One of the newest additions to the Apple App Store tracks every U.S. drone strike made around the world in real time, and sends push notifications to smartphones every time one occurs.
App developer Josh Begley finally got “Metadata+” approved by Apple after several name changes and five rejections a year and a half after submitting it for approval.
Originally titled “Drones+” and then “Dronestream,” Begley had to both change the name and remove the app’s content completely after Apple rejected the application for low entertainment value, narrow audience appeal, and objectionable content.
The California tech giant approved the app Friday after Begley’s latest name change, based on the role metadata plays in drone targeting, and describing it as “Real-time updates on national security.”
Begley filled-in the app’s data and programming again after it was approved.
“At the end of the day, of course, the app is not about Apple or Android or the process for approving apps,” Begley said in a Mashable report. “It’s about tracking and mapping covert war. Like @dronestream [Begley’s Twitter handle], I want it to be a living archive of hauntings — those which ghost the landscapes we create, and those which ghost the landscapes some of us will never have to see.”