Apple’s Game-Changing Move: Making iPhone Apps Safer with a New App Store Rule

Every day, millions of us download and use apps on our devices. We rely on these apps to perform a variety of tasks, from communication and entertainment to financial management and work. It is essential that these apps are secure and protect user privacy, and Apple, which has already ensured for many years that this is the case, is taking additional steps to ensure this.

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A justification and notice for access to certain information

Apple recently announced a move that will change the way developers submit their apps to the App Store. Starting this fall, with the arrival of iOS 17, tvOS 17, watchOS 10 and macOS Sonoma, developers will have to detail why their apps use certain APIs before submitting them for Apple review.

The APIs in question have been labeled as “Required Reason APIs” which can be translated as APIs that require justification. If a developer wishes to use one of these APIs, he or she must explain its purpose within the application. The idea behind this measure is to combat the practice of “fingerprinting”, a technique that allows users to be tracked across different applications and websites, compromising our privacy.

Later, starting in the spring of 2024, Apple will directly reject any app or update that uses those APIs without a legitimate reason.

More privacy and better detection of irregularities

With the rise of digital technologies, the privacy and security of user data has become paramount. While many developers use APIs for legitimate and useful purposes, some may take advantage of these tools to collect information without the user’s knowledge or consent. Apple notes that the initiative seeks to “prevent the misuse of certain APIs that can be used to collect data about users’ devices.”

Among the APIs that will require an application are those for keyboard access, files, clock, disk information and even UserDefaults, which is used to store user preferences for an application.

As with all other cases surrounding a rejection by the App Store review team, Apple is already planning to allow developers to appeal a rejection and submit an application to approve situations that are not covered by the current guidelines. A way to correct any errors that may occur in the process or forgetting the necessary documentation when submitting the application to the store.

It is true that an application may have a legitimate reason to access certain information – let’s take for example the access to location information by a weather app – and then misuse this information. Here, all we can do is install apps from trusted developers and, also, review well what permissions we give to apps, as often they are not all necessary. That said, Apple’s proposed approach is bound to have a major impact.

While until now it was up to the App Store review team to evaluate the use of certain APIs, now the information that the developer will provide will make it much easier to detect apps that may be fingerprinting. While this new App Store requirement may present some initial challenges for developers, its ultimate goal is clear: to ensure that the apps we use every day are more secure and respect our privacy.

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This is essential at this time in which we live, because at a time when almost everything is done through an app, user trust is something of great value that everyone involved should value and protect.

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