Apple CEO Tim Cook walks to attend the State Banquet at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, Britain, Sept. 17, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Apple on Thursday night said that it was removing apps from its App Store that can be used to anonymouslyy report sightings of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
The move came after pressure on the company from Attorney General Pam Bondi, and amid controversy over the Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement of immigration law.
“We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to discover apps,” Apple said in a statement to NBC News.
“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 company said.
ICEBlock, which was introduced on the App Store in April, is free.
Fox Business first reported Apple’s booting of the app and other similar apps.
Bondi, in a statement to Fox News Digital, said, “We reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock app from their App Store — and Apple did so.”
“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,” Bondi said in the statement.
“This Department of Justice will continue making every effort to protect our brave federal law enforcement officers, who risk their lives every day to keep Americans safe,” she said.
ICEBlock’s developer, Joshua Aaron, told CNN in June that he developed the app in April after seeing the Trump administration’s deportation efforts escalate.
“When I saw what was happening in this country, I wanted to do something to fight back,” Aaron said at the time, suggesting that the immigration enforcement efforts were reminiscent of Nazi Germany.
“We’re literally watching history repeat itself.”
ICE’s acting director Todd Lyons on June 30 blasted the app and CNN for reporting on it.
“Advertising an app that basically paints a target on federal law enforcement officers’ backs is sickening,” Lyons said in a statement that day. “My officers and agents are already facing a 500% increase in assaults, and going on live television to announce an app that lets anyone zero in on their locations is like inviting violence against them with a national megaphone.”
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