Apple pushes data-hungry security app from Facebook out of Store
Facebook's security app Onavo Protect, which collected information about the use of other applications, has been kicked out of Apple's App Store for iPhone and iPad.
Dem Wall Street Journal According to the report, Facebook withdrew the Onavo Protect application under pressure from Apple. The iPhone company stipulates that app developers do not collect information about the use of other applications on the devices and collected data is only used for the functional purpose of the app.
Onavo is a so-called VPN app that creates a more secure online connection. The online network explained that the data about the use of other apps is not used for the development of Facebook products. But it does give an impression of which apps are popular overall and how people use them.
Apple pointed to the new rules for developers in a statement, saying, "With the latest update to our policies, we made it explicitly clear that apps must not collect information for analytics or advertising purposes about what other apps are installed on a user's device, and that they must make clear what user data is collected and how it is used."
On devices running Google's Android operating system, Onavo should remain available, wrote the Wall Street Journal with reference to informed persons. Facebook had already bought the Israeli developer behind Onavo in 2013 and used the app, among other things, to monitor competitors.
Apple and Facebook had already clashed several times in recent months in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. In the future, the iPhone company will make it more difficult for Facebook to collect data via the Like and Share buttons in the Safari web browser. Company CEO Tim Cook also criticized Facebook's hunger for data in general - while Apple does not rely on cannibalizing user data. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg described the comments as "extremely slick". (AWP / SDA / DPA)
