Apple is now taking the initiative to safeguard the App Store and its users from becoming an easy cyber-crooks target. The company has decided to reject the app, and app updates worked with a third-party software development kit (SDK) using the device fingerprinting technique for data collection.
Apple is changing its policy related to the upcoming App Tracking Transparency safety measures released with iOS 14.5. Forbes also reported that recently Apple rejected Heetch, an app from InnoGames, and Radish Fiction. All these apps were relying on an SDK.
In this regard, Apple is informing the developers about their decision to reject apps. In a rejection letter issued by Apple to some developers, they stated that they have software tools to track the users. This act is against the App Store privacy policy, and thus, they decide to cancel any such app in the upcoming iOS version.
The most famous and widely used operating system is getting more serious about enforcing privacy and security. It is one main reason why the company rejects the updates to all those apps that are marginalizing its new privacy policy in iOS version 14. IOS 14.5 is soon going to release because that’s iOS 14, where Apple will need the apps that want to track the users to display the App Tracking Transparency feature and seek user permission.
Apple is blocking all those apps that use fingerprinting tactics to obtain data for creating the user profile. It will allow the user to get tracked without an advertising identifier. Device fingerprinting uses a large amount of data about a device to identify it. Data collected can be in the form of battery status, charge level, last time you update the software, software version, time zone, and other factors to help identify the users.
For the more proper privacy implementation, Apple should ask permission to access the user’s phone’s advertising identifier. It is essential to track the users across various apps to know who is a victim of ad targeting. This rule should come with the latest iOS 14.5 releases. The rules can prevent apps from using other workaround tactics for tracking the users.
