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Apple's chief designer, Jony Ive (left) and Apple's general manager, Tim Cook, inspect the new iPhone XR at a special Apple event staged at the Steve Jobs Theater on the 12th September 2018 in Cupertino, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Apple announced Sunday that it has removed several parental control apps from its App Store platform because they put the privacy and security of users at risk.
According to Apple, the deleted apps were abusing a technology for business-owned work phones, called Mobile Device Management (MDM), which allows application developers to access new and existing applications. information such as the location of the user, the browsing history and the photos and videos were taken with the camera.
The statement was made in response to a New York Times article that said Apple had removed the apps for anti-competitive reasons.
The answer, posted on the Apple website, is another example of how the company is going on a tightrope given its control of the App Store and its security priorities, as well as new accusations. politicians and rivals that Apple uses its power on the software distribution platform to promote its own applications.
In his statement, Apple said that it "is extremely risky, and constitutes a blatant violation of the policies of the App Store – for a private and consumer-centric consumer applications company." to install an MDM control on the device of a client ".
Most of the applications highlighted by the Times report allowed parents to limit the time spent by themselves and their kids on their iPhones and Android devices, and two developers filed a complaint with the Competition Bureau of the 39, European Union.
Apple continued, "Contrary to what the New York Times reported this weekend, it's not a matter of competition, it's a security issue."
One of the guidelines in Apple's App Store states that "applications must use APIs and frameworks for the purposes for which they are intended and indicate this integration in the description of their application". According to Apple, using MDM to track and limit phone usage is not the intended purpose of MDM.
In 2018, Apple launched a software program called Screen Time, which lets users know which apps they use the most and limit access to annoying apps. It is installed by default on iPhones. "I think it 's becoming obvious to all of us that some of us are spending too much time on our devices," said Apple CEO Tim Cook last summer. .
In the weeks since Screen Time was released, 11 of the top 17 most downloaded parental control and screen control apps have been removed and restricted, according to the Times.
Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said earlier this year that the fact that some applications developed by Apple is competing with developers of the App Store is likely anti-competitive. Spotify, which rivals Apple Music, has also accused Apple of anti-competitive practices.
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