of them were deceived, they think it's a scam, they demand a refund, they probably feel less safe about buying anything from App Store again, and other iOS developers pay (only slightly) the price of this "scammy" app. Apple should get rid of all such apps – it's better for the business (of Apple themselves and other iOS developers).

Why they approved "live wallpapers", but not "xScreenSaver"? I don't know. It sucks, it seems that their reviews are not consistent.

But just because they made a mistake (like approving "live wallpapers", which IMO is a misleading app created solely for the purpose of milking a few hundred dollars from naïve App Store customers) does not mean that it's okay to do it again.

Edit: look at the other apps created by the same developer: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/color-texting-for-message/id4... and http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/color-keyboard-pro-pimp-color... and http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/icon-skins-with-builder/id429... - all of them are misleading, making you believe you can do things on the iOS that you actually can't.

If Apple was seriously concerned about the quality of apps, there would not be 650,000 of them. Incidentally, your post supports that thesis.

It doesn't work as a "screen saver" on most devices, as the risk of phosphor burn in is pretty low nowadays. Isn't it still called that in OS X regardless of display type?

Also, a "fart button" is not physical object, can we still call it a "button" (Ceci n'est pas une bouton de pet.)?

Hacker News is not "hacker news".

JWZ should offer to change the name, but only if Apple starts selling fruit.

And they never really did specify as to how we should "Think Different".

How are they right? I really want to understand your point of view.

Do you mean they are not right because the app does not save a screen from anything? What if you are using your iPhone to project something on an plasma screen where a screen saver can save a screen from "burn ins".

I am really interested in your thoughts.

The app cannot function as you'd expect a screen saver to do: it won't start running after a period of inactivity. That is outside the scope of functionality available to apps.

As such, yeah the name is a little misleading.

United States of America is a misleading name. It is not united.

My point is that XScreenSaver is a proper name, and by now should be considered to have earned its name.

Last time I checked, I lived in a country composed of 50 states, united into one nation.

iOS does not support screensavers. The app's name is misleading. It seems pretty cut and dry to me.

Hm. But you can still use it for the purpose screen savers were originally designed to do: save screens from getting burn ins. But agreed: it can't run automatically after a period of inactivity.

Off topic: As a child I loved to look at screen savers that I manually started for hours wondering how they work and how long it took to build them...

No, Apple is definitely wrong.

"Wrong" how? Morally wrong? Against their rules?

They have clause about not misleading users and they are enforcing it.

Wrong, as in unreasonable and irrational.

I'm glad that my very non-techie friends won't come across this app in the App Store and start having anxiety over whether they need a screen saver for their iPhone. Or, worse yet, start opening it up every time they're not going to be using their phones for a while.

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