Following a full week of drama about the unfettered access all apps have to iOS contacts, Apple has finally weighed in. Apple first reiterated its already-existing policy that apps weren't supposed to be accessing or uploading contact data without explicit user permission, "apps that collect or transmit a user's contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines." However, that policy clearly hasn't prevented a large number of apps from accessing that information, so Apple added that it intends to update iOS to require "user approval" for getting contact information:
Apple: iOS to require explicit permission for contact data in ‘future software release’
Following a full week of drama about the unfettered access all apps have to iOS contacts, Apple has finally weighed in. After reiterating its already-existing policy that apps weren’t supposed to be accessing or uploading contact data without explicit user permission.
Following a full week of drama about the unfettered access all apps have to iOS contacts, Apple has finally weighed in. After reiterating its already-existing policy that apps weren’t supposed to be accessing or uploading contact data without explicit user permission.
We’re working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release.
The decision is a fairly obvious one and a good move to protect users private data. Apple already does a similar thing with location data, requiring apps to present an iOS system-level pop-up dialog box when they want to know your location. Unfortunately, Apple didn’t directly speak to other private data on iOS like calendar information.
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