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Juno App Removed from Apple’s App Store After Google Complaint
Juno, an unofficial YouTube app designed for Apple’s Vision Pro, has been taken down from the App Store following a complaint from Google regarding alleged trademark violations. Christian Selig, the app’s developer, shared this news in a recent update on his website.
This latest development marks another hurdle for Selig, who previously had to shut down his highly successful Reddit client, Apollo, due to changes in Reddit’s developer policies that imposed fees for API usage. The decision to discontinue Apollo led to widespread protests from Reddit users and its moderators.
In his remarks about Juno, Selig expressed his desire to avoid escalating the situation. He described the $5 app as a “hobby project” that allowed him to experiment with visionOS development. “I really enjoyed building Juno, but it was always something I saw as fundamentally a little app I built for fun,” he wrote. “Because of that, I have zero desire to spin this into a massive fight akin to what happened with Reddit years ago.”
The specifics of the grievance regarding Juno remain somewhat ambiguous. According to Selig, Google cited concerns about the app’s “trademarks and iconography,” claiming that Juno does not comply with YouTube’s guidelines and alters the website in an unauthorized manner. He disagreed with this characterization, stating that Juno functions primarily as a web view and serves as a browser extension that modifies the website’s CSS for a more cohesive visionOS experience. “No logos are placed other than those already on the website, and the ‘for YouTube’ suffix is permitted in their branding guidelines,” he argued.
Although Google has yet to roll out its own YouTube application for Vision Pro, the company indicated back in February that such a tool was part of their future plans. A response from Google regarding the current situation has not been provided.
For current users who have purchased the app, Selig mentioned that they would still have access to it for the time being; however, future updates from YouTube might render the app unusable.
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www.engadget.com