“Over the last few days, Apple has seemingly started cracking down on applications that share location data with third-parties,” Chance Miller reports for 9to5Mac. “In such cases, Apple has been removing the application in question and informing developers that their app violates two parts of the App Store Review Guidelines.”
“Thus far, we’ve seen several cases of Apple cracking down on these types of applications,” Miller reports. “The company informs developers via email that ‘upon re-evaluation,’ their application is in violation of sections 5.1.1 and 5.1.2 of the App Store Review Guidelines, which pertain to transmitting user location data and user awareness of data collection”
Miller reports, “Furthermore, the company is cracking down on instances where the data is used for purposes unrelated to improving the user experience: ‘You may not use or transmit someone’s personal data without first obtaining their permission and providing access to information about how and where the data will be used. Data collected from apps may not be used or shared with third parties for purposes unrelated to improving the user experience or software/hardware performance connected to the app’s functionality.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Why were any apps that “transmitted someone’s personal data without first obtaining their permission” int he App Store to begin with?
If the App Store review process were working properly, such apps should have been caught int the initial review and rejected.