Apple removed ICEBlock and other ICE-related apps from the iPhone App Store on October 2-3, 2025. The sweep also reached Eyes Up, an archive of videos documenting ICE activity, though it did not alert users to officers’ current locations.
ICEBlock let people report sightings of immigration officers for others to see. Removing it from the store stopped new iPhone downloads; removing Eyes Up also cut off that route to an archive of recordings. Apple says it acted over safety concerns after a deadly shooting at a Dallas ICE facility. Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi publicly said she had demanded ICEBlock’s removal.
Timeline
- April 2025, Apple approved ICEBlock for the App Store after reviewing it.
- September 24, 2025, A gunman attacked a Dallas ICE facility; two detainees ultimately died.
- October 2-3, 2025, Apple removed ICEBlock and other ICE-related apps. Eyes Up’s administrator dated its removal to October 3.
- July 2026, Apple wrote to Representative Jamie Raskin, attributing its renewed review to concerns raised after the shooting.
- September 28, 2026, Raskin sought a full list of removed apps and an independent review of the decisions.
Apple’s account turns on what a location alert might enable. In its letter to Raskin, signed by Timothy Powderly, Apple’s senior director of government affairs, the company said information from law enforcement prompted another review of apps it had previously allowed. It concluded that sharing officers’ precise locations could provide a “potential roadmap for targeted violence,” putting officers and nearby people at risk.
The company “does not take decisions about removing apps from the App Store lightly, but acts when it must, especially when there are serious concerns that an app is creating safety risks,” Powderly wrote.
There was a reason to examine the risk. In his September 25 account, FBI Special Agent in Charge Joseph Rothrock said the Dallas shooter had researched how to track ICE agents. The FBI’s account did not say he used ICEBlock or another tracking app in the attack.
Eyes Up and the scope of Apple’s removals
The sweep extended beyond the location-sharing concern Apple described. Eyes Up stored videos of ICE activity; it did not send users real-time alerts about officers’ whereabouts. Its administrator told 404 Media that Apple removed it on October 3.
Raskin, the Maryland Democrat seeking answers from Apple, says the company should disclose every app it removed following Justice Department concerns so the decisions can be reviewed independently. Apple had not supplied that full list when he renewed his request in September. Until it does, the public cannot tell how many other removals fell outside the location-sharing rationale.
The government’s role is a separate dispute. Bondi said she made the “demand” and that “Apple did so”. Federal officials maintain Apple chose independently. ICEBlock developer Joshua Aaron has sued officials, arguing that their pressure led to the removal; the government has asked the court to dismiss his case. The private communications between officials and Apple remain the records that could settle whether a demand carried a threat of consequences.
The removals blocked new downloads through Apple’s store, not every way to share a sighting or recording. In October 2025, WIRED reported that Eyes Up remained on the web, while DEICER remained on the web and Google Play. Waze, Apple Maps and Google Maps still offered police-sighting features.
Apple has given a reason for removing live-location alerts. Eyes Up is the test of how far that reason was applied. Raskin’s requested app list would show the full reach of a decision that, on the known record, already went further than Apple’s explanation.
Further Reading
- Apple pressured to explain Trump role in ICE-tracking app removals, Apple’s explanation, Raskin’s request and the disputed government role.
- Apple Banned an App That Simply Archived Videos of ICE Abuses, Reporting on Eyes Up’s removal and what the app did.
- Remarks Delivered by Special Agent in Charge Joseph Rothrock at a Press Conference, The FBI’s account of the Dallas attack and the shooter’s research.
- Apple Took Down These ICE-Tracking Apps, Reporting on affected developers and remaining ways to access related services.