A related story:
Mute App: Startup to Shutdown by Nick Kuh https://link.medium.com/GVbEIzHhIR
Apple has removed us from the App Store
41–50 of 183 posts
Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or you know instead of getting the government involved, you could just get an Android phone like 80% of other smart phone users....
How do you protect developers & their businesses from abuse at the hands of a channel (Apple) that controls access to ~70% of revenues, and probably more in profits. The answer is not for users to switch to Android, but for the FTC & EU to step in, as they did for Android, and for MSFT's browser related cases.
They control 80% of the hardware revenues. What does that have to do with third party developers?
So if you don’t like the policies of Sony with regards to the PlayStation do you want the government involved their too?
Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store
#43Slightly related. Only a month ago I deleted my RescueTime account and the app from my Mac. With all the privacy issues lately, I finally realized how much data I'm sending RescueTime, and a made a decision. I don't have a reason to mistrust them, but I also don't have a reason to give them this much of my trust either. A breach of the RescueTime database would be insanely invasive.
If you're on a mac I'm a big fan of Qbserve[1] which stores the data locally.
Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
It should be if there are 3 grocery stores in the country, and your bread can't be sold by other 2. This is a great case to be a precedent.
The great case of the application that abused a platform location feature --- one of the more privacy-sensitive features on the phone --- to do something privacy-invasive?
Did not they explicitly tell what's it for?
The title also claims other time-tracking apps were removed, so was is the reason?
UPD. I see the title was edited, and they have retracted the others apps claim now. The first question still stands though.
Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store
#45> Critically, using the persistent location API also allows us to use an acknowledged acceptable way to capture when our users have active screen time. They're admitting to using background location to infer screen time, which is clearly "misuse" according to section 2.5.4. Whether the decision is right or wrong, I find it hard to believe that the developer is actually confused by this.
They use the API to determine both location and device usage.
I have to wonder whether RescueTime included the mapping feature (to see where you're using your iPhone) just to satisfy this requirement. But in the absence of evidence that this feature was included as a pretext, what should happen?
It would seem fair to require that the "primary purpose" of an API's usage be for the intended purpose of that API. But no such rule exists in Apple's guidelines, AFAIK. Instead, we're just left with the overarching principle that Apple can interpret its rules however it wants.
As someone who's been on the receiving end of this principle, I have to say I'm not a fan.
Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
100% of that market. The apple app market is not the same as the android app market. They're not in competition with each other. Owners are captive.
That is like saying Hacker News has a monopoly because it is 100% of the Hacker News market.
It's not.
Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
So does that make every console maker a “monopoly”?
Yes. It's only becomes an issue if they're using that to an anti-competitive end.
So now you want to get the government involved because Sony didn’t allow cross platform play for the PS4?
What type of content will Apple be allowed to ban on its store? Do you want the government telling Apple what they have to allow third parties to access on thier OS? Should the government tell them that every developer should have root access? Access to the Secure Enclave?
Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store
#48It is of note in this case that "misuse" is perfectly arbitrary. The RescueTime app did use location, only locally on the device, to enrich the information provided to users. It also happened to capture screen time, obviously important to the app. Be clear here: Apple has not said this aspect is misuse . Screen time recording is blessed by Apple. There are at least three other apps active in the app store that do the…
Did you do any other kind of data collection that Apple might have had issues with? Do they get a copy if your source code when reviewing the app?
Also, can you explain a bit more why you need to capture location information for measuring the users screen time? The two things seem pretty unrelated to me (but I’m not an user of the app either).
Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. It's only becomes an issue if they're using that to an anti-competitive end.
So now you want to get the government involved because Sony didn’t allow cross platform play for the PS4? What type of content will Apple be allowed to ban on its store? Do you want the government telling Apple what they have to allow third parties to access on thier OS? Should the government tell them that every developer should have root access? Access to the Secure Enclave?
If they're using that to a commercial benefit, to the point of being anti-competitive, over other people who are developing for that platform, yes.
Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store
#50A related story: Mute App: Startup to Shutdown by Nick Kuh https://link.medium.com/GVbEIzHhIR
Yes, but also note the follow-up post, after Mute was reinstated: https://medium.com/@nick.kuh/apple-called-a229d86ece30