The developers of Screen-Time App say that Apple routinely raises them on the App Store

Apple has removed or imposed restrictions on at least 11 of the 17 most-frequently-downloaded parental control and screen-control apps on the App Store, reported the New York Times Saturday, while it set up its own follow-up on the iOS screen duration, a move that threatened the viability of some of the companies involved and could result in increased attention from the regulators.

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently said the company had "never" sought to maximize phone use. But according to the Times, some of the developers behind the apps have suggested that Apple is trying to entice users to use only its own tools, for which it has more influence over them. users. Apple has ordered developers to remove key features or simply completely remove apps from the App Store with little explanation, they explained to the newspaper, citing the rationale that they violated rules such as the prohibition to allow an iPhone to control another. Some of the applications have been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times or more, with over three million users of URPact and about 2.5 million users of Mobicip.

The Times wrote that Apple's screen features are less detailed:

Unlike applications such as OurPact, Apple's tools do not allow parents to schedule different times of the day when an app is blocked – for dinner at school or with family. In addition, the Apple tool blocks adult content only on its Safari web browser and some applications, and not on other browsers or popular applications such as Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

Bruce Chantry, 47, a father of two from outside Cleveland, said he had been using OurPact and Mobicip for years, until Apple forced them to empty of their most important functions.

He found Apple's tool more complicated and less restrictive. His kids have already found workarounds to Apple's web filtering tool and, unlike the apps he's used, he does not have a shutdown switch to quickly disable some apps on their phones, said Mr. Chantry.

The added document does not match the screen time limit assigned to an application using the Apple tool, returns the "Ignore Limit" message.

Fred Stutzman, CEO of Freedom, the developer of screen-based applications, told The Times: "Their incentives are not really suited to help people solve their problem. "Can you really believe that Apple wants people to spend less time on their phones?"

Since the App Store is the only way to maintain officially supported access to Apple customers (and Apple controls a huge share of the US market), the rejection of its reviewers can spell the death knell of a business .

As the Times noted, Kidslox and Qustodio application developers recently filed a complaint with the EU Competition Bureau, while cyber security giant Kapersky Labs filed an antitrust complaint with the Russian authorities in March. 2019 and plans to do so within the EU. Kapersky claimed that Apple had stated that the use of configuration profiles in the Kapersky Safe Kids application was contrary to the company's policy. Features that allow parents to define which apps can run based on age restrictions of the App Store and hide all secure browser browsers. Apple then refused any "serious negotiation," added Kapersky.

Concerns about Apple's control of the App Store and the abuse of that control to strengthen its own power to the detriment of competitors have also prompted a fight between the company and Spotify, which is suing for antitrust reasons. Meanwhile, Apple has sometimes seemed to bend its own supposedly strict rules to promote its own internal offers.

According to the Times newspaper, Mobicip's chief, Suren Ramasubbu, said that he had been informed that the company's application should be changed or removed within 30 days with a note stating "If you have questions about this information, reply to this message. Let us know. Sincerely, App Store Review. "

Ramasubbu told the Times that he had responded four times by asking for more information and had resubmitted a revised application that he hoped to cross the bar, receiving a message in triplicate three days before the deadline: "Your application uses public APIs in an untrusted way, which is not in compliance." in accordance with guideline 2.5.1 of the App Store Review Guidelines. After asking for more information on how the company could comply, he has not received a notification until he receives an email saying "Your application is an unsolved problem." and was removed from the App Store. "

"No reason, no details," Ramasubbu told The Times. "Suddenly, we have no business anymore."

"We treat all applications in the same way, including those that compete with our own services," said Tammy Levine, Apple spokesperson, at The Times. "Our incentive is to have a dynamic applications ecosystem that provides consumers with access to as many quality applications as possible."

[New York Times]