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Apple has removed us from the App Store

blog.rescuetime.com

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Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#101

Post by imgabe »

ancorevard wrote: post #23
writepub wrote: post #15

Time for some anti-trust regulations on the app store. In the "mobile apps" market, Apple is an overwhelming monopoly with 66% market share [1]. Some stats: - Total app store market revenues for 1st half (1H) of 2018: ~$33B - Apple's app-store revenue for 1H-2018: $22B - Apple's market share: 66% They constantly abuse their power and stifle competition by: 1. Banning apps (this app, steam streaming, ....) 2. Stifling…

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.

Why wasn't Apple looking out for users' privacy before they released a similar feature in iOS?

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#102

Post by svarrall »

mcfedr wrote: post #100
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.

Right or wrong - it's one of the only was to implement this at the moment and apple are trying to kill the competition. I develop an app that does similar features, we are currently still in the store but apple won't let us release any updates for 3-4 months now. They keep saying rubbish like this but at the end of the day they don't want competition for this own apps.

This seems pretty clear. They’re giving you a heads up that in a future iOS version you won’t be able to get awake/pickup information whilst using the background location api.

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#103

Post by exolymph »

craftyguy wrote: post #66
Avamander wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could someone please recommend a cross-platform self-hosted alternative to ResueTime?

I'm not sure I'd even trust a self-hosted alternative. Presumably this would need to be exposed to the internet, and would be a nice target for someone to break into given how much information it collects.

Wouldn't they have to target you personally, though? (I may be wrong about that.) If so, doesn't factor into most people's realistic threat models.

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#104

Post by the_gipsy »

saagarjha wrote: post #92
dwaite wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple's ToS goes beyond asking the user for consent for a privacy or power-impacting feature; the review process is meant to also verify that the access is for an appropriate reason. This similar to how they ban apps that do cryptocurrency mining in the background. With the exception of a few specific Apple apps (Mail is actually the only one I know of now, and I believe it is more that the Mail app is a renderer of…

> With the exception of a few specific Apple apps (Mail is actually the only one I know of now, and I believe it is more that the Mail app is a renderer of the system mail process) and apps which use particular API (such as VOIP and navigation-related location), you cannot have your app run persistently in the background to preserve power and resources. Apple has dozens of daemons that run continuously that handle ev…

the point of these daemons is so that their activity is not duplicated by each app.

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#106

Post by amelius »

writepub wrote: post #15

Time for some anti-trust regulations on the app store. In the "mobile apps" market, Apple is an overwhelming monopoly with 66% market share [1]. Some stats: - Total app store market revenues for 1st half (1H) of 2018: ~$33B - Apple's app-store revenue for 1H-2018: $22B - Apple's market share: 66% They constantly abuse their power and stifle competition by: 1. Banning apps (this app, steam streaming, ....) 2. Stifling…

Time for laws on platform economies.

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#107

Post by jwildeboer »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #70
laohu wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

#1 Does not violate TOS. At least the rep spoken to said it does not. It is permitted to apps to known when the screen is on / screen off, via the built-in notification it provides.

Pasting section 2.5.4 here: Multitasking apps may only use background services for their intended purposes: VoIP, audio playback, location, task completion, local notifications, etc. If your app uses location background mode, include a reminder that doing so may dramatically decrease battery life. Screen time inference is clearly not an intended purpose for location, since the actual location data obtained has no con…

The „etc“ is the word that turns a seemingly clear rule into an interpretation battle.

Etc here could allow almost everything or nothing. Depending on what argument you want to push.

Ultimately it’s Apple‘s walled garden and they have the final say.

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#108

Post by syshum »

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.

Google also does not prevent Alternative App Stores, or Sideloading.

For example I use FDriod as much as possible only using the Play Store to get the few non-open source apps I use

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#109

Post by ryanwaggoner »

mcfedr wrote: post #100
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.

Right or wrong - it's one of the only was to implement this at the moment and apple are trying to kill the competition. I develop an app that does similar features, we are currently still in the store but apple won't let us release any updates for 3-4 months now. They keep saying rubbish like this but at the end of the day they don't want competition for this own apps.

As others have pointed out, this makes no sense. Apple allows tons of apps in categories that compete with theirs. How many calendar or email or stock tracker apps are there? They make no money from Screen Time, whereas they do make money from apps sold in the App Store.

If they do kill this category of app, I’d say there’s a 99% chance it’s either for technical (for example battery drain) or more likely, privacy reasons.

Re: Apple has removed us from the App Store

#110

Post by ryanwaggoner »

jwildeboer wrote: post #107
TimTheTinker wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pasting section 2.5.4 here: Multitasking apps may only use background services for their intended purposes: VoIP, audio playback, location, task completion, local notifications, etc. If your app uses location background mode, include a reminder that doing so may dramatically decrease battery life. Screen time inference is clearly not an intended purpose for location, since the actual location data obtained has no con…

The „etc“ is the word that turns a seemingly clear rule into an interpretation battle. Etc here could allow almost everything or nothing. Depending on what argument you want to push. Ultimately it’s Apple‘s walled garden and they have the final say.

In your app configuration, you register your app as needing background capabilities for one or more specific “intended purposes”, and screen time recording isn’t one of them. So I don’t think the wording is actually unclear.
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