Daring Fireball retracts App Store rejection criticism after discovering app was astrology
John Gruber fully retracts a post criticizing Apple's rejection of Terry Godier's app, admitting he was misled about its true nature.
Conversation activity · last 35 hours peak 2/hr
Summary, timeline and people extracted by Claude from 3 items across 3 sources · 21h ago. Quotes are verbatim.
John Gruber published a critical post about Apple's App Store rejection of an app called "Dark Hours," which he believed was wrongly rejected as astrology when it was actually an astronomy app. After publication, Gruber discovered the app was originally called "Asterly" and was genuinely an astrology app with tarot features—making Apple's rejection justified. Gruber has fully retracted the post, marking his first retraction in 24 years of writing Daring Fireball.
- John Gruber published a post criticizing Apple's App Store rejection of an app, based on the developer's claim it was wrongly categorized as astrology when it was actually astronomy.
- The developer later revealed the app was originally an astrology app called "Asterly" with tarot features, making Apple's rejection justified.
- Gruber fully retracted his post, calling it his first retraction in 24 years of writing Daring Fireball, taking responsibility for being misled.
- The incident highlights the challenge of reporting critically on app store decisions without independently verifying the facts behind a developer's claims.
How it unfolded
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Report Gruber publishes full retraction
Gruber fully retracts his original post, confirming the app was genuinely an astrology app with tarot features and Apple's rejection was justified.
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Event Godier updates his post with correction
Godier edits his post to reveal the app was originally called "Asterly," began as an astrology app with tarot features, and was rejected after submission without updated build information.
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Event Godier publishes critical post about App Store
Terry Godier publishes "Browsers Have Standards, the App Store Has Judgment," claiming his astronomy app was wrongly rejected as astrology, with no tarot or horoscope functions.
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Event Gruber publishes critical post about rejection
John Gruber publishes "App Store Rejection of the Week: Dark Hours," criticizing Apple for incorrectly rejecting Godier's astronomy app as astrology.
- 18 weeks quiet
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Event Gruber links to Godier's App Store critique
Gruber links to Godier's post regarding the App Store's 5-star review system.
- 4 weeks quiet
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Event Gruber links to additional Godier work
Gruber links to another Godier interactive essay, "The Last Quiet Thing," and begins iMessage correspondence with Godier.
- 4 weeks quiet
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Event Gruber discovers Terry Godier's work
John Gruber first links to Terry Godier's interactive essay "Phantom Obligation" about RSS feed reader design, which introduced Godier's RSS reader app Current.
What people are saying verbatim
“To the best of my recollection, this is the first post I've retracted in the 24 years I've been writing Daring Fireball. I hope it's the last.”
John Gruber, Daring Fireball author · Daring Fireball retraction post · Aug 8
“The truth is, the app, as originally submitted by Godier to the App Store (under the name "Asterly", not "Dark Hours"), was entirely dedicated to astrology, not astronomy, and did in fact include a "Tarot card of the day" feature amongst other occultist horseshit.”
John Gruber, Daring Fireball author · Daring Fireball retraction post · Aug 8
“My disdain for astrology is so utter, and my esteem for Godier's previous work so high, that it simply never occurred to me that he might have actually made and submitted to the App Store an astrology app, let alone that he'd then feign surprise and frustration that an astrology app was rejected for being an astrology app.”
John Gruber, Daring Fireball author · Mastodon (Daring Fireball) · Aug 8
“A while ago I tried to submit an iOS app for Dark Hours, my astronomy website for normal people. It was rejected on the grounds that it was astrology. It has no tarot function, no horoscopes, and nothing that I, or anyone else I've asked, would associate with astrology.”
Terry Godier, App developer · Godier's original blog post (as cited in Gruber's retraction) · Aug 7
“I was misled, both overtly and through omissions, in several ways, but what I publish is my responsibility, and I apologize for the error.”
John Gruber, Daring Fireball author · Daring Fireball retraction post · Aug 8