First Torrent-related App Added by Apple

The first BitTorrent app for iOS devices, IS Drive, has been given the Apple stamp of approval and is now available in the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

IS Drive allows users to easily check and manage downloads in the user's ImageShack Drive account, a subscription site that uses the BitTorrent protocol. IS Drive developer, Derek Kepner calls IS Drive his "new kind-of-a-torrent-client-but-not-really app for iPhone" on his profile linked from the app's iTunes page.

In the past, Apple has refused to accept BitTorrent apps because they could be used for transferring pirated media files.

" … this category of applications is often used for the purpose of infringing third party rights. We have chosen to not publish this type of application to the App Store," wrote Apple reviewers in response to several BitTorrent management applications.

BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol that is used for distributing large files such as movies or music by spreading the pieces of a file over multiple sources, allowing people to maximize their available connection speed. 

The speedy, yet controversial protocol, has had its share of bad press over the past year, including the one-year imprisonment and $905,000 fine imposed on the founders of BitTorrent site, Pirate Bay, and the $67,500 fine slapped on single mom, Jammie Thomas for illegal music file sharing.

Why Apple's sudden change of heart?

“I always had the thought that if I didn’t call the app a ‘torrent client,’ Apple would probably let it through the review process,” said Kepner to TorrentFreak.com. Kepner said he knows he's on dangerous ground.

“I’ll probably add a search feature where it’s up to the user to manually add the torrent site they want. The app will not be designed to easily break the law and I hope no one intends to do so," Kepner said.

IS Drive is available in the Apps Store for $4.99. Image Shack sharing service is priced separately, by the day or by the month.

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