Acting on a demand from the Trump administration, Apple has removed apps that let iPhone users report the locations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
"We reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock app from their App Store—and Apple did so," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement to Fox News yesterday. "ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed."
Apple confirmed it removed multiple apps after hearing from law enforcement. "We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to discover apps," an Apple statement to news organizations said. "Based on information we've received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store."
The app removals follow a September 24 shooting at a Dallas ICE facility that resulted in the deaths of two immigrants in federal custody and the shooter. The shooter, identified as Joshua Jahn, "searched apps that tracked the presence of ICE agents," according to FBI Director Kash Patel.
ICEBlock creator Joshua Aaron disputed claims that his app could have contributed to the shooting. He pointed out that an app isn't needed to find the locations of ICE facilities.
"You don't need to use an app to tell you where an ICE agent is when you're aiming at an ICE detention facility," Aaron told the BBC. "Everybody knows that's where ICE agents are."
Apple cited “objectionable content”
Aaron said he was disappointed by Apple's decision to remove the app. "ICEBlock is no different from crowd-sourcing speed traps, which every notable mapping application including Apple's own Maps app [does]," he was quoted as saying. "This is protected speech under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution."
Bondi previously claimed that ICEBlock's service is not protected speech. "He's giving a message to criminals where our federal officers are," she said on Sean Hannity's show. "And he cannot do that. And we are looking at it, we are looking at him, and he better watch out, because that's not a protected speech. That is threatening the lives of our law enforcement officers throughout this country."
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted in June that ICEBlock "sure looks like obstruction of justice... If you obstruct or assault our law enforcement, we will hunt you down and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
ICEBlock's Bluesky account posted yesterday that Apple cited "objectionable content" in its message about the app removal. "The only thing we can imagine is this is due to pressure from the Trump Admin," the social media post said. "We have responded and we'll fight this!"
ICEBlock, which reportedly had over 1 million downloads, allowed people to report sightings of ICE officers and view reported ICE sightings within a five-mile radius. ICEBlock's website says the app isn't on Android because achieving the same "level of anonymity on Android is not feasible due to the inherent requirements of push notification services."
Google removed Red Dot and other ICE-spotting apps from the Play Store, 404 Media reported.
Although popular, ICEBlock has been criticized by some who support its goals. "Because ICE sightings in the app aren't verified in any way, it's likely that most reports in the app aren't actually ICE, even if they're posted by people who mean well," journalist and security engineer Micah Lee wrote last month. Lee also wrote that Aaron's promise of anonymity isn't "backed up with evidence," and that he "chose to target only iOS, and not Android, because of a misunderstanding about how Android push notifications work."
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