Did Apple rip off a small developer?

A popular app only available on jailbroken iOS users is being blocked out of the market by Apple because it’s essentially rebranding the concept as a native feature for the forthcoming iOS 9.3 update, according to a Forbes report. The in-demand application, known as F.lux allows users to alter the kelvin scale lighting on devices to reduce the side effects of blue light.

Users were previously allowed to install the app using a method known as side-loading, even without jailbreaking the device; however, Apple approached F.lux in November last year to remove the application because Apple was developing the same feature for iOS 9.3.

F.lux engineers have marketed the application with the ability to limit the impact of blue lighting on the quality of sleep by controlling the amount emitted. Recent studies support the marketing finding that blue light does, in fact, reduce the quality of sleep as well as making it difficult to fall asleep.

Paired side by side, Apple’s rendering is unmistakenly similar giving users the control to limit the kelvin scale lighting at different times of the day; they can even utilize location services to calibrate the lighting based on local sunset times. Basically, the concept is identical.

But F.lux released their earlier version in 2012 and now Apple is pawning the idea as their own brain child, critics claim. F.lux to Apple’s Night Shift with: “We’re proud that we are the original innovators and leaders in this area. In our continued work over the last seven years, we have learned how complicated people actually are. The next phase of f.lux is something we cannot wait to ship to the world. Today we call on Apple to allow us to release f.lux on iOS, to open up access to the features announced this week, and to support our goal of furthering research in sleep and chronobiology.”

Would Apple have developed the app on its own without F.lux? Perhaps the question could apply to other applications previously conceived.