You Lie is currently in review hell over at Apple.  We submitted the You Lie app about a month ago and after a week or so we received an ominous email from Apple stating that our app was going to take a bit longer than normal to review due to the nature of the app.  We were at a loss because this was our most simple and straightforward app.  It consists of one button as you can see from the screenshot below:

When the user presses the button a recording is played.  If you haven’t guessed already, the idea of the app is to poke fun at the recent outburst by Rep Joe Wilson when he shouted “You Lie” during an Obama Presidential speech on healthcare.   It was never our intention to make any political judgments or take sides.  The idea of the app is to have fun.  It’s called satire.  This Your Lie outburst has been joked about and debated to death zillions of times in every newspapers and talk show on the planet.  In fact, hundreds if not thousands of Apple podcasts and iPhone news, video, twitter and blog Apps have undoubtedly featured the You Lie story.

What was Apple’s problem?  They were nice enough to tell us when I received a personal phone call from Richard who works in the iPhone App Review Team.  It turns out that they didn’t like the fact that 4 of 70 recordings included the phrase You Lie, Mr. President versus the simpler versions we use in the majority of the recordings such as You Lie, You’re a Liar, Liar and You’re Such a Liar.  Richard claimed that using ‘Mr President’ is objectionable because it ridicules public figures. 

On a second call he had an issue with our App Description (see Banned App Description below) and we were forced to remove any mention of the event and of the names Obama and Joe Wilson. For some reason, Apple believes that it is their right to wipe the memory of the event clean and not allow any mention of it that is not a simple news story. We have to believe that there have been plenty of one-sided diatribes both for and against Wilson’s outburst within the walls of the App Store and Podcast areas, but of course Apple just had issue with You Lie. Not sure what to make of any of this, but we had no choice but to comply with Apple’s request if we wanted to give You Lie any chance of seeing the light of day.

** Apple did finally approved the App in early November once we complied with their demands. Click here to try it our for FREE!

Banned App Description

On September 9, 2009 Representative Joe Wilson (Republican-South Carolina) shocked many observers and caused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Democrat- California) to shoot off a death glare in his direction, when he shouted; “You lie!” after President Barack Obama denied that health care legislation would provide free coverage for illegal immigrants during his speech to a joint session of congress.

The truth behind the outburst, and what nobody realized at the time, was that Representative Wilson never really said a word. Instead, bored and holding his tongue, Rep. Wilson was playing with his iPhone and not realizing the mute button was not off, he hit the red button on the YOU LIE app and caused a national stir.

With this “spontaneous” event, YOU LIE became one of the most popular phrases in our language. A meaningful expression, YOU LIE has moved to the front of our pop culture as a powerful way to represent and question yourself and the world around you. YOU LIE is a tool to continue to study, enjoy and reflect on this now world famous expression.

WHO SHOULD USE THIS APP?

If you are frustrated with your boss, your kids, your wife or your government, this app should feel right at home in your hands; the hands of someone ready to speak out.

We are living in difficult times and everyone seems to be lying to us these days. What better way to defend our freedoms and dignity by calling out liars. There is no better method of doing this than with the official YOU LIE App.

The next time a professional athlete says “I had no idea that the supplement I was taking contained a banned substance” we will all be there with our YOU LIE button.