Is Apple continuing to loosen its app review process, or was someone just asleep at the switch?
The idea of a native iOS front-end for Transmission's remote access feature isn't new. In the past few years, developers have tried to submit their apps to the App Store, only to find the doors closed. We covered one of those instances, Drivetrain, back in May of 2009. That app was essentially identical to what iControlbits [iTunes link] is doing now.
Other BitTorrent front-ends — including a would be front-end for μTorrent, µMonitor — have also been rejected in the past. Apps have briefly been able to slip through Apple's system -- by not using the word "torrent" in the app description and identifying themselves as "download managers" or "news readers" -- but iControlBits is fairly brazen in its approach.
The screenshots for the app even show the in-progress download of both the latest Mac OS X combo update, as well as the IPSW file for the iPhone 3G. These are both files that Apple does not make publicly available via BitTorrent.
We must then, ask ourselves, how long will iControlbits stay in the store? I'm going to bet that the app disappears by day's end. If the app remains, however, it could be a sign of a kinder, gentler, slightly less draconian Apple.
Incidentally, the app itself isn't bad. The featureset isn't overly rich -- you can't open or start new torrent downloads, for instance, but it does provide an improved interface and more advanced features than just using the iPhone-optimized web front-end. If you're interested in this sort of thing, you might want to act now rather than later.
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How Long Will iControlBits Last in the App Store?online surveys