Hi everyone,
Noticed a few topics regarding the status of our iOS app and wanted to jump in and clarify a few points.
First off, thank you so much for your continued patience and support. We've been getting so many encouraging messages in support of Tapas, and we're working incredibly diligently to try and restore the status of our iOS App in a timely manner.
I'd like to clarify right off the bat that our app was not taken down due to any mature or nsfw related reasons. We've gone to great lengths to work with creators to identify episodes or series that violate our content policy guidelines and help create amicable solutions to make sure that these series and episodes remain visible to readers while not jeopardizing the livelihood and opportunities of the creators that publish with us.
I know that in light of the recent Tumblr debacle, there has been quite a lot of speculation that Tapas is currently being reviewed under similar scrutiny, but the reason why the iOS app was taken down was primarily related to how we structured reader sign-ups and Tapas Ink.
For those that have used the Tapas App, you'll know that we have a fairly simple and easy to dismiss sign-up process when you first open the app. On top of that, we have a number of Premium Comic and Novel series promoted on the homepage which sometimes requires the use of Tapas Ink to access subsequent episodes. Apple viewed this process as being in violation of their app store guidelines which prohibits apps from requiring account sign ups to purchase (or use) Apple's In-App purchasing mechanics. They felt that the requirement of Tapas Ink to unlock episodes of Premium Series was in direct violation of this guideline.
We've been coordinating with the Apple Team to help resolve this situation and have recently submitted a new version of the app that addresses their concerns. The recently submitted version of the app is currently under review.
We apologize for our lack of transparency during these past few days as we weren't certain the extent of details that we were allowed to divulge.
Hopefully this clarifies the situation and alleviates some concerns in regards to Tapas' approach to mature content.
In the meantime, iOS readers can still access the mobile version of Tapas by visiting m.tapas.io
Thanks,
-Michael and the Tapas Staff
Update 02/20/19 After a long approval process, the Tapas App for iOS has been reinstated to the iOS App Store. Thank you all for your patience and support, we greatly appreciate it. We'll be working diligently to ensure that this does not happen again.