UPDATED 08:29 EDT / MARCH 17 2015

NEWS

Fake cancer survivor Belle Gibson’s app pulled from App Store, still linked to Apple Watch though

belle gibson scammerThe Whole Pantry, the app created by now disgraced fake cancer survivor Belle Gibson, has been pulled from Apple’s App Store. But it continues to be linked to promotions for the Apple Watch.

Gibson, as we reported March 11, created the app based on a miraculous story of her surviving “terminal” cancer through lifestyle and good eating. Her story started to unravel when she doubled down on the cancer claims in 2014, claiming that she had multiple additional cancers, a claim she has since retracted, stating they were due to a “misdiagnosis.”

Gibson, at least publicly, still claims that she did survive her original “terminal brain tumor” in 2009, despite friends saying she was never ill during the period and doctors saying that it would have been medically impossible for her to have survived.

Fairfax Media reported the news of the app’s withdrawal first, but of note the app, at the time of writing, is still available on Google’s Play Store, suggesting that Apple has finally moved to distance itself from Gibson.

Unlike others, Gibson wasn’t just a simple app creator with an app in the App Store, but worked with Apple in Cupertino on creating a version of the app for Apple’s forthcoming Apple Watch, which is being offered as a default app to all buyers of the device.

Apple has yet to publicly comment on their relationship with Gibson or the subsequent news that she has faked at least one, if not all, of her cancer stories.

Between a rock and a watch face?

 

The problem Apple has, as previously covered, is that presuming most of the initial release of the Apple Watch has been manufactured and is now currently being shipped to retail outlets for sale, it may be simply a matter of being too late for the world’s largest company by market cap to pull The Whole Pantry as a default app.

While what seems to be finally action on behalf of Apple to withdraw support for Gibson’s products, a subtle, quiet, no-comment stance from the company is doing it no favors, given (unlike Google) it had such a close relationship with her.

The more revelations about Gibson that are disclosed, the more Apple is linked to her, and the more need for the company to get on top of this; sure, in the big scheme of things it’s barely a small dent in its reputation, but as long as it publicly says nothing, it’s a dent none the less.

Image credit: Facebook.

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