Apple is one of the tech companies that continues to stress on the importance of privacy and cyber security. Over the years, the company has made major changes to its devices and services to implement proper privacy protocols. Not only that, Apple has also launched many new services like creating a temporary email-ID to login through Apple ID without giving out the actual Apple ID to third party websites or apps.
At Apple’s annual developers conference WWDC 2020, the company announced a major new addition to the app store to strengthen its stance on privacy. The new feature will allow users to know about the kind of data, the app they are about to install will collect even before installing.
On each app’s product page, users can learn about some of the data types the app may collect, and whether that data is linked to them or used to track them. You’ll need to provide information about your app’s privacy practices, including the practices of third-party partners whose code you integrate into your app, in App Store Connect starting this fall.
Source: Apple
Unfair rules, says WhatsApp
The Facebook owned messaging service WhatsApp does not appear to agree with Apple’s new rules. WhatsApp has said that these new privacy labels feature will not apply to Apple’s apps such as iMessage because they are inbuilt and do not require an installation. Whereas, WhatsApp will have to be installed from the App Store and the company will be required to display privacy labels.
“We think labels should be consistent across first and third party apps,” a representative of WhatsApp said, in an interview with Axios. “While providing people with easy to read information is a good start, we believe it’s important people can compare these ‘privacy nutrition’ labels from apps they download with apps that come pre-installed, like iMessage.”