F.lux accuses Apple of strong-arming them, just like Epic

F.lux is a rather famous app from the company with the same name which was one of the first to adjust the amount of blue light in your computer display at night to help users get to sleep easier at night.

The feature was eventually natively implemented by most mainstream operating systems, though with little credit towards the pioneering work of the company, who first released their software in 2009.

F.lux, however, did have a rather more direct run-in with Apple, with one of the original developers of the app, Michael Herf, revealing some detail today.

F.lux is mainly a PC app, but back in 2015 the company released a version for the iPhone which could be sideloaded by jailbreaking iPhone users.

Today Herf revealed that Apple strong-armed them into withdrawing their sideloaded iPhone application by threatening to withdraw their license to develop for the Mac desktop, which was their largest installed base.

https://twitter.com/herf/status/1295478264174059521

Herf reveals that F.lux was then reluctant to talk about this, as they still had hope that Apple would officially bless their iPhone app. Instead in 2016, Apple released Night Shift, their own version, without giving F.lux any credit.

The news is particularly relevant now, after Apple withdrew Epic’s ability to develop for iOS and the Mac due to their violation of Apple’s app store rules.

It is rapidly becoming increasingly clear that Apple is not shy of using and abusing its power to protect its control of its platforms, ultimately with the view of extracting money from its billion users. It remains to be seen in this abuse will be unchecked going forward, with Apple being challenged both in court and Congress.