Apple Takes Down Rewound From App Store

Well, we hope you had fun reliving a bit of classic iPod nostalgia with the Rewound app. Unfortunately, Apple had decided to remove the app from its App Store, thus disallowing anyone else to download it and also preventing any new updates or skin downloads for existing users.

Rewound developer Louis Anslow stated in a blogpost on Medium that the company took down the app because it plagiarised the iPod’s design, charged for Apple Music features, and was impersonating an official Apple product. Anslow disputed against the claims by justifying that Rewound had a basic interface that looked nothing like an Apple app. Instead, the iPod skin that complements the app’s clickwheel function was a free downloadable content, and not Rewound’s default appearance or was pre-installed with it.

In the same blog post, Anslow stated that the current app on iOS can’t be updated without “breaking the app for all 170,000+ users,” and said that he will attempt to bring the app back in some way. Following that statement, the developer also announced that a GoFundMe page was opened for the continued development of Rewound – with hopes of having the app to be retweaked in order to have it resubmitted to the Apple App Store.

Anslow also mentioned that with the crowd funding help, he would also develop Rewound into a web app, as well as porting it over to Android Play Store. The web app version would bypass Apple App Store restrictions and is accessible by both iOS and Android users, while the Android version of the app – according to the developer – is the most likeliest to be released without any hitches.

However, the disclaimers in Rewound’s GoFundMe page stated that they’re “not promising fully finished versions” of the app, and said that it “isn’t clear if Apple will ever allow Rewound back on the App Store.” The developer also mentioned in the page that some drawbacks are to be expected for the app’s redevelopment; haptic feedback for the clickwheel will be replaced by clicking sounds, Apple Music functions will only be limited to music streaming, and some concerns on the app’s compatibility with Spotify.

The Rewound app was fun while it lasted prior to its removal and if things would work out for Anslow, there’s a chance that Android users will finally be able to experience it in the near future as well. Seeing how popular the app was received, the most ironic thing that could happen now is that Apple actually decides to release its own official iPod emulator instead.

(Source: Rewound blog.)

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