Apple Pulls ‘Stalker App’ From App Store

An iOS app which allowed its users to view the location of women who had signed into location-based social network Foursquare has been pulled from the App Store.

‘Girls Around Me’ was removed on Saturday after Foursquare said the app was a violation of its API policy.

Privacy Concerns

A Foursquare account is necessary to use the application, which determines the user’s location before scanning the local area to see women who have checked into Foursquare recently. It is possible to communicate via Facebook and to see their full name and profile picture. In the interests of gender equality, men can be searched for too, but a female search is the default setting

Users must also be logged into Facebook, affording the app the liberty to view their basic information, profile data, photos and email address as well as the ability to post status updates.

The app was built by Russian-based developer SMS Services O.o.o. It is free to download, but users must have deep pockets as in-app purchases are necessary to replenish the ‘energy’ required to carry out searches.

“Girls Around Me scans your surroundings and helps you find out where girls or guys are hanging out,” claims the application’s website. “You can also see the ratio of girls to guys in different places around you. Choose the best place to go, or even start meeting people directly from the app.”

“We only use publicly available information that we retrieve from the Foursquare and Facebook APIs,” it adds. “We process this information and display it on the screen of your phone. We have no access to your login details; they are stored on the Foursquare and Facebook servers. Authorisation is carried out on their side.”

Analysts have been warning of the dangers of location-based services such as Foursquare and Facebook, with US authorities announcing they were going to set up a forum to look at the practices of a number of these companies.

In the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office has urged caution, arguing many users are unaware how their device operates, meaning that they are losing the ability to control data on their movements and location.

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