“Code analytics platform SourceDNA has found hundreds of apps on the App Store that used private APIs to collect private user data, like email addresses and device identifiers, slipping under Apple’s radar in the approval process,” Benjamin Mayo reports for 9to5Mac.
“The code got into these apps through the inclusion of a mischievous third-party advertising SDK, which secretly stored this data and sent it off to its own servers,” Mayo reports. “Apple has now verified the SourceDNA report and is removing all of the apps that included the advertising SDK from the store, as using private API calls is a breach of App Review Guidelines. Apple has also patched its approval processes to prevent any more apps that use this technique to make it onto the App Store.”
“The SDK under examination comes from a Chinese advertising company, Youmi,” Mayo reports. “SourceDNA used its own binary search tools to find 256 apps that included the unscrupulous SDK, which have received over a million downloads in total.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple just continues to protect users’ privacy.
In related news, Google adds thousands of apps to Android store that collect user data and calls it a feature.
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