App against the US immigration authority according to government criticism in 1st place

When you speak of the devil, it comes-the old saying currently seems to be true in the United States in the event of an app that is directed against US immigration policy. The US government actually wanted to publicly reveal the iPhone app called “Iceblock”, which makes operations of the immigration authority ICE public via crowdsourcing. Instead, the criticism of the app really helped success. In the United States, she has the top in the app store with the free social networking apps since the reporting of various US media.

Iceblock works according to the principle of the card app Waze: Users can mark views of assignments against people without a residence permit on a card and also add details such as clothing of the civil servants or vehicle types. Other users in a radius of five miles will then receive a push notification of the reported activity.

For data protection reasons only for iOS

Developer Joshua Aaron developed the app in April 2025 in response to the tightened immigration policy of the Trump administration. Iceblock originally counted around 20,000 users, mainly in Los Angeles, where ICE raids appear frequently.

According to Aaron, the app deliberately collects no personal data such as device IDs or IP addresses-an indication, that was able to confirm the US tech portal Techcrunch in tests. Iceblock is only available for iOS, since the development for Android, according to the developer, would require the collection of information that could endanger users. As a protection against abuse, users can only submit reports within a five-mile radius of their location, and this can be found a maximum of every five minutes. The app explicitly warns that it is “only for information and notification purposes” and may not be used to find the violence or disability of law enforcement measures.

“Annunciation to violence”

The government reacted with unusually sharp criticism to the app and its media reporting. Minister of Justice Pam Bondi threatened the developer publicly. The app also sharply condemned other responsible persons. The spokeswoman for the White House, Karoline Leavitt, spoke of a “incitement to further violence” against ICE officials.