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Apple has removed us from the App Store

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Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#81

Post by reaperducer »

cromwellian wrote: post #79
ancorevard wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not an abuse of power. This is looking out for their users' privacy. I would have thought most people at this time would know that Apple does not take lightly a situation where an app is sending lots of privacy related user behavior to some kind of server somewhere. At a minimum, store this analytics on the phone only. But then again, you may use APIs for reasons other than their intended purpose.

Shouldn't I have the choice? If you paid $1000 for a phone, and were using and enjoying this app, and suddenly, it can no longer be updated, because Apple says they want to 'protect' me, why can't I be given the control to decide whether or not I want this protection? After all, there are permissions dialogs. If an app needs location data, and asks me for it, why can't I decide to grant permission of the app to use i…

If you paid $1000 for a phone, and were using and enjoying this app, and suddenly, it can no longer be updated, because Apple says they want to 'protect' me, why can't I be given the control to decide whether or not I want this protection?

What does the price of a phone have to do with anything? If someone buys a $300 iPhone, or a $25 flip phone, do they not deserve the same amount of privacy or choice?

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#82

Post by bigiain »

eklavya wrote: post #80

Whether they are right or wrong in doing this, both play store and App Store have too much power and govt/legal regulation of some kind is drastically needed.

To be fair - they're using the background location feature in a way that sucks your battery flat much more quickly than normal.

Apple are most likely to cop the flack for that, and given a few recent poor choices on Apple's part regarding making un-acknowledged changes to try and maintain appearance of good battery life, it's not _too_ surprising they're choosing to more heavily enforce rules in that area to reduce the number of complaints that hit _their_ support lines which are directly attributable (but not to the majority of iPhone owners) to people bending or breaking app store rules...

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#83

Post by pmontra »

OedipusRex wrote: post #7
petepete wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple aren't interested in an even playing field, this type of muscling in is possible by design. There's a risk they'll turn developers off their platform, but providing they don't piss off too many at once, barely anyone will notice.

I mean both iPhone and Android do this but Google won’t pull competitors.

Even if the did, we can still sideload apps by sending the apk to the phone and installing it. No root/jailbreak needed.

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#84

Post by syshum »

CharlesW wrote: post #6

> 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.

Once Again, Apple telling users how they are allowed to use the devices they supposedly bought not rented from apple...

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#85

Post by saagarjha »

js4ever wrote: post #75
mcfedr wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I'm the lead developer of another app in the same space, we've also been blocked from updating our app for several months now. Interesting to see that this is happening to the the whole community of apps that compete with apples own screen time. The worst answer we've had to our use of the APIs has been "the API might change in the future and your app might stop working" - about the location API

This remember me when my free music app was kicked out of the store with 17 other free & legal music apps ... the exact same day when Apple music was published... This is why I hate so much Apple and all their products now.

What reason did Apple provide when they pulled your app?

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#86

Post by Improvotter »

syshum wrote: post #84
CharlesW wrote: post #6

> 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.

Once Again, Apple telling users how they are allowed to use the devices they supposedly bought not rented from apple...

I'm glad the restriction is put in place. There were too many apps abusing constant location tracking. If one kid in the kindergarten cannot handle the responsibility, unfortunately all of the little kids have to suffer from it. Same goes with GDPR and net neutrality, regardless whether it's the government or a trillion dollar company.

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#87

Post by syshum »

Improvotter wrote: post #86
syshum wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once Again, Apple telling users how they are allowed to use the devices they supposedly bought not rented from apple...

I'm glad the restriction is put in place. There were too many apps abusing constant location tracking. If one kid in the kindergarten cannot handle the responsibility, unfortunately all of the little kids have to suffer from it. Same goes with GDPR and net neutrality, regardless whether it's the government or a trillion dollar company.

>>>If one kid in the kindergarten cannot handle the responsibility, unfortunately all of the little kids have to suffer from it.

So you are claiming that most Apple users have the same mental capacity and personal responsibility of a Kindergarten age child?

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#88

Post by eklavya »

bigiain wrote: post #82
eklavya wrote: post #80

Whether they are right or wrong in doing this, both play store and App Store have too much power and govt/legal regulation of some kind is drastically needed.

To be fair - they're using the background location feature in a way that sucks your battery flat much more quickly than normal. Apple are most likely to cop the flack for that, and given a few recent poor choices on Apple's part regarding making un-acknowledged changes to try and maintain appearance of good battery life, it's not _too_ surprising they're choosing to more heavily enforce rules in that area to reduce t…

Please don’t get me wrong. I am absolutely “for” all the quality assurance and privacy work done by Apple. But both the stores have become a very big part of digital life everywhere. Google and Apple as gatekeepers have a lot of power and decisions seem arbitrary and unfair a lot of times. I am pretty sure everybody dealing with the stores have themselves experienced it first hand and not always through their own faults. There needs to be at least some regulation or legal framework for impartial grievance redressal.

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#89

Post by Heliosmaster »

syshum wrote: post #87
Improvotter wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad the restriction is put in place. There were too many apps abusing constant location tracking. If one kid in the kindergarten cannot handle the responsibility, unfortunately all of the little kids have to suffer from it. Same goes with GDPR and net neutrality, regardless whether it's the government or a trillion dollar company.

>>>If one kid in the kindergarten cannot handle the responsibility, unfortunately all of the little kids have to suffer from it. So you are claiming that most Apple users have the same mental capacity and personal responsibility of a Kindergarten age child?

Not the users, but the developers. They are the one which were unable to be responsible about permissions.

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#90

Post by saagarjha »

LeoNatan25 wrote: post #40
scarface74 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every single application built since the dawn of OOP has public documented methods and private methods....

In this case, the allegation is that the OS itself had private APIs which Office used, while other apps had less access to because they were not documented. (Let’s not forget, private API can still be discovered and called, especially on Windows 95 and NT).

But not for App Store apps, unless you’d like your binary to be rejected.
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