After Dozens of Deaths, Apple Nixes 181 Apps

Don't bother with Apple for your vaping-related apps: Axios reports the company is removing all 181 apps related to e-cigarettes and vaping from its App Store. "We take great care to curate the App Store as a trusted place for customers, particularly youth, to download apps," Apple says in a statement to Axios. The company notes that experts have tied lung injuries and deaths to vaping products and called this a "public health crisis and a youth epidemic." Apple concurs, and so has nixed all current vaping-related apps and updated its App Store guidelines so future ones will be rejected.

The company never hosted apps that actually sold vape cartridges, but it did make accessory apps available for download that allowed people to control the lighting and temperature of their vaping devices, as well as apps that offered vaping-themed news and games. The move comes a day after the Centers for Disease Control issued its latest update on the matter, reporting that 42 people have died in 24 states and the District of Columbia from vaping-related illnesses. Users who've already downloaded vaping apps can keep using them and also transfer them to other devices. (The CDC has had a "breakthrough" on the vaping illnesses.)