Apple will soon crack down on apps that track users by “fingerprinting” – collecting data on their devices. Starting with iOS 17, tvOS 17, watchOS 10, and macOS Sonoma, developers will need to explain why they are using required reason APIs. Apps that do not provide a valid reason will be rejected beginning in spring 2024.
“To prevent the misuse of certain APIs that can be used to collect data about users’ devices through fingerprinting, you’ll need to declare the reasons for using these APIs in your app’s privacy manifest. This will help ensure that apps only use these APIs for their intended purpose,” Apple explains.
While this measure was created with privacy in mind, some developers told 9to5Mac they’re concerned about app and update rejection rates increasing further. For example, Apple says that UserDefaults is one of the “Required Reason APIs.” For those unfamiliar, this is a basic and fairly common API that stores user preferences for an app, which means lots of apps use it.
This can result in developers having their apps rejected simply for forgetting to add an explanation for using the API. At the same time, it’s hard to imagine how Apple will control the use of this API since most developers can simply say they’re storing user preferences with it.
Apple will let developers appeal a rejection and submit a request to approve a situation that is not covered in the current guidelines.
MacDailyNews Note: More info via Apple’s Developer site here.
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