There is no secret that there are many stalkers and creeps all over the internet. They spend their time snooping and harassing on other people's social media and profiles. As a result, it is no surprise that an app designed to specifically notify you of other people's activities won't be tolerated.
Recently, an app called Like Patrol was removed from Apple's (NASDAQ: APPL) App Store. Like Patrol charged users $80 per year to tell users every time someone they were following liked or commented on another user's photo. The app was deleted from the store thanks to Instagram, which is a subsidiary of Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), since Like Patrol was made to notify users of activity on Instagram. Instagram believed that Like Patrol was violating its guidelines on data privacy.
Like Patrol first appeared on the App Store in July and was brought to Instagram's attention by CNet. In October, Instagram sent a cease and desist letter to the developers of Like Patrol to take down the app. At that time, the app had about 300 users. Eventually, Apple banned the app but the developers of Like Patrol did not take this lightly.
Like Patrol's Mexico-based developer and founder, Sergio Luis Quintero, insisted the app merely used public data. Quintero told reporters that he plans to fight Apple's ban. Like Patrol was aimed at people who were in relationships. The purpose of the app was to allow partners to keep tabs on each other's Instagram activities. "New guy? New girl? What are they up to on Instagram? With Like Patrol you can see the posts they specifically like," Like Patrol's official website promoted.
"We strongly believe that our app does not violate Apple policies, we plan to appeal this decision in the coming days," Quintero said. "If our app's functionality did violate any policies, then Instagram would have violated the exact same policies since 2011 to 2019 with the Following tab. Why weren't they taken down?" Quintero's quote, of course, is describing Instagram's "Following Tab." The Following Tab allowed users to see the likes, comments and activity of people they follow. Quintero said and described his app as Instagram's Following Tab on steroids. Like Patrol was just a more advanced version of a feature Instagram already had.
After learning that users were surprised to learn that their activities could be tracked by this "Following Tab" feature, Instagram removed the tab last month. However, Instagram claimed that they removed the feature because a small amount of its users used the tab regularly. Like Patrol service proved to be very popular with some users. Nevertheless, many technology blogs claimed that the app encouraged creepy behavior. "Apps such as Like Patrol represent just one of the ways that technology has helped people stalk others," Malwarebytes, a cybersecurity company, stated.
Quintero did not accept the criticism his app received. Like Patrol's founder stated that he would be making the app's tools open source for anybody to use in the coming days. Like Patrol may be gone from the App Store, but it's obvious that there can be many others like it on the rise.