Apple is talking up the efforts it makes to police the iOS App Store, revealing that during 2020 it rejected more than 215,000 iPhone apps for violating its privacy policies.
In a news release published on its website, Apple detailed an array of statistics of how it protected App Store users from being defrauded.
As Apple describes, a common reason why iOS apps are rejected from entering the store is because “they simply ask for more user data than they need, or mishandle the data they do collect.”
This concern has been brought into the spotlight recently by the release of iOS 14.5 which has required app developers to be more transparent about the types of data they might collect from users, and whether the information is used to track them or linked to their identity or device.
This requirement extends beyond the code written by the developers themselves, and includes any third-party code (such as advertising or diagnostic SDKs) which may also be collecting data.
Users can now easily refer to an app’s description in the App Store to see what data is being collected, and whether they are being tracked, before deciding whether they are comfortable installing the app or not.
Furthermore, iOS 14.5 and later can display a dialog asking whether you wish to grant an app permission to track your online activity, a technique used for a variety of purposes – including the delivery of personalised ads.
Note that you probably will not see Ask to Track notices if you have already configured your iPhone to disallow collection of identifier for advertisers (IDFAs).
Although some – most notably Facebook – strongly object to the new transpar ..
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