VLC App May Get Pulled From The App Store

A few months after VLC was released for the iPhone and iPad, VideoLAN developers are deciding if they want to pull the app from Apple’s iOS App Store.

This is due to the tight tension between Apple’s tight control of the iOS App Store and DRM-free licence requirements for the General Public License. The VLC app for the iOS App Store was created by a 3rd party company called Applidium (though VLC holds the copyright and licensing for the VLC app for iOS).

After a review of the app, VideoLAN says that the app includes “Apple’s FairPlay DRM” (a DRM requiring every device to download the app separately), a violation of the General Public License, requiring the app to be removed soon (which believes that it should be able to be copied from device to device)(see more,2). There are reports saying that there are takedown notices sent to Apple and not the developer Applidium.

Currently the app is in decision whether to force apple to remove the app or to not do anything to remove the app. In a recent tweet VideoLAN tweeted out,

The VLC application is still on the AppStore. VideoLAN is investigating and trying to sort things out calmly between the different parties. (Link)

Be sure to download the app before it gets pulled from Apple’s iOS Store, unless you want to jailbreak and install Cydia in the future.