Apple May Offer Age Controls for iPhone Apps

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One of the keys to Apple’s success is that while it doesn’t really engage in a public discussion about the flaws of its products, it does pay close attention. Often it will change course, nonchalantly claiming it had always meant do whatever its new plan turns out to be.

Apple’s App Store — arguably the most important technical development in recent years — resulted, at least in part, from the pressure created by people who were trying to unlock iPhones so they could add their own applications.

Now comes new details about the parental control system coming to the App Store. All iPhone applications will be rated in one of four age categories: 4+, 9+, 12+, or 17+. When Apple announced the coming 3.0 release of its iPhone software, it referred to parental controls for apps.

Such a system flows naturally from how use of the iPhone has evolved. My 6-year-old loves playing Hangman and tic-tac-toe on my iPhone, and I know parents of even younger children who find the interface engaging and easy to use. Rating apps by age would give parents some useful guidance.

A parental rating system would also solve some of the anomalies in the App Store. Apple refused to allow applications that play music from Nine Inch Nails or videos from “South Park,”
even though it sold the same content in the iTunes store. The music and videos have a parental control system already. The company also has rejected a news reading application, reportedly because it links to the topless women in British tabloids.

I assume the new system will allow Apple to accept more applications that it now rejects, on the theory that parents will be able to limit children from getting applications that can give them access to raunchy or violent material. (The iPhone and iTouch already offer a way for parents to block the devices’ Web browser and YouTube viewer.)

No doubt there will still be some standards around what sort of applications Apple will accept, even with the 17+ rating. (I think many Bits readers would debate whether the baby shaking game should be sold, even with the toughest restrictions.)

Many developers would still prefer that Apple be more open about what rules the company uses to determine whether to approve an application. But if forced to choose, I’ll bet those developers would rather have Apple simply find a way to approve more applications than to explain a more restrictive set of policies.


http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/apple-may-offer-new-age-controls-for-iphone-apps/