VLC Player For IOS

By: Unknown on 10:16 PM

The universal VLC Media Player for iOS application has been removed from the App Store. The news comes following several months of dispute between the original developers of the VideoLan Project, and the developers of VLC for iOS (Applidium).

In case you’re not familiar with the history, here’s what happened. The developers of the original VideoLan Project weren’t happy with the VLC for iOS port, because App Store users have to agree to only “share” an app with five people. As the VideoLan Project is an open source program, this goes against what its original developers stand for. Essentially, it’s a licensing issue. Back in October, the original developers of the VideoLan Project commented on the matter:

VLC and open-source software in general would not have reached their current quality and success if it had not been for their license. Therefore, blatant license violation cannot be tolerated at any rate. Concerned users are advised to look for application on more open mobile platforms for the time being.

Today, Apple has removed VLC for iOS from the App Store. One of the original creators of the VideoLan Project confirmed this on the group’s blog, stating:

At last, Apple has removed VLC media player from its application store. Thus the incompatibility between the GNU General Public License and the AppStore terms of use is resolved – the hard way. I am not going to pity the owners of iDevices, and not even the MobileVLC developers who doubtless wasted a lot of their time. This end should not have come to a surprise to anyone. [sic]

It’s definitely a shame VLC for iOS has been pulled, as it was a great app. Personally, I think Apple’s five device limit for iOS apps should be scrapped. After all, we’re not seeing this limit in the recently launched Mac App Store.

Let us know your thoughts on the disappearance of VLC for iOS in the comments below. Hopefully you managed to get a copy of the app before it was pulled.

UPDATE ONE

VLC Media Player is now available to download via Cydia. Read on for more information.

UPDATE TWO

Thanks to the guys over at 9to5Mac has spotted an update to the quotation above (by Remi, original creators of the VLC open-source platform):

On January 7th, Apple removed VLC media player from its application store for iDevices. Thus the incompatibility between the GNU General Public License and the AppStore terms of use is resolved – the hard way. This end should not have come to a surprise to anyone, given the precedents.