So, they discover a vulnerability in ios and publish the details of the symptoms of the exploit -- something that Apple themselves were unaware --, release a tool to detect indicators of compromise in iphone backups and yet, somehow they have poor judgment?

What should they be doing? Keep the discovery to themselves so those who claim iPhone is secure can continue living obliviously with their worldview unchanged? Wouldn't we accuse them of poor judgment if they did that?

It is quite reasonable for them to say the ecosystem being closed is making analysis and detection difficult. It is up to Apple to do what they want with that information.