Almost a week after Apple removed the OG app from the App Store, an Instagram client that promised to deliver an ad-free and suggestion-free feed, Google followed suit and launched the app from the Play Store.
In a Twitter thread, the co-founders of Un1feed, the company that published The OG App, said the startup will no longer be able to serve its users after the app has been removed from the app stores of both iOS and Android. The app makers said the app went live in a short period of time, attracting more than 25,000 downloads.
londonbusinessblog.com has reached out to Google with a comment and we’ll update the post when we hear back.
Late last month, Un1feed launched the OG app with the promise of providing users with a customizable Instagram experience. To do this, it reverse engineered the Instagram for Android API. However, that created a lot of problems that potentially risked user privacy and safety.
After the launch, Instagram owner Meta said the app violated its policies and that the company is “taking all appropriate enforcement measures”. But it didn’t detail the steps it was taking.
Around the same time, Apple removed the app from the App Store, saying it was accessing the Instagram service in an unauthorized manner. The Cupertino-based tech giant added that The OG App violated App Store rules. These banned apps from displaying content from third-party apps by violating their terms of use.
In a note on The OG App’s website, the founders say they are still thinking about the next steps and will provide clarity in the coming weeks.
After going through a lot of security mishaps, Meta has tightened its rules around accessing user data and limited its APIs to display a limited amount of information outside of its family of apps. Unsurprisingly, the company acted quickly against a solution that used unofficial APIs to render content.