Apple has removed or restricted several screen-time and parental-control apps

1. The apps used MDM profiles, intedned for control of employee's smartphones and/or vpns to filter access to apps.

2. Those approaches gave the app makers enormous control over the devices. If they used vpns, all internet traffic from the device could be intercepted. If they used MDM profiles, they had deep access to all the device's settings. It was a huge privacy risk.

3. This was clearly against Apple's policies. APIs were used for the purpose they were not intended for. That was what Facebooks's certificates were revoked for. They should've feared removal since the day they wrote their first line of code.

4. I guess that Apple understood the need for parental control apps and allowed them, with the privacy risks, as there was no other way to get parental control at the time.

5. Apple knew how important iPhone addiction has become and developed their own, privacy respecting solution, screen Time.

6. The need for parental control has now been filled and the privacy risks of those apps now outweigh the benefits. Apple made the decision to remove.

7. Apple, in general, doesn't allow other apps to access such information on your device, for privacy and security reasons. It's a bit anti competitive, yes, it limits what app makers can do, but it makes iOs secure. There's no other way to do it, and that's what many people don't understand. Apple's philosophy sacrifices some features you might have for your own security. If you're not fine with it, use Android and sideload, but don't run screaming to the police when it suddenly turns out that the online banking app you've just installed was a very good fake. [1].

[1] https://www.tahawultech.com/industry/technology/android-warn...

There may be an even bigger case if you consider proprietary connectors, Apple certification chips (which is a whole other scam if you've ever worked with them) and third party repair. People must be allowed to choose, even if there is some acceptance of fault upon things not working correctly.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Cor....

[2] https://www.ccn.com/spotify-smacks-apple-with-antitrust-comp...

I suppose this also goes back to the bigger picture in society. We have been trained to root for the underdogs, while the faceless corporation is always to blame. Apple has been consistent in its effort to make iOS secure, but public opinion keeps changing depending on whether it causes them an inconvenience. When Apple refuses to comply with the FBI, Apple good. When Apple removes apps that violate privacy and weakens security, Apple bad.

Seems inefficient. And potentially anti-competitive.

>Spotify complained to European regulators last month that Apple used the App Store to give its Apple Music service an unfair advantage over Spotify’s competing app. Dutch regulators announced this month that they would investigate whether Apple abused its control of the App Store.

Funny that Europe of all places ends up being more pro-market than the 'States.

>In the United States, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a Democratic candidate for president, recently suggested separating the App Store from Apple as part of her proposal to rein in the American tech giants.

Though, maybe that will change.

We had the wild west of apps with the Windows ecosystem and it ended in malware, viruses and spyware. Even with appropriate permissions, most customers do not know what they're letting themselves in for if undocumented/private APIs, custom certs and proprietary VPNs are part of the picture.

What they should have done is allow apps access to the screentime data if the user gives permission to the app to manage screentime.

I am 100% ok with Apple requesting changes from or straight up blocking apps that do shit like this. It’s deceptive IMHO and users don’t understand what they are really signing away when they stuff like this. I doubt parents fully understand that while they get some level of control over the phone they are ceding full control over every packet the goes over the VPN to some random company. That’s another thing, let’s not pretend these companies are well know/reputable. I’ve never heard of them before and I assume that’s because they didn’t really do anything novel and instead used a sledgehammer to kill a fly. Granted it’s because a fly-swatter didn’t exist (and still doesn’t) but they exist in the same category for me as ad-blocker apps that use a VPN to accomplish their goals. I’m not interested in giving up 100% of my internet traffic to get something like filtered ads. Also I have a legitimate use for VPN’s for home and work and I don’t like halfway solutions (am I supposed to be fine with ads when I need to use a real VPN?).

In summary I question the usefulness of these apps and strongly feel that they create way more problems than they fix. Also Apple is LOSING money by removing/neutering these apps. This isn’t a case of Spotify vs Apple Music and I’ve got nothing but crocodile tears for these “businesses” that have gone up in smoke because from my perspective they were all smoke and mirrors to begin with.

That debate is beside the point. Apple's timing makes a very strong circumstantial case that Apple is not removing these other apps because they suddenly care that the apps are violating their TOS. Apple is removing them now because Apple now offers a competing app. If Apple had never approved these apps in the first place, or removed them promptly over the years, nobody would have a problem.

Here's an analogy: suppose you live in a small town and the cops have set up a speed trap to catch tourists. They never ticket you because they know you are a local. Years pass, you have children, life is good. Then your daughter dumps her boyfriend, who happens to be the police chief's son. All of a sudden, the cops start ticketing you because "everybody needs to follow the law." Do you believe their explanation?

Think of the children! Or at least, stop complaining about both Facebook for violating privacy and Apple for protecting privacy. We need to legislate by law rather than anti-trust and arbitrary corporate fines.

If anyone at all, government laws should determine this, not 2 or 3 big companies. An opt-out of this "walled garden" on mobile devices should be possible, like how System Integrity Protection can be disabled in macOS (if you accept the risks involved.)

Current builtin solution is horrid to use in practice. I also see that screentime is inconvenient for the parent trying to limit access to only few websites. And bookmarks still do not appear by themselves as they should.

It's no wonder trust in the media continues to wane.

I'm getting pretty tired of NYT's tech reporting.

Nothing I say or comment will ever have an impact so they might as well run with it.

All we have is focused on work or a device. Where are our loved ones? Exercise? Hobbies? Safe driving?

We even have to automate DRIVING because we can't keep out eyes off the phone.

When this cracked screen phone finally dies on me, hopefully soon, I'm done with the whole industry.

We are destroying the planet and our minds and our relationships and out lives with these things.

and here I sit. Ranting to people I don't know and who will have entirely no impact on my life with one.

It's time to be done with it.

What a waste.

I feel like the lesson people should start taking here is if they publish for iOS, they should move to another idea as soon as Apple publishes something similar.