Downloading Torrents: There’s An App For That

Many have tried but all have failed to get an app approved that works with BitTorrent.

All have failed, that is, until now.

IS Drive by Derek Kepner likely made it through the screening process because it didn’t use the no-no word: “Torrent”. Instead, its description on the AppStore page is very innocent:

This app allows you to check and manage the downloads in your ImageShack Drive account. For downloaded videos, you can even view thumbnails (if ImageShack is able to provide them).

Reading between the lines, the idea is that it has capabilities that some people may use for illegal purposes, but that’s not the intent. In an interview with TorrentFreak, Kepner said, “I’m on dangerous ground here, and I know that.”

Dangerous indeed, but Apple has been easing on their approval process lately in light of recent criticism, even allowing the Google Voice app into its store.

“I’ll probably add a search feature where it’s up to the user to manually add the torrent site they want,” Kepner said. “The app will not be designed to easily break the law and I hope no one intends to do so. But if a user is determined to break the law, what business is that of mine or Apple’s? They could do the same in Safari anyway, right?”

You, sir, are correct.

Will Apple become the new target of the RIAA and MPAA? That would be a fight worth watching.