Apple yanks 'Bang with Friends' app from iOS App Store

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Facebook-connected hookup app "Bang with Friends" was pulled from Apple's App Store on Friday, with the removal coming a little over one week following the app's debut.

BWF


Bang with Friends, the Facebook integrated app that lets users hookup with friends on the ubiquitous social network, hit the App Store last week Wednesday, but it seems Apple found something amiss with the title, leading to a takedown earlier today.

The Bang with Friends mobile webpage is also down with a "Be Right Back" message, though it is unclear if the two issues are related. According to cofounder Colin Hodge, Apple has not yet given an official response as to why the app was removed, reports CNET.

While the app's title may be somewhat risqu?, the service behind it is more akin to an anonymous matchmaking service limited to a Facebook user's friends list. To use "BWF," a Facebook account holder signs up with the service and selects friends with which they would like to have a sexual encounter. If that friend is also a member of BWF, and has likewise selected the first person as a potential match, emails are sent to each user notifying them a match has been made.

The service is anonymous, meaning users will not be alerted when a friend wants to "hookup" unless they have also shown interest.

Apple has not yet responded to requests regarding the pulling of BWF, but the company has recently taken a stricter stance on apps that contain questionable content. For example, Twitter-owned Vine was stripped of its App Store's Editors' Choice designation after the app's curators mistakenly featured a snippet showing hardcore pornographic content.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 55
    bdkennedy1bdkennedy1 Posts: 1,459member
    It's not like it's called "Bang Your Friends". Geez.
  • Reply 2 of 55
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    What does bang with friends mean anyway? Is there some other slang for bang besides sex? My guess is Apple got complaints from parents and perhaps will ask the app developers to change the name.
  • Reply 3 of 55
    griffogriffo Posts: 1member


    Looks like a stupid app anyway. Why would you want an app to approach or create a potential match?!? You'd just save the hassle and approach her yourself the "normal" way that has been done for thousands and thousands of years. These kinds of apps bore me.

  • Reply 4 of 55
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member


    It's a promo app for Django Unchained.

  • Reply 5 of 55
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    rogifan wrote: »
    What does bang with friends mean anyway? Is there some other slang for bang besides sex? My guess is Apple got complaints from parents and perhaps will ask the app developers to change the name.

    You know like when you play Cops and Robbers. Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang
  • Reply 6 of 55
    solsunsolsun Posts: 763member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Griffo View Post


    Looks like a stupid app anyway. Why would you want an app to approach or create a potential match?!? You'd just save the hassle and approach her yourself the "normal" way that has been done for thousands and thousands of years. These kinds of apps bore me.



    It's mainly a gay hook-up app.  


     


    On iOS it was called "BWF,"  on Android it's actually called "Bang With Friends."

  • Reply 7 of 55
    christophbchristophb Posts: 1,482member
    rogifan wrote: »
    What does bang with friends mean anyway? Is there some other slang for bang besides sex? My guess is Apple got complaints from parents and perhaps will ask the app developers to change the name.

    Coordinate gangstuh play dates?
  • Reply 8 of 55
    christophbchristophb Posts: 1,482member
    dasanman69 wrote: »
    You know like when you play Cops and Robbers. Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang

    Pretty sure that's not legal anymore.
  • Reply 9 of 55
    mrrodriguezmrrodriguez Posts: 215member
    I don't know why app developers of sex related content even bother making iOS apps. They should just stick to making android apps, that's where they'll find the most leniency.
  • Reply 10 of 55
    v5vv5v Posts: 1,357member


    I hope the reason for this app being offline is something other than Apple being prudish. So it's sexual in nature... so what? It doesn't expose minors to inappropriate material and its intended purpose doesn't affect anyone but those who use it. Carry on bangin' as far as I'm concerned.

  • Reply 11 of 55
    solsunsolsun Posts: 763member
    I don't know why app developers of sex related content even bother making iOS apps. They should just stick to making android apps, that's where they'll find the most leniency.

    There is really no sexual content in the app. It just basically sends email info between FB friends who have stated they are interested in each other. It's basically a matchmaking service that is utilized mainly by the gay community. Nothing offensive in the app itself.
  • Reply 12 of 55
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    dasanman69 wrote: »
    You know like when you play Cops and Robbers. Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang

    For this app that's more like Cocks and Bobbers.
  • Reply 13 of 55
    malaxmalax Posts: 1,598member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Griffo View Post


    Looks like a stupid app anyway. Why would you want an app to approach or create a potential match?!? You'd just save the hassle and approach her yourself the "normal" way that has been done for thousands and thousands of years. These kinds of apps bore me.



     


    Because the app let's you express an interest (more than an interest, apparently) in someone with less risk of embarrassing rejection.  I don't know why it needs to be an app though.  I'm surprised Facebook doesn't just implement this option (a new version of "poke" maybe).


     


    It would be ironic if the disappearance is based on the Words With Friends people complaining about this app ripping off their name (ironic, since they ripped off Scrabble--badly but successfully).

  • Reply 14 of 55
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member


    Make it a web app and move on.

  • Reply 15 of 55
    tipootipoo Posts: 1,141member


    Yet they won't pull apps which let people rate your appearance and place not so subtle tags about the size of your private bits and link that information with your facebook account without your consent (they can do that since that "friend" gives consent to give information about their friends list), and is also sexist since only one gender can see the comments, aka Lulu? BWF seems morally superior to that to me, at least in this one it's anonymous and consensual for *both* parties. 

  • Reply 16 of 55
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by tipoo View Post


    Yet they won't pull apps which let people rate your appearance and place not so subtle tags about the size of your private bits and link that information with your facebook account without your consent (they can do that since that "friend" gives consent to give information about their friends list), 



     


    Well that is the trouble. You friended them. Someone pulls that crap then unfriend them. 

  • Reply 17 of 55
    tipootipoo Posts: 1,141member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


     


    Well that is the trouble. You friended them. Someone pulls that crap then unfriend them. 



    But that's the wonderful thing about it, because of the genitals I was born with I can't see who wrote the reviews or even the content of them. 

  • Reply 18 of 55
    Is it only me who finds it rather sad and pathetic that Apple bans a rather innocuous app like this, and yet games that involve death, destruction, and graphic bloodshed pass without so much as a mild comment?

    I'm NOT advocating censorship of games, but I think we've lost perspective when bloodshed is acceptable but even the brief sight of a nipple causes uproar.

    As others have said, Apple seems to have a very prudish corporate culture (I've been told this comes from Steve Jobs originally, though have no first hand evidence of this).
  • Reply 19 of 55
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    solsun wrote: »
    It's mainly a gay hook-up app.  

    On iOS it was called "BWF,"  on Android it's actually called "Bang With Friends."
    Gay hook up app? I'm sure it's front page news on the Verge then.
  • Reply 20 of 55
    solsunsolsun Posts: 763member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    Gay hook up app? I'm sure it's front page news on the Verge then.


    Well it's a clever idea...  But honestly, how many women did the developers think they'd get to go around marking all of their male FB friends that they'd like to secretly bang..    Gays on the other hand.. :)

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