What’s going on with Apple and parental controls?
Here’s the deal. Parental controls are part of mobile device management (MDM) technologies, whereby app developers get access to private data regarding app usage.
While parental control apps are important for parents to control their children’s usage, there is an issue of data being misused. As these MDM technologies give third parties control and access over a device’s user location, app use, email accounts, camera permissions and browsing history. You understand why many people wouldn’t want that.
So Apple removed certain apps from its App Store earlier this year. In response to that, app developers banded together, saying, “Apple should release a public API granting developers access to the same functionalities that Apple’s native ‘Screen Time’ uses.”
This was their way to circumvent Apple’s decision to ban certain apps, as its Screen Time data would again give app developers access to sensitive information, which brings back the data misuse issue. However, this move can work against Apple, saying it is stifling competition.
Hence Apple has reversed its stance on parental controls in a smart way. It released a statement saying apps using MDM “must request the mobile device management capability, and may only be offered by commercial enterprises, such as business organisations, educational institutions, or government agencies, and, in limited cases, companies utilising MDM for parental controls. MDM apps may not sell, use, or disclose to third parties any data for any purpose, and must commit to this in their privacy policy.”
Read more about this here.
