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Apple Removes Featured Watch App 'The Whole Pantry' From App Store Amid Fraud Claims

Wednesday March 18, 2015 5:28 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple has removed the award-winning healthy eating app The Whole Pantry from the App Store and its featured Apple Watch apps page amid allegations that its creator Belle Gibson committed fraud, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The report states that Gibson is accused of making false claims about her cancer diagnosis and failing to donate thousands of dollars collected during fundraisers to charities.

The Whole Pantry Removed
Apple has removed The Whole Pantry from its Apple Watch featured apps page

Apple had been promoting The Whole Pantry as a featured Apple Watch app on its website over the past week, although it has updated the page today to remove the listing. The app also appears to have been pulled from the App Store worldwide, based on spot checks of the United States, Australia, Canada and United Kingdom storefronts. The company has yet to comment on the matter.

The Whole Pantry Apple Watch
The Whole Pantry was featured on the Apple Watch apps page earlier this week

Gibson is a 26-year-old from Melbourne that rose to fame for healing herself from terminal brain cancer without conventional treatment, although the report claims that she later admitted to possibly being misdiagnosed. She has since been the subject of intense scrutiny from her supporters and those that donated to her cause, and has disabled the Facebook page for The Whole Pantry and her personal Instagram account.

Note: Due to the social issues regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 5
Tags: App Store, Apple Watch apps, The Whole Pantry
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
[ 57 comments ]


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mw360
55 months ago

What has the healthy eating app got to do with other aspects of her life?


In the linked article:'She built her empire off the story of healing herself from terminal brain cancer without conventional treatment'

The app is the product of the business, and the business is the product of the alleged fraud.
Rating: 11 Votes
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FieldingMellish
55 months ago
Apparently the woman healed her wallet by non-traditional means.
Rating: 10 Votes
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iSee
55 months ago

...Gibson is a 26-year-old from Melbourne that rose to fame for healing herself from terminal brain cancer without conventional treatment


That should be everything you need to know about Gibson to understand what she is about.

It's a classic con, to offer the promise of something people want to believe so much that they're able to ignore that it doesn't make any sense.

Apple probably should have vetted this app better before featuring it, but I suppose they caught it before it really had a chance to be a problem.
Rating: 8 Votes
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greytmom
55 months ago

What has the healthy eating app got to do with other aspects of her life?


It would be kind of like Apple allowing an investment advice app from Bernie Madoff to stay in the App Store.
Rating: 8 Votes
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Joe Rossignol
55 months ago

Why is this article considered political in nature?

Also, limited to 100 posts? I want to see comments on an article limited to those with 500 posts. Any way...


It is not exactly political, but it is a controversial social issue that we feel is best suited for this forum.

I have updated our disclaimer at the bottom of the article to better reflect this. Thanks.
Rating: 7 Votes
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HenryDJP
55 months ago

It appears Apple is acting on the basis of their private property walled garden to simply delete an app that brings shame on Apple.

This is interesting and a bit disturbing because it appears the journey this woman went through was not so much fraud as a changing set of circumstances caused by an initial mis-diagnosis, a series of treatments including holistic, and getting a later diagnosis of being clear. This is merely a case of mixed causation.

As for the donations, it appears that when she files her tax return this year and lists her donations, and her amended return from last year, she could correct that aspect of the case with the stroke of a pen. Literally. Boom. Case not fraudulent. Then she could be reinstated on the Apple Ap store.

While it does not surprise me Apple didn't wait for due process to respond, it also shows one of the weaknesses of a walled garden. The law and justice does not matter. PR does.

Rocketman


Post like this are saddening. Defending a lying deceptive woman and making Apple the bad guy. MR is no longer the Apple Enthusiast board it once was.
Rating: 6 Votes
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i.mac
55 months ago
Why is this article considered political in nature?

Also, limited to 100 posts? I want to see comments on an article limited to those with 500 posts. Any way...
Rating: 6 Votes
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Kaibelf
55 months ago

Indeed.

If the app was promoting things she lied about, or she is suggesting things in the app that have been proven to be lies, then fair enough remove it.

But if the app is giving our healthy eating recipes, which are always good.
what's that got to do with her not being 100% honest about some herbal medication curing her brain tumor (or whatever)

Perhaps we need to check how "nice" a person is in RL now, before allowing them to submit an app?


By all means, be dramatic if you choose, but it's pretty obvious. The app was tied into a book which claimed that these holistic recipes helped this woman cure her cancer. All you need is ONE person to say "I bought into this app's message and ate the recipes instead of getting treatment" to drag Apple into a legal gray area where they are partaking in giving out false information. Also, even a HINT of Apple endorsing this woman's false claims and quackery would undermine the HealthKit message. This is about business.
Rating: 6 Votes
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anubis72
55 months ago
Holistic BS
Rating: 4 Votes
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Kaibelf
55 months ago

It appears Apple is acting on the basis of their private property walled garden to simply delete an app that brings shame on Apple.

This is interesting and a bit disturbing because it appears the journey this woman went through was not so much fraud as a changing set of circumstances caused by an initial mis-diagnosis, a series of treatments including holistic, and getting a later diagnosis of being clear. This is merely a case of mixed causation.

As for the donations, it appears that when she files her tax return this year and lists her donations, and her amended return from last year, she could correct that aspect of the case with the stroke of a pen. Literally. Boom. Case not fraudulent. Then she could be reinstated on the Apple Ap store.

While it does not surprise me Apple didn't wait for due process to respond, it also shows one of the weaknesses of a walled garden. The law and justice does not matter. PR does.

Rocketman


That's a load of hooey. If it's that disturbing, use another platform. Apple's a business. If you want to talk about due process, go into public service.
Rating: 4 Votes

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