Parental control: application providers want the Apple API |

Since last fall, Apple has banned several third-party parent apps from its App Store, according to its own information, for security reasons. At present, 17 of the group's manufacturers are calling for a suitable programming interface (API) to enable their products to return to iPhone and iPad. […]

This should give parents a real choice on how to regulate the time spent in front of their children's screen. Application providers have also explained on "Screen Time API" how to technically solve the API.

monopoly protection of childhood

The corresponding applications allow the parents concerned to limit the screen time and the use of their children's devices. "Technologically, only Apple currently has the technology to do it on its devices, and we think it should do it for everyone," says Victor Yevpak, director of Kidslox, at The New York Times (NYT). Kidslox is one of those parental control apps that Apple has banned from the iPhone since 2018. However, the fact that the group is increasingly monopolizing the internal solution is a coincidence.

"It's not about competition, it's about security," Apple said in late April in response to a NYT report on the fate of parental control. This would be due to a change in their own guidelines. The use of "highly invasive" mobile device management technology, which gives full access to an iPhone, has been limited to the business sector since mid-2107. In the consumer sector, MDM represents too great a risk for security and privacy. Only parents themselves should have unlimited access to their child's device. The third-party parental controls flew out of the App Store as they use MDM.

the request for compromise

In time for the developer conference, WWEC, the alliance of 17 manufacturers is now trying to put pressure on the group. In their opinion, an API provided by Apple would be the ideal compromise. This could respect Apple's internal security policies and give developers the ability to implement their solutions in a manner compatible with iOS devices. Parents could then confidently use third-party solutions that go beyond Apple's display time.

Of course, having a third-party parental control application programming interface also has the benefit of making it clear that their approaches seem acceptable to Apple. As reported by the NYT, all banned apps have not come out of the App Store due to the use of MDM. Some have been removed by Apple because they rely on VPN technology, which is rather a technology for security and privacy.