Apple responds to petition to remove ‘bisexual’ from list of spam words for app developers

Apple has promptly responded to calls from an app developer to remove the word “bisexual” from its warning list of words not to use for an app description in the iTunes store.

Sarah Prager, an app developer launched the LGBT history app Quist, two weeks ago, and said that when she was updating the app description on iTunes Connect, when she was warned not to use the word “bisexual”.

Within minutes of Prager publishing an open letter to Apple, and a petition she had started gathered over a thousand signatures, a representative from Apple called her to thank her for bringing the issue to its attention, and to tell her that it had been removed as one of the flagged words.

“I’m very pleased Apple responded positively and quickly,” said Prager. “It is important that we all stand up for every letter in LGBTQ and not treat the bisexual community as a spam word.”

The app, named Quist, was created by Maryland resident Prager, 27, and was designed by Baltimore-based firm Natural Fusion, and aims to provide an interactive look at events and milestones often forgotten in mainstream historical data.

The free app which is available through both the Apple and Google Play stores, does focus on specific events, however, also aims to trace a broader, mapped history of LGBT history.

The app has been downloaded 10,000 times in 60 countries.

Back in May, a Christian app was banned by Apple for claiming to help users ‘cure’ themselves of homosexuality, it remained available for download by Google Android users.

Following the US Supreme Court’s decision in favour of same-sex couples in two landmark cases back in June, large brands including Apple, came out to show their support of the decision.

• Nov 29 2023

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