Apple defends removal of screen-time apps from its App Store

Apple says it removed some parental control apps from its App Store over privacy and security concerns, not to stifle competitors that were helping parents limit their kids' screen time. (Pexels.com)

Apple says it has removed several parental control apps from its App Store over concerns about users’ privacy and security, not because it is limiting competition or thwarting efforts to confront phone addiction.

The company shot back Monday against a weekend story in the New York Times that documented the complaints of a number of app-makers who said Apple had removed their products from the App Store since it launched similar tools of its own.

“Parents shouldn’t have to trade their fears of their children’s device usage for risks to privacy and security, and the App Store should not be a platform to force this choice. No one, except you, should have unrestricted access to manage your child’s device,” Apple said in a statement.

The developers claimed Apple was stunting competition and providing screen time tools that are more limited in terms of controlling screen time for children or adults.

“Can you really trust that Apple wants people to spend less time on their phones?” Fred Stutzman, chief executive of Freedom, was quoted by the New York Times as saying. His app had 770,000 App Store downloads before it was removed in August.

The New York Times said its analysis found that Apple removed or restricted at least 11 of the 17 most downloaded screen-time and parental-control apps. Apple added Screen Time to its mobile operating system in September, which lets people control the amount of time their kids are on devices, along with tracking their own usage.

That addition comes amid growing concern and agitation about smartphone addiction among young and old alike.

In the statement Monday, Apple says it became aware in the last year that several apps designed to give parents control over their kids’ screen time were using a “highly invasive technology” called mobile device management.

“MDM gives a third party control and access over a device and its most sensitive information including user location, app use, email accounts, camera permissions, and browsing history,” the company said.

Apple says it began exploring the use of MDM by developers in early 2017 and then updated its guidelines a few months later.

“MDM does have legitimate uses. Businesses will sometimes install MDM on enterprise devices to keep better control over proprietary data and hardware. But it is incredibly risky—and a clear violation of App Store policies—for a private, consumer-focused app business to install MDM control over a customer’s device.”

Apple added that research has shown that MDM profiles could be accessed by hackers.

And, Apple says, there are still competitors to its products in the App Store across a range of categories, including parental tracks.

“Apple has always supported third-party apps on the App Store that help parents manage their kids’ devices. Contrary to what The New York Times reported over the weekend, this isn’t a matter of competition. It’s a matter of security.”

Apple says it gave developers not complying with its guidelines 30 days to update their apps and those that didn’t were removed.

But app developers documented to the New York Times that Apple provided few details when it demanded changes to the apps in question and was slow in responding to questions. For many of the developers, Apple’s platform provided the majority of its revenue.

There are growing concerns about Apple’s dominance in the marketplace, especially as it expands its footprints in TV, gaming and news.

Two popular parental-control apps, Kidslox and Qustodio, filed a complaint with the European Union’s competition office on Thursday. Apple also faces an antitrust complaint in Russia.

Dutch regulators will “investigate whether Apple abuses the position it has attained with its App Store,” initially focused on Dutch apps for news media that offer their apps in Apple’s App Store. Music streaming service Spotify also complained to European regulators in March that Apple was using its App Store to give its own streaming service an advantage.

Jason Furman, a professor of economic policy at Harvard and a former adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama, led a group behind a report commissioned by the British government that called for tougher antitrust laws for the tech sector last month. He called it “one of the most important economic policy questions” in the world today.

In the U.S., Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate who is aiming to rein in technology giants, has proposed requiring Apple to sever its App Store in order to level the playing field.