Gliph is a secure texting and Bitcoin service application that is available in the iOS store. In a recent blog post, Gliph highlighted changes to their app in preparation for iOS 7, chief of which was the decision to remove key Bitcoin functionality from the app, at Apple’s request. Many readers will remember it was not even a month ago that Coinbase’s iOS App was removed without warning from the App Store.
Gliph’s mobile messaging app for iOS will no longer be able to attach Bitcoin amounts to messages; however, Gliph still has this functionality and users are able to perform said action by using the Gliph website through the mobile Safari browser. Obviously, Apple does not have a vendetta against all Bitcoiners with the blatant intent to block Bitcoin transactions to happen on its networks. It just seems that apps with useful Bitcoin features such as sending of Bitcoin don’t seem to last long in the App Store. In comparison, Google’s Play Store has not haphazardly chopped Bitcoin related applications, for being able to send Bitcoins.
In a blog post, Gliph informs us of the state of Bitcoin mobile applications in the iOS app store and also in Google Play. Since Summer of 2011, developers have been trying to put apps in the App Store with “useful Bitcoin features” and many have fallen victim to Apple’s axe. Gliph is but the latest victim of Apple, and the timing couldn’t be more coincidental. Apple, that notoriously tight-lipped company, has been making covert rumblings over the last several years about a giant move into the mobile payments scene. They are doing just that with iBeacon and iOS7, where any of the millions of iOS7 compatible devices can be used with iBeacon and Bluetooth technology to allow Apple a stepping stone into the payments realm.
Very simply, Apple has consistently taken out the most popular useful Bitcoin applications in their App Store because they bear the thought of competing against an intrinsically better payments infrastructure. Oh well, good thing there are still Apps in the iOS App Store that are useful for Bitcoiners that haven’t yet ditched their iPhones, which increasing numbers of Bitcoiners are doing.
