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Apple has terminated Facebook's ability to distribute internal iOS applications, from early versions of the Facebook application to basic tools such as a lunch menu. A person familiar with the situation tells The edge that the first versions of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and other "dogfood" beta applications (pre-releases) have stopped working, as have other applications for employees such as the one for transport. We believe that Facebook considers this a critical issue internally, as the applications concerned are no longer engaging employees' phones.
The shutdown comes in response to the news that Facebook uses Apple's program for distributing internal applications to track teen customers with a "search" application.
This application, revealed yesterday by TechCrunch, was distributed outside the App Store using the Apple Enterprise Program, which allows developers to use special certificates to install more powerful applications on iPhones. However, these applications are only meant to be used by company employees and Facebook distributes its tracking application to its customers. Facebook later said that it would close the application.
This poses a huge problem for Facebook. While Apple provides other tools that a company can use to install applications in-house, Apple's enterprise program is the primary solution for large-scale distribution of applications and internal services. We contacted Facebook for comments.
In a statement given to recodingApple said Facebook "clearly violated its agreement with Apple." Any certificate that violates this agreement, said Apple, sees its distribution certificates revoked "what we did in this case to protect our users and their data. "We asked Apple to comment on the shutdown of other internal Facebook applications.
The revocation of a certificate not only prevents the distribution of applications on iOS, but also their operation. And because internal applications from the same organization or the same developer can be connected to a single certificate, this can lead to huge headaches like the one Facebook is currently experiencing, where a multitude of internal applications have been shut down.
Apple and Facebook have already quarreled over privacy, but this is the first time Apple has taken action that directly puts an end to some of Facebook's activities. In March, Apple CEO Tim Cook criticized Facebook's handling of the Cambridge Analytica data sharing scandal, stating "I would not be in this situation" if he ran the company. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg later said the comments were "extremely low-key" and described Apple as a "business that works well.[s] difficult to charge you anymore.
