Screen-Time-Apps: Phil Schiller gibt Stellungnahme ab

Apple sieht sich aktuell mit einigen Vorwürfen von App-Anbietern und Konkurrenten konfrontiert. Während Spotify medienwirksam “Time to play fair” einfordert, gibt es auch einige Entwickler die Apple vorwerfen Screen-Time-Apps aus dem Store zu werden.

Im September letzten Jahres hat Apple die Screen-Time-Funktion in iOS 12 eingeführt. Die Nutzer erhalten so detaillierte Informationen über die Nutzung ihres iPhones. Apple möchte damit auch die Smartphonesucht reduzieren. Neu war die Idee freilich nicht, es gibt einige Anbieter, die Apps mit ähnlichen Funktionen, bereits anbieten. So auch Kaspersky – das Unternehmen hat ebenfalls eine Kartellbeschwerde eingereicht. Wie Sensor Tower jetzt herausgefunden haben möchte: 11 der 17 populärsten Apps aus diesem Bereich wurden aus dem Store geworfen.

Screen-Time-Apps verletzten Bedingungen

Jetzt meldet sich Phil Schiller in dieser Debatte zu Wort, die Begründung für den Rauswurf war erwartbar: Die Entwickler sollen Schnittstellen nicht ordnungsgemäß genutzt haben. So soll vor allem die Mobile Device Management API genutzt worden sein, die für diese Zwecke aber nicht eingesetzt werden darf. MDM ist normalerweise für Firmen gedacht, um große Mengen von iOS “aus der Ferne” warten bzw. verwalten zu können. Trotz allem bleibt eine Kritik im Raum: Apple bekleidet sowohl die Rolle des Anbieters als auch des Richters. Ohne Frage ein gewisser Interessenskonflikt.

Hier auch die originale Antwort in voller Länge – im Original

Thank you for being a fan of Apple and for your email.

I would like to assure you that the App Store team has acted extremely responsibly in this matter, helping to protect our children from technologies that could be used to violate their privacy and security. After you learn of some of the facts I hope that you agree.

Unfortunately the New York Times article you reference did not share our complete statement, nor explain the risks to children had Apple not acted on their behalf. Apple has long supported providing apps on the App Store, that work like our ScreenTime feature, to help parents manage their children’s access to technology and we will continue to encourage development of these apps. There are many great apps for parents on the App Store, like “Moment – Balance Screen Time” by Moment Health and “Verizon Smart Family” by Verizon Wireless.

However, over the last year we became aware that some parental management apps were using a technology called Mobile Device Management or “MDM” and installing an MDM Profile as a method to limit and control use of these devices. MDM is a technology that gives one party access to and control over many devices, it was meant to be used by a company on it’s own mobile devices as a management tool, where that company has a right to all of the data and use of the devices. The MDM technology is not intended to enable a developer to have access to and control over consumers’ data and devices, but the apps we removed from the store did just that. No one, except you, should have unrestricted access to manage your child’s device, know their location, track their app use, control their mail accounts, web surfing, camera use, network access, and even remotely erase their devices. Further, security research has shown that there is risk that MDM profiles could be used as a technology for hacker attacks by assisting them in installing apps for malicious purposes on users’ devices.

When the App Store team investigated the use of MDM technology by some developers of apps for managing kids devices and learned the risk they create to user privacy and security, we asked these developers to stop using MDM technology in their apps. Protecting user privacy and security is paramount in the Apple ecosystem and we have important App Store guidelines to not allow apps that could pose a threat to consumers privacy and security. We will continue to provide features, like ScreenTime, designed to help parents manage their children’s access to technology and we will work with developers to offer many great apps on the App Store for these uses, using technologies that are safe and private for us and our children.

Thank you,

Phil

Über die Kartellbeschwerden gegen Apple haben wir auch schon im Apfeltalk Editors Podcast SE gesprochen.

Via MacRumors