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Over the weekend, a New York Times report detailed Apple's removal of some parental control apps from the App Store. Shortly after, Apple responded with a press release explaining that moves were not "a matter of competition," but rather "a matter of security."
Now, one of the applications affected by the crackdown refutes the claims of Apple.
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Apple argued that its goal was to remove parental control applications based on MDM systems – or mobile device management. In an article published on Medium today, OurPact – one of the screen time applications affected by Apple's withdrawals – indicates that Apple's position is misleading.
OurPact explains that Apple itself boasts the benefits of MDM technology in security. Apple itself issues MDM certificates and is responsible for sending MDM commands to users' machines, writes OurPact:
Unfortunately, Apple's statement is misleading and precludes a constructive conversation about the future of parental controls on iOS.
Apple recently said that its own MDM technology, used by millions of people, poses risks to the privacy of the user and can be misused by hackers. This is in contradiction with the fact that MDM technology was originally developed by Apple to ensure the security of private data on remotely managed devices. Apple alone issues certificates to third parties to communicate with their MDM servers, and Apple itself is responsible for sending all MDM commands to users' devices.
Ben Lovejoy wrote earlier this week that Apple's correct answer to these parental control apps would be to create official screen time APIs for developers. This sentiment was echoed by the developers of OurPact:
If Apple offered other APIs to implement the robust parental controls provided by OurPact, we would use them with pleasure. Unfortunately, no such API exists. All attempts to open a dialogue with Apple to create these APIs were also denied.
OurPact continues by detailing its communication with Apple about it – and interrupting communication in many situations. The developers explain that their application has already been approved 37 times by Apple, with a documented use of MDM technology. In addition, OurPact indicates that it has not received any notification from Apple before the removal of the application:
In Apple's public statement, they said they gave developers 30 days to modify their apps according to their guidelines, although they do not mention MDM. We were doing do not receive no notification before the OurPact Kids app is removed by Apple.
OurPact's full post of Medium is worth reading and can be found here.
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